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Adult learners’ emotions in onlinelearningMichalinos Zembylas aa School of Social Sciences and Humanities , Open University ofCyprus , Nicosia, CyprusPublished online: 09 May 2008.
To cite this article: Michalinos Zembylas (2008) Adult learners’ emotions in online learning,Distance Education, 29:1, 71-87, DOI: 10.1080/01587910802004852
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Distance EducationVol. 29, No. 1, May 2008, 71–87
ISSN 0158-7919 print/ISSN 1475-0198 online© 2008 Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc.DOI: 10.1080/01587910802004852http://www.informaworld.com
Adult learners’ emotions in online learning
Michalinos Zembylas*
School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, CyprusTaylor and FrancisCDIE_A_300651.sgm(Received 6 October 2007; final version received 22 February 2008)10.1080/01587910802004852Distance Education0158-7919 (print)/1475-0198 (online)Research Article2008Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc.291000000May 2008Assistant Professor [email protected]
The aim of the research study reported in this article was to investigate how adult learners talkabout their emotions in the context of a year-long online course, the first online course theseadults take, as part of a distance education program. The theoretical and methodologicalapproach focused on formulating an account of how emotion discourses are used by learners,what role they play in online learning, and how they change over a one-year period (if theydo so). The findings of this study provide three insights: (1) they show how adult learners(who also happen to be novice online learners) respond emotionally and talk about theiremotions in relation to online learning; (2) they call attention to the ways in which emotiontalk changes from the beginning of the course to the end, always in response to specificdemands and dimensions of online learning; and (3) they reveal the differential emotionalresponses between men and women in relation to their social and gender roles andresponsibilities. Empirical and policy implications of this study are discussed at the end.
Keywords: adult learners; Cyprus; emotions; online learning
Introduction
Over the last few decades educational researchers have made substantial progress towards iden-tifying the cognitive processes that are important to learning. The significance of the emotionalaspects in learning situations has also been recognized; yet a systematic inquiry of emotions inthe learning process has been slow to emerge (Boekaerts, 2007; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry,2002). Recent research has highlighted how learning affects a learner’s emotions and vice versa(Mayring & von Rhoeneck, 2003; Schutz & Pekrun, 2007). Adult educators are only beginningto understand the interaction between learning and emotion (Dirkx, 2001; 2006; Shuck,Albornoz, & Winberg, 2007; Yorks & Kasl, 2002). As Dirkx (2001, 2006) has pointed out,relatively few scholars and practitioners in adult and higher education regard emotion as integralto learning.
The lack of inquiry on the emotions of learning is even more visible in online learningcontexts (MacFadden, 2007; Wosnitza & Volet, 2005). Electronic learning has been depicted asless emotional and more impersonal (Rice & Love, 1987) or as lacking in emotional richness(e.g., lack of body language, facial expressions, and gestures) when compared to face-to-facelearning (see Vrasidas & Zembylas, 2003). Yet, emotion is hardly absent from online learningcontexts. Both anecdotal accounts (e.g., see Halio, 2004; MacFadden, 2005) and recent studieshave acknowledged how negative emotions (anger, frustration, confusion, boredom, and isola-tion to name a few) and positive emotions (e.g., engagement, excitement) experienced by onlinelearners inhibit or support the process of learning (e.g., see Conrad, 2002; Hara & Kling, 2003;Järvenoja & Järvelä, 2005; O’Regan, 2003; Rovai & Wighting, 2005). However, there is hardly
*Email: [email protected]
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any research on how adult learners talk about their emotions as they learn how to become onlinelearners.
The aim of this research study was to investigate how adult learners talk about their emotionsin the context of a year-long online course, the first online course these adults take, as part of adistance education program. This investigation is grounded in critical and poststructuralistperspectives that allow an appreciation of the learner’s perspective and the construction ofemotional knowledge within a particular social terrain (Boler, 1999; Harré, 1986; Zembylas,2002, 2004, 2005). This theoretical and methodological approach focuses on formulating anaccount of how emotion discourses are used by learners, what role they play in learning, and howthey change over a one-year period (if they do so). In other words, the focal point of the projectwas to analyze adult learners’ emotion talk in online learning and illuminate how the accountsthat learners give about their emotional experiences with online education are transformed (ifthey are so) over the duration of their learning process.
In what follows, the theoretical and methodological framework of the study is introduced.Then the findings are examined, focusing on the positive and negative emotions associated withthe online learning of the adults involved in this study. Finally, the implications are discussed,highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities from considering the relationship betweenadult learners’ emotion talk and online learning. In light of numerous reports acknowledging themultiple responsibilities and roles of adults taking online courses, this study also emphasizesthe importance of taking into account how gender differences are exemplified in mature womenand men students’ talk about their emotions as they learn how to become online learners (seeKramarae, 2001; von Prümmer, 2000).
Literature review
Emotions are important in adult learning because they can either impede or motivate learning(Dirkx, 2001; Yorks & Kasl, 2002). Wlodkowski (1999) emphasized the essential role ofemotion in decreasing or increasing motivation to learn; thus, he suggested that adult educatorsneed to deal with and encourage the expression of emotion during learning. As a motivatingfactor, emotion creates a sense of purpose that guides adults’ learning and shapes the context oftheir learning experiences (Dirkx, 2006; Merriam & Caffarella, 2007; Reeve, 2001). By shapingthe context of learning, emotion plays a critical role in the construction of meaning andknowledge of the self in the adult learning process (Dirkx, 2001; Shuck et al., 2007).
