Education in context and the variation of moods throughout Covid-19: An emotional design perspective, using the BRUMS methodology

Abstract

The year 2020 was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, where in addition to the whole situation of the danger of the virus, it had several emotional and social impacts. As a result of this scenario, in some places – such as Brazil – higher education classes have migrated to remote spaces. It is worth to notice that the educational sector is an important sector for the market and for society, and one of its metrics for strategic decisions is the understanding of student satisfaction. In turn, emotional design aims to understand the human being from an affective perspective, beyond functional issues. In view of this, this study aims to analyze the fluctuations of students' moods in the educational context, throughout the 2020 pandemic year, in the face of various milestones of the academic cycle, through the self-report tool BRUMS (Brunel Mood Scale) from the perspective of the emotional design. In total, there were 6 data collection moments, in two educational cycles, between April and December 2020, accounting for a total of 144 responses. As a result, it was possible to perceive the fluctuation of students' moods throughout the educational cycle in the pandemic period, evidencing the tension in the test periods, the fatigue during the lockdown, the vigor in the beginning and end of the semester. Anger was the least activated mood throughout the cycle, followed by depression. It was possible to perceive that BRUMS is a tool that helps in understanding mood, throughout the service cycle, enabling decision-making and planning of more user-centered services, in addition to a greater concern in emotional aspects to, in this case, promote a better academic experience in the educational context.