Leadership and Culture

A study comparing leadership behavior across cultures with the use of a test based on transformational leadership (Rudd, Kent, Blair & Schuele, 2009) shows that US and German leaders are quite similar in their leadership behavior. However, the results indicates that US leaders scored higher than the German leaders on each of the five behaviors studied. The Leader Behavior Inventory (LBI) is used as the test as it has been used in other cultural comparisons (den Hartog, House, Hanges, & Ruiz-Quintanilla, 1999; Quesada, Gonzalez,  & Kent, 2008). Furthermore, the study draws on Hofstede and Hofstede’s (2005) four cultural dimensions.

According to Hofstede (1986),  four distinct dimensions characterize a culture: 1. collectivism/individualism, 2. masculinity/femininity, 3. power distance and finally, 4. uncertainty avoidance. These dimensions influence people’s relations and help assess the leader’s capability to manage change and the attitudes and abilities of their colleagues and  followers to accept and handle it.

References 

Den Hartog, D. N., House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., & Dorfman, P. W. (1999, Summer).Culture specific and cross-culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: are attributes of charismatic/transformational leadership universally endorsed? Leadership Quarterly, 10, 219-257.

Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10, 301- 320.

Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations. New York: McGraw Hill

Quesada, G., Gonzalez, M., & Kent, T. W. (2008). A road for achiving an international measure and understanding on leaders‟ behaviors. Leadership and Organizational Development , 29, 678-692.

Rudd, H. Kent, T., Blair C.A., and Schuele, U. (2009) Leader Behavior Inventory: A Test of Measure Equivalence in Germany and the United States, International Journal of Leadership Studies,(5), 1, 22-36.

Leadership and Training

"Leadership is a skill that is learned through life experiences and watching fellow leaders. While many experts would agree that leadership is a skill that can be taught very few institutions take the time to train new leaders. Many institutions of higher education are more focused on managing the daily crises which occur on a regular basis. These issues are important however, many of these crises may be prevented by having people properly trained to handle these situations. Many usually lack the administrative experience to transition from a faculty member to a leadership position (Tucker, 1984). While managing a classroom and an institution may have similar attributes, most would argue they are vastly different. Learning the political, financial, and societal factors of an institution is a complicated process." (p.33-34)

According to Morris, key issues are: lack of training, financial resources as well as involvement of top managers. In attempt to adress these issues, planning, concrete training and monitoring are essential parts of the solution.

Hargreaves (2007) claims that sustainable leadership “preserves and develops deep learning for all that spreads and lasts, in ways that do no harm to and indeed create positive benefits for others around us, now and in the future” (p. 224). The claim makes Grooms & Reid-Martinez (2011) draw the conclusion that there is a "need for leadership education to encourage leaders to know themselves, their gifts, and personality tendencies, as well as their leadership abilities within the organization" (p.415).

In a study of strategic leadership in a global firm, Van Beek and Grachev (2010) relate leadership effecitivity directly to leadership competencies:

"Leader effectiveness is a function of interaction between strategic organizational contingencies, leadership competencies, and leader attributes and behaviors. Leader attributes and behaviors that meet the requirements of strategic organizational contingencies will result in increased leader effectiveness (House et al., 2004). Hence, directed development of leadershipcore competencies in a global firm changes managers‘ behaviors and contributes to effective growth in the markets" (p. 320).

According to Hollander (1958, 1974), we can differentiate between the hierarchical and the emergent leadership. The first category is based on a formal position within an organization whereas the emergent leadership refers to a leader in an uformel position based on collegiate support.


References
Grooms, L. D., & Reid-Martinez, K. (2011). Sustainable leadership development: a conceptual model of a cross-cultural blended learning program. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 6 (3), 412-429.

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable leadership and development in education: Creating the
future, conserving the past. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233.

Hollander, E. P. (1958). Conformity, status, and idiosyncrasy credit. Psychological 

Review, 65, 117-127.

Hollander, E. P. (1974). Processes of leadership emergence. Journal of Contemporary Business,
Autumn, 19-33


Van Beek, M. & Grachev, M. (2010). Building strategic leadership competencies: the case of unilever. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 5 (3)313-332.

Morris, A. (2012). Perspectives and Thoughts on Leadership Development in Higher Education e-Journal of Organizational Learning and Leadership 10,(1), 33-36.

Strategy and Culture

The dissertation An Exploratory Study of Organizational Culture and Its Relationship to Organizational Effectiveness in Distance Education Institutions (Willis, 2010) shows how some cultural elements seem to relate more to distance education institutions than others. The findings in the study point out innovation, collaborative engagement, mentoring, team cohesion, morale, technology and the development of human resources as essential elements which influence the organizational effectiveness in distance education institutions.  

In the dissertation, Willis (2010) refers to Schein (2004) in claiming that leadership and culture is strongly interrelated. Culture creates leaderships as well as leadership creates culture.

Willis draws on Weick (1985) for emphasizing that the need for strategy and planning depends on the culture. Organizations with different cultural foundations need planning and strategy-work more than organizations based on the same values and beliefs. According to Weick, culture can be an alternative to strategy because a sound coherent culture is a possible alternative to strategy whereas strategy cannot in the same way substitute culture. Willis also emphasizes several studies (Clott & Fjortoft, 2000; Smart, 2002; Cameron & Zammuto, 1983) drawing the conclusion that culture highly affects organizational effectiveness.

So, there are several reasons for focusing on culture and working with the construction and re-construction of culture in Higher Education.

References

Cameron, K. S. & Zammuto, R. (1983) Matching managerial strategies to conditions of decline. Human Resource Management, 22, 359-375.

Clott, C. & Fjortoft. N (2000). Culture and strategy in business schools: Links to organizational effectiveness. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, 13(2), 27-33.

Schein, E. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smart, J. C. (2002). Enhancing the educational effectiveness of two-year colleges: New perspectives and evidence of the role of institutional characteristics. Paper preseeted at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, April 1-5, 2002.

Weick, K. E. (1985). The significance of corporate culture: Organizational culture, 381-389. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publicatins

Willis, D. A. (2010). An exploratory study of organizational culture and its relationship to organizational effectiveness in distance education institutions. Dissertation University of Maryland University College

Leaders' Perspective on DE

I have just read an interesting ph.d-dissertation about distance education and leaders’ perspective.

Hummell uses a qualitative approach to focus on the leaders perspectives, theoretical foundation, professional background, personal preferences and the institutional demographic.

The study shows that leaders in DE focus on teamwork, communication, organizational change, and lifelong learning in their work as leaders.

Reference

Hummell, L.J.( 2008). Distance education leaders’ perspective: a study of how select higher education institutions implement and lead online distance education programs. 

