LAUREATE ONLINE EDUCATION /UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOLFACULTY CONFERENCE

A case study of online students’ affective responses to technology

Eileen Kennedy & Morag Gray

Motivations: The embodied experience of online learning

What does it feel like to learn online?

What does feedback feel like?

How does technology mediate feelings and feedback?

Aims of the study

Understand the prevalence and significance of students’ affective responses to technology within an online educational environment

Evaluate the affective impact of employing screencasting technology to deliver feedback to students within an online enviroment

Existing Research

Emotions onlineemotional language (Gilmore & Warren, 2007) shame; embarrassment; enthusiasm; excitement;

anger, discomfort, anxiety; apprehensionaloneness, anonymity, nonverbal communication,

trepidations and unknowns Reilly et al. (2012: 101)

Zembylas (2008) argued that it was important to consider the social and cultural contexts of the learners

Affect & the Body Online

The embodied experience that exists prior to cognitive recognition and representation (e.g. as a particular emotion)

Our emotions are drawn from “within the affective states in which we already find ourselves” (Grossberg, 1992: 81)

Online communication immerses us in feedback loops that characterize “constant-contact media addiction” (Zaitchik, cited in Dean, 2010: 97)

Kazan (2007) advises us that we should become “hyper-readers” who actively listen to the other’s bodily responses online: “there is always more than what we see on the screen, more than can be contained in those typed words” (Kazan, 2007: 266)

Feedback

Complex process (Pokorny & Pickford, 2011)Not always understood because of students’

relationship with academic discourse (Ivanic et al., 2000)

Entailing increased feeling of inferiority and insecurity (Brown, 2007)

Written summative feedback not always most useful

Student-tutor dialogue important (Beaumont et al., 2011)

Podcasts & Video Podcasts

Savin-Baden (2010) Pros & Cons of Podcasting Assignment Feedback (PAF)

Screencasting might overcome cons (Mann, Wong, & Park, 2009)

Procedure:• Mark up essay;• Record screen + voice over comments • Send via weblink

Using Jing for feedback

An example of using Jing for feedbackThis feedback was created for the purpose of this presentation, but for authenticity’s sake, based on the feedback I gave on an undergraduate student’s essay on a course entitled “Gender and Sport”

http://screencast.com/t/2A5j0UA6

Research design – 3 stages

An online survey will elicit the past experiences of affective responses whilst studying online;

Screencasting technology will be introduced to feedback on one assessed piece of work;

Subsequently 10 interviews will be conducted via Skype

Data Analysis

Online Survey will be subjected to descriptive statistical analysis

Skype interviews will be recorded with the participant’s permission

Data will be transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis

Both sets of data will be used to enhance the discussion of the findings

Potential impact of the research

Harnessing the potential of technology to shape positive rather than negative affective responses Discovering which technologies and techniques create the most positive affective responsesEvaluating the extent to which screencasting may offer best practice

Any Questions?