The 2006 Institute for Emotional Intelligence

The third annual meeting of the Institute for Emotional Intelligence is scheduled for February 8-10 at the Hilton Galveston Resort Hotel¹, Texas.  As innovators in the use of EI to improve both student and institutional success (see SACS Vote of Confidence for EI at Galveston College!), Galveston College has graciously volunteered to host this year’s institute at the island city’s Hilton Hotel¹.  The normal two-day institute will be preceded in 2006 with a one-day certification seminar for anyone interested in becoming certified to work with EI materials.  The poster for this year’s conference is attached to this newsletter, and is also available under the 2006 Conference link on our EI web site at http://education.tamuk.edu/eiconf/.  Online registration is available in Galveston College’s web site at http://www.gc.edu/.

Emphasizing the Need for EI in Education
by Richard Hammett, MSEL, MSM

Among the most widely discussed issues in higher education today is the inability of colleges and universities to positively impact graduation rates using current education strategies.  Often discussed under the guise of doing away with open enrollment, one of the most recent “new” approaches for increasing student throughput includes raising the basic admission requirements for entering freshman.  It is disheartening that such new strategies are considered while previous successful student-centered strategies for improving student achievement, like those incorporating course modules in the development of emotional intelligence (EI), sometimes receive inadequate consideration.

Doing away with open enrollment represents the new, radical line of strategies for increasing the success of institutions while student-centered approaches; strategies that focus on the success of students, seem underutilized.  The focus of this article is on the need to develop the emotional literacy and meta-cognitive skills in students, but there are other student-centered strategies and resources that are underutilized as well.  Proponents for doing away with open enrollment believe that recruiting a freshman population with an overall higher academic profile will reduce the number required to enroll in developmental courses and ultimately increase the ratio of students that graduate within the prescribed number of semesters.  Although possibly correct in the prediction (assuming there are enough SAT-enabled students to keep the college doors open), this approach virtually ignores significant pools of potential students, as well as a significant moral responsibility of higher education, which is to improve the world at large.

There is ample scholarly work suggesting that higher education should make EI a top priority.  According to Gosch (2004), “EI describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence or the purely cognitive capacities measured by IQ.  Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence can be nurtured and developed, becoming greater with maturity and experience.”  And according to Goleman (2004), “EI [should] be considered an intelligence apart from IQ:  EI encompasses abilities like emotional self-regulation that are not assessed by IQ tests.” Finally, Nelson and Low (2003) have found that, “… emotional intelligence is a key factor in physical and mental health, academic achievement, personal satisfaction, and career excellence.”  

The studies cited below represent only a small sampling of the total research available for review.  These studies, which were conducted recently by doctoral students in the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, incorporated different facets of EI and each demonstrated the construct’s important contributions to student achievement and success.  

·   Smith (2004) uses a mixed-methods design to study the effects of an EI Intervention program on at-risk high school students.  Seven of nine null hypotheses are rejected based on MANOVA analyses of multiple dependent variables including the Snyder Hope Scale, CTI, Personal Responsibility Map (Nelson & Low, 2003), grades, conduct, attendance, discipline referrals, and suspensions.

·   Williams (2004) studies the problem of retaining first-year freshman at TAMUK.  Finds that both academic factors (ACT/SAT scores, high schools class standing) and EI Skills of drive strength, time management, and commitment ethic are significantly correlated and predictive of retention and academic achievement.

·   Chuan-Ta Chao (2003) finds a significant relationship between the anxiety levels of foreign language learners and total emotional intelligence skills, concluding that the findings should be used by educators to “… develop interventions to decrease language anxiety among EFL students.”  (p. iv).

·   Vela (2003) finds a significant correlation between academic achievement and selected emotional intelligence skills in college freshmen and suggests that, “Although progressive efforts have been made on improving student performance and retention, students' success in higher education continues to decline.  The inability to connect cognitive and affective domains in student development has resulted in poorly prepared students in society.”  (2003, p. iii).  

·   Stottlemyer (2002) finds a significant correlation between selected emotional intelligence skills and academic achievement in eleventh and twelfth grade students and suggests that, “The lack of progress [in improving academic achievement] forebodes serious discontent in society and threatens the freedom of all people.” (p. iii).  

Institutional policy for campus-wide initiatives to incorporate emotional intelligence education should be the preferred approach.  Even without formal policy endorsed by top-level leadership; however, the evidence clearly indicate that schools and their students will benefit greatly when individual teachers, professors and department chairs make EI a priority in education.  If you are interested in reading more about EI, dissertations and other research materials are provided on our EI web site as they become available in soft-copy format.

The current EI web site URL is http://education.tamuk.edu/eiconf/

SACS Vote of Confidence for EI in Galveston College!

This summer the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools (SACS) accepted Galveston College’s comprehensive quality enhancement program (QEP), Keys to Success, which provides a formal campus-wide policy centered on student success and learning.  Galveston College’s program used results from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to build the QEP.  Best practices in the QEP include student-faculty interaction, high levels of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, and a supportive campus environment. The core of the QEP is its three action plans.

The first action plan deals with student engagement.  It consists of a comprehensive program for the development of Emotional Intelligence, mentoring, orientation, proper student placement, student empowerment, and student interventions based on placement scores and assessment of emotional skills (Nelson & Low, Exploring & Developing Emotional Intelligence Skills, 1998).  The second action plan aims to enhance the curriculum through instituting peer study groups and by providing lectures and assignments that are problem-based in order to really engage students. Finally, the third action plan deals specifically with staff and faculty enhancement by providing leadership workshops that include the development of EI skills, community recruitment and outreach, and a human resources recruitment and assessment program also guided by the principles of emotional intelligence. 

Galveston College is scheduled to present the current effects of their QEP at the SACS Annual Conference on December 4, 2005.  We are really looking forward to hearing reports of this EI-centric QEP during this year’s Institute for Emotional Intelligence in Galveston, Texas!