Leadership In Distance Learning Draft 6

Leadership in Distance Learning
The Art of Managing Change to Transform Institutions
John Sneed, Director of Distance Education Portland Community College

What a Pretentious Title!
Art?
Creative-making up as we go
Original solutions
Managing Change?
Change happens – we don’t make it happen
Directing powerful societal forces
Transform institutions?
Colleges are different than 15 years ago
Transformation is a process

“Creating and conveying technological visions powerful enough to displace traditional educational models is one of the most challenging aspects of leadership.”
Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor of
Learning Technologies, Harvard University

Why is Leadership in Distance Learning So Difficult?

Higher Education is conservative
Distance Learning is disruptive
Technology is not just a tool
Absence of a career path
Confused fiscal models
Administrative ambivalence
Demands collaboration
Bureaucratic inertia-no rewards for visionaries

A Distance Learning Leadership Sampler
How to navigate the politics of distance learning?
How to lead when you have the responsibility but not the authority?
How to lead from the middle?
How to lead when everyone wants a piece of the action

The Politics of DE Leadership
Fred Lokken
Associate Dean
WebCollege & Academic Support Center
Truckee Meadows Community College

DE is different
Although couched as just “another delivery method”, DE offers a significant challenge to the traditional campus culture
Cross-disciplinary
Cross-institutional
Counter-campus culture
DE challenges administrative “silos”

Consequences
Senior administrators don’t know how to manage DE and/or don’t exactly know how to structure and support it
Who does DE report to?
How to staff and budget DE?
What kind of space/equipment is needed?
Centralized or decentralized model?
Perceived as a threat by other units (competing for limited staff, budget & space)

Consequences (2)
As a result, DE programs often lag other campus units in:
Staff
Budget
Space
Authority

DE Leadership: A Strategy for Success
Qualities needed to be successful:
1. Ability to see the bigger picture
2. A sense of campus politics/identify key allies
3. Recognize the value - and power - of data
4. The ability to be a “missionary” for DE
5. The need to be inclusive/collaborative
6. Monitor trends in your state/nationally (ITC)
7. The need to be tenacious (never give
up/never surrender!)

Success stories
Every panelist represents a very successful DE program – the TMCC Story
“Success” is measured by:
Organizational acceptance
Faculty/student/staff acceptance
Commitment to quality
Meeting the needs of your students/campus

Distributed Leadership
Mary Wells
Quality Matters Consultant

Leadership Issue:
How do you lead if you
have the responsibility
but not the authority?

Quality Matters
:
Inter-Institutional Quality Assurance in Online Learning
QM Organizational Chart
MarylandOnline
(Wendy Gilbert,
Administrative
Suzanne Moret)
Representatives
Project Management Team
Faculty &
Project Evaluator
Their Courses
(John Sener)
Mary Wells (co-director)
Instructional
Chris Sax (co-director)
Representatives
Kay Kane (coordinator)
Cynthia France
Peer Course
External Evaluator
Jurgen Hilke
Reviewers
(Anne Agee)
John Sener
Wendy Gilbert
Chief Academic
Officers
Advisory Board
Instructional
Designers
External Partners:
Affinity Group
Working
Florida CC/Jacksonville, Kentucky Virtual Univ, Michigan
Committees
Virtual CC Consortium, Portland CC, Raritan Valley CC,
Sloan Consortium, SREB, Towson Univ, WCET
Process
Tool Set
Training
Scholarly
(Joan McMahon,
(Jurgen Hilke,
Course & Peer
(Cynthia France,
others, as
Development
Mary Wells)
Chris Sax)
Reviewer Selection
Wendy Gilbert)
needed
(Kay Shattuck)

Distributed Leadership Is …
a model which allows leadership to emerge to meet a specific need
Characteristics include:
Responsibility for successful completion resides with Director(s)
Foundation = Goals & Objectives of Project
Flexible structure to encourage:
participation, divergent thinking, creativity
Leaders self-identify or are recruited
Match needs & skills

Critical Factors Leading to Distributed Leadership
Compelling project
Complex (no single “right way” to do it)
Solves a recognized need
Immediate impact on need/problem
Related directly to professional/personal interests

