Is boredom contagious ? Examining transmission from instructor to student

It is not uncommon to hear university students complain about boring classes. The negative effects of boredom, which are at times larger than that of anxiety, have resulted in a concerted effort from researchers to identify causes of learners’ boredom and recommend strategies to mitigate this emotion. However, the research has overlooked the possibility that emotions may be transmitted from instructors to their students. In other words, students may “catch” boredom if their instructors are themselves bored. For instructors boredom may be present in the planning, delivery, or even grading of a course. The purposes of our study are (1) to measure instructors’ causes of boredom, (2) to examine the extent boredom is transmitted from instructors to students, and (3) to develop a pamphlet offering strategies to instructors to mitigate their own boredom in hopes of reducing student boredom. Project/Research Description Given an emphasis on skilled labour in Canadian job market, more people seek postsecondary education than ever before. The University of Alberta is not exempt from this trend. Currently there are 35,102 full time students enrolled at U of A compared to 27,961 in the fall of 2001. Although the University of Alberta reports some of the smallest class sizes among major Canadian Universities, this increase in student number and diversity still has an impact on instructors and their teaching. As one solution to this, the Centre for Teaching and Learning provides tips, resources, and presentations designed to help instructors enhance student engagement. However, one key aspect that is often overlooked in this equation is instructor emotionality and, particularly, how an emotion is transmitted from instructors to their students. Evidence is accumulating that emotions are contagious in class. For instance secondary teachers’ enjoyment influenced their students’ perception of enthusiasm in teaching and their own experience of enjoyment (Frenzel et al., 2009). The transmission of a given emotion is based not only on facial expression (e.g., smile) but also on demeanour shown and paralanguage displayed during instruction. Students may pair these subtle instructor cues with other pieces of “emotional evidence” such as whether or not time and care has been taken in preparing slides, lectures, and assignments, punctuality, and interest in students to figure out their instructors’ feelings about the course. In other words, students quickly pick up both obvious and subtle cues about their teacher’s emotion, which in turn influence their own emotionality and attitude toward the class. To our knowledge, only positive emotions have been shown to transmit from teachers to students (Frenzel et al., 2009), whereas, exploration into the transmission of negative emotions, such as boredom, has been overlooked. Boredom. One negative emotion that seems to plague large classes is boredom. Boredom is described as an unpleasant emotion that makes it seem as if time is standing still and it is accompanied by a desire to escape the situation (Pekrun et al., 2010). This negative emotion, usually extending from appraisals of low control and value, causes a downward spiral effect on university students’ engagement and achievement (Daniels et al., 2009). Unfortunately, some of our previous research with undergraduate students at U of A suggests that at least 32% of students report feeling bored during class (Tze et al., 2014). However, students do not get bored in a vacuum: One has to question if they are “catching” this boredom from their instructors. Although Stupnisky and his colleagues (2014) found that levels of boredom for teaching among untenured faculty members were quite low this was for teaching in general and not a specific course. It is possible that more senior faculty members or contract sessional instructors may report higher levels of boredom. And, as do students, instructors may feel more bored when teaching large introductory-level courses than when teaching specialized advanced courses that they perceive as a better fit to their expertise (Jaschik, 2013; Massy, Wilger, & Colbeck, 1994). Daschmann et al. (2011) proposed eight precursors to boredom: monotony, lack of meaning, opportunity costs, being over-challenged, being under-challenged, lack of involvement, teacher dislike, and generalized boredom. Students’ appraisals of these precursors are likely based on instructional practices. For example, monotony would be due to instructors delivering repetitive learning materials or giving lectures with slides packed with text. Working backwards, the instructor would be responsible for the instructional practices that are assessed by students as a possible source of boredom. Thus, from the instructor perspective boredom regarding a particular class may begin during course design and preparation, show up during actual instruction, and even persist in the final grading stages. This gives students ample opportunities to notice their instructor’s boredom and to “catch” this boredom themselves. It also provides TLEF Proposal by Daniels, L. M. & Tze, V. M. C. 3 3 ample opportunities to intervene with instructors and transmissible elements, which can stop the ripple effect of boredom. The Proposed Project: Is Boredom Contagious? We have three main objectives in this proposed research. First, we will adapt the precursors to boredom scale for use with faculty members rather than students keeping in mind that boredom can be experienced in the planning, delivery, and grading phases of instruction. Second, we will examine the extent to which boredom is transmitted from instructors to students. Third, we will develop a pamphlet highlighting that emotions can be transmitted and offering instructors strategies to mitigate their own boredom in hopes of reducing student boredom. Below we articulate the research method, procedure, participants, and analyses associated with each objective. Instructors’ Causes of Boredom: Scale Revision According to Daschmann et al. (2011), there are eight main causes of boredom, seven of which are directly related to instructors. We will adapt this measurement tool from the student perspective to the instructor perspective. Specifically, we will shift the focus from learning in class to teaching (see table below for examples). To assess the appropriateness of the revised scales we will use a think-aloud research design with 3-5 faculty members about the adapted questionnaire. According to Charters (2003), a think-aloud method provides trustworthy information about the thinking processes of participants and can confirm the integrity of the new items. It will also potentially identify additional causes not captured by the student scale. Thinkaloud sessions will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed so that participants’ perspectives can be formally linked to the revised questionnaire items. Cause of Boredom Existing Student Perspective Revised Instructor