The Emotionally Intelligent Online Tutor

Effective Tutoring in Blended and Distance Learning Environments

Andrew Youde

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367338534
• eBook ISBN: 9781000047950
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Emotionally Intelligent Online Tutor foregrounds the tutor within online and blended learning environments, and focusses on desirable skills, qualities and attributes for effective tutoring. It analyses these qualities in relation to prominent psychological constructs, such as emotional intelligence, and the exploration of their value in practice.

This book is focussed on the tutoring of adult learners undertaking study within higher education, commonly on a part-time basis whilst studying vocationally relevant degree programmes. However, the contents are applicable and generalisable to those tutoring within informal environments, such as Massive Open Online Courses. Prominent social constructivist models of e-learning are critiqued with alternative actions provided for tutors now practicing in a digital age. The book provides a conceptual model that represents an interpretation of effective practice in a blended learning context.

This book will be of great interest for academics, scholars and postgraduate students in the field of education and for e-tutors delivering online and blended courses. Furthermore, it will be useful for those undertaking teacher training, psychology and counselling courses.

Chapter 1

E-tutoring

Introduction and context

Starting points and purpose

The twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion of information technologies, which have presented unprecedented opportunities and challenges in all spheres of economic and social life. This has been particularly the case in the field of education where both formal and informal teaching and learning have been transformed through the introduction and exponential growth of online and blended learning environments. New modes of knowledge production and access to knowledge are changing the roles of teachers and learners in ways which can be seen as both exciting and daunting, as full of potential, but at the same time laden with important questions, which can lead to tensions associated with the need to development new skills and, indeed, new ways of thinking and working. This book seeks to foreground the tutor in these teaching and learning contexts, and focusses on desirable skills, qualities and attributes for effective e-tutoring. It applies a unique analysis of these factors in relation to prominent psychological constructs, particularly emotional intelligence (EI), and offers an exploration of their value in practice. EI and its role in teaching and learning has been rarely discussed in appropriate depth, particularly when considering academics and their interactions with learners. In essence, this book considers effective ‘e-tutoring’, broadly defined as teaching, supporting, managing and assessing those students engaged in online or blended programmes of study.

Notions of effective tutors and tutoring within this context have a range of extant understandings within educational discourses. For example, a managerialistic ideologically driven perspective may view effectiveness by analysing key educational metrics, such as student achievement, retention and employability, whereas an economistic perspective may consider profitability. When exploring effective tutoring in a distance education context, Jelfs, Richardson, and Price (2009) considered tutor and student perspectives, and this book draws on a range of empirical sources and theorisations rooted in such similar empirical research to discuss notions of effectiveness in online and blended learning. However, the boundaries between ideological views are blurred regarding ‘effectiveness’ as, for example, managerialistic perspectives commonly draw on measures of student satisfaction to judge quality.

Although the focus of this book is on EI in the context of e-tutoring and learning within UK higher education (HE), the implications of the results are potentially much wider. Good teaching practices are generally context specific (Stronge, 2002), and what follows is a critical discussion of effective practice and related influences within online and blended learning environments. Conclusions are drawn with the aim of enhancing the recruitment, selection, training and development of those tutors with a role which involves e-tutoring (see Chapter 9), as well as to encourage further thought and debate on its nature and related issues. As Wheeler (2007, p. 116) notes, “the future success of blended learning will rely heavily on technology-mediated communication, but even more on the skills and knowledge of responsive tutors”. More recently, the fields of ‘big data’, ‘data science’ and, especially, ‘data analytics’ have grown substantially, and together with artificial intelligence (AI) and the increasing use of digital algorithms, these hold massive implications for the practice of e-tutoring. At the heart of these developments are people, (tutors, learners and associated professionals), who are faced with unprecedented opportunities to access knowledge. At the same time, there are previously unknown challenges which arise mainly from forms of ‘24/7’ workload intensification with the potential to impact negatively on mental health and welfare. Added to these are ethical dangers arising from digital ‘footprints’ and the emergence of surveillance cultures that rest at levels below the formal progress monitoring normally associated with academic accreditation systems.

This book focusses on the tutoring of adult learners engaged in part-time (PT) study for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees related to their employment. They generally choose PT study as they require flexibility with many seeking higher-level vocational awards for career enhancement (Holley & Oliver, 2010). In my experience, these learners tend to be well motivated but have often not studied in a formal educational environment for some time and they can lack academic confidence. There are often specific difficulties that are faced by such learners, particularly regarding the influence of events within their daily lives, together with the pressures of demanding employment regimes (Creanor, 2002; Holley & Oliver, 2010). However, they tend to understand clearly what they want to achieve from their studies (Biesta, 2005; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2015). Increasingly, universities are developing delivery models to meet their needs (Beetham, 2012, p. 8) with a greater use of online learning and e-tutoring, together with an increasing number of blended learning delivery patterns. University tutors' roles have been changing to meet these challenges (Dykman & Davis, 2008, p. 159), but the adaption of their pedagogy to this context can be difficult as related training is often unavailable or difficult to access (Guasch, Alvarez, & Espasa, 2010), which can result in negative teaching and learning experiences.

When tutoring in online contexts, teaching, learning and communication media are commonly asynchronous. A range of theories, models are available to advise tutors and associated professionals how to approach teaching within this context (see Chapter 7), but there is little written about who can deliver effective practice in both online and blended learning environments, and the skills, competences and attributes that they should either acquire or possess. This book takes steps to address this gap in understanding of this area.

