EMOTIONS AND VIRTUALITY IN UNDERGRADUATES DURING COVID-19: CHALLENGES FOR THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

During the Covid-19 pandemic, students and teachers had to transform the teaching-learning process at all educational levels: primary, secondary, and university faced immediate virtualization, with the difficulties and scope that these modifications represented. For the present qualitative study through questionnaire, an analysis has been carried out on 77 university students; the objective is to identify the role of positive and negative emotions that arise due to the pandemic situation in university students' performance and their adaptation virtualization. The following fundamental elements were evidenced: performance is higher as students spend more time (1 year or more) in virtual classes, negative emotions allow the creation of resilience and empathy in students, positive emotions dominate the personal situation of students despite the context of uncertainty, individual emotions are successfully managed when they are discussed and shared, the design of each class session can modify the type of emotions (greater or less pressure).

According to the study carried out, two fundamental propositions can be established; first, the virtualization caused by the Covid-19 situation affects the students' emotions; second, the emotions triggered by virtualization affect the performance of students in their teaching-learning process.

Consequently, both positive and negative emotions that arise from virtualization must learn to be managed, helping the teaching-learning environment. According to this analysis, the best way to do it is to have spaces within the class sessions to communicate and share what is feels; the feeling of being heard and recognizing that all emotions are experienced individually by group members allows them to develop empathy for the feelings of the other.