A Comprehensive Approach to Emotional Intelligence: A Theory in Relation to Online Learning

This study examines how online learning in higher education has become a popular alternative to traditional education. It first gained popularity with working adults, but younger students are now capitalizing on this educational alternative, particularly in poorer urban areas, where the path to higher education includes working to sustain one self. The challenge for institutions of higher learning is to collaborate with instructors who not only technically qualified, but can also emotionally connect with their students using a medium that can be impersonal due to the technical and autonomous nature of governing one's own work. This paper proposes six values-based characteristics of the emotionally intelligent professor, which would assist in personalizing teaching models and connecting with students on a personal level to better motivate online students. These characteristics are authentic leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership, cultural/multicultural leadership, responsiveness, and patience.