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Students-Enthusiasts in Online Classes: Their Contribution To the
Educational Process
Anna Toom

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Abstract
In this work, the phenomenon of student enthusiasm was explored in a population of 47 studentsof Touro Graduate School of Education who took the author's online psychology course. The
purpose of the study was to find how students-enthusiasts differ from classmates in theircommunication style(s) reflected in group discussions on the Discussion Board (DB). The
research methodology included graphical and statistical analysis of students’ discussions. It was
found that, although the enthusiasts constituted a small part (6%) of the investigated population,
their contribution to the virtual learning environment was the greatest – they were catalyzers of
the educational process. Students-enthusiasts a) consolidated their group, transforming it from adisorganized mass without common interests to a team capable of collaboration; b) stimulated
discussions by helping their classmates to develop "a sense of community"; c) unlike others, also
competent as learners and computer users, the enthusiasts shared information with their lessknowledgeable classmates concerning various aspects of the online study. Students-enthusiasts
served as a model and support for their fellow learners and the instructor. The author concludes
that such a contribution must be appreciated and maximally used in the virtual classroom (VC)with its specifics and communicational limitations.
Keywords:teaching/learning psychology online; virtual classroom; student enthusiasm; learning
motivation; teaching motivation; communication styles.

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Introduction
Students specializing in education today are the workers of tomorrow. What kind of teachers will
the society receive? The question is not rhetorical. That professionalism and enthusiasm, whichsome instructors bring to school settings, may be observed already in their students’ years. That’s
why the study of enthusiasm in students who are current or prospective school teachers is an
important task for educational psychology.
This line of research received a new incentive in the present epoch of intensive development of
information technologies and the web-based distance education programs. The investigations ofenthusiasm in a classroom expanded to a virtual learning environment. In this work an attempt ismade to study student enthusiasm in online asynchronous classes.
Literature review: Enthusiasm in the Classroom
The word enthusiasm comes from Greek entousiasmos, Late Latin enthusiasmus, and Middle Age
French enthusiasms (Online Etymology Dictionary). It “originally referred to inspiration orpossession by the presence of God”; in modern time, however, the word actually lost its original
meaning, and is now understood rather as intense enjoyment and interest (Wikipedia).
In psychology, there is no unanimous understanding of enthusiasm. Some researchers consider itin the framework of motivational paradigm and define it as a strong motivation for achievement(Toom, 2013). Some others interpret it as an emotional condition (Frenzel, 2009). Still others see
it also as expressive behavior (Rosenshine, 1970; Kunter et al., 2008). It is likely that we are
dealing with a complicated phenomenon in which all major components of psychological
functioning interact: motivational, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. The physiologicalcomponent is also involved – it is not by chance that the term “energy” appears in thedescriptions of enthusiasm (Metcalfe & Game, 2006). In pedagogical practice, enthusiasm istypically associated with “a motivating, energetic, passionate, and dynamic teaching style” that“engages students to participate and stimulates them to explore” (Zhang, 2014). Enthusiasm isseen as a key ingredient of effective teaching.
Exploration of enthusiasm in the classroom began in the middle of the last century, if not earlier.
By today, it has been validated that teacher enthusiasm promotes students’ development andlearning (Sanders & Gosenpud, 1986; Patrick at al., 2000; Wood, 2013, Zhang, 2014; Orosz et al.,2015). Students, who learned from enthusiastic teachers, had elevated cognitive functioning suchas attention, memory, thinking, imagination, problem solving, a better comprehension ofknowledge, and higher intrinsic learning motivation and vitality. Students of enthusiastic teachers
get a chance to also become enthusiasts, so that, if they eventually pursue their careers ineducation, they will become highly desirable and valuable specialists in any school setting.
In the last two decades, the following research findings have been made about enthusiasm in theclassroom. Two aspects of enthusiasm were found: enthusiasm for the subject/topic andenthusiasm for activity/teaching (Kunter et al., 2011). Enthusiasm as a mechanism for mediating
relationships with students and stimulating positive learning outcomes was explored (Frenzel etal., 2009). An influence of student enthusiasm on teacher enthusiasm was detected: as in manyother interactions, effects are reciprocal (Stenlund, 1995). Nonverbal expressiveness as the
manifestation of an underlying teacher enthusiasm was explored (Kunter et al.,2008).Furthermore, programs were developed to train teachers to purposely express enthusiasm
to attract the students’ attention and facilitate their learning (Tauber et al., 2007). In the studies of
instructional methodology, it was found that one of the important abilities of enthusiastic teachers

