E-Teaching in E-Workplaces: The Affective Nexus

Abstract

This article outlines a small-scale phenomenological study of e-teachersâ?? experience of feelings about and while discharging professional responsibilities in online workplaces. Findings indicate that e-teachersâ?? consciousness of positive feelings is associated with enhanced self-perception of well-being and increased engagement in e-teaching, but that e-teachers are also conscious of feelings of disempowerment, isolation, vulnerability and frustration about and while working in e-workplaces and that those feelings impact detrimentally their sense of self as e-teachers, their participation in e-courses, their choice of e-teaching strategies, their interactions with e-learners and their self-efficacy as e-teachers. This suggests an affective nexus in being e-teachers and interacting as e-teachers. The significance of this affective nexus for e-teachersâ?? learning and continuing professional development is identified, and implications for those charged with overall responsibility for management of workplace conditions, workplace culture and employee well-being, as well as employee learning and professional development, are presented.