An EI Discovery Story: Fanshawe College
The following article has been submitted by Dana Copeland, Student Success Advisor at the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business at Fanshawe College. The article details Dana’s discovery of emotional intelligence and her subsequent success in implementing EI-based programs for first-year students.
In July of 2006, I attended a presentation by Dr. James Parker during the 20th International Conference on the First Year Experience. Dr. Parker discussed the results of his recent research, which demonstrated the correlation between EQ-i scores and students’ academic success and persistence. I knew right away that I was hearing something significant. The following May, when I heard Dr. Parker make a similar presentation at the College Counselors’ Conference, I knew I had to do something with it.
A couple of weeks later, I attended an EQ-i Certification Workshop in Kingston, Ontario; our trainers were Catherine Anderson and Bill Moses from Gallaudet University. They demonstrated how they were using EQ to help their students increase their emotional awareness and develop emotional skills. It was a model that fit for us. When I got back to my campus, I started putting together a proposal to pilot an EQ-based version of my Strategies for Success course.
In the winter of 2008, we launched a small pilot-program so that we could start familiarizing ourselves with the use of the tool and get some feedback on our approach to teaching emotional competencies. In the fall of 2008, we expanded the pilot and tried the new EQ-i Higher-Ed Report. The feedback from professors and students indicated that our course had become more relevant and interactive.
This fall, we are rolling out a full implementation of the EQ-infused Strategies for Success course to our Business and Information Technology students. The students will complete the EQ-i Higher-Ed, we will review the results as a group, they will set goals around their two areas for enrichment, and they will participate in class-based activities that foster a better understanding of the 15 emotional skills. We anticipate that we will see an increase in our institution’s retention of students, and in their academic success.
I am grateful for the support that this project has received from within the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, from other partners here at Fanshawe College, and from MHS – and I am excited about the potential of our EQ-infused Strategies for Success course. We are open to learning more and to sharing our experiences.
