How do we use our emotional intelligence in online communication with students?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize and mange own emotions and their effects and help others to do so. The key elements of EQ include self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, self-motivation and social skills. Self-awareness involves understanding and evaluating our values, thoughts, attitude, emotions, behaviors, actions and personality. It requires reflection and introspection of our strengths and weaknesses and to adjust our attitude, responses and behaviour to others as the time/situation demands. Self-regulation is the ability to regulate/manage our emotions, impulses, thoughts, behaviors, actions and energy states in a manner that best fit the situations we are dealing with. Empathy is the ability to sense and understand what others feel. Empathy allows us to share the experience and perspectives of others and thereby enables us to link ourselves with others. Self-motivation involves pushing ourselves to work hard, adjust with adverse situations, and overcome hurdles to achieve our goals. Self-motivated individuals are firm on commitment and demonstrate initiative and optimism. Social skills refer to communication and interaction skills. Social skills are needed to effectively handle the emotions of others, build positive relationship and communicate thoughts and feelings with others. However, motivation is at the centre of EQ. The literature suggests that online learners commonly experience a sense of isolation and helplessness. Therefore, we argue that in online communication with students, teachers should take up the role of motivational leaders to promote positive emotions (e.g., joy, interest, hope, pride, amusement and aspiration) in them. Also, they should focus on creating and maintaining a facilitating mechanism to enhance emotional well-being of students. Using primary data related to teacher-student online communication in MBA courses offered by a fully online Australian business school, this qualitative study demonstrates how positive emotion contributes to learners' emotional commitment to study, task completion and effort towards achieving goals.