As I reflect on my thoughts of a leader at the beginning of the course, I equated a leader to someone who is more than just a manager or supervisor. I still believe this; however, my perspectives on the characteristics of a leader needed in a digital environment has changed. Castelli (2016) introduces the term, reflective leadership, which depends on intrinsic leadership traits such as self-awareness, mindfulness, wisdom and good judgement. Khan (2017) describes a flexible and supportive leader in a complex situation as an adaptive leader. However, Castelli (2016) and Yukl (2010) suggests that adaptive and reflective leadership “challenge beliefs, assumptions, values and norms” (as cited by Khan, 2017, p. 179). The implementation of digital tools and digital technology are always changing and evolving the learning environments; therefore, leaders need to be adaptive and reflective. The qualities involved with these two leadership styles are ones which I could strengthen.
In my current role as a support staff, I would not normally lead change in our organization; however, because I am currently a MALAT student, I had the opportunity to attend the Digital Pedagogy Lab which was held here in Toronto from Mar. 18th to the 20th. My boss felt that this would be a great learning experience for me…and it was! I was able to participate in the Open Pedagogy stream which was facilitated by Dave Cormier. On the first day, we did an activity to try and define what open is. By the end of the day, I realized that open cannot really be defined in one sentence. It is quite complex. One concept is that it involves the self-determined and intrinsically motivated students which direct their own learning, while the educator/facilitator guides the students’ learning. I realized that this is what we are experiencing in each of our courses in the MALAT program. After the three-day experience with Dave, I felt that this is something that I could introduce some of my colleagues and boss to, so to start the conversations, I developed my “elevator pitch” which is an infographic (see figure 1). I know that we won’t be able to incorporate open in all aspects of our courses; however, there are some areas which truly can be open and can be incorporated in the digital learning environment.
Figure 1: What is Open?
In this course, we have learned about leadership, change management, project management, and academic and learning analytics in digital learning, I feel that with the knowledge that I obtained from the readings, the educators and from my cohort, and with the support of my colleagues and supervisor, I would one day have the opportunity to lead a change in our organization.
References:
Castelli, P. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236.
Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or Transactional Leadership in Current Higher Education: A Brief Comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3).