Themed article

Emotion online: Experiences of teaching in a virtual learning environment

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9890802
AutoresSarah Gilmore (0000-0001-5570-5508, University of Portsmouth Business School,, autor de correspondencia), Samantha Warren (University of Portsmouth Business School,, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen60
Número4
Páginas581-608
Fecha de publicación2007-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0018726707078351
OpenAlexW2148174767
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas30

Using qualitative data drawn from one specific instance of workplace virtuality and emotion — the experience of delivering online seminars using `chat-rooms' — we explore how emotion was productively transformed through the use of virtuality in a teaching and learning setting, a workplace environment for thousands of academics. Using social constructivist and psychoanalytical theories of emotion, we discuss three emotional categories grounded in these data: 1) intimacy; 2) play; and 3) pride/shame, which were experienced in response to a range of student behaviours seemingly encouraged by the online seminar setting. We argue that the characteristics of virtuality as a medium of communication — namely the absence of the body, diminution of paralingual cues and removal of physical socio-spatial indicators–force a renegotiation of the 'feeling rules' that govern traditional classroom settings which in turn contributes to a more emotionally suffused teaching experience for online tutors. Given that the emotional experience of being an online teacher is notably under-theorized in the andragogic literature, our focus in this article is on the emotional implications of virtual teaching rather than virtual learning. We conclude by stating the need for further research into virtuality, emotion and teaching given the clear andragogical implications we discuss, the predicted rise in the use of virtual technologies as educational tools and the impact this may have on the emotional working lives of the academics who are called upon to mobilize them

Feeling · Pride · Shame · Virtuality (gaming · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Computer Science · International Student and Expatriate Challenges · Online and Blended Learning · Psychology · Social Psychology