Towards a Framework for Developing the Emotional Intelligence of Secondary School Students Through the Use of VLEs

Abstract

Although increasingly schools are using Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) to teach students and society now understands the importance of Emotional Intelligence, the VLEs currently installed in schools can be said to be 'emotionally unintelligent' and do not help to inspire and encourage students to become emotionally self-aware, empathetic and responsible citizens. Meanwhile, designing a VLE that is emotionally intelligent and consequently responsive to students' emotional and academic needs remains a challenge for both developers and educators. By adopting a process of inductive reasoning, this study draws upon the perceptions of 150 students, 35 teachers and 5 learning support assistants (LSAs) from one secondary school in London (United Kingdom) as well as 2 VLE Content Developers, to propose a framework which, it is argued, can support teachers in helping their students to develop both Emotional Intelligence and academic abilities. Data collection methods used included semi-structured interviews, questionnaires as well as staff and students' focus groups. 5 approaches towards validation (contextbased, theory-based, criterion-related, response and consequential) are used to enhance the credibility of findings. Primarily, this paper aims to stimulate thinking and consequently knowledge that will lead to the design of VLEs that emphasise and capture the emotional dynamics of classrooms and society.