Learning Empathy in a Virtual Age (1 CE)

This course is for:  Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, School Psychologists and LMFTs

Course By:  Cara M. Bliss, Ph.D., NCSP

Content By:  Walker, G., & Weidenbenner, J. V. (2019). Social and Emotional Learning in the age of virtual play: Technology, empathy, and learning. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 12 (2), 116-132. doi:10.1108/jrit-03-2019-0046

Course Description: A qualitative approach for exploring the connection between Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and empathy development in real versus virtual environments was employed as a means of studying SEL skill development. Resultant findings indicated that empathy can be developed through virtual activity combined with diverse forms of technology. However, this process necessitates human mediation for understanding and applying virtual game processes and results. Future studies should explore how the explication of emerging media formats either hinder or promote social development. Additionally, these studies should further investigate prosocial behaviors and virtual environments relative of the ability of the latter to facilitate perspective-taking and the theory-of-mind (TOM) framework.

Learning Objectives:

1. Integrate theory and research pertaining to cognitive, social, emotional, and language development, and apply this information to the development of empathy and other prosocial behaviors in the context of virtual play
2. Identify uses and drawbacks of virtual platforms to promote empathy in children and youth of various ages/developmental levels
3. Identify key components necessary for successful transfer of social skills from virtual to real-world settings

Course Outline:

• Read and understand Social and Emotional Learning in the age of virtual play: Technology, empathy, and learning
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives
• Consider how existing theories of social-emotional development can be applied to participation in virtual environments coupled with research findings about the uses and drawbacks of technology to promote empathy as discussed in the accompanying article
• Work through the post-test questions; keep in mind that answer selections should be derived from the selected article
• Return to the referenced article for any missed questions and/or to better understand the subject matter

Approvals: