Emotions in The Virtual Classroom: Understanding The Role of Emotional Intelligence Amidst Covid-19 Blues

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been known to play an important role in teaching for long. Interactions, teaching environment, and emotional responses of students and instructors all have a demonstrable, complex interplay which spills over to behaviour. Particularly predictive and powerfully pattern-inducing in this regard, are emotional responses to events in the external environment. COVID-19 was a critical disruption in the teaching environment on account of its far-reaching effects over the modes and contents of instruction. Thus, there is a clear and present need to connect the emotional responses among students and instructors due to COVID-19 with the practice and interactions occurring during teaching. The authors present a narrative analysis based on qualitative inputs from instructors in a graduate course setting to find the effects of emotional responses to COVID-19 on teaching virtually. The authors bring in the concept of EI to explain the observations made from the analysis. The conclusions drawn are of direct and immediate importance for the future of teaching and learning in times of disruptions such as COVID-19. The study contributes by updating the knowledge base on emotion management in the classroom on the one hand, while adding to newer streams of research on virtual classroom settings and disruption-induced changes in teaching on the other hand. Some significant directions for praxis of business are also included.

Citation

Sharma, A. and Bhargava, S. (2023), "Emotions in The Virtual Classroom: Understanding The Role of Emotional Intelligence Amidst Covid-19 Blues", Kumar, P., Culham, T.E., Major, R.J. and Peregoy, R. (Ed.) Honing Self-Awareness of Faculty and Future Business Leaders: Emotions Connected with Teaching and Learning, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 211-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-349-920231013