Strategic Seminar

Today, I have participated in a seminar about strategic management and collaboration across campus.
We have discussed servant leadership, shared vision, engagement and empowerment. It is intersting to look at the same issues from a new perspective in a new organization. At UCSJ, all my colleagues are very engaged and dedicated to their job and our shared mission.

At this moment, I am at Ankerhus where we have worked today. Tomorrow, we will continue our discussions at Campus Roskilde focusing on resources, shared models and tools.

Here, you can see the beautiful Ankerhus. Last week, we celebrated Ankerhus' 110 anniversary, so it is a place with lots of educational aura.

Seminar for the National Leaders

Yesterday and today, I participate in a seminar for all the national leaders of the program of social education. We have discussed exam, quality, interaction with R&D, study-load and accreditation. Now, an interesting discussion about new innovative exams is going on.  I think it is important that we offer the students a wide variation in the types of exams.

Yesterday, I made a presentation based on my experience with the interaction between researchers, lectures and students in higher education. Some of the leaders could recognize the potentials and problems I described. Some of them could not. Some were engaged in the discussions. Some of them looked as if the educational practice I presented was fare away from their practice. However, for me it was a good reflection exercise.

The seminar was held at Hotel Billund, so I have enjoyed two days in a setting with lego bricks all over. In the reception, in the restaurant, in the bedroom and also in the ladies room you will find lego bricks in creative variations.

Educational Innovation

Today, we had the first seminar in an important process. We aim at developing a new shared educational practice. Until now, the 4 locations in the program for social education have maintained their own profile, traditions and educational paradigms. Of course all the work in the programs is based on a shared curriculum, and on guidelines for internship and guidelines for exam. However, the analysis of the educational practice shows that the differences cannot easily be explained or grounded in sound educational argumentation. Furthermore, we have an urgent need to work cross locations, to strengthen research and educational quality. We can only do so if we can describe, document and present our educational practice in a coherent way based on a strong theoretical foundation and a shared practical educational approach.

I try to use the model below to design the process – in its entire flow. Today, we worked in the constructing phase. I had made a pre-prototype of a study-plan – presented in the way it is supposed to be presented to all our students – when they start the new semester.  And I got so much input and so many new, constructive and creative comments which I have to add to the study-plan before we can go into the next Lab-exercise: discussing the pre-prototype with all the lectures. Today, I had only invited 30 persons and 20 persons participated. In the next period, all lectures will be invited to participate in asynchronous and synchronous discussions. It is a very import phase where I have to maintain an open mind.

As part of my presentation today, I had made 4 interviews with important stakeholders: two students, a leader from an organizations for leaders of the institutions for impaired adult citizens and a researcher. In two of the interviews, I also made a short video presenting the highlights of the interview. In the next couple of days, I will try to convert one of the videos from powerpoint into YouTube and put it on my blog.

Several things surprised me today

1) At one hand, there was a great resistance to the concept of innovation. On the other hand, there also was a part of the lectures and managers highly dedicated to the concept of innovation.

2) There is a rather strong vision of the democratical processes in the educational practice in the program cross locations. However, some of the lectures seemed to disagree in involving the students in this innovative process.
3) A concern that educational quality will be reduced if we change our practice and work systematically cross locations. 

Learning by Developing

All new students at UCL received an invitation to take part in action research during their education. The publication was one of the last things I was responsible for as Head of R&D. The department of communication and the consultant from R&D did a wonderful job. They can be proud:  http://ucl.dk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2905-avis-260x365mm-udvikling-og-viden_web_100dpi.pdf

Out of Blog

I have not blogged for a long time. Starting in a new job is a rather challenging activity. I might have forgotten. It is also very interesting - and I have the feeling that I learn a lot every hour and every day! There are so many new people, new ways of acting in, thinking of and experiencing the world. Some days, it is overwhelming in a way that there is no space for reflection on the blog. However, there have been lots of events, situations and activities to reflect on and write about. I have participated in a workshop focusing on digitalization in education, administration and management. Great keynote-speakers and concrete projects from the organization made it a very inspiring day. I also participated in the opening of our new campus in Roskilde - it is an amazing building designed for education for the future. I also have had a visit from two Japanese universities - three professors wanted to hear more about social education in Denmark. I enjoyed meeting with them. Last - but not least it has been very interesting and inspiring to meet so many new senior lectures, consultants, and  colleagues and to start working with a new strategic management. 

Below, you can see the new campus from outside and inside.

Linz

The ICCHP-conference in Linz was interesting. The themes were accessibility and portable and mobile systems in assistive technologies.

An interesting part of the conference was the global event where students from European universities competed. Young software developers had developed innovative, empowering software project for disabled people and the best team won a prize. The inspiration came from US-universities.http://ss12.info/.  In a Danish context, it could be compared to InnoEvent. However, InnoEvent is an interdisciplinary approach. So, both activities could actually learn from each other.

Our presentation of I-Space was fine. In the evening, we visited Ars Electronica. It is a great hands-on museum/experimentarium located by Danube in Linz . The museum covers robotics, genetic engineering, and media art. It was a fascinating evening for both adults and children. We produced interactive pictures with sensors and soundtracks. We interacted with Paro and other robots in a very inspiring environment. The children learned a lot - and so did their parents. An exhibition with focus on participation can be as challenging as an international conference. I can recommend the museum to everyone visiting Linz: http://www.aec.at/news/

New Job

Since, Eden I have been ill. I got pneumonia and I am still not well!
I also got a new job. Great and exciting. So, yesterday I held a great farewell reception at UCL and from August 1st I am head of Social Education at University College Zeeland. I look forward to a new important challenge - exploring my leadership practice in new ways.

In International Journal of Educational Research, I just found a volumen about doctoral assessment and ph.d.thesis. In my holiday, I will look into this to be prepared for the studies in the fall. It is volume 41, Issue 2, page 91-194.

Next week, I will present at a conference in Linz. Hopefully, I am fit for fight when I arrive in Austria

EDEN 2012 - The Last Day

Now, we are about to close the EDEN conference. We have just provided our two presentations. Eventhough, there were about untraditional DE - we have contributed to the conference with an important perspective - from my point of view.

In this moment, I listen to a UNESCO-representative. He claims that students are driven by realism.  A survey, he presents shows that students prefer to learn in groups, with practical problems together with peers. The same survey demonstrates that they are actually using their time at school copying from the board and listening to the teacher.

Key-factors in attracting students to HE are:

• Engagement
• Convenience
• Productivity

Ingeborg mentions MobileSage http://www.mobilesage.eu/ and a dilemma formulated by
Sherry Turkle in Alone together: "Why we expect more from technology and less form each other"

Experience from medical school in Porto is presented - including three concrete projects:
Serious Learning Game (Virtual Quizzz) : a tool for active learning and assessment in Clinical Analtomy - it is developed in Moodle.

