The Student Affairs Blog

New in the Toolbox: Emotional Intelligence

My spare time this month has been used to prepare for and complete certification in the use of the Emotional Quotient inventory or EQ-i. Emotional-social intelligence is a cross-section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills, and facilitators that determine how effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand and relate with others, and cope with daily demands. Understanding and assessing EQ in business and leadership coaching is common and research indicates that that the tool is equally useful in the academic setting with an 85% predictor rate for college success. I look forward to building expertise with this assessment and employing it to assist the transition of my first-year students.

The EQ-i is assessed through an online survey resulting in measurements of five areas: interpersonal, intrapersonal, stress management, adaptability, and general mood. Fifteen subscales or facets provide dimension to these scale areas.

EQ-i will join the College Student Inventory and MAP-Works in the toolbox of assessments that I rely upon for identifying issues challenging students in those first few crucial weeks of college. The College Student Inventory provides me with timely and strategic information on my students prior to their enrollment. Most importantly, it allows me to identify those with high need for student service intervention. MAP-Works is offered to students in the third week of enrollment and is a new complement to our campus retention initiatives. It aggregates student perception upon arrival and integration to the institution. Both surveys are great mediums for creating relationships with new students.

What's in your student retention toolbox?

They Don't Know What They Don't Know

Students and new staff members will frequently ask me about surveying their students.  They often seem very matter-of-fact and self assured that they've found an answer to one of their pressing programming  issues:  what to present on campus.

It makes sense at first glance.  Wondering what to program on campus?  Ask your students!  Brilliant.  And wrong.

Here's the problem with surveying your students in order to plan your programs:  They don't know what they don't know.

The vast majority of the students on any campus are blissfully unaware of the universe of student activities programs that are available.  They don't attend APCA and NACA conferences.  They don't read Student Activities Journal, Programming  or Campus Activities magazines.  They don't even read this blog.

They essentially have no idea of what's available in the marketplace.  They don't know what they don't know.

Ask them what bands to book, they'll tell you "My Morning Jacket" or "Fall Out Boy."  If you ask about comedy, they'll tell you Chris Rock or Dane Cook.  Odds are, your campus can't afford those acts.  Or at least not all of them.  So you haven't gained much from your survey.

But more importantly,  my original premise:   They don't know what they don't know. 

Ask your students:  would you like to stick your hands in different colors of hot, molten wax?  Really?

Yet we've all seen students at conferences line up for hours, waiting to produce their very own "Wax Hands."

Ask your students:  would you like to see a ventriloquist?  Really?

Many students may not even know what the word means.  Yet we've all seen students rolling in laughter over Dan Horn, Jeff Dunham, or Taylor Mason.

I often liken entertainment surveys to asking children about dinner.  If you ask the average child what he or she wants for dinner, they'll tell you what they know:  they want a Happy Meal.  And if that's what you always give them, they never learn to appreciate more exotic food like broccoli or sushi.  Don't we all know college students whose diet consists of burgers and chicken strips-- because it's the only food they learned to like?

Take your co-curricular duties to heart.  Remember that you serve an important teaching function on your campus.  Avoid a regular diet of "Happy Meals" for your students.  Book some unusual programs, events that aren't even on the students' radar.  Your students-- and your campus-- will be better for it.