What if you received an email from a student expressing:

“My assignment is late "

Do you interpret this as:

“My bad. I accept the consequences.”

“Oops, please let me submit it and don’t penalise me.”

“I am so devastated. I don’t know what to do.”

In this instance, the emoji changes the tone of the message, and then the intention of the communication becomes unclear. The use of the emoji opens up a pandora’s box of interpretations and misinterpretations.

Emojis are widely used by students in many aspects of their lives, and are typically seen as a shortcut in communication. They can be used as modifiers of the intent of the text to capture emotions and experiences.

The increasing availability of emojis for students to use for communication in emails, learning management systems and chats, gives educators the perception that they can quickly gauge student emotions. However, the ‘meaning’ of emojis are not universally understood, and so rather than helping students to communicate, their use of emojis may be hindering clear communication.

We need to consider, are emojis appropriate in communications between students and educators? Students may want to communicate ‘something’, but do not have the vocabulary, skillset or confidence to do this using words alone. An emoji could bridge that gap, but this practice may be fraught with danger. For example, if a student is trying to express a serious state of emotion and would benefit from referral to support services, we are in danger of missing this valuable opportunity if the intent or interpretation of their communication is unclear. We therefore suggest that if the intent of a message relies on the interpretation of an emoji, to follow up with the student, to make sure that you are picking up what they are putting down.

Overuse of emojis may disadvantage students who rely on the use of screen readers and this would hinder accessibility. Imagine the screen reader verbalises a message

“Congratulations ‘party popper’ ‘party popper’ exclamation mark on submitting your page with curl full stop”

“You have worked hard this semester ‘flexed biceps’ full stop”

“Before you take the watch to rest and recover comma please take the opportunity to pen the student survey folded hand full stop”

Not only does it break the flow of the writing when emojis are within a sentence, but important context is also lost where emojis have replaced text. This can also be off-putting for the reader, and may contribute to student disengagement. On a final note, we must use caution in our use and interpretations of emojis when communicating with students as each student may interpret the emoji differently, with consideration needed for factors such as neurodiversity, cultural backgrounds, and generational differences.

At this stage, the key take away is to use and read emojis with caution. Whilst students do frequently use emojis in their communications with teachers, their meaning and use can be ambiguous. An emoji can be benign, be a simple flamboyance at the end of a statement, or it can mask the distress a student is trying to convey but cannot, or chooses not to write, in words. With this in mind, it is important that we seek clarification and confirm the meaning of student communications, to be open to a variety of meanings being represented by an emoji, and to ensure that our messaging to students is also clear. We are currently exploring if face emojis can reliably represent first-year student’s emotions, at an Australian university (hint – they cannot). Stay tuned.

Blog Authors:

- Dr Nicole Reinke
- Dr Eva Hatje
- Dr Mary Kynn