EDEN 2012

Yesterday, the conference opened. Now, we are waiting for the first presentations. The conference hall is amazing.
Morten Flate Paulsen, President of EDEN gives a short introduction to why the theme for the conference has been chosen: "Closing the gap from generation Y to the mature lifelong learners".

Hegyi presents interesting projects:
Portuguese Platform of Age-Friendly Cities - http://europa.eu/ey2012/ey2012main.jsp?catId=975&langId=da&mode=initDetail&initiativeId=9&initLangId=en
Grandparents and grandchilden http://www.geengee.eu/geengee/index.jsp

Bob Fryer presents - how can we make the right changes - illustrated with a project WebWise http://projekte.hs-magdeburg.de/whole/course/view.php?id=97

Joachim Stolter presents profiles of non-traditional students (Open Distance Learners) definede as students studying part-time, distance or parallel with work.  According to Stolter's research, there is a convergence of student profiles between traditional campus-based and open and distance learning students.

"Yesterday's non-traditional studens are tomorrows's lifelong learnger" (Schütze and Slowey, 2002)

Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science uses inquiry based learning. They have a new modern campus which is shared with Laurea University of Applied Science. They have developed a digital tool: Leap-environment. It provides the students with.:

• a platform where students find projects that enhance their studies
• learning projects, thesis, and workplacement
• a tool for project management
• a place where own learning and development can be followed up

For the partners and entrepreneurs the platform is:

• a place for seeking students for new projects
• networking
• possibility to find future employees and a new way of promoting own business
• a tool for following up the development of projects

The teachers use the platform as

• a tool to facilitate teachers' own wokr, supervision of student development
• a system for imrpoving communication between students, lectures, and researcher
• a database

Every student has their own profile so that the entrepreneurs can see the skills of the students.

In Norway, they speak of merging classrooms: doing homework at school and working with the lectures at home.

Perception of progress, is the theme of the third and last presentation.Following examples from other domains are presented:

•  Productivity (RescueTime) http://www.rescuetime.com/
• Running (RunKeeper) http://runkeeper.com/

OpenBadges.org http://openbadges.org/en-US/ - an interesting way of thinking and acting
Check my activities - a tool for the students to check their activity compared with other students and to increase selfawareness about learning http://navigator.nmc.org/project/umbc-check-my-activity-tool-students
Open Learning Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University - the students is guided through the materials and they can predict some of the most common problems https://www.google.dk/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SKPT_daDK430DK431&q=Open+Learning+Initiative%2C+Carnegie+Mellon+University

Goal-oriented visualizations - the students' progress is vizualised
Society for Learning Analytics Resarch (SOLAR) http://www.solaresearch.org/ - very interesting

Blackboard also provides a tool for analytics for learn: from the student view
LearnSmart - gamebased strategies can be a strong driver for students http://www.mhhe.com/learnsmart/

Right now, my colleague Anna Maj and I attend a session we have chosen because researchers from South and North Korea should present. However, it was a mistake. It is only a South Korean study based on a Delphy Study of teachers' competencies for the future in South Korean Schools.

Second presentation in the session focuses on professional learning for adult on the move. The project is called: On the move http://move-on.exodussa.com/ecportal.asp?id=32&nt=19&lang=1

The next project focuses on digital literacy in a doctor project about Strategic Project Management Tool- kit for creating Digital Literacy Initiatives (SPreadD) http://www.spread-digital-literacy.eu/index.php?id=1664&L=3

Meishar Tal: Learning with facebook group - points out three functions:

• Repository
• Interaction
• Assessment tools

Differences between facebook and LMSs:

• Ownership
• Entry
• Creation of collaborative knowledge
• Managing cont vs managing interaction
• Like
• Organization of content
• Synctronic interaction

Two different personal learning styles were identified: a proactive style and a reactive style.

Next presentation is also about facebook. FLIP-classes: the lecture is at home and the studywork is at school. A very interesting presentation
Przybylska's roles of the teacher were used as the pedagogical framework.

Higher Order Thinking Strategies in the work with blogs. The students have to train the writing reflecting post. Another great presentation. Thanks

Now, I listen to an interesting doctoral study of a Norwegian (Ole Christian Brudvik)  from NKS Nettstudier based on design-based research. Diigo - a social content network   http://www.diigo.com/ - a small scale research.
When I evaluate todays blogging, I am quite sure you can not talk about Higher Order Thinking Strategies. However, I might sum up later today or when the entire conference is over. I think, it is important to maintain the concrete activities and impressions. So, I did today.

References

Przybylska, I. (2011). Role of Teacher in a Modern World
Schuetze, H. G., and Slowey M. (2002). Participation and Exclusion: A Comparative Analysis of Non-Traditional Students and Lifelong Learners in Higher Education Higher EducationVol. 44, No. 3/4, pp. 309-327.

Seminar May 2012

Today, I am going to VejleFjord together with 35 dedicated lectures, researchers and consultants from UCL. Hopefully, we will learn a lot and provide each other with new inspiration and perspectives. I will try to blog during the seminar to point out some of the contributions and perspectives.

UCL's new R&D-director presented his visions for our work in the next years. First, he emphasized the fact that there will be fewer resources and we therefore have to focus our work with R&D.

Secondly, he highlighted the need to consolidate and we therefore have to strengthen our focus on research and especially the effects of research. One of the important challenges is to make a strong profile and provide a clear description of our repertoire in relation to applied research.

Finally, he underscored that we still have to work with quality in applied research in our kind of institution. However, we have to act as "society-helpers" which means that we can never act in an exclusive way such as a traditional research university and private consultants can.

Birgit Heimann Hansen presented an analysis of how students participate in R&D-activities. Then, Torben, Lisbeth and Bente told us about an analysis of how we work with municipalities - and a new web-site is created where we can get an overview.

Now, the Operation-Move is on the stage!

We worked for more than two hours with Operation-Move. It was my impression that many of the participants found it interesting and engaging. After that we had a wonderful dinner and a nice chat in the bar.

Today, we will start the program with evaluation of yesterdays activities and discuss our assumptions and experience related to empowering of the citizens. I look forward to a new day with my inspiring colleagues from University College Lillebaelt.

VIDA

Today, I participate in the VIDA-conference http://edu.au.dk/en/research/research-projects/vida/vida-conference-2012/program/. The Minister for Children and Education openes the conference.

