{"id":365,"date":"2020-02-24T15:13:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T23:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/?p=365"},"modified":"2020-02-24T15:13:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T23:13:10","slug":"leading-change-in-digital-learning-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/leading-change-in-digital-learning-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Change in Digital Learning Environments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Bluehouse Skis on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Table 1_Change in Digital Learning Environments<\/a><\/p>\n

Organizations are changing rapidly thanks to today\u2019s technological advancements.\u00a0 Leaders of educational organizations must keep pace to ensure their students are prepared for the future.\u00a0 While each change and organization is unique, leaders must remain mindful of existing change literature and consider it as they guide their organizations through change processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange in Digital Learning Environments\u201d (Table 1) highlights the results of two organizations that recently underwent changes to their digital learning environments (DLEs).\u00a0 Organization A is a technical college that implemented a change from paper to online tests.\u00a0 An interviewed employee expressed frustration with the process and felt that the change had been ill-prepared and unsuccessful (M. Chevtava, personal communication, February 20, 2020).\u00a0 Organization B is an employment support centre.\u00a0 They recently underwent a major change to join with a provincial government organization.\u00a0 This involved significant changes, including shifting some of their training services from face-to-face to online.\u00a0 Despite the substantial changes, an interviewed employee felt that the process was successful; she felt the organization\u2019s leaders had been transparent, thorough, and supportive which helped make the transition more stress-free and efficient (A. Winj, personal communication, February 20, 2020).<\/p>\n

\u201cChange in Digital Learning Environments\u201d (Table 1) relates the two organizations\u2019 change processes to an eight-step change model.\u00a0 The model is largely adapted from Biech\u2019s (2007) CHANGE model (Figure 3-2).\u00a0 Steps one, three and four identify why an organization needs to change, what the change is, and how the organization will implement it.\u00a0 Knowing why changes are happening encourages members to commit to the change and work towards its success.\u00a0 For members unfamiliar with digital learning tools or technologies, knowing what and how things will change is especially important as they may require additional training and support.\u00a0 A successful leader ensures that all members, regardless of their knowledge and comfort levels in DLEs, feel committed to the change process and confident in its success.<\/p>\n

The second step (Table 1) reflects Weiner\u2019s (2009) theory of organizational readiness for change.\u00a0 Once there is an identified need for change, it is imperative for leaders to ensure the organization is ready for that change.\u00a0 This includes the organization\u2019s members sharing a commitment to the change and a belief that they are collectively capable of achieving it (Weiner, 2009). \u00a0Technology changes quickly and an organization that is unprepared for change in a DLE is unlikely to stay competitive.\u00a0 Students want and need learning environments that provide them with current skills and experiences.\u00a0 An organization that is ill-prepared to provide that is unlikely to succeed.<\/p>\n

Steps five through seven (Table 1) are also based on Biech\u2019s CHANGE model.\u00a0 These fit well in a DLE as digital leaders often formalize a design change, then implement and institutionalize it.\u00a0 This may include introducing a pilot version of a design on a small scale to train lead instructors and generate initial feedback.\u00a0 After fully implementing the change (step six), it is then absorbed into the institution (step seven).<\/p>\n

Evans and Schaefer\u2019s (2001) emphasis to \u201chonor and respect the effort people have committed\u201d (Planning for Closure, para. 3) influenced the addition of step eight (Table 1).\u00a0 The employee of Organization B stated that her organization\u2019s leaders regularly acknowledged the extra time and effort members invested.\u00a0 They provided free lunches during busy days of the change process.\u00a0 Part of the evaluation included gifts, expressions of thanks, and celebrations of their successes (A. Winj, personal communication, February 20, 2020).\u00a0 These actions illustrate the leaders\u2019 respect for members\u2019 contributions.\u00a0 The employee of Organization A stated that her leaders provided no evaluation or debrief beyond a brief statement of thanks, leaving members feeling unappreciated (M. Chevtava, personal communication, February 20, 2020).\u00a0 \u201cThe underlying cause [of failed change initiatives] is a clash of values between the organization and the approach to and type of change it has adopted\u201d (Burnes & Jackson, 2011, p. 135).\u00a0 To increase chances of success, Organization A should incorporate all steps of the change model, and better align the values of its decision-makers with those of other members.<\/p>\n

Effective organizational leadership is vital at each step of the change process.\u00a0 For successful change in DLEs, leaders have additional concerns such as members\u2019 knowledge and comfort levels with technology, online safety, and how to best take advantage of DLEs\u2019 affordances.\u00a0 Leaders who also consider the uniqueness of their organization and the upcoming change while applying change theories and models appropriately put their organization in the best possible position to meet change processes with maximum success.<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Biech, E. (2007). Models for change. In\u00a0Thriving through change: A leader\u2019s practical guide to change mastery<\/em>. Alexandria, VA: Association for Talent Development.<\/p>\n

Burnes, B., & Jackson, P. (2011). Success and failure in organizational change: An exploration of the role of values. Journal of Change Management, 11<\/em>(2), 133-162.<\/p>\n

Evans, J., & Schaefer, C. (2001). Task X: Continuous learning and improvement. In Ten Tasks of Change: Demystifying changing organization. <\/em>San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.<\/p>\n

Weiner, B.J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change.\u00a0Implementation Science, 4<\/em>(67). doi: 10.1186\/1748-5908-4-67<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Table 1_Change in Digital Learning Environments Organizations are changing rapidly thanks to today\u2019s technological advancements.\u00a0 Leaders of educational organizations must keep pace to ensure their students are prepared for the future.\u00a0 While each change and organization is unique, leaders must remain mindful of existing change literature and consider it as they guide their organizations through … Continue reading “Leading Change in Digital Learning Environments”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}