When emotions enhance students' engagement in e-learning processes

Recently, a growing body of literature has shown the importance of emotions in e-learning processes by pointing out their effect on academic achievement. Nevertheless, within innovative teaching models, the affective-behavioral notion of engagement has been neglected. The aim of the present pilot study is to analyse the experienced emotions by students within different e-learning contexts (chats with teacher, private group discussions, forum threads and content activities) and understand their possible relation with students’ engagement. Our results point out that when e-learners experience positive emotions across synchronous learning activities (chats with teachers and among students) the engagement dimensions of affective relevance and participation significantly increase. Further, we found that negative emotions play a central role during the interactive activities with teacher, as performing these learning tasks can be a first warning of an insufficient preparation. Therefore the study demonstrates the importance for an e-teacher to regulate students’ negative emotions experienced across the e-learning activities, as they can negatively influence both affective and behavioural dimensions of engagement.