Contemplating the Emotional Component of Learning

Abstract

This article provides a discursive exploration of emotion and learning, each dependent on the other and intertwined. No firm conclusions are reached, but light is shed on the view that learning is an emotional experience as well as an intellectual one, and that learning can be enhanced and hampered by the learner's emotional health. The emotion-laden examples come from students studying for an MBA at a university in south-east England. As part of their assessed work, students are required to submit an appendix which discusses the learning attained during the process of doing the research and writing the piece of work. The learning itself connects new knowledge about the material subject matter of the programme with knowledge about themselves as students, managers and human beings. What emerges are the emotions and feelings involved when undertaking an MBA.