Reflections on Emotional intelligence
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By the time I finished high-school my school had a handful of
computers for all 1000+ students, taught us about MS-DOS, or Microsoft Disk Operating System, with a computer language I did not (want to) understand, and then attended four years at university without touching a single computer. Notes during teacher focussed lectures were taken with pen and paper and research projects were completed in the library with hard copy books and files on microfiche. When the turn of the millennium did not have any effect on computers I finally took the big step and purchased a computer, complete with colourful floppy discs which could hold little to no information. I learned how to use Microsoft applications from a book, not the web, felt proud when I was able to email family overseas and found some ‘educational’ computer games for the kids. During the summer of 2010 I found myself on the other side of the world when my first module in the Graduate Diploma in VET had started. |
Having ‘blended e-learning’as the main topic meant the classroom was virtual, could be accessed from anywhere in the world at any time and opened a whole new world for me. At that stage e-learning was transforming from ‘computer-based or computer-assisted learning/training’ to a ‘process of learning and teaching using computers and other associated technologies, particularly through use of the internet’(Littlejohn & Pegler, p.17, 2007). Social networking was at its start and Wikis and not Facebook and Twitter were used as part of a teaching/learning platform.
Four years later and social media has become a household term. However, educational professionals remain having mixed feelings about its use in an educational setting preferring to restrict social media to their private life. Even so, the use of social media, especially in the form of blogs and wikis, in a teaching context has grown 21.3% from 2012 to 2013 (Lepi, 2013). Not surprisingly then that 'Using social media technologies to support learning' was a module in our graduate certificate to assist people like myself to get familiar with and see the potential of this ‘beast with three heads’.
The use of either Twitter or Facebook in ‘the classroom’ is still in its infancy and has some way to go, which, according to Lepi (2013) as part of the Edudemic blog, may be related to concerns from teachers about the ‘integrity of student submissions’ and ‘concerns about privacy’. However, as part of this module we had to open both a Twitter and Facebook account.
Although I am still not one hundred percent sure of what to do with either account and how to use them to their full potential, I am grateful for the educational posts from those who I follow, especially on Facebook. One such posts was from Sir Ken Robinson with a link to his ‘How are you intelligent’ talk he had given at the Google Zeitgeist conference. Maximilian Journey used eight minutes of that talk and combined it with beautiful images and music. (see link above).
One part in this eight minute clip especially stood out for me: we live in two worlds. The first one is "a world which exists whether or not we exist; a world of other people, events, other circumstances. Our education system is quite obsessed with this world. The other world only exists because we exist; it is the world of our own private consciousness, the world that came into being when we did. This world contains our own private passion, our motivation, aspirations, hopes and our talents".
"The future of the world around us depends on us understanding much more about the world within us. To do this we have to become more innovative, more inventive, more ingenious to be able to deal with the challenges we have created ourselves. However, we seem to have a limited conception of our own creativity and intelligence. We are born with tremendous creative capacities but never develop the abilities that are required to exercise it, which is a fault of our standardised education system. Our education system needs to be flipped to have a better sense of human capacity allowing us to better understand the world around us and within us. The bridge between the two worlds we live in is education and we need to rebuild this bridge so that we can build a bridge to the future".
I could not do anything else but see a link with Emotional Intelligence where the focus is on self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, empathy and motivation (Akers & Porter, 2014). By developing our emotional intelligence we will be better able to understand, identify and negotiate with the world around us.
Four years later and social media has become a household term. However, educational professionals remain having mixed feelings about its use in an educational setting preferring to restrict social media to their private life. Even so, the use of social media, especially in the form of blogs and wikis, in a teaching context has grown 21.3% from 2012 to 2013 (Lepi, 2013). Not surprisingly then that 'Using social media technologies to support learning' was a module in our graduate certificate to assist people like myself to get familiar with and see the potential of this ‘beast with three heads’.
The use of either Twitter or Facebook in ‘the classroom’ is still in its infancy and has some way to go, which, according to Lepi (2013) as part of the Edudemic blog, may be related to concerns from teachers about the ‘integrity of student submissions’ and ‘concerns about privacy’. However, as part of this module we had to open both a Twitter and Facebook account.