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Volume III - Issue II - Summer 2015is their “descriptive and prescriptive feedback” to students’ work in online classes (Parson, 2001).
These are only some of representative and substantial findings.
Web-based distance education programs provided advanced and objective instruments forcollecting empirical data and thus created great opportunities for various studies of the virtual
learning environment. Asynchronous discussion forums in online classes became the special
focus of attention. A series of experiments for investigating the role that the online professors
might play in their students’ learning was conducted by Australian scientists.
On large statistical samples, they showed how the quantity, timing, and nature of instructor’s
posts influenced students’ participation in online discussions; the correlates of teacher enthusiasm
in students’ perceptions were identified (Mazzolini, 2002; Mazzolini & Madison, 2003; 2005).
Other researchers found that the perceived presence of an instructor is even more important thanthe perceived presence of peers in students’ satisfaction of online courses (Swan & Shih, 2005).
The critical role of an online teacher as cheerleader or motivator as well as important issues ofassessing a variety of teachers’ and students’ activities online has been discussed in the review ofthe literature regarding asynchronous discussion forums (Andersen, 2009).
Research Methodology
In this work, the student enthusiasm was explored in online psychology classes. The research
was based on the assumption that enthusiasm is a stable characteristic of an individual which
manifests itself in various social roles and activities that one has to perform. In an online
classroom, the student enthusiasm can be identified in all aspects of the course work: inindividual as well as collective studies done collaboratively with classmates. Our purpose was toexplore how students-enthusiasts differed from the classmates in their manner of leading
discussions on the DB. The author hypothesized that enthusiasm may influence students’communication style(s).
The Blackboard, a software platform for our virtual classroom, was used as an instrument ofcollecting data about discussions and discussants: all the students’ posts submitted to the DB with
their arrival time were recorded and archived in the system. The research methodology included a)statistical analysis of the students’ posts on the discussion forums, b) topological (graphical)
representation of the students’ conversations on the topics of the course subject, c) analysis of thestructure of group communications, and d) analysis of “Help me!” messages and responses.
Group discussions: content and requirements
Participation in the group discussions was one of the major activities required for the course. Fiveforums for asynchronous discussions were created on the DB. Each of them was devoted to a
psychological or educational issue related to the course topic. The students were expected torespond to a question posted by the professor and exchange opinions about it with classmates.
This activity was mandatory.
A typical question for the group discussion consisted of the following. The students were offered
the game “Name me!” and asked to identify “Which psychological functions this game can be
helpful in developing?” In this game, which is usually played at home, players sit in a circle androll a ball to each other. Two-three year old kids, if necessary, may sit between an adult's legs.
Before rolling the ball, each player looks at and says the name of the person to whom the ball isbeing rolled. If the name is said incorrectly, the player to whom the ball is being rolled should rollit back to one who made a mistake. If the name is said correctly, the game continues.

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Requirements for each out of five course discussions included: 1. Timely submission: responses
should be posted by a due date; 2. Sufficient quality: responses were expected to be substantial,
supported by the student’s personal educational experiences and/or the references found in elibraries or e-data bases; 3. Sufficient quantity: at least two responses ought to be posted for each
discussion by every student – one response to the professor and the other to any classmate; atleast two references should be provided for each discussion forum by every student.
Participants and context
Participants were students of Touro Graduate School of Education (GSE) enrolled in the
Education and Special Education degree and certificate program. Some of them had notpreviously taught, and some were already teaching and wished to increase their expertise. The
students were assigned by the college registrar’s office at random to groups of 20-25 people inwhich they learned together throughout the semester.
The study involved 47 graduate students. All of them took the author’s online psychology course
EdPs620-Child Development and Learning in Cultural Context: 20 students – in the fall semesterof 2012, and 30 students – in the fall semester of 2013. The author was the only course designer,
developer, and instructor for her groups. 36 students from the investigated population had alreadytaken online courses before at Touro College or other educational institutions and were wellfamiliar with the Black Board platform. 11 online beginners went through a preliminary training
to receive some technology skills necessary to study online. All students of the EdPs620 online
course had the skills to use basic functions of a word processor such as Word.
Prior to this research, all participants’ data were used for the author’s other study – of learning
motivation – in which highly motivated individuals or enthusiasts were identified and their
distinguishing characteristics were found. According to the results, there were three enthusiasts in
the A-group and no enthusiasts in the B-group (Toom, 2013). The students-enthusiasts differedfrom others in their learning style: they were usually ahead of the due dates for their course workand exceed all requirements of the course. Specifically, their homework was always complete,correct, and supported by references; the discussions led by them were the most informative andinteresting in the group; their final research paper and bibliography were very rich in content, so
that, no revision was needed. The students-enthusiasts differed from classmates in quantity(intensity) of their learning motivation. In addition, they performed optional activities as well as
mandatory, that is, they differed from classmates in quality of their learning motivation as well.
The students-enthusiasts had the highest motivation in the group and, unlike others, tended togive a higher priority to knowledge and curiosity than to grades.
Data Representation and Analysis
Since the Discussion Board was the only place in our online course where students could
communicate, the analysis of group discussions appeared to be especially important for
identification and understanding the distinguishing features of students-enthusiasts. Statisticalanalysis was done for quantitative evaluation of discussions, and the graphical representation ofdata was devised as the most meaningful visualized form of students’ communication styles.
Statistical analysis of group discussions
In Table 1, main data covering discussions in both groups is provided, which allows for an easiercomparison.

