Emotional Reactions to Virtualization: The Role of Stress and Empathy in Undergraduate Learning

During the pandemic, students and teachers transformed the teaching-learning process across all educational levels, facing immediate virtualization and challenges. Stressful situations, unresolved family issues, and negative emotions emerged, impacting students’ emotional management. This qualitative study analyzes responses from 77 university students, identifying that performance improves with prolonged virtual learning. Negative emotions foster resilience and empathy, while positive emotions prevail despite uncertainty. Individual emotions are better managed when shared, and class design influences emotional outcomes. The study found that virtualization affects students’ emotions, and these emotions impact their learning performance, but creating spaces for emotional expression enhances empathy and emotional management.ⁱ