‘If you don't get feedback in online learning you start feeling like you're in the dark’: The potential for technology to enhance affective practice in an online Doctoral community Eileen Kennedy and Morag Gray

The project Online EdD programme 2 cohorts (24 students) Online survey Feedback by screencasting In-depth interviews with 9 students conducted by Skype

What does it feel like to learn 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) Affective practice “…affective practice often unfolds relatively automatically with little conscious monitoring... it often emerges ‘unbidden’, very quickly, too fast for the kind of thoughtful strategic planning novelists often attribute to their characters (Wetherell, 2012, p. 129).

Themes emerging from interviews Positive Progression life/work/study Integration Community interaction Multimodal feedback & communication Written feedback Negative Progression blocked No ‘real’ communication Formulaic feedback Sites of intensity: progression; community interaction; feedback

Formulaic feedback “most of us expect a formula for feedback: little bit of good feedback and then a little bit of bad feedback and then a little bit of good right at the end. Feedback sandwich” (Frank) “Well the regular stuff it's a copy and cut - everybody gets the same feedback more or less. I compared with some others” (Rosa) So looking at my feedback it is always the same sort of things” (Elise)

Multimodal feedback “I think it’s, it’s the way to fill this gap, the one I describe, not having the dialogue, I think this is wonderful and you, when the tutor is commenting and you’re listening to your tutor, you get the emotions also that the severity of, of either the mistake or something you did good, you get the emotions in the voice that you have a better idea that you know where you need to focus, what was the strength in this homework or assignment and where you really need to put more effort” (Omar)

Screencast feedback as an aid to understanding “I took it more seriously as there was a voice attached to a person and I have to say it was great when she finished off telling me how good I am doing. So it was more encouraging hearing this said as opposed to reading it. You could hear the smile in the words of encouragement” (Fiona) “I think she can lead you a lot better with the screencast… I had actually 4 or 5 minutes of someone talking through your work saying this is what I felt when I read what you have written – ‘I really like that bit; not sure you needed that bit’. This is probably more about how a reader feels about how you have done” (Elise)

Concluding thoughts  Kazan (2007) “there is always more than what we see on the screen, more than can be contained in those typed words” (Kazan, 2007: 266)  In online environments, affects circulate around sites of intensity: progression, community interaction, feedback  Careful use of multimodal communication technologies can help re-orientate affect in ways that promote learning and engagement