Feedback from EI Conference participants:     

       What an inspiring and informative conference experience. I've been
       refining my goals, and this conference was exactly what I needed.
       Thank you so much for your hard work to make the EI symposium
       successful.  I had a great time and met so many wonderful people.

       Thank you for all your hard work putting on the EI Conference this
       year! I learned some great information. I am looking forward to
       next year!
       We will be using the Personal Excellence Map in our leadership development
       program and retreat ... .

Visit the 8th Annual EI Conference Website to learn more about participation opportunities and fees, register for conference events, and stay up to date on related developments! Also available on the website is a section to assist in making hotel reservations at the conference venue, the beautiful EL Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel. The conference rate is less than the new state rate for San Antonio, Texas!

Programs will provide wonderfully rich opportunities for faculty and life-long learners in all disciplines including engineering, business, behavioral sciences, health sciences, and developmental studies.  Rarely do we get to experience these kind of presentations!  There will be widespread interest!
  
Darwin Nelson, Ph.d.
Positive Personal Change: Intelligent Self-Direction Skills For The 21st Century.
Alice asked, 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'  'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the cat.  'I don't much care where ....' said Alice.  'Then it doesn't much matter which way you go,' said the cat. (From Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll).  People want to change and be healthy, happy, and wise. Addressing the question of knowing when and how to change will be the topic of this interactive discussion.
  
Gary Low, Ph.d.
Improving Student Access and Success With EI
A central purpose of emotional intelligence (EI) in education is to improve student engagement, dialogue, and achievement through meaningful emotional skills learning.  A positive philosophy of student achievement and retention shares a belief (grounded in research) that every student should have the opportunity (access) to move from school to college and experience the benefits of a college education (success).  Every student has the capacity to learn and improve the quality of academic, career, and personal life.   EI skills, behaviors, attitudes, and strategies hold a key, and perhaps the key, to opening the doors of college success.
  
South Texas College (STC) Faculty share their experience of infusing EI into the College Success curriculum for new and first-generation college students.  A brief introduction will be followed by this unique resource table opportunity for learning and sharing as STC faculty facilitate discussions based on their experiences from student and instructor perspectives.

Juan Mejia, VP for Academic Affairs at STC, and team present on the program concept of Emotional Intelligence to Institutional Intelligence.  Mr. Mejia was recently named by Public Policy as one of twelve national community college leaders to discuss faculty engagement for strengthening college visioning and performance.

Margo Murray, CEO of MMHA's The Managers' Mentor, presents Mentoring and the new positive assessment online process SCALE (Skills for Career And Life Effectiveness).  Margo's seminal work and contributions to the profession of mentoring in organizations are recognized nationally and globally.

HPCL's Mr. A Surya Rao, a leader of the Internal Coaching team and co-author of Fueling Success, with Dr. V Vizia Saradhi, director of HR in HPCL, present on how the huge company transformed corporate culture and helped employees grow through EI training and coaching.  Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Limited (HPCL) of India, is a Global Fortune 500 Company.   Darwin Nelson co-authored the book which chronicled the inspiring story of organizational learning and change with EI philosophy and strategies.

Caryn Trapp, Ph.D.

The EI and Resilience Connection: Strengthening Dispositions
in Preservice Teachers

Empirical evidence suggests a high correlation between scores on the ESAP and the Resilience Scale. This presentation examines the correlation and presents suggestions to help preservice teachers gain the skills and dispositions necessary to face the demands of classroom teaching.

Forouzan Farnia, M.Ed.

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence Skills
and Foreign Language Proficiency

A presentation of original quantitative research that evaluated the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) using the Emotional Skills Assessment Process (ESAP) and English language proficiency in ESL students.  The students were advanced level Iranian adult learners of English studying at Kish Language School, in Tehran, Iran. English language proficiency was measured using the PBT TOEFL proficiency score. The quantitative findings will be presented showing statistically significant positive relationships between EI and TOEFL on seven skills, as well as the statistically significant negative relationships between TOEFL and EI potential problem areas.
 

Julie Chancler, M.Ed.

Why Totem Poll Thinking is Emotionally Unintelligent

In society as well as in education, a hierarchy exists in various settings. Totem pole thinking often results in creating an unstable social hierarchy. This presentation will explore hierarchy and how it relates to emotional processing, social cognition and behavioral readiness. Participants will hear stories Julie tells students in effort to encourage students to think constructively and behave wisely. Julie will share about her methods of expressing the importance of acknowledging the contributions of others and by showing students their personal worth. Julie will offer relevant ideas which teachers are encouraged to adopt and/or adapt for their specific needs.