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From the information offered in the Table 1 follows that, firstly, in the A-group, on average, each
student submitted twice as many posts (4.7) than in the B-group (2.6). Secondly, in the A groupthe number of participants remained constant within the semester, which means that nobody
dropped the course. While in the B-group three students stopped attending before the course
completion. This data indicates that the A-group that had enthusiasts among participants,functioned differently; it had peculiar dynamics. (At least, it is one of the most natural
explanations.)
Table 1. Post Statistics per Student and per Group Basis

Forum #
(f)
1
2
3
4
5
Average

The A-group
Number Number ofof posts students
94
20
102
20
87
20
91
20
93
20

(xf)
4.7
5.1
4.4
4.6
4.7
𝑥̅ = 4.7

The B-group
Number of
posts
71
62
63
54
55

Number of(yf)
students
25
2.8
25
2.5
24
2.6
22
2.5.
22
2.5
𝑦̅ = 2.6

Note: xf= average number of posts per student in the A-group; yf= such value in the B-group; 𝑥̅ =average number of posts per student per forum in the A-group; 𝑦̅ = such value in the B-group; xf=
average number of posts per student; yf = average number of posts per student per forum; f = IDof the forum.
In order to better understand how the A-group was different, we analyzed its discussion forums in
more detail. Discussions on the branches 1 of the forums with enthusiasts were analyzed incomparison with discussions on the branches where students-enthusiasts did not participate. Thisdata is provided in the Table 2.
Table 2. A-group: Comparative Analysis of Discussions on the Branches of the Forums, with andwithout Enthusiasts
Forum #
(f)
1
2
3
4
5
Average

The average number of postsin the branches of the forum
With enthusiasts Without enthusiasts
(af)
(bf)
11.3
3.1
12.2
3.3
9.0
1.9
10.4
2.4
11.1
2.2
𝑎=10.8𝑏=2.6

The average number of participants inthe branches of the forum
With enthusiasts Without enthusiasts
(cf)
(df)
4.5
2.3
5.6
2.7
3.3
1.9
4.2
2.6
4.2
2.0
𝑐=4.4
𝑑=2.3

Note: af= average number of posts per branch where enthusiasts participated; bf = such value forbranches where enthusiasts did not participate; cf = average number of students per branch where
enthusiasts participated; df = such value for branches where enthusiasts did not participate; 𝑎 =average number of posts per branch per forum with enthusiasts; 𝑏= such value per branch per
1

In this work, a discussion forum is present as a tree; it is natural to call its parts branches. Officially, in theBlackboard system, they are called threads.

