Take Emotion out

Take emotion out of learning. How often have I heard that?

 However, one of the things I continue to notice in the optional readings is that emotions are treated as a tangential component of the learning experience rather than a part of the curriculum. If you look at Dirkx's article The Power of Feelings: Emotion, Imagination, and the Construction of Meaning in Adult Learning, it discusses the way a student might feel on the first day of college (p. 64), or he discusses how a learner feels in a discussion group (p. 63). My organization as I mentioned in the discussion post above, is working to instill emotion into the curriculum and the training. We are trying to create an emotional response to ensure long-term memory development of the exercise principles and objectives. I haven't yet found an article that discusses that to the degree I was hoping. 

Yes I am still quite invigorated by the idea of our training objectives to inspire emotion through virtual reality. In Dirkx's other article, The Meaning and Role of Emotions  in Adult Learning he mentions that " emotions are intimately bound up with judgments we make, and they represent strategies for living these judgments within the world" (p. 15). We are able to inspire and emotion specific actions that our learners will take in the field we have a very real opportunity to help them understand the consequences of their actions or inactions and therefore a better chance of modifying their behavior to the better.

References:

Dirkx, J. (2008). The meaning and role of emotions in adult learning. New directions for adult and continuing education, no. 120, Winter 2008  DOI: 10.1002/ace.311

Dirkx, J. (2001). The power of feelings: emotion, imagination, and the construction of meaning in adult learning. New directions for adult and continuing education, no. 89, Spring 2001 © Jossey-Bass, A Publishing Unit of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.