Education 2.0 & 3.0

Connecting with others is at the heart of human nature. Recent research emphasizes that the power of connections can help us be creative, resilient, even live longer. But we can easily overlook the importance of these bonds. As popular writer and researcher Adam Grant has noted, the pressure of tight deadlines and the pace of technology mean that fewer Americans are finding friendship in the workplace. In fact, many of us are further disconnecting from the people we work with: we’re more stressed out than ever, and half of us regularly experience incivility in our jobs.

How can we create possibilities for connection in what is sometimes a hostile atmosphere? We believe there needs to be more compassion.

Many of humanity’s greatest problems stem not from a shortfall of technical or financial intelligence, but what we term emotional intelligence. It i

Empathy is systemically related to all of the abilities on the compass, particularly to self-awareness at "true south." Research suggests that the more children become aware of themselves, the better they become at understanding others. Volumes have been written about how to teach empathy, and there is still much to learn. In an excellent article from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, author Roman Krznaric, Ph.D., claims that highly empathetic people:

Cultivate curiosity about strangers

Challenge prejudices and discover commonalities

Gain direct experience of other people's lives

Listen and open themselves to others

Inspire mass action and social change

Develop an ambitious imagination

All of these behaviors foster personal growth and lifelong learning while contributing to the growth of society, particularly empathy's role in inspiring social change.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Empathy

For decades, the dominant view among psychologists was that constraints served as a barrier to creativity. Anybody who spends a short time working under a confining bureaucracy, dealing with a micromanaging boss, or sitting in a classroom that teaches to the test can grasp the appeal of this argument. But it isn’t the whole story.

Patricia Stokes is a Columbia University psychologist and an expert in the science of creativity. In one experiment she conducted back in 1993, rodents were forced to press a bar with only their right paws. Eventually, they not only learned to adapt to that constraint, but they figured out how to press the bar in more ways than a group that had free use of their limbs. This has come to be called "little ‘c’ creativity"—a form of creativity not focused on producing creative works but rather on solving practical problems through new uses and applications of resources. And it’s this form of creativity that tends to get short shrift.

Like other aspects of modern life, education can make the head hurt. So many outcomes, so much important work to do, so many solutions and strategies, so many variations on teaching, so many different kinds of students with so many different needs, so many unknowns in preparing for 21st Century life and the endless list of jobs that haven’t been invented.

What if we discovered one unifying factor that brought all of this confusion under one roof and gave us a coherent sense of how to stimulate the intellect, teach children to engage in collaborative problem solving and creative challenge, and foster social-emotional balance and stability—one factor that, if we got right, would change the equation for learning in the same way that confirming the existence of a fundamental particle informs a grand theory of the universe?

That factor exists: It’s called empathy.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Empathy

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Soft+Skills

In addition to the everyday disagreements we have with our friends, family, and coworkers, the brutal election over the last year appears to have ripped the country in two, with liberals and conservatives unable to see eye to eye. In addition to everyday arguments at the office about which marketing idea was better or how much to spend on a colleague's baby shower, those on opposite sides of the political divide feel anger, resentment, and animosity toward one another. Heated emotions are bubbling to the surface.

Spencer Greenberg, founder and CEO of Clearer Thinking, a non-partisan organization that conducts research on decision-making and creates free tools for the public, sees our current state of discord as an opportunity to learn to be more empathetic. He's been developing strategies for helping Clinton and Trump supporters to better relate to one another.

Researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, wanted to find out if engaging in normal creative acts make people feel better. An analysis of the information found a pattern of more enthusiasm and higher ‘flourishing’ following days when the undergraduates were more creative.

Study author Dr Tamlin Conner said: ‘There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning.

‘However, most of this work focuses on how emotions benefit or hamper creativity, not whether creativity benefits or hampers emotional wellbeing.’

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Empathy

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As the world fills with more sophisticated AI and ubiquitous technology, human skills--compassion, empathy, etc.--will define the competitive edge of workers and entire organizations. So those interested in thriving in a high-tech world must put renewed prioritization on emotional intelligence and soft skills.


Soft skills represent the top three missing skills of job applicants according to the Society of Human Resource Management's (SHRM) 2019 State of the Workplace.

Top 6 Missing Skills in Job Applicants

Problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity (37 percent)

Ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity (32 percent)

Communication (31 percent)

Trade skills (carpentry, plumbing, welding, machining, etc.) (31 percent)

Data analysis / Data science (20 percent)

Science / Engineering / Medical (18 percent)

The significance of developing and applying social and emotional skills is growing. Soft skills are twice as predictive of a student's academic achievement as home environment and demographics and 30-40 percent of jobs in growth industries require soft skills. Additionally, 57 percent of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Empathy

https://www.scoop.it/topic/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=DQ

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Empathy

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Soft+Skills

Worrying about deadlines, work flow or employee issues is natural for people working in the business world. Stress happens. You have options, though, on how you deal with stress.

Sometimes, taking a moment to recenter yourself is all you need to do: By putting things into perspective, you can find the grit to keep going. That’s not always the best course of action, though. If you find that a particular task or job regularly leaves you feeling overwhelmed, drained or quietly angry, you may want to rethink how you approach the work or even consider whether you’d be better suited for a different sort of job or different company.

Organizations far and wide have for years attempted to crack the code on what makes for a healthy and profitable work culture. Well, let me save you time and money and simply break it to you here: It is trust.

We already know this to be true from several studies. For example, Great Place to Work -- the global research consultancy that partners with Fortune to conduct the annual study of those "best companies" -- confirms that trust is the human behavior you cannot afford not to have.

The research on those companies (Google, to no surprise, being No. 1 on the list seven out of the last 10 years) says that 92 percent of employees surveyed believe that management is transparent in its business practices. And transparency begets trust.

There are few occasions where having high emotional intelligence (EQ) comes in handy more than when you disagree with your boss. But it's hardly the only one. Many of us would even happily trade off a few IQ points in exchange for some extra EQ. In fact, people with very high IQs but lower emotional intelligence may be more likely to upset their bosses by focusing too much on the logical side of an argument while ignoring the social and emotional dimensions.

In fact, the most effective approach to disagreeing with your manager should really be based on EQ rather than IQ. Unsurprisingly, research suggests that employees with higher emotional intelligence are generally more rewarding to deal with, which is why they're more often promoted than those who aren't. In a world that still bases so many crucial career decisions on a single subjective factor in the eyes of one's direct manager, likability often trumps ability and work ethic.

This is the time of year when we focus on giving thanks, with many of us sharing our gratitude with friends and family. But when is the last time you thanked your employees? Coworkers? Or boss? If you haven’t recognized the members of your work team lately, you need to repair the oversight before your Thanksgiving Day leftovers are history.

Gratitude is absolutely vital in the workplace, says UC Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons, author of The Little Book of Gratitude: Creating a Life of Happiness and Wellbing by Giving Thanks, and a leading researcher on the subject. "Most of our waking hours are spent on the job, and gratitude, in all its forms, is a basic human requirement," he says. "So when you put these factors together, it is essential to both give and receive thanks at work."

Gratitude has been the subject of numerous studies, and the findings could be beneficial to your workplace.