Presentation given to Laureate Online Education/University of Liverpool Faculty Conference, July 2013 by Eileen Kennedy and Morag Gray.

1. LAUREATE ONLINE EDUCATION /
UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
FACULTY CONFERENCE
A case study of online students’
affective responses to technology
Eileen Kennedy & Morag Gray

2. 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?

3. 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

4. Existing Research
Emotions online
emotional language (Gilmore & Warren, 2007)
shame; embarrassment; enthusiasm; excitement;
anger, discomfort, anxiety; apprehension
aloneness, 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

5. 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)

6. 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)

7. 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

8. Using Jing for feedback
An example of
using Jing for
feedback
This 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 responses
Evaluating the extent to which
screencasting may offer best practice

12. Any Questions?