EDUC 5373: Blog Week #1 (Innovative Leadership Digital)

Interview 1: Fostering Emotional Intelligence With and Without Technology

What do you notice about the experiences and path(s) taken by the interviewee(s) that result in their elevation to decision-making roles and educational technology experts?

Using the lens of emotional intelligence and empathy, I noticed lots of details are shared on how educators can be better in their profession. If one has difficulties regulating their feelings and emotions, then there can be lots of communication problems and issues arise and make the working or learning environment and not so healthy one. By becoming an expert on emotional intelligence, educators can better manger their relationships with all stakeholders from students, to parents, to colleagues, and to admin and will elevate their decision-making roles. The school system is a community and when the community knows how to approach each other in an empathic and understanding way, then less problems will tend to show up. Although this concept could be a rather common experience, it was viewed differently here through the lens of technology as it challenges the individual to be considerate in their communication through their usage of things like e-mail and social media digital footprints. By using the emotional skills, professionals can have more effective ways of being educational technological experts.  

What connections if any are made by the interviewee to the ISTE Standards or Essential Conditions to support technology use and decision-making?

There is not an explicit mention of the ISTE standards, but implicitly the biggest key point that is connected is to standard 2.3 Citizen. a Create Positive Experiences: "Create experiences for learners to make positive, socially responsible contributions and exhibit empathetic behavior online that build relationships and community" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2024). With an interview title of Fostering Emotional Intelligence With and Without Technology, there is a huge emphasis on emotional intelligence being at the center and how that shapes educators not only offline/with no tech, but also online/with as well. Mastering a human-centered design empathic point of view, educators and professionals can have more logical and healthier tech and decision making skills. 

"The distinction between using technology well and not well has a lot to do with our exercise of emotional intelligence in this sphere" (McClay & Stachowiak, 2024).

What is the role of professional development within the initiatives or strategies implemented?

Human-Centered Design is one of the main strategies used in this interview on their rationale for how their environment is so successful. The work of Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence and Carol Dweck’s Mindset are also mentioned in support of their human-centered design focus. 

"We have really tapped into the design movement and a lot of it has been articulated really well by the Stanford D School – The Design School at Stanford University and a company called IDEO – both of which were co-founded by David Kelley" (McClay & Stachowiak, 2024).

This system puts empathy at the center of their philosophy and pushes one to better understand the complexities of others around us not only in person, but online using tech as well. 

What real-world challenges do they share as they describe the work they are engaged in (or have completed) and how do they address these challenges?

The challenges addressed here were connected to the approach that educators were taking to communicating their responses to their colleagues and their students. Depending on the approach, teachers leading without emotional intelligence, a human centered design, and empathy, they may deal with the challenge of misunderstanding and miscommunication on both ends. When these two things occur, it can create issues, frustrations, and an unhealthy work environment. By knowing and having the emotional intelligence tools, these problems could be avoided not only in person, but through online and technological communications. 

"In applying human-centered design thinking to education, of course, there is a natural connection. What is cool about this particular design process is that the engineering design processes have similar elements, but the first step in the human-centered design thinking process is empathy" (McClay & Stachowiak, 2024).

What critique might you offer?  Do you see any concerns? Are you inspired?  Tell me about your perspective informed by research from this week.

I came into this assignment with a misconception that emotional intelligence is more so useful for in person interactions rather than realizing that they can determine interactions online and using technology. Thus, the critique I would offer here is simply ensuring that relaying this information for teacher buy in may set off many lightbulbs and to be prepared for examples and scenarios needed to transfer over the mindset as I had. Prior to this assignment, I felt that I was a somewhat expert on emotional intelligence in my classroom and being able to feel the energy of the room with my hyper vigilance. However, I hadn't realize that I suffered from an emotional intelligence gap through on online and tech usage. I can recall a handful of times throughout my teaching career, and one specifically during this school year, where I know I could have handled the situation more appropriately had I know that I know now. This reading has definitely inspired me to reflect on my communication styles and skills and how I can better improve upon these areas to be a better professional and educator. Teaching and the schooling system is multifaceted, yet I feel there is a hyper focus on academics and book knowledge rather than including the social and emotional facets as well. I am guilty of focusing on solely the content areas of my students, when I should be including and promoting a well rounded education for emotional and social learning. If students can view the world through an empathic lens, then they will most likely be better digital citizens and use the tech given to them more wisely and conscientiously. 

"Student engagement, a broad term that covers physical, academic, and emotional responses, has been the focus of attention of researchers for the last few decades. Student engagement characterizes both the time and energy students dedicate in communications with others through academically purposeful activities (Kuh, 2001). While much has been written on engagement in the classroom and on engagement with technology tools, not much research has been done on the intersection of the two. Research suggests the depth of engagement correlates to the depth of learning, however, an important question is, does technology use contribute to student engagement? There is some research evidence that using technology/social media as an educational tool can lead to increased student engagement (Annetta, Minogue, Holmes, & Cheng, 2009; Chen, Lambert, & Guidry, 2010; Junco, 2012a; Junco, Helbergert, & Loken, 2011; Patera, Draper, & Naef, 2008)" (Rashid & Asghar, 2016). 

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE national educational technology standards (NETS). Eugene, OR :International Society for Technology in Education, https://iste.org/standards/educators.

McClay, J., & Stachowiak , B. (2024). An Interview with Julie Evans. In Igniting Your Leadership with Technology. Innovate Learning, LLC. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://pressbooks.pub/edd7032018f/chapter/chapter-1/. 

Rashid, T., & Asghar, H. M. (2016). Technology use, self-directed learning, student engagement, and academic performance: Examining the interrelations. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 604-612. Technology_use_self_directed_learning_st.pdf