Have you thought about emotional presence in our online and face-to-face classes? There seems to be an enduring sense that emotions have no place in the lofty halls of academia. Our pursuit of knowledge should be rational, detached, unaffected by such trivialities as our emotions. But I don’t think that’s right. Our emotions are a central part of our humanity. To deny them is to deny the essence of who we are. In fact, not only should we not try to separate emotional responses from learning, but we can’t, according to recent neuroscience research. Here are some ideas drawn from this article and the book “The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion” by S. Cavanagh.