Kerry O’Regan
Emotion and E-Learning
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks
Vol 7,3 78-92
Argues for the centrality of emotion whilst learning
Considers emotion from a variety of perspectives
Individual phenomena – experiential knowing is part of the human condition
· Darwin – mechanisms for adaptation and survival
· Behaviorist – states, elicited by ‘ the delivery, omission or termination of rewarding or punishing stimuli’ (Roll, E., The Brain and Emotion, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1984.) i.e. emotions as instrumental in influencing choices
· P79 ‘ emotion as some combination ( with various emphases and sequences) of physiological, psychological and psychomotor components.
Socio-cultural
· Goleman ‘things we catch from each other ‘as though they were some kind of social virus’
· Denzin (Denzin, N. On Understanding Emotion, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1984) ‘social acts involving interactions with self and interactions with others’ Averill ‘a transitory social role’
· Damasio P79 ‘ most recent developments are in the field of neurobiology) Damasio -emotions ‘ retain a primacy that subtly pervades our mental life ….. having a say on how the rest of the brain and cognition go about their business’
What is an emotion and what is not?
How to define a functional relationship between emotion and learning?
RQS
· What emotions are associated with studying online
· What are the teaching-learning contexts of these emotions?
· How do they relate to student learning
· What are the practical implications for teaching and learning online
Method
P82 ‘ explores in qualitative terms the lived experience of students learning online particularly in relation to its social dimensions
11 volunteers, 6, mature, studying a variety of online courses
interviewed , interviewer selected specific topics logging on, following instructions, accessing resources and they were provided with a checklist of emotions, which the interviewer referred to
Findings
Frustration ( all 11 Ps) – p84 ‘appeared as the most pervasive emotion’ cumulative aspect of minor things’ broken links, disruption to service, lack of clarity about navigation ‘ the instructions were quite simple, but the application of them seemed quite difficult’, locating oneself, p84 ‘ rambling or superficial nature of unmoderated online discussion’ ‘ I think a whole group of people who really don’t have a better understanding of the issues than you do, all offering up opinions and there doesn’t seem to be very much comes out of that’ p86 ‘ a general desire to get things done quickly with a minimum expenditure of unnecessary time’ ‘ I don’t know what they look like, where they live, who they really are’
Frustration –other workers
Hara and King p81 and 82 ‘ identify considerable frustration experienced by students with the technical aspects of learning online, with interpreting and following instructions and with managing the enormous amounts of email
Fear, anxiety, apprehension ( many Ps)
Submitting assignments – has it got through? – lack of control over process
Prospect of public exposure of learning work to people who were anonymous
Shame/embarrassment (many)
Online exposure inadequacies and mistakes there for everyone to see
Enthusiasm/excitement
P87 ‘ it was quite exciting that we were so technically advanced’, being able to learn with other people. Other commented that they had found f-to-f more exciting
Pride
In assignments well done and having peers compliment p88 ‘ in the online environment with its characteristics for publicness and permanence , the potential for pride is very great’
Conclusion
Makes a number of recommendations made for minimizing negative emotions
In terms of collaborative learning
P89 ‘processes are put in place for students to have an indication of the actual make up of the audience for any submissions they post online; provision is made for class members to become known to each other as real people with their own idiosyncratic interests and characteristics’
‘where possible, online communication is augmented with face to face meetings’ ( KRO why? Author did not say , KRO is it always appropriate?)