In the project , one of the perspectives is the leadership impact on the social inclusion in daycare.
Melhuh, Birkbeck, University of London quotes James J. Heckman and Espen-Andersen - their research shows that investment in the early year is essential for the children and society. It is an interesting point that all most all research in this area is from UK and USA. Both countries have very few regulations on staff qualification
Melhuish's research shows that it is more important for children from unskilled families to attend pre-school than for any other groups of children.

Tarjei Havnes from University of Oslo present an economic view on child care and development. Experimental data with random assignment is provided.The research illustrates that there is a correlation between the years of schooling and participation in daycare.

Dr. Jan Peeters from Ghent University spoke about competence requirements in early childhood education and care. A literature review, a survey and case-studies conducted for the EU show that well-educated, experienced staff is important. However, it is also important with continous training and reflection on practice. An example from Italy with a very theoretical master education shows that the staff leaves the profession because they cannot manage practice.

Twitter

Now, I am on Twitter! Encouraged by my two oldest sons! I have posted two tweets and experience quite a new universe! Wondering how it can be used in social life as well as in work life. At risk for information overload. Of course I can stop "playing" Twitter in the same way as I can stop blogging and "playing" with Facebook. However, it is interesting how it make me think of and act in the world. It might be more than a playful game.

Design Based Research

According to Bereiter (2002), design based research is defined by its goal not by methodology or the research methods used.  

Bereiter emphasizes the focus on sustained innovation. The awareness of potential has, Bereiter states, been the important drivers in the innovation of the automobile, airplane and computer. Innovation in education is however characterized by another complexity. In education, the potential of innovation is social and personal changes and it is more difficult to imagine these kind of changes than the potentials of the automobile. However, only rather clear visions can provide the essential drivers for sustained innovation. So, it is the challenge and part of the explanation why design based research has been more dominant in medicine and engineering than in education.

As mentioned above, Bereiter defines the approach by the purpose: sustained innovative development. Furthermore, he adds four characteristics constituting design research.Firstly, the collaboration with designers is mentioned as a constituting principle. Second, Bereiter points at intervention as an essential part of the researchers work. The design researcher acts within the context and therefore crosses the traditional boundary between observation and intervention. Third, the goal of design research is to solve authentic problems in a concrete context focusing on both the positive and negative consequences of the changes. Fourth, emergent goals drive design research in a process characterized by shared visions in a dynamic community focusing on the potentials.

Reference

Bereiter, C. (2002). Design Research for Sustained Innovation. Cognitive Studies, Bulletin of the Japanese Cognitive Science Society, 9(3), 321-327.

Educational Design Research

Yesterday, I read a very interesting paper about Educational Design Research (EDR)

First, I was supprised to read the following claim in Reeves, McKenny and Herrington's (2011) paper:

"Perhaps with the exception of a few nations such as Singapore, Finland and South Korea, most countries have an insufficient basis to be satisfied with the educational attainment of their primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational systems today." (p.55)

Actually, I thought that the educational problems were global. However, the paper provides no references to research confirming that Singapore, Finland and South Korea have no problems in their educational systems. So, it is interesting to find evidence and to look closer into possible explanations. I will try to find documentation for this claim in future readings.

Second, EDR is characterized as an educational research approach which links directly to practice and enables concrete educational changes and theoretical development.

"Unlike other forms of educational research, educational design research provides a direct link between research and practice, and thus the chances that it will have a meaningful impact are greatly enhanced." (p.58)

Finally, the paper provides a clear distinction between action research and educational design research. It is indirectly stated that EDR aims for constructing theory, models, or principles which can lead new design initiatives in contrast to action research where the focus is on solving concrete problems in practice.
In the future studies, I will look for other distinctions between EDR and action research. I am not sure that all action researchers will argue the way Reeves, McKenny and Herrington do.

References

Reeves, T.C., McKenny, S., and Herrington, J. (2011) Publishing and perishing: The critical importance of educational design research. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology , 27(1), 55-65

Participatory Action Research

According to Greenwood, Whyte and Harka (1993) "participation is a process that must be generated. It begins with participatory intent and continues by building participatory processes into the acitivity within the limits set by the participants and the conditions". (p.176)

So, in a project based on participatory action it is essential to match the actions with the needs and potentials of all the participants and relate it to the concrete context. Collaboration between external researchers and the internal participants emerges when the local conditions and the professional capabilities of especially the external researchers enables participatory action research.

However, Greenwood, Whyte and Harka's (1993) casestudy shows that organizational leaders willing to take risks, relinquish control and let processes develop are crucial for the success of a project based on participatory action research. In this way, participatory action research can be a strong transformer of organizations and solve complex organizational problems.

Finally, the study tends to show that the character of the problems also has an impact on the emerging processes. Serious problems and crisis might be important drivers in this kind of projects.

References

Greenwood, D. J., Whyte, W. F., &  Harka, I. (1993). Participatory action research as a process and as a goal. Human Relations, 46(2), 175-192.

Kelly

Last week-end, I read a book about Petra Kelly the founder of the first German Green party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Kelly
It is a book about political leadership and how she dedicated her life to fight for the weak and the oppressed in any part of the world.

In this week, I have had another German experience while I edited our paper for the conference in Linz! SpringerVerlag does not use APA-style! So, I had to be very concentrated to follow the guidelines. I wonder why the world of academica could not agree on one common standard? Something about ideology and economics might be the issue

Wivel, P. (2009). Drabet på Petra Kelly - en historie om murens fald (The murder of Petra Kelly - a history of the fall of die Mauer). København: Politikens Forlag

Flexible pedagogy

Now, I have read Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice (2011), I can conclude that leadership theory and practice is not covered by many of the articles in the book. Rossiter (2011) provides some thoughts when he states that academic staff seeks for support and leadership to develop flexible-learning courses

Many staff are genuinely seeking help about how to engage more constructively with these challenges,  although they are confused as to how to go about it. But we are responding positively. The school executive, for example, recently introduced a scheme to encourage good teaching practice with teaching recognition
awards. (p.170)

In the conclusion, Rossiter draws on Senge's theory of organizational learning. It is, however, a minor contribution in the field of leadership in DE and flexible learning environments. So, the book is a documentation of that leadership still is not considered important in the field of DE.

Reference
Burge, E., Gibson, C.C., & Gibson, T. (Eds), (2011) Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University
Rossiter, D. (2011). Where has the effect gone? The quest to sustain momentum, (pp. 161-173), In E. Burge, C. C. Gibson, & T. Gibson (Eds), Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca:Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University

Asia and HE

I just read a great article about higher education in Asia. In this article, Latchem, & Jung (2011) claim that "most Asian distance education students would prefer to study face to face at conventional institutions, but they have no choice." This statement supports Gabriel's experience based on many years within an Asian context. It is a shame I did not read this article before because it strongly supports our perspectives and conclusions in assignment 2.