Michelle Beavers, Ph.D. and Douglas Flore, Ph.D.

Building A Culture of Emotional Intelligence

Working to build a culture of Emotional Intelligence may very well be the most efficient use of a leader's skills.  Learn how the alignment of effective leadership skills with Emotional Intelligence has aided in the development of school leaders.  Through this interactive presentation, participants will explore the data gathered over the past four years and learn practical examples of building a culture of Emotional Intelligence.

Yeo Ju Chung, Ed.D.

Can Positive Emotion Induction Reduce Negative Reactions
Among Cyberbullying Victims?

A poster presentation to report interesting and creative research that evaluated of the effects of positive emotion induction on the reduction of negative reactions among cyberbulling victims. 
  

Estelle Codier, Ph.D.

State of the Science: Developing Emotional Intelligence In Health Care

In professions outside health care, emotional intelligence has been positively correlated with important workplace outcomes such as improved retention, reduced burnout, improved individual and team performance and communication, workplace safety and customer satisfaction. A developing body of emotional intelligence research in health care disciplines has demonstrated similar findings.  The presenter will review the findings of current emotional intelligence research across health care disciplines, report the findings of three pilot research studies carried out in the past 3 years that were designed to evaluate the impact of programs designed to improve the emotional intelligence skills of health care providers, discuss the implications of emotional intelligence on interdisciplinary care, patient safety and change processes related to health care reform.
 

Michelle Beavers, Ph.D.

Baggage Check 

Have you ever thought about the old adage of "carrying baggage"?  Well to be effective, leaders must inventory that baggage and check it at the door.  Without attention to Emotional Intelligence, that baggage becomes the barrier to success.  Join this presentation to explore avenues to check your own baggage and explore resistances to becoming fully self-aware and effective. Participants learn the activities used by Dr. Beavers in the university classroom to explore resistances to self-awareness.
    

Jennifer Harrison, Master's in Human Resource Management

Testing Emotional Intelligence as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Illegitimate Tasks and Counterproductive Work Behavior.

Empirical evidence suggests that illegitimate tasks (work-related stressor concept) relates to counterproductive work behaviours. This interactive presentation examines emotional intelligence as a moderator to counterproductive work behaviour. The presentation will share preliminarily findings from a pilot study testing this relationship and emphasize the importance of considering EI in performance outcomes.    

  

Douglas Flore, Ph.D.

Infusing EI Into The Experience of First-year College Students

Like many colleges and universities, Virginia State University is working to increase the retention of first-year college students. A for credit course is being replaced with a model that provides students with an understanding of who they are as individuals, what their strengths are, and how to capitalize on those strengths to navigate their way through the college years. Emotional Intelligence skill awareness is an integral part of designing a system that can support freshmen, strengthen their self-awareness, and ultimately improve college retention.   
 

Amany Abdrbo, Ph.D. and Amel Abouelfettoh, Ph.D.

Factors Contributing to Nurses' Emotional Intelligence and Its Effect
on Their Caring Behaviors as Perceived by their Patients

 The report of a study that will highlight the importance of emotional intelligence in the nursing and health care professions.  Teaching nurse managers and health care educators about the importance of EI for improving quality of care is an important endeavor.   Additionally, integrating emotional intelligence in nursing curriculum shall also be emphasized.

  
Sean Kearney, Ed.D., Cheryl Kelsey, Ed.D., & David Herrington, Ph.D.
Principal Mindfulness: Exploring The Impact of School Leadership
on Student Success

This presentation highlights what the researchers learned regarding the link between mindful principal behavior and student success (regression analyses). Over 6,000 teachers from 149 public schools in Texas were surveyed utilizing the M-Scale (Hoy, 2003).   This study further explores how the most mindful principals in this study achieve their success.  Explanatory data were gathered through qualitative interviews with the top 10 most mindful principals in this study.  The coauthors will present a synopsis of the findings through visual representations and concept mapping.

  

Beverly Gammill, Master's in Behavioral Sciences.

EI, Soft Skills, and QEP in Galveston College

  

Dr. Munoz, Dr. Chavez, and Dr. George Potter

EI in Counselor Training Efficacy

  

Elena Beskinskaya

Global Emerging ESAP Utilization: Research and The Russian Translation

   

Rebecca Davis, Ph.D. and Thomas Jobe, M.Ed.

