I’m not going to lie; I’m feeling worn out. It isn’t this course specifically, so much as the culmination of life, work, pandemic, etc. all piling up. Throughout this course I found it difficult to focus on the readings and assignments but was thankfully able to push through. Now that I look back to my first blog post from this course, it feels like forever ago. In that first post I wrote about how authority and leadership don’t always go together, and how a quality leader should lead well whether they participate in digital spaces or not. Reflecting on this term I find that my views have stayed roughly the same, though they have been enlarged. While authority and leadership are not always connected, it is essential that change happens under the leadership of those who have authority and awareness of the organization undergoing the change. While a quality leader should lead well in any space, the digital space is rife with complexity and nuance; a leader who fails to grasp this must learn quickly or will likely fail.
At my current energy level, the idea of leading change within my organization feels exhausting and like something I would very much not like to pursue. Still, it is something I think I have the potential to participate in at a later time. From my readings and experience with project and change management, I think my own tendency towards organization, planning, and pessimism (I mean, ummm, seeing the big picture) appears to be an asset in the world of change management. When you look to introduce change in a digital learning environment, you’re often not simply adding a tool, you’re looking to completely change the way people work. You may be challenging pedagogical concepts people have held onto for years, or introducing complicated technologies people are not comfortable with, both of which could reveal vocational insecurities that have little to do with the change but will still result in pushback on the change itself. The complexity of leading change — the strategy, humanity, and technological complexities — are things I enjoy but am not currently able to pursue. Hopefully someday I will have the chance to use what I’ve learned to help introduce change in my organization that will make it a better place for both faculty and students.
HI David,
Thanks for a great reflective post. I can definitely relate to feeling very tired – and the idea of change right now is daunting. We developed a new design framework over the last year, and our team met this week to start to think about all the smaller projects that will come out of this. As you point out it is going to impact so many different aspects of how we do things – from the aesthetic design of our LMS (we hope), to the interview questions we use to interview subject matter experts (and so much in between). I was so grateful to see so many members of our team agreeing to take on the leadership for different aspects, and I found that in itself energizing. I am looking forward to this change – and I think breaking it down into smaller doable chunks will really help. I hope you get a recharge (I know we all ready need it) and a break after the end of this semester (and the course).
Sounds like a really interesting project, Michelle. It’s always refreshing when members of a team are so invested in a project that each is willing to take on some responsibility. A new design framework would be a fascinating project to be involved in with all the areas of impact and nuance of needs that have to be taken into account. Hopefully you still have time to take a break and get some rest.