Using Self-Study Methodology to Do the Emotional Work of Improving Online Teaching and Digital Identity

In this chapter, we first establish the orientation that we take toward faculty forging, sustaining, and studying their online practice and digital identity. Second, we sketch a general portrait of higher education online teaching in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, we operationalize what faculty’s digital identity includes as it relates to their readiness to sustain and improve their online teaching and highlight the affective elements involved in such efforts. Fourth, we operationalize emotional work and its place in studying one’s online teaching and digital identity with the aim of improving them. Fifth, we then review the fundamentals of self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) methodology. Finally, we provide practical tips for using S-STEP to study and improve one’s online teaching practice and digital identity. Thus, this chapter offers a foundation from which to read the self-studies included in this book.