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forum without enthusiasts; 𝑐 = average number of students per branch per forum withenthusiasts;𝑑= such value per branch per forum without enthusiasts; f = ID of the forum.
It is shown that, firstly, on average, the number of posts submitted in the branches in which
students-enthusiasts participated, was 4.2 times higher than in other branches of the same forum.
Secondly, on average, the number of participants involved in discussions on branches withclassmates-enthusiasts was almost twice higher than number of participants in other branches ofthe forum. This data indicates that students-enthusiasts definitely played a significant role in all
discussions with their classmates.
Graphical representation of group discussions
The statistical analysis showed in general terms how differently the students of the A- and Bgroups participated in discussions. In addition, for the A-group, a difference was shown between
discussions in which students-enthusiasts were involved, as well as those where they were not
involved. The graphical analysis allowed discovering the group dynamics, specifically, to find a
distinction between group communications where enthusiasts did or did not participate. If the first
approach gives quantitative insight, the second approach yields some qualitative insight.
Each discussion started with the question offered by the professor (the author). According to therequirements, each student of the group responded to the question by posting his message on theforum, that is initiated a branch of the discussion for the classmates and also participated in
discussions initiated by others.
The Figure 1 shows the discussion on the forum 1 that is very typical for the A-group. It includes
twenty branches corresponding to the number of students in the class. The branches are numbered;
the numbering reflects a sequence of students’ appearance on the branch. Each branch isrepresented as a chain of disks connected by the lines. The disks are students’ posts. They arelight if posts belong to students-enthusiasts; other students’ posts are represented by filled dark
disks.
Length of the branches corresponds to the duration of the discussion which is measured in thenumber of posts. The longer the branch, the lengthier the discussion, and the more probable that it
contains a conversation that is for some reason attractive for the participants. Remarkably, thebranches where enthusiasts participate are usually the longest on the forum; exceptions are rare(branch 4).

Figure 1. A representation of the group discussion on the forum 1 in the A-group132

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Then, a structure of communication was drawn for every branch of the forum. One of them, #16,
is represented below in Figure 2. On the top, in a horizontal line, the sequence of the disks (thatshould be read from left to right) reflects the order in which the students’ posts appeared. Lettersin the disks mean students’ encoded names. The graph represents how students who visited thisbranch interacted and exchanged their opinions.

Figure 2. A representation of the discussion on the forum 1, the branch 16
The vertices of the graph shown as disks represent the students who participated in this
discussion. The lines connecting the vertices are the edges of the graph and represent students’communication. The edge may have arrows on one or both sides which mean that communication
between students was uni- or bidirectional. The number of edges between any two vertices
indicates the number of instances of the opinion exchange. One edge shows the single opinion
exchange, while two and more edges show the multiple opinion exchange which may point to theintensity of communication between the students.
Results and Discussion
Structure of group communications with and without enthusiasts
Figure 3 represents the discussion on the branch 1 initiated by a student-enthusiast code-named А.
It is a typical course discussion in which enthusiast(s) is/are involved. Here, the structure ofcommunication has two distinctive properties. Firstly, it is centered on the student-enthusiast A.
This student attracted all the attention to her ideas as if she was a magnet. Everyone on the branch
decided to exchange messages with her. In addition, she had an even lengthier conversation withthe student code-named D. Secondly, communication on this branch was mostly bidirectional,
again due to the student A, who responded to five posts out of six that she received.

Figure 3. A representation of the discussion with an enthusiast on forum 1, branch 1
Figure 4 represents the discussion on the branch 4 which was not visited by enthusiasts. It is atypical discussion in which students-enthusiasts did not participate. There is no individual133

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capable and/or desiring to lead a conversation here, so communication is not centered. The
fraction of the cases of unidirectional communication is relatively high here: half of theparticipants received responses from classmates other than those to whom they were writing. It
appears that sometimes students declared their opinions and did not care much about what otherclassmates had thought.
Comparing these different structures of group communications, we conclude that at least in thefirst case students discussed the issue with great interest. It seems that they did not feel isolated,
although some authors point to possible feelings of isolation in online classes (Rovai, 2002; Liuet al., 2007). In our study, students rather experienced a feeling of belonging. The author of thecourse (and the current study) did not make it a goal to facilitate community building in the
online environment. No team interactions for community building purposes were intentionallyarranged; it happened naturally. When working on the DB, students developed a sense ofcommunity due to the presence of enthusiasts in their virtual classroom. Influence of enthusiasm
in the virtual classroom on development of students’ sense of community was also discovered by
Korean researchers (Koh& Kim, 2003). The phenomenon appears to be culture-independent.