In the next days, I will read the book. It is an interesting title. However, the table of content indicates that leadership issues are not part of the book. I look forward to confirm or reject this assumption

Reference

Latchem, C., & Jung, I. (2011). Cultural perceptions of flexibility in Asian higher education, in E. Burge, C. C. Gibson, & T. Gibson (Eds), Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University

Strategic Management

Two days ago, I submitted assignement 3. So, all posting after April 5th are not part of the 804-capstone project.

Today, I read Stacy (2003) - and found this remarkable quote:

Strategies emerge, intentions emerge, in the ongoing conversational life of an organisation and in ongoing conversations between people in different organisations. Strategic management is the process of actively participating in the conversations around important emerging issues. Strategic direction is not set in advance but understood in hindsight as it is emerging or after it has emerged. This is because if small changes can escalate to have enormous consequences, the distinction between what is strategic and what is, say, tactical becomes very problematic. The distincition can only be identified after the event. Complex responsive processes theory therefore leads to a different conceptualisation of strategy and strategic management (p. 423)

Stacey, R. D. (2003). Strategic management and organisational dynamics. The challenge of complexity. 4th Ed. Essex: Prentice Hall.

Reflections

In April 2011, I started this blog - with three postings about my doctoral studies. I reflected on what motivates me in formal education - focusing on how important it is for me to combine formal and informal learning.

In February 2012, I began writing on assignement 3 in module 804 Leadership and Project Management in Distance Education. I started with a traditional format of a academic paper. Halfway through the assignement, I wanted to link to some papers and publications I have produced in the past - and suddenly, I saw my existing blog as an obvious solution. When I first got started to post, my blog emerged and it turned into assignment 3. So, I left the traditional paper and for four weeks, I have worked on the blog daily - reflecting on my work and studies, reviewing literature, designing the blog, adding journals, tools and other resources. It is quite another genre than a traditional paper. A blog never stops. Every posting has to be a complete text: you cannot expect people to read all your postings.

Eventhough, I have wrote and edited blogs before related directly to my work and my personal life, I have never worked on a blog linking work, academic studies, past, present and future perspectives. It has been an interesting process in which the blog has emerged on basis of what I have read, observed, reflected and acted on. It has also been an important period in my work life. On one hand, I have simultaneously worked on a Singapore case study on leadership in higher education. On the other hand, I was struck by lightning when my leader was not reinstated - so I have learned new things about leadership in practice in higher education. Formal and informal learning has been intensely interacting.

I am sure, I will work on the blog in the future. It will emerge - and my blog-postings from March and April 2012 will have a different meaning when I look at them in 2013.

Finally, permit me to assert that I have tried to work as a bricoleur - with "knowledge of resources, careful observation, trust in one's intuition, listening, and confidence that any enacted structure can be self-correcting if one's ego is not invested too heavily in it" (Weick, 2001, p. 63). It has been my hope and dream! I will let others decide whether I succeeded.

Reference
Weick, K. E. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

Leadership

"Where we hope to land (and where we do land, though only for a fleeting moment, enough for tired wings to catch the wind anew) is a 'there' which we thought of little and knew of even less."
Bauman, Z. (1997). Postmodernity and its discontents. NY: New York University Press

"To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transforamtion of ourselves and the world - and at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are. Modern environments and experience cut across boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind. But it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of disunity: it pours us all into a maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish. To be modern is to be part of a universe in which, so Marx said, "all that is solid melts into air" "(p.15)
Berman, M. (1982). All that is solid melts into air. NY: Simon & Schuster

"The essential problem in self-design is to make a teacher out of the learner - that is, to have the same people performing both functions. When an organization finds a present design inadequate, it avoids having someone from the outside some in to rewire the organization; it does the rewiring itself" (p. 409)
Weick, K. E. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Leadership and Trends

Interest in comparative studies of leadership theories has been increasing in recent years.  Many studies focus on transactional and transformational leadership style (Bass, Avolio, Jung, and Berson, 2003; Berson & Avolio, 2004; Harms & Crede, 2010; Hood, Poulson, Mason, Walker and Dixon, 2009; Jones & Rudd, 2008; Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Kezar and Eckel, 2008; Young, 2004).

We also find an increased interest in authentic and spiritual leadership (Avolio and Gardner, 2005; Benefiel , 2005; Dent, Higgins, & Wharff, 2005; Fry & Krieger, 2009), cross-cultural leadership (Dickson, Den Hartog, & Mitchelson, 2003; Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan , 2007; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2006) and leadership related to gender (Hughes, 2011; Jonung, & Staahlberg, 2008; Reay & Ball, 2000; Shain, 2000, Young, 2004).

Finally, the case-study seems to be highly valued in the field of leadership research (Ehrlich, Meindl, & Viellieu, Latchem & Hanna, 2001; Masumoto, & Brown-Welty,2009; Mumford, Connelly, & Gaddis, 2003; Pasian, & Woodill, 2006; Sanders & Harvey, 2002; Young, 2004;)

References

Avolio, B. J., and Gardner, W. L. (2005) Authentic leadership development getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly 16, 315-338.

Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J. , Jung, D. I., and Berson, Y. (2003) . Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology 88, 207–218

Benefiel, M. (2005). The second half of the journey: spiritual leadership for organizational transformation. The Leadership Quarterly 16, 723-747.

Berson,Y.  and Avolio, B. J. (2004).Transformational leadership and the dissemination of organizational goals: A case study of a telecommunication firm, The Leadership Quarterly 16(5), 625-646

Dent, E. B. Higgins, A. E., and Wharff D. M. (2005) Spirituality and leadership: an empirical review of definitions, distinctions and embedded assumputions. The Leadership Quarterly 16, 625-653.

Fry, L., and Kriger, M. (2009). Towards a theory of being-centered leadership: Multiple levels of being as context for effective leadership. Human Relations, 62(11), 1667-1696.

Gelfand, M. J.,  Erez, M.,  & Aycan, Z. (2007). Cross-cultural organizational behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 479-514

Harms, P. D. and Crede, (2010). Emotional intelligence and tranformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 17(1) 5-17.

Hood, J. D., Poulson, R. L., Mason, S. A., Walker, T. C., and Dixon J. (2009). An examination of traditional and nontraditional students’ evaluations of professorial leadership styles: transformational versus transactional approach. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1)1- 12.

Hughes, P. J. (2011). A new sherriff in town: The barriers of structural discrimination facing women leaders. Advancing Women in Leadership 31, 8-13.

Jones, D., and Rudd, R. (2008). Transactional, transformational, or laissez-farie leadership: An assessment of college of agriculture academic program leaders’ (deans) leadership styles. Journal of Agricultural Education 49(2), 88-97.

