Niagara College

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.” SEL is grounded in research and experiences within K-12 curriculum but is becoming more of an area of focus at all levels of education and in professional and continuing education programs. It is an approach that uses empirical practices and classroom activities that incorporate social-emotional competencies to improve the quality of classroom interactions, academic development, motivation to learn, and teacher-student engagement. (Integrating Social Emotional Learning Strategies in Higher Education, Chiara Elmi)

In this session, we will review the key competencies of SEL and how they may translate to higher education, review the benefits of SEL with emphasis on research in this area, and explore what SEL looks like in higher education classrooms.