Figure 4. A representation of the discussion without enthusiasts on forum 1, branch 4
Characteristics of group discussions with and without enthusiasts
A-group
The branches where students-enthusiasts were present (regardless of whether they initiated thediscussion or just participated in it) were the most attended. On average, the branches where atleast one enthusiast was present attracted twice as many students than other branches: 𝑐 ≈ 2𝑑(see Table 2). The number of participants on the branch of the forum is an important criterion of
students’ involvement into the discussion. However, the number of participants does notnecessarily determine the quality of the discussion.
The other important criterion of the productivity of the discussion is the intensity of message
exchange. In the branches 1 and 4 (see Figures 3 and 4) – one included and the other did notinclude enthusiasts – the number of participants was the same. However, the number of posts inbranches is different. In this case, the difference is not so large because the branch 4 is fairly
atypical for the discussions without enthusiasts; usually the branches without enthusiasts havesignificantly fewer posts (see Figure 2). As we showed above, the intensity of the message
exchange was, on average, more than 4 times higher on the branches with enthusiasts because
their participants were more eager to converse:𝑎 ≈ 4𝑏 (see Table 2).
The structure of group communication is yet another important formal criterion of the
productivity of the discussion, and it may explain why discussions in which enthusiasts
participate are so attractive for their classmates. In the communication on the branch 1 (see134The IAFOR Journal of Education

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Figure 3), an enthusiast united the other discussants and set a productive style of conversation –almost all messages were responded to. It was a centered, organized, and mostly bidirectional
communication. Let’s compare it with the structure of communication on the branches 4 and 16
in which enthusiasts did not participate. Although different in the number of participants, they
were very similar in their essence. They did not have a leading figure and were guided by aformal course requirement (“one response should go to the professor and at least one to anyclassmate”) rather than the actual interest in discussing the subject. This communication was notcentered, mostly unidirectional, and spontaneous.
B-groupThis group lacked enthusiasts. Here discussions were identical in their characteristics to those of
the A-group discussions in which enthusiasts did not participate. That is, they were not centered,less organized, more spontaneous, and mainly unidirectional. They were also less intensive in the
average number of posts and the average number of students involved than discussions led byenthusiasts (See Table 1).
“Help me!” messages and helping responses
In the virtual classroom, where there is no face-to-face contact, the difficulties that arise during
the educational process may be perceived more acutely than in the traditional classroom. We
analyzed the content of “Help me!” messages and helping responses submitted by other students
to those who were in need in the A-group. It was determined that 3 students-enthusiasts had sent
three times more helping responses to their classmates than all the remaining 17 students of the
A-group did. In the B-group “Help Me!” messages did not appear on the DB. Students in needsent their questions via e-mail to the instructor.
It was determined that “Help me” messages related to the following three aspects of the online
study: a) the subject under the study; b) the Blackboard, the instrument by means of which thesubject is taught/learned; c) the online course’s organization, that is, the framework within which
the education process takes place. These three aspects – academic, technological, andadministrative – are major aspects of students’ orientation in the virtual learning environment.
Such function as orientation is usually provided by the teacher in the traditional classroom. In the
online classes, it may be voluntarily assumed by the students-enthusiasts who have willingness toprovide guidance to their less knowledgeable online classmates.
A psychological portrait of the student-enthusiast
Although the students-enthusiasts constituted the small part (6%) of investigated population, theircontribution to the learning environment was the greatest. They had an inclination to lead group
discussions and skillfully stimulated them even online. They demonstrated helping behavior,
which is quite unusual in today’s competitive society. They oriented the classmates in theirvirtual classroom clarifying various aspects of the online study, although not even all instructors,
especially those belonging to older generations, so-called digital immigrants2, fully understandwhat a virtual classroom is. Each of these three qualities listed above occurs infrequently. Their
combination is truly unique. Maybe, this is precisely what identifies a pedagogical talent?

The term digital immigrant was originated by Mark Prensky in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”
published in 2001. The term may apply to generations that were born before the spread of and/or were not exposed intheir young years to digital technology, such as computers, videogames, video cams, tablets, I-phones, Internet, andother toys and tools of the digital age. College students of today, according to this point of view, are “digital
natives”; many of them easily adjust to new virtual learning environments.