Jonung, C., & Staahlberg, A. C. (2008). Reaching the top? On gender balance in the economic profession. Econ Journal Watch, 5(2), 174-192.

Judge, T. A. and Piccolo R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity, Journal of Applied Psychology 89, 755–768.

Kezar, A., and Eckel, P. (2008). Advancing diversity agendas on campus: examining transactional and transformational presidential leadership styles.  International Journal of Leadership in Education 11(4) 379-405.

Kirkman BL, Lowe KB, and Gibson CB. 2006. A quarter century of Culture’s Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede’s cultural values framework. Journal of International Business Studies. 37, 285–320.

Masumoto, M., and Brown-Welty, S. (2009). Case study of leadership practices and school-community interrelationships in high-performing, high-poverty, rural Californiah high schools, Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(1) 1-18

Mumford, M. D, Connelly, S., and Gaddis, B. (2003). How creative leaders think: experimental findings and cases.Leadership Quarterly 14, 411–432.

Pasian, B. & Woodill, G. (Eds.) (2006).  Plan to learn: Case studies in elearning project management.  Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance.

Sanders, M., and Harvey, A. (2002). Beyond the School Walls: A Case Study of Principal Leadership for School-Community Collaboration. Teachers College Record 104(7)1345-1368.

Young, P. (2004). Leadership and gender in higher education: a case study, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(1), p. 95-106

 

Journals of Leadership - Open Access

On this blog, you find an overview of academic journals covering leadership and distance education. All the journals have been chosen because they have open access. From my point of view, open access is crucial in a globalized networking world. I have argued for this since 1998, where I developed my first HTML-web-site for a project.

Later on, when I developed several web-sites for educational programs (some of them fully-on-line - and some of them blended) and for R&D projects with colleges and universities, I argued in the same way. At that time, I was so priviliged to have a superior who listened to me. I was, therefore,  allowed to suspend all passwords, subscriptions and protections. So, passwords were only used to protect the participants' contributions in the virtuel forums where debates, dialogues and collaboration took place. Such a protection is important in a learning environment from ethical reasons. However, there are no reasons to hide study-guides, learning materials, bibliographies, cases, plans ( for lessons and semesters), evaluation criteria and reviews. My sceptical peers argued that any educational institution in Denmark - and in the world - could copy and steal our materials. They were of course right: anyone could and someone did.Especially, an English version of an educational program for DE consisting of 8 modules was re-used in university settings. However, I still argued that our main contribution was how we interacted with our students and participants - if someone could find inspiration in our bibliographies and study-guides it could not harm any of our activities. On the contrary, it should be seen as a positive feedback on our work.

Finally, open access added new dimensions to our educational and organizational development because the leaders of the colleges could follow and look into the training of their teachers. Therefore, open access enhanced collaboration in developing new competencies and activities. In this way, educational partnerships were strengthened through open access.

It is still my belief that access to knowledge and information is essential in higher education and research. Someone could argue - like my former peers did-  "that education is business". They are right, but it is a short term perspective. Open access is a must because Europe has to compete internationally. It provides a vital approach that enhance knowledge creation, quality, innovation and sharing. Additionally, it is a fair argument that education and research paid for with taxpayer's money should be accessible for more people and reused in new settings.

Here, you find, a symposium for librarians lead by Alma Swan - an open access expert - with focus on the economic aspects of open access:  http://libconference.library.unt.edu/2011/2011_OAS_P3fl.html
She refers to an interesting study (2011) of "return to research" in Denmark. The study illustrates how important open access is for the innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. So, actually open access is also business.

The symposium is a great example of how Skype can be used as a great platform for presentations and interactions.

Reference
Houghton, J.W., Swan, A. and Brown, S. (2011), Access to Research and Technical Information in Denmark, Report to The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (FI) and Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEFF), Copenhagen.
http://www.fi.dk/publikationer/2011/adgang-til-forskningsresultater-og-teknisk-information-i-danmark

Leadership Icons

I have developed a sub-site covering leadership icons. Some of them need no presentation. It is quite obvious that Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Vacel Havel, Mahathma Gandhi and Winston Churchill are great leadership icons.

However, I have also mentioned persons without any leadership record such as Astrid Lindgren and Georg Simmel. For me, Astrid Lindgren has lead several generations of children through her amazing stories about children and childhood. Characters as Pippi Longstocking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippi_Longstocking and Emil of Lönneberga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_i_L%C3%B6nneberga have lead children, parents, teachers and educators in entirely new directions.

When a German icon should be chosen, many would have chosen Goethe, Humboldt, Adenauer or Habermas. However, my favorite is Georg Simmel, who was the first real sociologist - critized by many of his successors for not being systematically - and even accused of not being a sociologist. From my perspective, Simmel made brilliant, sensitive analysis of modern urban life, and was a warped existence in the academic environment in which he researched with an open mind on the basis of a cross-disciplinary approach. It is always difficult to be the one to take the first steps. http://socio.ch/sim/work.htm. The ability to take a new step is what characterizes good leadership - for formal and informal leaders.

Successful IT Projects?

Sumner, Bock and Giamartino (2006) build in their study on several studies which indicates that IT projects tend to success if the project manager has “soft skills” such as the ability to communicate, to manage and motivate people and to deal with interpersonal relationships.

In the study, Sumner, Bock and Giamartino use the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by Posner and Kouzes (1990) which consists of five leadership practices:

·         Model the way

·         Inspire a shared vision

·         Challenge the process

·         Enable others to act

·         Encourage the heart

The hypothesis is that “more successful IT projects should have project leaders that exhibit positive leadership behavior to a greater extent than the leaders of less successful projects” (p. 45) which is tested on 57 IT project managers. The findings show that the project managers value their management skills such as the ability to monitor and track scope, time, cost and quality over leadership skills whereas the observers (peers, superiors or subordinate) perceive soft skills as most important to the delivery of successful projects.

The study is based on a rather small scope. However, it is an interesting study of project management and the different perspectives related to the success of IT projects.

References:

Sumner, M., Bock, D., and Giamartino, G. (2006). Exploring the linkange between the characteristics of it project leaders and project success, Information Systems Management 23(4), 43-49

Leadership and Gender

Young (2004) present an interesting case-study about transformational and transactional leadership with focus on the gender perspective in higher education.  Both approaches are found. It is surprising and interesting, that the study demonstrates how women leaders seem to be inspired by male gender paradigms and male-type behaviours whereas male leaders show interest in female gender paradigms and behaviours.   