Moreover, recent research on the emotions of online learning has focused on the importanceof learners’ feelings in relation to the sense of community of learning (Hara & Kling, 2003;Rovai & Wighting, 2005); how positive and negative emotions inhibit or enhance online learning(Allan & Lawless, 2003; Conrad, 2002; O’Regan, 2003); and how the sources, range, and impactof learners’ emotional experiences influence various manifestations of online learning (Järvenoja& Järvelä, 2005; Wosnitza & Volet, 2005). For example, the inclusion of face-to-face meetingsin online education (i.e., blended learning) changes the emotional dynamic of the online experi-ence dramatically (Conrad, 2005). Research on the emotions of online learning also emphasizesthe importance of affective dimensions to online learning and maintains that the full promise ofweb-based education will not be realized, unless affective aspects are properly acknowledged(Goldsworthy, 2000; Spitzer, 2001). In particular, MacFadden (2005, 2007; MacFadden, Herie,Maiter, & Dumbrill, 2005) proposed a constructivist model of web-based education emphasizingthe use of emotion in e-learning, based on the assumption that emotional emphasis may facilitateconstructivist learning goals.
Information on how emotion informs adult learning suggests a linkage between this field ofstudy and the context of online education, but the scholarly scope is still narrow. The motives
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and experiences of and benefits to adult learners from participating in online education programshave received increased attention in recent years (DuCharme-Hansen & Dupin-Bryant, 2004;Eastmond, 1995). Online education programs have enabled learning opportunities to adults thatallow for breaking away from space and time constraints (Vrasidas & Glass, 2002). However,studies on distance learning within adult education over the last three decades have highlightednot only the benefits, but also the challenges that adult learners face in participating in distanceand online education programs. These challenges include adults’ difficulties in managing work,family, and study obligations (Brookfield, 1986; Merriam & Caffarella, 2007; Merriam &Cunningham, 1989). Not surprisingly, these challenges become more evident when oneconsiders the emerging economic, social, and gender roles of adult learners.
Therefore, given the assumption that adult learners do not form a homogeneous group (e.g.,age, gender, marital status), research has shown that women face distinctive challenges whenthey decide to enter or return to higher education (Britton & Baxter, 1999; Carney-Crompton &Tan, 2002; Donaldson & Graham, 1999; Home, 1998; Reay, 2002, 2003; Reay, Ball, & David,2002). From the 1970s, a large body of research in distance and online education has exploredthe attitudes, motivations, and difficulties that mature women experience in higher education(see Kramarae, 2001; von Prümmer, 2000). Many researchers have highlighted the ‘psycholog-ical consequences’ (Johnson & Robson, 1999, p. 274) for mature women students and thecontradictions and discontinuities in their identity when they become students, because often thisidentity has to fit with pre-existing social roles and commitments (Edwards, 1993; Moss, 2004;Pascal & Cox, 1993). Thus it is documented that women’s struggles to find a balance betweentheir public and private spheres result in anxieties and tensions. Given that the issue of potentialdifferences between women and men’s talk about their emotions as they learn to become onlinelearners has not been adequately investigated, this research study builds on previous work andexplores this aspect as well.
Theoretical framework
Different definitions of emotions have produced conceptually and methodologically differentapproaches to the study of emotions (Plutchik, 2001). For instance, many studies of emotion areinspired by psychological and sociological perspectives. From the psychological perspective,emotions are primarily conceptualized as private components of the personality structure of anindividual. This perspective frequently reduces emotions to little more than internal personalitydynamics most often divorced from social and cultural contexts. In contrast, the sociologicalperspective conceptualizes emotions as socially or culturally constructed (Barbalet, 1998; Harré,1986; Lupton, 1998). Sociologically based studies, then, focus on how emotions are sociallyconstructed in the group dynamics of social situations and how those situations uni-directionallyshape people’s emotional experiences and expressions. Often ignored in this perspective are boththe individual aspects of emotion and the reciprocally shaping interactions of emotion andsocialization.
While both the psychological and the sociological perspectives offer important insights,claiming that emotions are simply a matter of the individual or the group does not sufficientlyaddress the complex role of emotions. Rather, a more useful approach locates emotions in theliminal space between individual and social constructivist approaches, challenging the divisionsbetween individual vs. social, private vs. public, and emphasizing that emotion operates as aconstitutively reciprocal component in the interaction/transaction of the individual and the social(Leavitt, 1996).
Support for this approach is found by applying critical and poststructuralist thinking to thestudy of emotion (e.g., see Campbell, 1997; Game & Metcalfe, 1996; Lutz & Abu-Lughod,
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1990). Without simply dismissing either the social constructivist or the individual approaches,critical and poststructuralist thinking reconceptualize emotions as a public, not exclusivelyprivate, object of inquiry that is interactively embedded in power relations; thus they historicizethe ways in which emotions are constituted. This perspective challenges an ahistorical concep-tion of the subject, analyzing the transaction between larger social forces and the internalpsychic terrain of the individual and highlighting the ways this historicization can draw outchangeable aspects of reality; thus, critical and poststructuralist thinking acknowledges thepossibility of ruptures and discontinuities of power differentials in the future (Boler, 1999;Zembylas, 2005, 2007).