The Influence of Emotional Intelligence (ESAP) Skills on Adult Self-Directed Learning

Used with permission from the authors.

Scott Willey was the facilitator for the this week's discussion board topic titled Brain Function and Learning: Implications for Practice.  Scott created a wonderful presentation of the journal article assigned for this week and then kicked off the discussion board with the following questions. How should we respond to ideas that call into question our beliefs about our roll as educators?  How effectively can we bring multiple perspectives to bear on our own practice?  Below are the responses from two of Scott's classmates.

From Paul:

As educators we need to stay mindful that we never arrive at a point where we know it all or become perfect at helping others to learn.  If we keep the perspective that we are on a journey searching for little bits of truth that we can add to our philosophy of teaching in order to make that philosophy more complete, then we will not be overly surprised when we encounter an idea that causes us to question assumptions we have made in the past.

 

New information and new experiences can dramatically alter our perceptions of what it means to teach and learn.  When we encounter ideas that cause us to question deeply held beliefs, we have a responsibility to evaluate the information from as many perspectives as we have available to us.  Where did the information come from?  Is the information accurate?   How does it compare with my past experience?  These are legitimate questions that are answered honestly and openly by the best teachers.  When we reflect critically on the new information, we can make reasoned decisions about what to accept and what to reject.  We can make active choices about how this information will influence our philosophy and perceptions.  If we do not take the time to reflect critically on our experience and the information it presents, we give up control and allow our experience to dictate and shape our perceptions.  This is not a positive path because reactivity of this sort results in confusion, lack of focus, and a host of other negative outcomes.  I think this is the essence of what we have discussed regarding emotional intelligence.  Questioning beliefs ... not a problem.  Actively reflecting on experiences and making decisions about how those experiences influence us ... not a problem.  Allowing experience to dictate our perceptions, and therefore our actions, without critically reflecting the accuracy and effects of the information provided by the experience ... this can lead to big problems.

 

I think that we are continually asked to bring multiple perspectives to bear in our teaching practice.  We do not really have a choice.  Everyone's philosophy is idiosyncratic, made up of an eclectic mix of information received over many different experiences and from many different sources.  We must respect the experiences of our students as well.  One of the most important things we can do as educators is examine the assumptions we have made about what constitutes good teaching and how students learn.  The emotional system can make mistakes.  Educators should develop a habit of questioning the basis for beliefs and make allowance for tiny adjustments each day.  Such practice allows for the possibility for large-scale adjustments when new information creates insights that you did not have before.

 

From Meara Glazebrook:

  

How do we respond to ideas that call into question our beliefs about our role as educators?  I think we respond differently based on our attitudes.  The more open you are to new ideas and new research, the more likely you are to accept those new ideas about an educator's role. For example, peer-reviewed research articles like the ones we've been reading in this class, especially in this chapter, emphasize the importance of the learner.    A teacher is not responsible for how smart or learned the class members are, but the teacher is responsible for providing activities that will give students opportunities to teach themselves.  Differences in educator attitudes are easily seen when comparing different college classes.  During my undergraduate studies my nutritional biochemistry teacher tested our different learning styles and then provided different types of activities to appeal to different styles.  Also, he employed the use of journaling at the beginning of each class where we wrote our experiences/ideas about the topic that day.  I learned quite a bit in that class because it challenged me.  On the other hand, there are college professors who spend a three-hour class sitting in the same chair, lecturing, without any type of interaction with the students.  In classes like that, I have found that I do not learn much during the lecture, and I only learn during personal study, outside of the classroom. 

 

How effectively can we bring multiple perspectives to bear on our own practice?  It seems that the reflection necessary to really draw on different perspectives is difficult to achieve. Taking time to reflect can be difficult.  If we strive to build a habit of deep reflection, however, it will help us hold diverse perspectives in our minds.  The more I reflect thoughtfully about the viewpoints of others, the more these viewpoints influence my behavior.  Whenever I have to create a presentation, I try to think about what the audience might be thinking. For them to get the most out of the presentation, I have to try to appeal to what they would like or need to know.  The more time I think about my audience and students the better my presentations and discussions.  Conversely, on occasions when I did not take the time to think about other peoples' perspectives, the presentations did not go as well.

For suggestions of articles for this newsletter, please contact Rick Hammett.