In Unit 1, we were asked to reflect on leadership theories and the qualities of an effective leader in the digital environment. For Unit 2, we are asked to summarize our thoughts on our readings. One of the topics that I would like to further discuss is the change management for learning in the digital environments in the college setting.
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” – George Bernard Shaw
According to Weller (2011), some of the challenges encountered for learning in the digital environments in higher education are the application of social media in curriculum, the use of academic blogging to publish thoughts, the use of open data in research, and the sharing of open education resources. To address these issues, the resilience framework as introduced by Weller and Anderson (2013) can be applied. When the authors examined open access by using the four factors of resilience (latitude, resistance, precariousness and panarchy), this really interested me because it is relatable to our situation at the college. Weiner (2009) stated “the more organizational members value the change, the more they will want to implement the change” (para. 14). Furthermore, Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015) add that the human element of team dynamics and the consideration of the different perspectives and cultures of people in the organization is what helps change to succeed. Our program has recently introduced the use of e-textbooks and have found that most of the students really like using them; however, there are a few who would still rather use a hard copy book to make notes in the margins. Some of our dental hygiene faculty have started to explore the use of open textbooks and electronic databases with the librarians to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute resources (Stacey, 2018), but others are not on board yet. Our program compared to others in the college is quite behind with the implementation of open resources. Therefore, our dean decided to assemble the Digital Transformation Committee. The members will help to motivate our faculty and align them to the organization’s digital transformation goal by explaining the “why”, “how” and “what” this will look like in the future. We are on the road to organizational change. Are you? Or have you already implemented a change and how did you implement it successfully?
Cheers!
References:
Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234-262.
Stacey, P. (2018). Diversity, Equity, Inclusion – Building a Global Learning Commons. In E. Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium – Lay of the Land. Symposium conducted at the meeting of Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.
Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4.
Weller, M. (2011). The Digital Scholar: How Technology is Transforming Scholarly Practice.Basingstoke: Bloomsbury Academic.
Weller, M., & Anderson, T., (2013). Digital Resilience in Higher Education. European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning, 16(1), 53-66.