The focus of the study of emotion, then, is not ‘emotion’ per se, but emotion talk, that is, howemotion discourses are used (e.g., by adult learners), what role these discourses play (e.g., inonline learning), and how they change (if they do so). Therefore, the theoretical framework usedhere allows the investigation of adult learner’s emotion talk in relation to one’s self (individualreality), others (social interactions), and the educational politics and culture in general (sociopo-litical context). This approach implies that the study of how adult learners talk about theiremotions as they learn how to become online learners requires researchers to engage in a processof finding out the historicity of adult learners’ emotion talk in an online context over some time– that is, it demands the description of how trajectories of emotion talks are positioned and posi-tion adult learners to talk about their emotions (see Boler, 1999; Zembylas, 2002, 2004, 2005).
Context of the study
The aim of this study was to describe and analyze adult learners’ emotion talk during their firstonline 30-week course of a distance education master’s level program in Educational Studies atthe Open University of Cyprus. This course, on the topic of multicultural education and socialjustice pedagogies, was offered to 22 in-service teachers during the 2006–2007 academic year –the first year of the Open University’s establishment in Cyprus. Most of the participants werewomen (17 out of 22) with an age range from 27 to 50 (M = 36.88, SD = 5.11). Two students(one male and one female) dropped out after the first eight weeks of the course (both for healthreasons). The majority identified themselves as intermediate (12 out of 20) or novice computerusers; however, none had any prior experience with online education. More than half (12 out of20) resided within a radius up to 10 miles from the university, while four came from other citiesin Cyprus and three worked in rural areas; one student resided in Greece.
The course was delivered entirely online (primarily through asynchronous communication),with the exception of four face-to-face meetings (approximately once every two months) aimedat identifying and discussing problems and reviewing assignments and ongoing activities. Thestudents were provided reading materials (basically one textbook) that included speciallydesigned activities for self-paced learning, discussion questions, and additional readingsorganized around various themes. The course syllabus was provided during the first face-to-facemeeting and assignment instructions were given out in each subsequent face-to-face meeting; allthe materials were also sent to a listserv created specifically for this course. Each week thestudents were sent instructors’ notes (in PowerPoint) and advice on what to read, what to discussin the listserv, and so on. The course was taught by the author but the content, reading materials,and activities of the course were developed by the Hellenic Open University (Patra, Greece).
Method
Before defining specific boundaries for the study, I identified broad areas of investigation basedon my theoretical framework. For example, I was interested in understanding adult learners’
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interpretations of their emotions about online learning. Grounding this examination on criticaland poststructuralist thinking allowed me constantly to keep in mind two important ideas: first,to look for the ways in which emotions were constituted historically within the particular socialterrain in which online education had been taking place; and second, to pay attention to howthese adult learners talked about their emotions in ways that enabled them (or not) to make senseof their new experiences with online learning.
Gradually, my examination became more explicit and focused on the following researchquestions: (1) How do adult learners talk about their emotions as they learn how to becomeonline learners? (2) How does this emotion talk change over a long (one-year) period (and if itdoes)? (3) What is the relationship between adult learners’ emotion talk and their social andgender roles and responsibilities?
To explore these questions, I chose to follow the symbolic interactionist conceptual frame-work for studying distance education described by Vrasidas and Glass (2002). This frameworkhighlights the importance of learners’ own interpretation of the emotions felt in a learningcontext and rests on three premises: first, learners act upon the world on the basis of themeanings that the world has for them. Second, the learners’ meanings are socially constructedthrough their interactions with their instructor, other learners, the available technology, and thesocial context in general. Third, the meaning of the world is processed again through interpreta-tion; that is, the learners interpret their emotions through the ways they talk about them.
This study was essentially a qualitative research investigation (Denzin, 1997; Miles &Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002) and allowed the collection of data that described the emotionalaspects of the interactions between adult learners and their environment, without ignoring theirindividual/personality characteristics. Using a symbolic interactionist framework provided aheuristic tool to examine adult learners’ emotion talk, by taking into account the transactionbetween individuals and their environment.
Between October 2006 and May 2007, I collected the following data that seemed to fit moreto the symbolic interactionist framework: the learners’ monthly emotion journals, two face-to-face semi-structured interviews (one interview at the beginning and one at the end of the course),all 867 email messages exchanged throughout the course with my students, my own reflectivejournal, field notes from whole-group or individual face-to-face meetings and phone conversa-tions, documents of learners’ work, and my planning related to the various aspects of teachingthis course.
Before providing more detailed descriptions of these data sources and their analysis, it isimportant to clarify a few ethical issues relevant to this study. The learners of this course wereinformed in the first face-to-face meeting that they could, if they gave their consent, participatein a research project investigating their emotion talk as they learned how to become online learn-ers. The focus of this discussion was twofold: first, to analyze the informed consent proceduresof this study; and second, to discuss what the participants would get out of this research. For thispurpose, I informed the participants that they would receive an additional 10% of their grade fortheir ‘extra work’ in the course: a monthly emotion journal and two interviews. We alsodiscussed the benefits of participating in a research process in which they would have theopportunity to voice their concerns, suggestions, and feelings (both positive and negative) aboutonline education.
