CyberSurfiver: Affective considerations of `surviving\' online learning

Abstract

This article concentrates on the role that affective learning plays in e-learning.
Understandably, personal contact is minimal in online learning so the question
arises: How do students cope with the lack of personal contact? The purpose of this
study was to explore and interpret the participants\' affective experiences in an
online learning environment. The basis for the study was a master\'s course
presented entirely online for a period of six weeks. The style of the internationally
acclaimed reality television game show, Survivor#, was used as a guiding format
for developing the course. The game was played in cyberspace; and as the learning
experiences of participants were based on surfing the Web, the game was called
CyberSurfiver. The nature of the interaction between the participants and their
feelings throughout the game were monitored and recorded by reading their emails.
Once the course was completed, two focus group interviews were held to
discuss the feelings participants experienced during the course. The findings were
then compared to Krathwohl\'s taxonomy of the affective domain. Kort and Reilly\'s
model on the integration of affect served as an instrument to measure the affective
responses and development of the participants throughout the course.

South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (3) 2007: pp.429-442