Content Notes: Guidance for Faculties & Departments

Introduction

These webpages provide guidance on the use of content notes (sometimes known as 'content warnings' or 'trigger warnings') in a university context.

The guidance is based on research conducted by student co-researchers Emrys Travis and Emma Carey, as part of a project initiated by the University's Access and Participation Plan, to investigate the awarding and retention gap for students with mental health conditions. The project was funded by the 2020 University Diversity Fund. 

Our initial research suggested that the provision of content notes has a significant positive impact on attainment, academic engagement and wellbeing for students with mental health conditions, particularly PTSD. The majority of Faculties and Departments contacted during our research did not report any current policy on the use of content notes, but were enthusiastic about the possibility of centralised guidance being made available.

This guidance, which has been developed in consultation with disabled student groups, therefore aims to support staff in providing content notes as a standard part of their teaching practice, and address some of the questions that arose from staff during our research. It is also intended to help inform the creation of content note provision policy within Faculties and Departments.

We would particularly welcome examples of effective use of content notes from students or staff: please get in touch.

Contents

• Common misconceptions
• What are content notes?
• How to use content notes
• What do I do next?

Authors

This project was funded by the University Diversity Fund and supported by the Cambridge Centre for Teaching & Learning. To find out more, read Emma's and Emrys' Teaching & Learning Newsletter article.