2

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In their book The Virtual Student: A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners, R.
Palloff and K. Pratt call an ability “to share personal details about their life, work, and othereducational experiences” a necessary characteristics of successful online learner (2003, p. 6).
According to academic achievement, most of our students appeared to be successful online
learners. However, a tendency to trust and share information with the class was contributed
primarily by students-enthusiasts. Their style to lead conversations was accepted by otherdiscussants. To a large degree, online discussions became attractive and productive for the groupdue to enthusiasts’ special style of communication.
Lack of both computer skills and face-to-face communication might “expose online learners to arisk of feeling isolated and disconnected” (Liu et al., 2007). Many researchers believe that active
and dynamic discussions between students may serve as significant support for building an online
community (Swan et al., 2000; Blanchard & Markus, 2002; Zhao et. al., 2012). Studentsenthusiasts actually acted as the support network. When enthusiasts were stimulating online
group discussions as well as orienting classmates in the virtual classroom, they helped others todevelop a sense of belonging, emotional connection, and wellbeing in the VC.
Learning motivation of students-enthusiasts quantitatively and qualitatively differed from otherstudents’ learning motivation (see Participants and Context). Their interest and desire to achievelearning goals was the highest in the group. What is even more important is that, unlike others,
they gave a higher priority to knowledge and curiosity than to grades.
A current study showed one more distinguishing feature of their motivation. It turned out thatthey could not learn productively without teaching at the same time. Teaching was their distinct
method of learning. The less knowledgeable and less experienced classmates became the objectof their pedagogical intentions. It seemed that learning motivation and teaching motivation wereunbreakably connected in their activity. Notably, their teaching was not a formal instructing.
They initiated an active exchange of opinions and stimulated dialogues with other students.
Discussions led by enthusiasts usually turned into a collaborative search for answers to thequestions stated by their professor on the DB.
From the point of view of the motivational paradigm, students-enthusiasts are over-motivatedindividuals exceeding all the course requirements and desiring to perform more and better, evenif, according to the course policy, this “more and better” is not rewarded. Enthusiasm as amotivational phenomenon is a selfless love for knowledge and chosen profession. From the pointof view of the communicational paradigm, a student-enthusiast is an informal leader uniting,consolidating classmates, and transforming the group from a disorganized mass without common
interests to a team capable of collaboration. Enthusiasm as a communicational phenomenon is aselfless tendency to share one’s expertise and help less experienced learners to explore
knowledge and chosen profession.

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Reliability and Validity of the Results
It was shown that the average number of participants and posts in the branches of the B-group
discussion forums not having enthusiasts were as low as in those branches of the A-group forums
in which enthusiasts did not participate. Similarity of the results confirms their reliability.
Upon completion of the course, the students of the A-group were invited to help their professor(the author) with the creation of a video orientation session for the future students of the same
online course. The goal of this project was to help learners, especially online beginners, orient
themselves in the course site more quickly and effectively. For all of us it was a form of volunteer
work. Eight out of 20 students of the А-group responded to professor’s e-mail message. However,
only three of them really helped – they were the same individuals who showed great enthusiasm
during the semester. It confirms the validity of the results.
Since the data was collected on the relatively small population, the general applicability of thefindings is still limited. Similar studies in the author’s courses in consecutive semesters as well asother disciplines are needed. The research is continuing.
Conclusions
The number of participants in a branch of the discussion forum, the intensity of their message
exchange, and the structure of group communication can be used as formal criteria for identifying
productivity of discussions on the DB in asynchronous online courses. Presence of studentsenthusiasts improved these indicators.
The hypothesis of a difference in communication styles between students-enthusiasts and theirclassmates has been confirmed. Students-enthusiasts became the center of each discussion where
they participated, and they involved other students in dialogues not leaving without a response
any incoming posts. They tended to orient less knowledgeable classmates in the VC, that is,
responded to every “Help me!” message and clarified various aspects of the online study.
Students-enthusiasts created a positive psychological atmosphere on the discussion forums inwhich their classmates developed a “sense of community” and avoided feeling of isolation. Thus
the students-enthusiasts may be called catalyzers of the educational process.
Students-enthusiasts served as models for others. They provided support for their classmates andthe professor. In fact, they voluntarily became the professor’s informal assistants in instructing
the class. Formally being students, they actually performed some of the teacher’s functions.
However, in spite of their competence, they still looked at the learning environment through thestudents’ eyes and might understand other students’ difficulties better than instructors. So, we
conclude that such a contribution can and must be appreciated and maximally used in a virtual
classroom with its specifics and communicational limitations.
Thus, we see reasons to expect that the features of students-enthusiasts, which were discovered inour study, manifest themselves in their own classrooms where they officially work as instructors.
It gives us a better insight into how they influence their pupils’ development, learning, and lives.
It helps to recognize teachers-enthusiasts’ exceptional role in the society.

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