The e-tutors' competences and skills outlined throughout this study are generalisable to informal online learning contexts outside educational institutions. Within formal HE contexts, learners tend to be motivated by a need to be successful in assessments and to gain accredited qualifications: this is different from e-tutoring on informal courses, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), where a general interest in a topic area normally drives study. However, on such courses, non-completion rates can be high (see The Current E-tutoring Context section for a further discussion of MOOCs). The conclusions and guidance within this book regarding tutor competences and skills are rooted in practices on formal courses leading to recognised awards, but they will have salience for e-tutors teaching and supporting learners in informal environments.

E-tutoring is of particular interest to me as a former blended learning student, as leader of a blended learning course and as manager of a university department that offers a range of such programmes. Each of these roles provided insight into practices within online and blended learning contexts and how tutors' behaviours influenced student learning and motivation. Electronic communications do not have the benefit of body language, facial expression or tone of voice to aid the receiver's understanding, with messages often taken literally. Attempts at humour can be misinterpreted as sarcasm or derision. Tutor competence in this area is important and needs to go beyond technical proficiency to include empathy to enable a successful learner experience (Barker, 2002; Youde, 2016).

Once I began teaching adult learners in blended contexts, the importance of appropriately responding to these students as they managed the challenges of study, work and their personal life became increasingly apparent. One particular incident remains significant. On the course in question, students were encouraged to get in contact if they were unsure about aspects of their study or university life more generally. One student e-mailed a tutor to ask a question about their studies, with the tutor's response being – “I don't have time for this, do you know how much work I have to do at the minute?” The student was devastated by this and contacted me immediately in a distressed state. What was apparent to me was not only the loss of trust that the learner had experienced but also the power of the written word. Such negative expression towards the student in written form had a damaging effect on their confidence. In contrast, I have frequently had the pleasure of hearing about a number of complimentary e-mails written to learners by tutors, which they have re-read and taken inspiration from when they were struggling. It is the understanding of this phenomenon; the motivational and demotivational actions an online tutor can take, which this study seeks to explore. Learning at a distance from tutors and peers is challenging, and this book aims to analyse theory and practice that can help to address the issues which can arise.

Salmon (2011, p. 104) expressed the view that EI and the ability to influence others are necessary attributes when tutoring online. She particularly emphasised the importance of tutor self-awareness and interpersonal sensitivity. However, her opinion was not based on empirical evidence. Both Mortiboys (2005) and Corcoran and Tormey (2012) argue that teacher training courses should focus on pedagogy with a brief discussion of subject expertise, and that EI should be considered when developing trainees. Mortiboys (2005) outlines two goals for tutors in relation to the development of EI in educational contexts:

• to be able to recognise and respond to the feelings of both yourself and your learners in the classroom, in order to make you both more effective in your respective roles
• to encourage an emotional state in your learners that is conducive to learning (Mortiboys, 2005, p. 8).

Whilst these goals refer to classroom-based teaching, they are pertinent to online and blended learning environments but are difficult to achieve given the limited face-to-face interaction these contexts afford. Mortiboys (2005) outlined numerous activities to develop teachers' emotional competence (EC) in face-to-face settings, which he felt would improve performance; however, they had limited relevance for online contexts. Lopes, Salovey, and Straus (2003), in their study of emotion regulation and the quality of social interactions, found those with higher EI reported more positive interactions and relations with other people. On the face of it, these are valuable outcomes for teaching contexts. In her earlier work, Salmon (2002, p. 150) gave practical examples of how tutor emotional competences might be developed, such as through the use of capital letters and emoticons, but, again, there was no evidence provided for the link between EC and tutor quality.

To explore effective e-tutors and e-tutoring, particularly through an EI lens, the book is structured as follows. Chapter 2 presents compelling evidence to explore EI for tutors operating within online and blended learning environments. This, further justifies the book's overall purpose and, in particular, the choice of theories and competences unpinning the analyses throughout. Chapters 3 and 4 critically examine prominent theorisations of EI and suggest competences that appear valuable for online and blended tutors. Chapter 5 considers the needs of adult learners and, in particular, their learning preferences in the digital age, while Chapter 6 examines prominent theorisations in distance education discourses to argue that tutor EC underpins their effective implementation in practice. Chapter 7 considers effective teaching and learning within online and blended contexts with Chapter 8 developing this discussion by presenting a range of empirical sources regarding tutor competences, skills and beliefs that appear to enhance practice. Throughout Chapters 4 to 8, the book suggests aspects of theoretical triangulation (Denzin, 1970) within distance education and the EI-related academic literature, and the growing body of empirical work around online e-tutor competences. In light of the discussion of effective e-tutors and e-tutoring alr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 E-tutoring: Introduction and context
• 2 Emotional intelligence and its value for tutors 
in higher education
• 3 The utility of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional 
Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) for identifying effective 
tutors in online and blended learning contexts
• 4 Emotional intelligence: Trait-based models and their 
utility for tutors in online and blended learning contexts
• 5 Motivation and the adult learner in online and blended 
learning environments
• 6 Analysis of prominent distance education theorisations 
to explore developing relations in online and blended 
learning
• 7 Effective teaching in online and blended learning 
environments
• 8 E-tutor competences, skills and beliefs
• 9 Developing effective e-tutors
• 10 Emotionally intelligent tutoring
• 11 Emotionally intelligent tutors and tutoring: 
A summary and concluding thoughts
• Appendix 1 An andragogical model for adult learners 
studying in blended learning contexts
• Appendix 2 Course Experience Questionnaire
• Appendix 3 Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ)
• Index