Lecturers from Leicester are to be urged to become more responsive to the feelings of their students- as an aid to teaching and learning.
They will be told to temporarily set aside their powerpoints, flipcharts and overheads in order to understand how feelings matter in the lecture theatre.
The University of Leicester is hosting a workshop on Teaching with Emotional Intelligence on Wednesday 9 January. The session invites participants to consider the role of emotional intelligence in being an effective teacher.
Leicester, which is among the top rated universities in the country for student satisfaction, is offering the session as part of its staff development programme.
Presenter Alan Mortiboys said: "If learners' feelings influence their readiness and ability to learn, then the teacher should be able to respond to, and influence positively, the feelings of learners. At the same time, teachers can use their emotional intelligence to recognise and manage their own feelings when teaching. The session provides an outline for how teachers can develop and use their emotional intelligence in teaching and learning."
Professor Mortiboys is well qualified to comment on the power of emotions in the education process having worked in Educational Development in Higher Education for over 15 years. He combines his work at Birmingham City University as leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme for academic staff with his independent work in Staff and Educational Development. He is the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Lecturer (SEDA 2002) and of Teaching with Emotional Intelligence (Routledge 2005).
He said: "Tutors are bound to have an effect, by accident or design, on how learners feel during a session. Whilst you are not solely responsible for how they feel, your role in influencing the emotional environment and the learning state of your learners is crucial. Most teachers are aware of the concept of emotional environment but perhaps do not give as much conscious energy to affecting it as it deserves. If the emotional environment is wrong, then learning will always be a struggle."
Professor Mortiboys will ask Leicester academics to consider:
'Am I helping to create an emotional environment in which my learners feel:
Safe rather than threatened?
Trustful rather than suspicious?
Challenged but not pressured?
Motivated not disengaged?'
Professor Mortiboys said: "When you are with a group of learners, you have the chance to connect with them beyond the transmission and discussion of ideas and facts, and thereby to transform the experience both for you and for them. If you do not use emotional intelligence in your teaching, then the value of both your knowledge of your subject and your learning and teaching methods can be seriously diminished."
University of Leicester
- A member of the 1994 Group of universities that share a commitment to research excellence, high quality teaching and an outstanding student experience.
Ranked top for student satisfaction in England (jointly with Oxford) among mainstream universities (average score of 4.4 out of 5 for overall satisfaction)
Ranked as a Top 20 university by The Sunday Times University Guide, The Guardian University Guide and the UK Good University Guide
One of just 23 UK universities to feature in world's top 200- Shanghai Jiao Tong International Index, 2005-07.
Ranked in top 200 world universities by the THES (Times Higher Education Supplement)
Short listed University of the Year in 2007 by The Sunday Times and Short listed Higher Education Institution of the Year - THES awards 2005 and 2006
Ranked top 10 in England for research impact by The Guardian
Students' Union of the Year award 2005, short listed 2006 and 2007
Founded in 1921, the University of Leicester has 19,000 students from 136 countries. Teaching in 18 subject areas has been graded Excellent by the Quality Assurance Agency- including 14 successive scores - a consistent run of success matched by just one other UK University. Leicester is world renowned for the invention of DNA Fingerprinting by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys and houses Europe's biggest academic Space Research Centre. 90% of staff are actively engaged in high quality research and 13 subject areas have been awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level. The University's research grant income places it among the top 20 UK research universities. The University employs over 3,000 people, has an annual turnover of £184m, covers an estate of 94 hectares and is engaged in a £300m investment programme- among the biggest of any UK university.
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