Furthermore, the study demonstrates that experience seems to have a major impact on leadership style

All managers cited the strong effect of their experience of poor management as subordinates, implying that their style consciously set out to be different (p. 103)

Another important finding was the managers reported that they were influenced by the models, skills and techniques of their academic discipline.

In a case study with focus on entrepreneurship and gender, Lynes, Wismer, and Andrachuk (2011) show that formal education plays a small role in womens preparation for entrepreneurship. Personal characteristics, informational learning and support from friends, families and mentors have an higher impact on the womens entrepreneurial ambitions.

References

Lynes, J., Wismer, S., and Andrachuk, M. (2011). The role of education in entrepreneurship: two Canadian studies, Advancing Women in Leadership, 31, 14-22.

Young, P. (2004). Leadership and gender in higher education: a case study, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28, (1), 95-106.

Leadership and Diversity in University and Colleges

Kezar and Eckel (2008) claim that new programs and educational interventions have failed to make universities inclusive and enhance an agenda of diversity which enable all students to develop and learn with success. They underscore the need for making diversity “a campus-wide priority “ (p.380) which depends on the presidential engagement in a diversity agenda.

Presidents play many important roles that help to advance a diversity agenda that most other leaders cannot perform because they do not have the authority or leverage that is critical to institutionalization (p.380)

Only presidents have the legitimate authority to include diversity in strategy plans, budgets and reward systems. The support from the board as well as the campus wide dialogue about the diversity agenda requires the president's engagement in the diversity agenda. Furthermore, the president has a role in changing of curriculum and the measurement of progress and results.

Kezar and Eckel (2008) draw on several other studies when they conclude that leadership might be “the most important factor in ensuring institutional transformation and institutionalizing a diversity agenda”. It leads them to the study of the presidents’ leadership preferences focusing on whether presidents of universities and colleges prefer transactional, transformational or a combination of approaches – and why they do so.

The study is based on 27 elite interviews with college presidents selected on the basis of three criteria. First, the president should have significant experience as a president and had made significant results in relation to a diversity agenda. Secondly, the president should highly reflect on leadership strategy. Finally, the presidents should represent different types of institutions and sectors in different settings, institutional phases  and demographics. Over 50% of the presidents were colored and over one-third were women. 

According to Kezar and Eckel (2008) successful presidents see culture as a crucial factor, and it is important to spend time to learn what constitutes the culture on campus:

Successful presidents spent a year or more getting to know the campus culture, talking to different constituent groups and speaking to people of different races and ethnicities (p.395)

Kezar and Eckel's study shows that transformative as well as transactional style of leadership is used by most presidents. The different approaches are adapted to the target audience to produces different results in different cultures.

References:

Kezar, A., and Eckel, P. (2008). Advancing diversity agendas on campus: examining transactional and transformational presidential leadership styles.  International Journal of Leadership in Education 11(4) 379-405.

Learning by Dancing

It has been a standing joke in R&D that we - someday - should dance a presentation. Yesterday, as part of our chain-letter Learning by Dancing was mentioned. This morning, my Canadian Professor Dr. Cleveland-Innes shared a presentation in which she wants to integrate a great video about Leadership and Dancing.

Yesterday, I invited R&D to look into my blog. Hopefully, some of you will watch this great video http://sivers.org/ff  - while you all enjoy your Easter holiday.

Collaboration and Applied Research

Today, I have had a great seminar with R&D.

After a rather traditional introduction, a story about our unit was presented. It has been written over the last two weeks as a chain letter. So it has been send by e-mail and everybody has contributed to the story. It was very interesting to hear the different narratives about our work, our identiy and our shared goals. Wonderful that everybody has contributed with such positive and surprising stories about engagement, curiousity, and diligence in our work.

After a debate about the narratives, we individually painted the picture of our work-life. All the interesting contributions showed that we have different perceptions of our common work and workplace. This part was followed by a group-discussion about the three most important dimensions of our work.

We then enjoyed a great lunch - and afterwards I had a 5 minutes presentation, then I was interviewed in 5 minutes by two of the followers and finally I answered questions from everyone in 5 minutes. It was all about how we shall work with applied research and innovation in the future. The presentation, the interview and the debate were video-recorded, so that people who were absent can hear it. I also look forward to hear if I said anything coherent and sound! Furthermore, I expect that the discussions will continue and I am sure we will find new ways to improve our work.

In the final part of the day, we had a group discussion and we painted pictures of how we currently collaborate. Finally, the three groups presented their visualizations of how collaboration is perceived.

Thanks to Ulla and Kristian for designing and conducting the day. Great job!
Thanks to everybody for contributing in such an enthusiastic way. It confirmed my motto: that it important to have fun at work. It also ensured me that we will do a great work this spring to enhance collaboration and  learning in R&D.

UniSIM

Today, I have send the final draft of our case-study to Gabriel. Yesterday, I uploaded an earlier version in Moodle.

We have worked with SIM University for more than 7 weeks. It has been an interesting journey - and I have learned so much about leadership, project planning, Singapore, distance education, culture, faculty and leadership within higher education.

In our work, we have compared globale trends and findings in higher education with local Singapore findings - and as part of my own reflections I have of course compared it with a Danish context.

We have overcome the timezones. Eventhough poor Gabriel had to eat his late dinner while we where Skyping. I have also overcome my problems with Skype - realizing that I have to use my sweet husband's Mac instead of my own because my IT-Department has put some kind of firewall on my PC. The first time we Skyped, I had to restart my computer 5 or 6 times. Thanks to Gabriel for being such a patient person - waiting and waiting and still smiling - eventhough the last time it was a rather stiff smile.

In all the other modules at Athabasca University, we have also collaborated about presentations, papers, teaching activities, analysis, and reviews. It was a great experience to teach master students together with Maria last term. I have also enjoyed all my previous work with Derm and Maria. However, this case-study about leadership in higher education has been the most challenging and most interesting assignment from my point of view. So, I am very happy that I firstly listened to Dr. Cleveland, when she told us it would be a complex assignment designed for more than one person. Secondly, I am glad that I had the choice to work on Gabriel's case. During the process I have sometime thought about how the process would have been if I had worked with I-Space, Operation Move or one of the other projects from my own organization. Something would have been easier. But for sure I would not have learned as much as I have learned in this process.

Operation Move

Today, 80 students, lectors and leaders participate in a meeting about Operation Move. Interesting to hear that the lectures emphasize the need for concrete acitons - and for leadership; especially transformative leadership.

Operation Move, began in December 2011. The CEO hired an external consultant who is entitled to bring UCL closer to a focused strategy. Strategical Educational Forum (SEF) first met the consultant on January 16th where the agenda was presented and discussed. As part of SEF, I participated in the meeting. One of the project's slogan was presented as: "from 400 to 40 projects".