Given that I was the instructor in the course, I was also concerned how the participants sawthe issue of power relationship, so I raised it in our first meeting. I explained that the emotionjournals would be seen only by me and a research assistant who would analyze them(anonymously). I knew that I had to earn their trust, if I wanted them to talk about theiremotions without reservations (as much as possible), so I assured them that in our regular phoneand online one-to-one conversations we would discuss the ongoing findings, as a form of
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member checking. The research assistant functioned as a critical outsider who entered theprocess without a similar level of closeness. At the end of the first face-to-face meeting, all thestudents gave their consent by signing a letter in which there was a clause that they couldwithdraw from the study at any point without any penalty; that is, they would receive extrapoints based on the work they had done up to the point they decided to withdraw. (The studywas completed without any withdrawals.)
The emotion journals were completed once a month and focused on the learners’ emotionalexperiences during the month, as those experiences were related to online learning. Also, thelearners wrote a final report (in May) in which they reflected on their emotional experiencesrelated to online learning as a whole. The emotion journals were kept electronically and sent tome on the last day of each month. The learners’ journals and their email messages were valuablein documenting the social–emotional context of the online course as well as the changes inlearners’ emotion talk throughout the year. Despite the limitations of emotion journals in theirreliance on self-report (Wosnitza & Volet, 2005), the personal nature of this source brought atten-tion to areas of learners’ emotion talk that were not evident from ‘traditional’ sources, such asindividual or group assignments. Field notes of face-to-face discussions (whole-group and indi-vidual) and phone conversations provided another valuable data source. Finally, the semi-struc-tured interviews were used to further triangulate the collected data. The interview questionsemerged either directly from the research questions or from the learners’ emotion journals.Specifically, the first round of interviews (in October) included questions that ranged from thelearners’ feelings of having the opportunity to attend graduate school, their decision to enroll inan online education program, their professional and family responsibilities, and their expectationsfrom studying online. The second round of interviews (in May) addressed ideas that came out ofthe first round of interviews and other conversations as well as from learners’ journals throughoutthe year. All the interviews were approximately one hour in length, recorded and transcribed.
Data analysis
All phases of data analysis were grounded in the theoretical framework of this study. For exam-ple, I constantly looked for evidence that showed learners’ efforts to make sense of theiremotional experiences and compared the evolution of these efforts from the beginning stages tothe end of the course. The theoretical framework was particularly helpful in allowing multipleinterpretations of incoming data as an ongoing part of the data collection process, because atten-tion was paid to contextualizing the learners’ emotion talk within the social terrain in which theyhad been studying.
To ensure validity and triangulation, the research assistant and I worked separately andcollaboratively, using an interpretive method of coding (Erickson, 1986) to ascertain confirmingand disconfirming evidence of assertions arising from data sources (see also Schwandt, 1998).We read and coded all the data that had been collected from our course, following the open-coding techniques outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998); that is, first, we came up withcategories; then we developed these categories in terms of their properties and dimensions. Theresulting categories and their properties and dimensions began to illustrate various aspects ofthe adult learners’ emotion talk as they learned how to become online learners. These categoriesare presented in the following section along with the evidence that supports them.
Research findings
Positive and negative emotions related to online learning were the two broad themes thatemerged from the data analysis. For positive emotions, the categories were joy/enthusiasm/
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excitement for the flexibility of online learning; pride/contentment for fulfilling the courserequirements; surprise and excitement for the emotional nature of online communication. Fornegative emotions, the categories were fear/anxiety for the unknown methodology of onlinelearning; alienation and the need for connectedness; and stress/guilt about the inability to balancemultiple roles and responsibilities. These categories were used as the basis of the developmentof the following description of the findings.
Positive emotions
Joy/enthusiasm/excitement for the flexibility of online learning. At the beginning of the course,almost all of the learners talked about their positive emotions at being accepted at the OpenUniversity of Cyprus – emotions of joy and pride. As one learner wrote in an email:
Open and distance learning offers me the opportunity that I have always been dreaming: a graduatedegree. Up until now, family responsibilities have prevented me from attending a traditionaluniversity … I am extremely proud and happy for this opportunity! (Lisa, primary school teacher,29 years old, Week 1)1
Moreover, for many students, learning online was initially associated with joy and enthusi-asm for the flexibility of distance learning. For Andy, it was the fact that he did not have to spendmany hours driving to and from the university:
I am happy … [because] I can study in my own private space, at the time I choose, while I can stillbe with my family when I take a break. I feel empowered that I can cope with both my student andfamily life. (Andy, primary school teacher, 38 years old, Week 4, emotion journal)
Other learners highlighted that the program required no physical presence – a feature thatbecame associated with feelings of excitement. For Andria and Joan, these feelings were linkedto the new learning environment and its prospects, especially in relation to using the Internetfrom home to do their assignments. In an email, Andria wrote:
I like this new ‘toy!’ I am excited because I find all these resources from the Internet to do myassignments. And it’s so easy because I can do everything from home. (Andria, primary schoolteacher, 40 years old, Week 3)
Also, in a phone conversation during the fourth week of classes, Joan expressed her enthusi-asm for realizing (‘finally,’ as she said) how the Internet made her life so much easier becauseof the things she could accomplish while being at home. In general, the initial responses werepositive with respect to the capabilities that online learning offered to these learners.
In the following months, feelings of joy, enthusiasm, and excitement with studying onlinecontinued – along with other feelings, which are analyzed in the following sections of this article– but their intensity and frequency was not as high as in earlier months. Gradually, these positivefeelings for the flexibility of online learning became more specific, particularly when the learnersbegan to communicate more often and more systematically with their classmates and theirinstructor. For example, many emotion journal entries focused on learners’ feelings of excite-ment in relation to feeling ‘secure’ that any question ‘could be answered very quickly and veryefficiently,’ because of the anytime availability of the Internet. For other learners, like John, itwas the enthusiasm of ‘becoming able to make connections with people both from this courseand other sites’ (John, secondary school teacher, 45 years old, Week 15, email) – all for the sakeof advancing learning possibilities.
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Pride/contentment for fulfilling the course requirements. A number of participants talked abouttheir feelings of pride for being able to fulfill the requirements of an online course. As Norawrote in her emotion journal:
I am proud for being able to fulfill all the requirements (so far!) in a completely online environment,despite my initial anxieties and fears. It makes me feel very nice to know that I can do this, especiallygiven the fact that two months ago I didn’t have a clue what online education was! (Nora, primaryschool teacher, 32 years old, Week 8)
Moreover, other participants highlighted that their sense of pride was associated with beingable to develop good organizational and self-discipline skills, as a result of online learning. Thefollowing email excerpt serves to show these feelings:
Let me tell you this. The whole idea of online learning is about good and efficient organization ofyour time and lots of self-discipline! This form of learning may not fit for everyone, but it certainlysuits me well! I complete one assignment, I get feedback from you, I make revisions, I move to thenext one … I feel I am constantly aware what’s going on and this gives me a tremendous feeling ofcontrol … I am pleased because online learning ‘forces’ me (in a good sense) to be constantly on topof things, to be disciplined and organized. (Lena, primary school teacher, 39 years old, Week 17)
The participants continued to talk about their feelings of pride, especially after turning in anassignment in which they had seen how online learning improved their work. These feelingswere talked about even by learners who expressed negative feelings. For example, in the thirdface-to-face meeting, Celia admitted that she felt pride for the improvement in her work,‘because there was some meaning in the feedback received from the ongoing online communi-cation’ (Celia, primary school teacher, 34 years old, Week 24).
Surprise and excitement for the emotional nature of online communication. For several learn-ers, learning online created an ‘unexpected emotional climate of learning’ (Nick, secondaryschool teacher, 50 years old, Week 20, email). Initially, Nick, like others in this course,expressed concerns about the ‘inability of online learning to encourage emotional connectionswith the instructor and classmates’ (Week 4, emotion journal). However, after experiencing thepotentials of online communication, many learners talked about their feelings of surprise andexcitement and the impact of those feelings on their work and self-confidence. The followingthree excerpts serve to show these feelings:
I must confess that after learning to use email, I am much more confident and I am proactive incommunicating with my classmates and instructors. Now I exchange ideas, bibliographicalreferences, and friendly greetings and we even arrange face-to-face meetings and online chats! Theclose relationships I have managed to form with some of my classmates, perhaps due to the natureof this program, help me tremendously to deal with my feelings of stress.… If I had been told at thebeginning of this course that I would have formed such strong relationships with some of myclassmates, I would never have believed it! It’s paradoxical, but I feel that I have managed to createstronger relationships in the context of this online program than I ever did in my face-to-face classes.(Joan, primary school teacher, 30 years old, Week 14, email)
I deeply appreciate the friendly and emotional relationship that has been developed with my instruc-tors and my classmates. Having this emotional support makes me feel more confident about what Iam doing … Online communication may not be so bad after all; especially, when you receiveongoing encouragement – via emails, phone calls, face-to-face meetings. I believe all of thesetogether, including the formation of our study groups, create a feeling of not being alone in thisjourney. This feeling of ‘being with others’ is very important to me. (Nick, secondary school teacher,50 years old, Week 20, emotion journal)
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The emotional support you can receive from online communication is unbelievable! Frankly, itsurpassed all my expectations. I can’t tell you how important it was for me to open my email accountand find an email message from my instructor or my classmates. Every single day! It meant some-thing, you know? … Online learning does have an emotional character, whether we ‘see’ this or not.(Andy, primary school teacher, 38 years old, Week 30, final interview)
These learners reiterated what is known anecdotally in online and distance education; that is,how online learning creates particular ‘emotional climates’ involving the relationships betweenlearners and instructors.2 These emotional climates involve feelings such as the ones describedin the previous sections – joy and enthusiasm for the flexibility of online learning, pride andcontentment for fulfilling the course requirements, and surprise and excitement for the emotionalnature of online communication. However, emotional climates also include negative emotionssuch as the ones described in the following categories.
Negative emotions
Fear/anxiety for the unknown methodology of online learning. Alongside the positive feelingsthat these learners expressed about the flexibility of online learning, there were also feelings offear and anxiety that generated a lot of emotional ambivalence about this form of learning.Initially, these feelings were associated with the unknown methodology of online learning, asthis was the first online course these learners had taken. As Celia wrote in her first emotionjournal:
To be honest, I am terribly anxious because of this methodology of distance learning. This issomething completely unknown to me. Registration from a distance, distance teaching, distancelearning – all of these make me question the effectiveness of this methodology. So far, I have to saythat the lack of face-to-face communication with my instructors and my limited inexperience withusing technology make me feel like a lonely traveler … I don’t know where to start … (Celia,primary school teacher, 34 years old, Week 4)
Similar feelings of fear and anxiety were talked about through various means (email, phoneconversations, emotion journals) by almost everyone throughout the course. For some learners,these fears were generally about the unknown methodology and its demands; for others, it wasthe library system, the Internet, or the amount of time that studying online demanded. AsElizabeth wrote in an email:
I have no idea how this library system works. I spent a lot of time in front of the computer, I wentto the university and talked to the library assistant, yet I still feel clueless … This makes me tremen-dously anxious and frustrated. (Elizabeth, primary school teacher, 40 years old, Week 2, email)
For Christina the apprehension was one of general Internet anxiety that, in combination with herneed for more time and space to do the assignments, made her feel overwhelmed and sometimesembarrassed. As she pointed out in a phone conversation:
On the one hand, I wish I had more time to respond to emails … I never have enough time to doeverything. On the other hand, to tell you the truth, I feel very reluctant to engage in email discus-sions because I think my ideas would look very stupid if I expressed them via email. (Christina,primary school teacher, 30 years old, Week 5, phone conversation)
When I asked her why she had thought that her ideas ‘would look stupid’ she replied: ‘I don’tknow how to explain it … I’m not used to this way of expressing my feelings and ideas … Thisjust looks strange and embarrassing to me.’ Still for other learners, it was the amount of time that
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it took to get things done. In a number of emails between the fifth and the sixth week of thecourse, Sarah talked about her feelings of anxiety for ‘all the time that it takes to find Internetresources for the assignment, only to realize at the end of the day that most of them are irrele-vant’ (Sarah, secondary school teacher, 43 years old).
In general, the negative feelings expressed in relation to some features of the online learningmethodology were somewhat expected; on the other hand, however, it is important to rememberthat these feelings coexisted with the positive feelings mentioned earlier. In other words, therewas emotional ambivalence in the learners’ talk about their emotions. That is, the learners did notspeak in absolutist terms – for example, things are either black or white – but referred to specificemotional responses associated with certain aspects of studying online. Gradually, then, negativefeelings about the methodology became contextualized within particular features of online learn-ing, such as feelings of alienation and the need for connectedness that are described below.
Alienation and the need for connectedness. Several learners experienced feelings of alienation,more intensely during the first 8–10 weeks of the course. As Christina wrote:
The written communication through a machine does not satisfy me completely, because I feel that itdoes not fit my character. In communicating with people, I pay great attention to facial expressions,bodily posture and mannerisms. Clearly, these elements are absent in online communication. Some-times, I feel embarrassed because I think my email messages to classmates and my instructor are too‘cold’ and ‘formal.’ I also feel that this kind of communication leads me, unconsciously perhaps, tothe application of very formal rules of writing. Some other times, I am overwhelmed by feelings ofisolation because I want to chat on something I don’t understand, yet I cannot do this over theInternet. The computer cannot take the place of personal human contact … (Christina, primaryschool teacher, 30 years old, Week 8, emotion journal)
Similar feelings of isolation were expressed by others who struggled to find satisfying ways ofcommunicating with their classmates and their instructor. As Nick wrote in his journal:
I constantly feel the need to be in touch with others in order to share my fears, my anxieties, and myconcerns. It is true that online learning creates a sense of loneliness, because of lacking face-to-facecontact. Gradually, however, I am discovering ways to deal with such feelings of loneliness bybecoming more proactive in taking advantage of the strengths of online learning, such as sendingmore frequent emails or communicating more systematically with my study group. (Nick, secondaryschool teacher, 50 years old, Week 16, emotion journal)
Other learners talked about their feelings of loneliness in relation to the ‘weight’ of learningfalling on their own shoulders. As Yiannis said in a conversation we had during the second face-to-face meeting:
Distance learning is such that all the ‘weight’ is falling on your shoulders; this is why I believe thatthe feeling of alienation is felt more intensely. (Yiannis, primary school teacher, 37 years old, Week10, meeting)
Anton agreed and suggested that there were ways to make this weight become ‘lighter’: ‘Surpris-ingly,’ he said, ‘writing this emotion journal seems to make this “weight” feel lighter, because itoffers an outlet for your emotions’ (Anton, elementary school teacher, 40 years old, Week 10).The importance of writing a journal as a means of emotional reflexivity was highlighted by themajority of students through various sources (emails, emotion journal, phone conversations),despite initial concerns that it would be ‘too much work.’
