Research has shown that millennials tend to have lower abilities to work and cooperate with others in comparison with older generations, a problem that professors at Binghamton University are confronted with.
On Friday, approximately 25 University instructors learned about this issue by attending a discussion on emotional intelligence led by Eric Howd, director of instructional design at the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT).
The CLT is part of BU President Harvey Stenger’s Roadmap to Premier initiative and operates as a space to support instructors through workshops and talks. These events occur throughout the year and focus on topics such as technology implementation and different methods of teaching. The end goal is to help increase student success in the classroom.
Howd said he was first introduced to the concept of emotional intelligence at a business administration conference, and has since done extensive reading on the topic. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to regulate emotions, understand one’s own feelings and have empathy for others. The philosophy is that the higher emotional intelligence a person has, the better they are at connecting and communicating with other people.
Researchers believe that millennials have a lower emotional intelligence because their interactions have become virtual and they lose out on in-person contact. Howd said that lacking these skills can lead to a decreased ability to cooperate and negotiate with others.
“The development of good interpersonal skills is so important to our success in life and our career,” Howd said. “We must possess a higher emotional quotient in order to better understand, empathize and negotiate with others in our global economy.”
Howd advocated that teachers try to implement emotional intelligence more in their classrooms in order to better engage and interest their students. This could be done through compromise, drawn-out constructive criticism, the establishment of a cooperative atmosphere, providing more choices and even platonic touch.
“A lot of times with emotional intelligence, you have to dig down a little and think about more than just giving your gut reaction,” Howd said.
Attendees participated in small group activities in which they wrote down a current conflict they were dealing with, either personal or professional. Then, everybody in the group took three minutes to discuss how they could use emotional intelligence-related skills to help solve the problem.
University Ombudsman Bathabile Mthombeni said that the workshop and activities helped give her tips on how to better approach certain situations in the future, with tools such as reframing criticism and further recognizing the feelings of others.
“I spoke with my group members about ways to practice empathy that are not necessarily about how you speak to somebody but about the opportunities that one provides that respond to somebody else’s needs,” Mthombeni said. “There are practical, functioning ways of practicing empathy and it helps to have dialogue with other people about these concepts and skill sets in order to keep my own skills sharp.”
Suronda Gonzalez, director of global learning initiatives, said that she attended the event in order to gain a better understanding of the topic and learn how to implement it in order to benefit her students.
“I think sometimes the academic world is so focused on what is going on in your head that we can lose touch with what’s going on emotionally,” Gonzalez said. “The best situations for learning to occur are ones that connect the head and heart so this allowed us to better understand the heart.”
The CLT plans to continue the discourse on emotional intelligence with future workshops and speakers, although no events have been announced.