Emotion and learning has only been touched on so far in the course. I think there is a recognition that this is a very important part of reflective learning and also that as tutors we might need to help students deal with their relationship between emotion and learning, but we haven't gone much further than this in our discussion.
Norman challenged me to include some reference to emotion in my definition of reflective learning and I found it very thought-provoking and difficult to include a reference in my definition that would be meaningful. I am still thinking about it.
Jenny Moon has devoted an entire chapter to emotion and learning in her book and discusses how 'learning about emotion and working with one's actual emotions can tend to become confused'. It seems to me that reflecting on learning can also become very confused by emotions. I have just seen an example of this from a participant on another course I attended recently.
A colleague and I are researching the learner experiences of e-learning on a course on which we were also participants. We are exploring the relationship between learning, community, domain, practice and technology and have just started interviewing course participants.
One of the interviewees felt she had a very negative experience on the course. What is surprising (and it shouldn't really be) is the strength and depth of her emotional response to the course. From our point of view as interviewers it has certainly affected how we feel able to approach her. From my perspective, her emotional response appears to have been so strong that she is unable to consider her learning in any form of detached way, so all her comments and responses are influence by her emotions.
I suspect it will be some time before she can detach herself from her emotions and look at the experience in a more detached way.
Now the question is - does reflective learning help you to deal with your emotional response to learning or not?
(030309) I don't think it necessarily helps you to deal with it - more it helps you to recognise it. This recognition may or may not result in changed behaviour in the future.
Source of Image: http://www.wheelerconnolly.com/photogallery/photo20592/Explosion%20of%20emotion.jpg
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