Stress/guilt for the inability to balance multiple roles and responsibilities. Finally, the mostserious obstacle that these learners faced was their struggle to combine their professional, family,
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and social life; this struggle made it harder to cope with the numerous demands of the program.In particular, this challenge affected women more intensely and more often – they were the onesto raise it systematically through detailed references and descriptions of their feelings of stressand frustration in their emotion journals, emails, and conversations. As Lena wrote in heremotion journal:
On the one hand, the feeling of isolation invokes intense feelings of stress because of the lack offace-to-face communication. On the other hand, I have so many other responsibilities – I am amother, a wife, a professional [teacher] and a student – I cannot cope with all of those. I feel guiltyfor paying no attention to my husband and children. I am beginning to wonder if I have made theright choice to enroll in this program. (Lena, primary school teacher, 39 years old, Week 8, emotionjournal)
Nora reiterated these feelings, while exposing a dimension of online learning that made her feela lot of discomfort:
I feel that my private space has been taken over and it is now a study space, something that makesme feel a lot of discomfort … Also, I cannot study until late at night, that is, until after the kids sleepand I clean the house, cook for the following day and take care all of my other responsibilities. Forthese reasons, studying is always the last thing to do. So I wonder with what frame of mind one canconcentrate to study at ten o’clock at night, being exhausted after a very long day? (Nora, primaryschool teacher, 32 years old, Week 16, phone conversation)
It is important to highlight that similar comments about studying late at night after all of theirother obligations are fulfilled were made by almost all of the women in this program. Manymonths into the program and these women still referred to their stress and frustration about themultiple roles they had to fulfill simultaneously. As Christina wrote in an email very poignantly:
I feel I am always running towards something that I cannot reach. There are many times that thestress of the day does not allow me to study. Moreover, I have pushed aside my family and I feelvery guilty for that … (Christina, primary school teacher, 30 years old, Week 19, email)
It is possible that the conflation of personal and study space intensified the feelings of stress andguilt; this is something that needs further investigation in the context of distance educationprograms.
At the same time, it is important to highlight that the male participants of this course alsomade references to feelings of stress and anxiety associated with the amount of work they had,but Andy pointed out that ‘some stress from being a student and a father is expected, but thereare always ways to handle it’ (Andy, primary school teacher, 38 years old, Week 21, phoneconversation). Others also talked in the context of face-to-face or phone conversations abouttheir feelings of stress associated with conflicts in their roles and responsibilities, but they didnot discuss those feelings in their emotion journals. Many of them pointed out that most of theirstudying took place in the afternoon because their wives were very supportive of them and tookon some of their responsibilities so that they could study (e.g., giving rides to their children). Allof them admitted that if they hadn’t had the support of their wives, they would have never beenable to do this; only four out of the 17 women in the course said something similar about theirhusbands.
In general, distance learning methodology seemed to be an exhausting and difficult learningprocess for the women of this program; they had to deal with intense negative feelings about notbeing able to fulfill their multiple responsibilities. This last excerpt from the second interviewhighlights another dimension of the stress associated with women’s conflicting responsibilities:
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The open and distance learning program ends up being a painful and exhausting process for someonewho works, and especially for those who have family and professional responsibilities. This showshow difficult it is to put an end to social and educational inequalities … On the one hand, I was givenan opportunity to study, one that I did not have in the past, so I truly appreciate this. On the otherhand, however, I cannot benefit from this and so I am deeply disappointed. I have so many respon-sibilities on my shoulders (family, professional, and social) and the demands of this program areunrealistic, in my view. So, I wonder: To whom is this program really addressed? If you want myopinion, I don’t think it is addressed to women professionals. (Jenny, primary school teacher, 38years old, Week 30)
Discussion and implications
The findings of this study provide three insights: (1) they show how adult learners (who alsohappen to be novice online learners) respond emotionally and talk about their emotions in rela-tion to online learning; (2) they call attention to the ways in which emotion talk changes fromthe beginning of the course to the end, always in response to specific demands and dimensionsof online learning; and (3) they reveal the differential emotional responses between men andwomen in relation to their social and gender roles and responsibilities. Each of these insights isanalyzed below.
First, this study provided evidence about how adult learners’ emotions in online learningwere manifest and expressed in ambivalent ways, that is, how both positive and negativeemotions coexisted and formed particular emotional climates that influenced adults’ learningexperiences throughout the course. For example, many learners reported positive feelings fromthe social relationships they had developed (with their instructor and peers), even more so thanthey had expected from an online program. The emotional climate that was associated with thesesocial relationships had a positive impact on some learners’ efforts because it helped them dealwith their negative feelings from studying online (see also Conrad, 2002; Vrasidas & Zembylas,2003). For others, this particular emotional climate did not have a positive impact and negativefeelings continued to be talked about and analyzed frequently and intensely. However, thesenegative feelings were not necessarily only associated with the nature of online communicationbut were also related to the demands and requirements of the specific graduate program.
For many learners, the level of anxiety related to the online methodology of learning washigh at the beginning of the course, but then gradually decreased, especially when the learnersbecame more familiar with online communication and began to develop a stronger sense ofemotional kinship among themselves through multiple means of communication (e.g., emails,phone calls, and asynchronous discussions; see Ng, 2001), including face-to-face meetings thatchanged the dynamics of the overall online experience (see also Conrad, 2005). A majoremotional challenge for several of them was learning how to communicate by written discoursein an asynchronous manner. Although the challenge of communicating in this manner has beenidentified in previous research (e.g., Manca & Delfino, 2007), this study highlights the emotionalimplications of learning how to communicate by written discourse. Thus the issue is not simplyabout the demands of a different form of communication; it is more complicated and has also todo with the impact on learners’ emotional well-being from having to communicate in anunfamiliar form. The implications of this finding are directly relevant to the quality of commu-nication aimed in online learning; more research into this aspect will be useful in the future.
