Teaching emotional intelligence techniques via ICT and gamification: some of the findings of the pol-com project

Abstract

With the pandemic, higher education and vocational education teachers have learned to use various information and communications technology (ICT) tools that at least some of the teachers before the pandemic had been reluctant to use due to traditional settings in education. This reluctance or even the fear was more prominent for teachers in social sciences or humanities. However, due to the pandemic, the practices for teaching and supporting learning were promptly changed. While the educational landscape in higher education has changed dramatically, in short recent years, one may argue that the pendulum has already swung too far towards IT domination in the study process. Even if there is no doubt that these tools are useful and productive for acquiring knowledge-orientated and facts-based competencies, it is worthwhile to examine whether the same also applies to the acquisition of soft skills, such as skills associated with communication, including emotional intelligence. Law enforcement officers in their professional activities are constantly exposed to stressful, high-pressure situations. However, the field lacks robust attention, and research regarding the place, role, and format of emotional intelligence techniques in their pre-service and in-service training in order help them to get equipped to deal with those high-pressure situations. During the implementation of the KA220-VET - Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training project: A developmental and educational platform and gamified tools for training police officers and similar professionals, with respect to communications, it was identified that the professional field of law enforcement is not yet examined significantly from that perspective (1st phase, 1st quarter of 2024). The empirical study (2nd phase, 2nd quarter of 2024; based on experts’ perspectives) shows that there is a great demand for such techniques. However, according to experts’ opinions, whether gamification will be helpful depends on several conditions. Namely: the quality of the preparatory/introductory phase, immediate and generalized feedback, the relevance of gamified situations to real-life/professional situations, and other conditions (which we outline in greater detail in the paper further on).