Focus. This inquiry conceptualises emotions in higher education as 'emotions-as-practices', challenging conventional perceptions of emotions as internal states and approaching them as dynamic, relational and distributed phenomena.
Background/context. Emotions significantly influence educational experiences by impacting motivation, engagement, belonging, and the collective atmosphere of educational institutions. Despite their centrality, the subjective and transient nature of emotions presents research challenges. This paper proposes to address these challenges by exploring emotions as socially distributed phenomena within higher education.
Description. This inquiry conceptualises 'emotions-as-practices', building on Scheer's (2012) work on emotional practices and Wilkinson’s (2021) theorisation of emotions in practice. It proposes employing the Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA) (Kemmis, 2022) to approach emotions not solely as internal feelings but as entangled actions, discourses, and relationships, thereby transcending the individualistic perspectives and illuminating the collective nature of emotions. This approach is critical for physical and digital learning environments to capture the construction, communication, and manifestation of emotions.
Methods. Utilising practitioner inquiry (Wall, 2018) and TPA, the paper proposes a multi-dimensional approach to study emotions, focusing on 'doings', 'sayings', and 'relatings' (Kemmis, 2022). These elements serve as anchors to explore the socially distributed perspective of emotions in higher education. The approach integrates qualitative methods, such as literature review and critical reflections, to capture the nuanced and fluid nature of emotions in ever-evolving and relational learning environments.
Evidence. The practitioner inquiry demonstrates how TPA advances understanding of emotions-as-practices in higher education. It offers insights into how emotions are practised and managed, providing a nuanced conceptualisation of theorising emotions that highlights active, discursive, and relational aspects.
Contribution. This research contributes a novel conceptualisation to the study of emotions in higher education, offering a multi-dimensional approach that emphasises the active, discursive, and relational nature of emotions.
Engagement. Mentimeter and prompting questions will be used to engage the audience.