Second, this study showed how emotion talk changed from the beginning of the course to theend, in response to specific demands and dimensions of online learning. For example, manylearners were able to highlight further some of their positive feelings despite the presence ofnegative feelings. This confirms existing findings about the ways in which positive and negativeemotions inhibit online learning under some conditions, while they enhance it under others
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(Allan & Lawless, 2003; Hara & Kling, 2003; O’Regan, 2003). But this study also extendsexisting knowledge in that it shows the evolution of this process over some time (one year).Moreover, it shows how some learners increased their positive feelings by engaging in a criticalevaluation of how they had felt and what they could do to deal with the unpleasant aspects ofonline learning.
Critical reflexivity on learners’ emotions has implications because it provides evidence onlearners’ vulnerability and therefore can guide action for change (Järvenoja & Järvelä, 2005). Itis valuable for online instructors to find mechanisms that encourage learners to evaluate theirpositive and negative feelings alike and thus contribute to the constitution of a supportiveemotional climate. The advantage of sharing emotions via multiple sources over some timeallows online learners and instructors to look at emotional experiences in perspective (Vrasidas& Zembylas, 2003; Zembylas & Vrasidas, 2007). For example, constant encouragement of adultlearners by the instructor through explicit statements of optimism, clear statements of thecontribution made by each learner, and help with learners’ uncertainties can contribute towardsstrengthening of togetherness (Conrad, 2005; Jones & Issroff, 2005; MacFadden, 2007), whichforms a supportive emotional climate in online learning.
Finally, this study revealed that there are differential emotional responses between men andwomen in relation to their social and gender roles and responsibilities. All the learners had tocope with multiple responsibilities while squeezing graduate study into their already busy lives,a reality that became the source of very intense emotions throughout the year (see alsoMacFadden, 2005; Wiesenberg, 2001). However, women’s emotion talk also highlighted theeffects of power and societal relations; that is, how online education might have indeedprovided opportunities to these women to break out of domesticity imposed on them by theirother roles and the expectations attached to them (Davies, Osborne, & Williams, 2002;Edwards, 1993); yet studying ‘at home’ had heavy emotional demands as a result of conflictswith their other responsibilities. The cultural and social context in which these women foundthemselves – that is, a culture embedded with conflicting values, both values of equal opportu-nity/gender equality and strong, old family values of mothering and heavy responsibilities fortheir families and children – shaped intensely their emotional experiences with online educa-tion (see also Vryonides, Vitsilakis, & Efthymiou, 2006).
All of the women participating in this course acknowledged the effect of emotions in theirlives and struggled to respond adequately to the emotional demands of their multiple roles andresponsibilities. These women used their emotional reflections to clarify their goals, questionwhether they had done the right thing to enroll in graduate school, and initiate changes thatwould somehow alleviate their stress and anxiety. The findings of this study regarding theemotional demands of online learning confirm those of von Prümmer (2000): women are lesslikely to be relieved of other responsibilities such as childcare and housework when they take upstudying. As with other studies on the participation of women in adult education (Home, 1998;Moss, 2004; Oplatka & Tevel, 2006) this study highlights the disadvantaged position womenwith familial obligations find themselves in, in addition to the emotional challenges of their deci-sion to return to or enter higher education.
Keeping in mind the limitations of this small-scale, qualitative inquiry, some empirical andpolicy implications of this study can be suggested. More research on women’s emotion talk inrelation to online learning seems to be needed to inquire into how women students find success-ful mechanisms to deal with the emotional challenges of online education. Issues such as the roleof husbands in women’s efforts to cope with stress and strategies of navigating negativeemotions are some examples of future research topics. In addition, subsequent research needs tofocus on the contribution of online emotional climates in learning environments, especially foradult learners more generally. As has been shown in this study, online communication creates
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particular emotional climates in relation to various dimensions of online learning; for example,creating a supportive emotional environment that is conducive to online communication is acomponent of online learning that is worthwhile to explore. In addition, further issues that maybe investigated are: Should adult learners always be working in their comfort zone, making surethey feel comfortable with online assignments and tasks? How should online programs andteaching practices adapt in order to accommodate the emotional needs of adult learners andoptimize their motivation?
This study also offers policy implications for adult learners in online education, particu-larly in terms of addressing the gender inequalities that are perpetuated through new forms ofeducation (see Grigar, 1999; Kramarae, 2001). Taking into account the emotional processesmature women (and men) undergo to participate in new forms of education, universitiesought to discuss these implications for women’s development. Furthermore, they shouldconsider how to help women cope successfully with the emotional challenges of dealing withmultiple roles and responsibilities (Furst-Bowe & Dittmann, 2001). Also, adult educatorscould use the emotional experiences of mature women students (and of men too) to enrichcritical reflexivity on emotional and psychological issues, discourses, and conversationsassociated with studying online. All in all, this study shows that there is a lot to be gainedfrom further considering how adult learners talk about their emotions as they learn how tobecome online learners.
Notes1. Pseudonyms are used throughout this article.2. The use of the plural – emotional climates – is purposive and emphasizes the multiple relationships that
are involved between members of a group (de Rivera, 1992). That is, there are many emotionalclimates within a social group, without assuming that all of these climates are equal; it is possible thatunder some conditions a hegemonic emotional climate prevails over others.
Notes on contributorMichalinos Zembylas is assistant professor of education at the Open University of Cyprus. His researchinterests are in the areas of curriculum theory and philosophy of education, and his work focuses onexploring the role of emotion and affect in curriculum and pedagogy.
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