One of the main tasks in the project is to establish an overview of all projects in UCL. In R&D, we already have a project-database containing 200 R&D-project but all the projects in the educational programs were not registred. The consultant developed a new database based on new criteria and all project managers were asked to fill it out. We now have a database with approximately 250 project.

I am part of the steering group, representing R&D and Further Education. However, the agenda is highly defined by the educational programs and how they can collaborate across campus on some of the existing strategic goals.

Since January, I have participated in 11 meetings about the project - including three day seminars. I am frequently used as  a sort of case in the project, because I am the project-owner of more than 50 projects. It is repeatedly mentioned by the consultant and the CEO that nobody can have the overview of more than 5-10 projects. So, I am very curious to see what the future will bring me. On Septmeber 14th, Operation Move will be presented to the entire organization and I will be so much wiser.

Distance Education in Danish Universities of Applied Science

Over the last five years, the structures within Danish higher education (HE) have changed radically. Seven universities of applied science (UAS) cover the educational programs, which 120 independent institutions took care of before 2007. In all the new UAS, all graduate and postgraduate programs are delivered in a combination of face-to-face and web-based learning.

Some programs are designated as Distance Education (DE) which primarily means that the combination of face-to-face and web-learning differs from the traditional on-campus programs. The students have to meet on-campus during week-end instead of on week-days.

At UCL as well as the other five of the other UAS, there are only few fully-on-line-programs. So, DE is in context of Danish HE primarily used as a term for programs with other structures and interactions than the majority of programs. One of the exceptions is found at University College Sjaelland where a fully-on-line program for social workers has been delivered since 2009.

In the region, in which UCL is located there are remote areas and it is problematic to attract young men to higher education. Increased use of DE could be an important part of a solution to the challenges. However, it will require coherent strategic choices and concrete actions from the leaders in the organizations in the region.

Effectively identifying the need to change goes to the very heart of leadership. (McRoy & Gibbs, 2009 p.692)

They have the point that in complex and turbulent contexts it is important that the leader can decide what is not to be changed.

References
McRoy, I. and Gibbs, P. (2009) Leading change in higher education Management Administration & Leadership, 37 p. 687-704 

Papers 2012

Yesterday, we got one paper accepted to the IDC 2012 Interactive Technologies for Children with Special Needs Workshop. It is called I-Space: Designing for and with Citizens with Special Needs.

In the paper, we focus on how user-driven innovation and design-based research can be combined using a quadrant model consisting of four different phases: Observing, constructing, co-constructing and re-constructing - to develop new technologies which can enhance learning of citizens with special needs.

Today, we got two papers accepted to EDEN Conference Closing the gap from "Generation Y" to the mature Lifelong Learners http://www.eden-online.org/2012_porto.html.

One paper is called  I-Space - Learning by Developing Across Organizations, Educations and Generations. Here, project I-Space is presented in relation to learning by developing and a heutagogical approach. The second paper is about project InnovationAlliance. In this paper, we focus on organizational knowledge creation (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) using web-based video in research, documentation and education.

Both projects are designed and conducted in partnerships engaged in Ambient Assisted Living. I-Space covers a partnership of three higher education institutions, two muncipalities, two private companies, one NGO. In InnovationsAlliance, two higher education institutions, six muncipalities and a NGO collaborate.

I am looking forward to participate in the conference, networking and get new inspiration from all over the world.

References:
Nonaka, I., and Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press

Project Planning

Project planning for changes within an educational context and project planning for changes in general seems to be two different things. In this posting, I will emphasize some of the differences

Latchem og Hanna (2001) refers to several critics (Bates, 2000; Cohen and March, 1974; ) of strategic planning in higher education (HE). One of the strong arguments is that universities are 'organized anarchies'.

Beaudoin (2005) claims that effective leadership in HE is transactional, since , as he argues, faculty feels “little pressure to adopt new ways ” and a transactional leadership “tends to minimize any innovation” (p.94). In contrast to transformative leadership that enhances innovation.

This is to some extent supported by Collis and Moonen (2001) when they claim that top-down changes are “difficult to carry out in university contexts” (p. 61). Faculty is used to autonomy and will therefore always believe that they have found the right solutions. Accordingly, they feel “that the ways they have always taught are in fact the appropriate ways to teach their own discipline” (p. 61). It leads Collis and Moonen to the conclusion that faculty needs more than abstract visions to change their practice. So, for faculty visions for future of society or university are no drivers for changes:

Change for abstract reasons such as the future of the university does not weigh heavily enough to convince them to teach in what they feel will be an ‘inappropriate way’ for their course and habit (p.61).

According to Latchem and Hanna (2001), innovation in an university setting depends on support, reasonable timelines and learning infrastructures developed for the specific faculty. It is essential that the leaders acknowledge experience and build on the good practices already developed within faculty. Faculty needs a responsive feedback and encouragement corresponding with the actual situation of the faculty member and the entire faculty. Dhanarajan (2001) expresses a similar view on good leadership when he states that the leader must look “on the horizon but their feet must be firmly on the ground” (p.185).

Collis and Moonen (2001) belief that it is important that a higher education institution (HEI) “commit itself to a change” (p.29), at the same time they conclude that the overall motivation to enhance flexible learning in HEI is that “you can’t not do it” (p.29). However, nothing will actually change unless the changes are grounded “in pedagogy and sound implementation strategies” (p. 43)

References:

Beaudoin, M.F. (2005). Reflections on research, faculty and leadership in distance education. . Oldenburg: Der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg – BIS – Verlag.

Collis, B., and Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning in a digital world –experiences and expectations. London: Kogan Page.

Dhanarajan, D. G. (2001). Partnerships for change. In In C. Latchem and D.E. Hanna (Eds.) Leadership for 21st century learning. Global perspectives from educational innovatiors (pp. 177-186) New York: Routledge.

Latchem, C., & Hanna, D.E. (2001). Processes of organizational change. In C. Latchem and D.E. Hanna (Eds.) Leadership for 21st century learning. Global perspectives from educational innovatiors (pp. 41-52) New York: Routledge.

Technology and Security for Patients

Today, I have been a jury member judging 30 groups of students presenting new innovative solutions in relation to security for patients in hospitals. 500 students have worked in groups across nationals, disciplins, gender and interests with concrete cases. Students from all over Europe and Asia, collaborated across programs as MultiMediaDesign, Nursing, WebDesigner, Occupational Therapy . We have seen great solutions - and even greater presentations.

In our region, we focus on entrepreunership and Ambient Assisted Living, so it is great that our higher educational institutions can collaborate to provide the students with possibilities to develop essential competencies during their studies.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXwOBQMWUg