Emotions in response to teaching online: Exploring the factors influencing teachers in a fully online university

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to understand the emotions associated with the experience of teaching online in an online university and the factors that influence these emotions. A total of 965 online teachers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (www.uoc.edu) were surveyed. Three emotions linked to teaching online were identified: satisfaction, relief and pleasure. Multiple regression analyses were used to make inferential judgments and test the effects of the teachers’ demographic and professional variables. Findings suggest that satisfaction is associated with the instructional design and learning support roles and with the knowledge building approach (KBA); relief is inversely related to the content acquisition approach; and pleasure is linked to variables such as academic background and amount of online teaching hours, as well as the KBA. The practical implications of these results are discussed.

Abbreviations: UOC: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya; KMO: Kaiser-Meyer Olkin; PCA: Principal component analysis; KBA: Knowledge building approach; CAA: Content acquisition approach; CLA: Collaborative learning approach; SIR: Social interaction role; IDR: Instructional design role; TUR: Technology use role; LAR: Learning assessment role; LSR: Learning support role

KEYWORDS:

• Emotions in teaching online
• approaches to teaching online
• teacher roles in teaching online
• online learning environments
• fully online university

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of a larger research project entitled ‘The development of the professional identity of university teachers by means of personal thoughts about critical incidents’ (PANIC, in Catalan), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (EDU2010-15211).

Notes on contributors

Antoni Badia

Antoni Badia is an associate professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the Open University of Catalonia, and member of the SINTE research group. He is the director of the master’s degree: Improving the quality of teaching in Childhood and Primary Education (UVic-UOC). His current research interests include teacher learning, teacher identity, technology-enhanced learning, and online learning environments.

Consuelo Garcia

Consuelo Garcia is a professor of education and technology at the International University of La Rioja and director of the grades of Early Childhood and Primary Education. Her research interests are focused on the development of informational competencies and computer-supported collaborative learning.

Julio Meneses

Julio Meneses is an associate professor of Research Methods at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences (Open University of Catalonia) and researcher at the GenTIC research group (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute). His current research interests lie in survey design and multivariate analysis, digital inequality, higher education students’ dropout and retention, and the use of technology by children and young people.