Academic adventure a life-changing experience

The fourth Fulbright-Cognition Scholar in Education Research for 2010, Dr Veronica O’Toole from the University of Canterbury has recently completed her study in the United States. A full report of her research will be published next year and here, she writes about the life-changing experience of this academic adventure.

I visited two American universities - Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut - to work with experts there and develop a research-informed emotional literacy programme to improve social and emotional wellbeing across whole New Zealand school communities, from school leaders and teachers down to students.

This warning, coming as it did just six weeks after the devastating earthquake in my home city Christchurch, further emphasised for me the importance of being able to live with the uncertainty of environmental conditions, and of understanding and managing our associated emotions.

It was the study of emotional variables that had brought me to Kansas as a Fulbright-Cognition Scholar. The focus of my study at Wichita State University was the identification of the most relevant, observable and measurable indicators of emotion variables in an individual teacher and student interaction, so that these indicators can be used by teachers and students on a regular basis to assess the quality and success of those interactions.

The Education Leadership department at the university is small and my colleagues were very hospitable. By coincidence, it was located in the basement of the building – the emergency evacuation point in the event of a tornado.

Research highlights from my time at Wichita State University include: engaging with the doctoral research programme which enables doctoral students to work in research teams with university faculty and school districts in field based research, combining research theory and practice in the ‘real-life’ learning environment;  presenting six seminars for university-wide faculty and students sharing my emotion research;  and working collaboratively with Dr Jo Bennett in analysing both her data and mine from an educational leadership perspective on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). This opportunity has enabled us to identify the synergies between school leadership at the macro level and classroom based emotion research at a micro level.

I enjoyed the experience of working on this large, beautifully arranged campus with grassed quadrangles and numerous garden sculptures almost as much as getting to know the academic and administrative staff. It was interesting to experience the similarities of our daily routine irrespective of which country we are in, irrespective of extreme conditions, while also enjoying the difference in approach and environment.

Landing in a small plane at Tweed New Haven Airport for the second leg of my scholarship at Yale University felt like a home-coming, nestled as it was amongst trees and church spires. I could not help but compare the city’s tree-lined streets, historic buildings, and quarter-hourly bells chiming the time from numerous church steeples with pre-earthquake Christchurch.

I spent most of my time in the Health, Emotion and Behaviour research lab, experiencing what it meant to be part of this eminent research team, coding and entering data, perusing interview transcripts, and consulting with other staff. This experience was reminiscent of my previous research project experience, and affirming of the ways to set up an optimal environment for a research team. An important part of the HEB Lab’s emotional literacy research project is the training of school leaders and teachers in the schools participating in the research project and I was fortunate to attend and fully participate in some of the training sessions with both leaders and teachers. This was invaluable, as my proposed research will also require similar training of the research participants. One of the most beneficial experiences was engaging in scholarly discussion with, and receiving mentoring from Professor Peter Salovey, Dr Marc Brackett and the well-respected team of scholars and experts in the emotional intelligence (EI) field.

As a Fulbright-Cognition scholar, I had the privilege of spending thirteen weeks immersed full time in two contrasting environments with highly-respected academics in each. It has been a unique opportunity to learn from the best.

My time in the USA has enriched my appreciation and affection for America and Americans, so much so that when Hurricane Irene was reported to be bearing down on the East Coast I felt as concerned as if these people were actually my family. I was in touch with them as soon as possible to check how they were, and was reassured to find that apart from physical damage to property and power loss for some, all were well.

In reflecting on my reactions to this, it confirmed for me the value of the Fulbright-Cognition Scholarship: at a grassroots level we can be genuinely and positively connected and these connections can transcend borders. 

This has been an academic adventure and a life-changing experience. Thank you to the Cognition Institute, Fulbright New Zealand and the University of Canterbury.