Abstract:

One of the priority areas in our educational institution is the improvement of the teaching model adapted to our students. Emotional learning is a process that promotes personal development as a complement to cognitive and academic development. Emotions play a fundamental role in the learning process and can significantly influence academic performance and the overall well-being of our students. We have used the Reflect platform from Office365 to assess the emotions of our third-year students in the "Introduction to Animal Production" course of the Veterinary degree at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University. The course has 350 national and international students who receive instruction in Spanish starting from the third year. One of the parts of the curriculum that seems most challenging to students is the section on solving genetic selection indexes. Every year, we emphasize that they should not give up after the first few days of class and encourage them to attend classes regularly. However, the reality is that many students drop out of the course. With the idea of being able to detect these students, we decided to use the tool provided by Office365. This platform allows students to respond to questions or prompts created by the teacher using emojis of the "feeling monster." These emojis reflect emotions in a simple and interesting way for students who are accustomed to using them on social media. Many students find it difficult to express their emotions in words due to shyness or language barriers that prevent them from expressing themselves. At the end of each class, students were asked to answer the question: "How do you feel today?" The responses were analyzed, and in cases where students responded with negative feelings (frustration, fatigue, etc.), the teacher provided support or recommendations on how to cope with those feelings. Our students' reflections are recorded on the platform, and they can be viewed collectively or individually, providing direct information about what is happening in the class. Student participation was voluntary. A total of 118 messages were sent in response to these reflections. When teachers show empathy and understanding toward students' emotions, they strengthen the relationship between them. A mutual trust has been created in which students have felt more comfortable and have shared their concerns, seeking help when needed. In teacher surveys and in the messages exchanged, students have expressed their gratitude for this initiative. By using this tool, teaching strategies can be adapted to keep students engaged and motivated. When a student feels frustrated or overwhelmed, they are less likely to actively engage in the learning process. Identifying these emotions early allows us to intervene and provide additional support, as well as enabling personalized learning and preventing course dropouts. Understanding individual emotions allows us to adjust and provide additional resources or more detailed explanations according to each student's needs, all of which promote more effective and meaningful learning. Similarly, we could implement strategies for managing anxiety or create a supportive classroom environment, strengthening socio-emotional skills and developing resilience. With all of this, we could achieve an optimization of learning that significantly could improve academic performance and contributes greatly to the holistic development of our students.

Keywords:

Emotions, learning, emojis.