Exploring students’ emotional experiences on a 7-day outdoor personal development course: investigating emotional dynamics across different programme elements

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emotions influence the process of personal development and are an important factor in learning. Reflecting on and understanding one’s emotions within an experiential personal development course can contribute to self-knowledge and future professional growth as leisure educators. This study maps the emotions experienced by the participants on a 7-day residential outdoor course conducted in the Czech Republic. The research group was composed of 18 students aged 19–22 years. Participants documented a wide range of emotions though self-reflective recording sheets, with joy, peace, and ecstasy being the predominant ones. Positive emotions were prevalent in the respondents’ accounts. The intensity of the experience was noted as strong to very strong in nearly half of the programme elements. The study tracks the progression of emotional intensity throughout the course and identifies the programme elements in which participants experienced emotions most profoundly. The significance of self-reflection on emotions during the course is discussed, along with suggested recommendations for effectively engaging with emotions in practice.