Although I am still not one hundred percent sure of what to do with either account and how to use them to their full potential, I am grateful for the educational posts from those who I follow, especially on Facebook. One such posts was from Sir Ken Robinson with a link to his ‘How are you intelligent’ talk he had given at the Google Zeitgeist conference. Maximilian Journey used eight minutes of that talk and combined it with beautiful images and music. (see link above).
One part in this eight minute clip especially stood out for me: we live in two worlds. The first one is "a world which exists whether or not we exist; a world of other people, events, other circumstances. Our education system is quite obsessed with this world. The other world only exists because we exist; it is the world of our own private consciousness, the world that came into being when we did. This world contains our own private passion, our motivation, aspirations, hopes and our talents".
"The future of the world around us depends on us understanding much more about the world within us. To do this we have to become more innovative, more inventive, more ingenious to be able to deal with the challenges we have created ourselves. However, we seem to have a limited conception of our own creativity and intelligence. We are born with tremendous creative capacities but never develop the abilities that are required to exercise it, which is a fault of our standardised education system. Our education system needs to be flipped to have a better sense of human capacity allowing us to better understand the world around us and within us. The bridge between the two worlds we live in is education and we need to rebuild this bridge so that we can build a bridge to the future".
I could not do anything else but see a link with Emotional Intelligence where the focus is on self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, empathy and motivation (Akers & Porter, 2014). By developing our emotional intelligence we will be better able to understand, identify and negotiate with the world around us.
Daniel goleman introduces emotional intelligence
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In the YouTube clip beside Daniel Goleman (Goleman, 2012) introduce the
concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI), explaining there are four domains
associated with EI:
1. Self-awareness: or our ‘moral compass’ which involves knowing what we feel, why we feel it. It’s the basis of good intuition and decision making. Application when I teach – reflecting on a class, why it did or didn’t go so well or what the triggers were. Was it because a certain student was present or absent, was I prepared, did I have a disagreement with someone that morning. 2. Self-management: being able to handle distressing emotions in an effective way, tuning in to them and learning from them, and getting ourselves ‘aligned with our passion’. |
Application when I teach – will I focus on the disruptive student and how much I dislike having to interact with them or will I try to learn more about this student and the reason(s) for their misbehaviour (being bored, disruptive family home)?
3. Empathy: emotions go wherever people go and the ability to work with empathy allows us to perceive a problem or situation from another person’s perspective.
Application when I teach – Teaching at TAFE brings me in contact with many mature students whose attention may be less on the content being delivered and more with the sick child at home. To recognise that and work with that will reduce student stress levels and teacher frustration.
4. Skilled Relationships: being attuned to not only your own emotions and the effects they can have on other people, but also on other people’s emotions and the effect it can have on you.
Application when I teach – being a team leader as well as a teacher brings with it many challenges, the biggest one of them how to control my own emotions when I go into the classroom after I just had a staff member in tears in my office, had to diffuse a conflict between staff members, or handled a complaint from a student.
References:
Akers, M. & Porter, G. (02 August 2014). What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)? Psych Central. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-emotional-intelligence-eq/0001037
Goleman, D. (2012, April 23). Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU
Lepi, K (October 29, 2013). How Social Media Is Being Used In Education. Edudemic. Retrieved 03 August 2014 from http://www.edudemic.com/social-media-in-education/
Littlejohn, A. & Pegler, C. (2007). Preparing for blended e-learning. Routledge, New York
Akers, M. & Porter, G. (02 August 2014). What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)? Psych Central. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-emotional-intelligence-eq/0001037
Goleman, D. (2012, April 23). Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU
Lepi, K (October 29, 2013). How Social Media Is Being Used In Education. Edudemic. Retrieved 03 August 2014 from http://www.edudemic.com/social-media-in-education/
Littlejohn, A. & Pegler, C. (2007). Preparing for blended e-learning. Routledge, New York