Published by Weri Gadou March 20, 2025
As my LNRT 525 at Royal Roads University course wraps up, I’ve been thinking about how my understanding of leadership and change in digital learning has grown. At the beginning, I saw leadership as guiding teams, using technology effectively, and ensuring accessibility. While I still believe these things are important, I now realize leadership is also about working within complex systems, adapting to change, and bringing people together to make learning better.
How My Perspective Has Changed
In my first blog post, What Makes A Great Leader In Digital Learning?, I focused on leadership qualities like vision, adaptability, and responsible technology use. These are still key, but I now see that leadership is not just about individual traits. It’s about understanding how different parts of an organization connect and making sure people feel supported in the process of change.
What I’ve Learned
One of my biggest takeaways is that leading change in digital learning requires planning and strategy. It’s not just about using new tools, it’s about making sure those tools help people and fit into the bigger picture. I’ve also learned about different leadership styles, like adaptive leadership (Khan, 2017), which means being flexible and open to change, and reflective leadership (Castelli, 2016), which means always looking for ways to improve.
Another key lesson is that change is a team effort. Huggins et al. (2017) emphasize that strong leaders help others grow into leaders too. Real change happens when people collaborate and share knowledge, rather than relying on one person to lead the way.
Final Thoughts
Leading change in digital learning is complicated, but this course has helped me see the bigger picture. I also want to help organizations adopt learning technologies in ways that make sense for their teams. This course has reinforced that technology isn’t just about the tools, it’s about how people use them. Change only works when people understand and feel comfortable with new systems, and I want to help bridge that gap.My first blog post focused on leadership traits, but now I understand that leadership is really about creating the right conditions for change to happen. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned and apply it to my work, helping to make digital learning more effective, inclusive, and meaningful for everyone.
References
Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236.
Huggins, K. S., Klar, H. W., Hammonds, H. L., & Buskey, F. C. (2017). Developing Leadership Capacity in Others: An Examination of High School Principals’ Personal Capacities for Fostering Leadership. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 12(1), n1.
Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief comparison. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3), 178-183.