“Band-aid teaching”: Exploring emergency remote teaching experiences of hospitality educators through an affective lens

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in research focusing on online education and emergency remote teaching (ERT) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one area that received limited attention is hospitality education, which traditionally relied on face-to-face teaching to develop technical and soft skills required in hospitality work. Teaching in the hospitality field involves a unique aspect of emotional work, making it imperative to delve into the experiences of educators during times of crisis. This study explores the emotional teaching experiences of hospitality educators during a significant work event: the transition to ERT. Semi-structured interviews with educators from nine hospitality institutions revealed a prevalence of negative emotions interspersed with occasional positive emotions. Explained through the lens of Affective Events Theory, the emotions were influenced by a range of personal and situational factors encompassing student-related, personal, institutional, pedagogical, and technical characteristics of the ERT transition. Moreover, the study identified the emergence of a “Band-Aid teaching” attitude and subsequent strategies used to cope with this transition. The study provides theoretical and practical insights into the emotional landscape of hospitality education that can be invaluable in managing future periods of uncertainty.