Challenges to Leading
A Complex Project When You Have Responsibility With No Authority:
Commitment
Trust
Letting Go
Communication
Evaluation
Finding Balance

Structure / Flexibility
Big-Picture / Details
Present / Future
Thinkers / Do-ers
Cooperative / Divergent Thinkers
Authority / Consensus

Leading From the Center
Loraine Schmitt
Director of Distance Education and Academic Technology
Chemeketa Community College

Leading from the Center
Autonomy can give a director a sense of personal control over daily operations, but the long-term results of isolation from the mainstream of campus process carries a heavy price. (Wunsch, 2000)

Strategic Planning via Collaboration
Set a direction
Create a collaborative effort
Facilitate the effort
Create a culture of dialogue
Take Action
Develop a shared understanding & vision

Setting a Direction
Formal structure
Analysis- SWOC
Vision, goals, strategies
Recommendation - ASK
Executive support
Task force- 15 departments
Charge
Plan
Clarity about purpose and outcome

Creating a Culture of Dialogue
Prepare for the conversation-content/structure
4 teams – Self-select
Goals, hot topics, strengths, anticipate push back
Open discussion – listen, paraphrase, genuine empathy
Address hard questions
Document the conversation
Validation, retain integrity, respect for time
Strong facilitation
Expect the unexpected
Feed them!!

Develop a Shared Understanding & Vision
Dialogue leads to shared understanding
Teams – full task force – teams – task force
Team members present
Continue to document- preserve ideas
More depth – needs, challenges, hopes
Shared understanding leads to shared vision
Multiple perspectives, big picture
Consensus

Outcomes
Strategic plan developed
Developed a commitment to the effort
Example: Student Services Audit
Process allowed people to bring their issues and interests into the conversation
Legitimized their roles and need for outcomes of the task force

Outcomes continued
Allowed individuals to move to the same side of the table to discuss issues
Framed a perspective that served the organization vs. individuals representing the perspective of “1”
Demonstration of shift in leadership - from autonomous to collaborative
Foundation in place – support future initiatives

I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences.
Margaret J. Wheatley

Twelve Lessons for Creating and Sustaining a Successful eLearning Enterprise
Lynda Womer, Associate Provost Electronic Campus
St. Petersburg College

Lesson 1
VERIFY CENTRALITY TO COLLEGE MISSION
Support of President and key leaders
Include in college mission statement
Recognize need for system changes

Lesson 2
BUILD INSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENT
Promote institution-wide benefits
Use existing faculty
eCampus= everyone’s campus

Lesson #3
RECOGNIZE PEDAGOGICAL DIFFERENCES
Same outcomes; different delivery
Good content is not sufficient

Lesson #4
INVEST IN INSTRUCTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING
instructional technology support
Pathways to eLearning
faculty mentor program

Lesson #5
ORCHESTRATE A
SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT
Creation & promotion of a central
administrative department
“one-stop shop” approach
Begin with cyberadvising

Lesson #6
PROVIDE A FULL RANGE OF ELECTRONIC SERVICES
clicks supported by bricks
educational and student services
access services remotely or on-site:
it’s the student’s choice

Lesson #7
DEVELOP A ROBUST INFRA-STRUCTURE
& SUPPORT NETWORK

the “care and feeding” of access
help desk, tools, tutors, tutorials

e-literacy

Lesson #8
ENGAGE IN ON-GOING MARKETING &
MARKET RESEARCH

“is ecampus right for you”
Visitors survey
demographic profile, SSI

Lesson #9
EMBRACE ACCOUNTABILITY AND AN ONGOING QUEST FOR QUALITY
Development Checklist, Flexible Access, 3 year review, Signature courses
Retention rates and grade distribution
Student survey of instruction and performance standards for students, instructors, administrators

Lesson #10
BE REALISTIC ABOUT COSTS
models exist
assessing “lab fees”

Lesson #11
DON’T MAKE IT MORE COMPLICATED
THAN IT IS

paralysis by analysis
institutional procedures could be adapted or adopted
online courses: not better, not worse, just different delivery

Lesson #12
RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ARE ON
A CHANGE TREADMILL

increase the pace to stay in place
formulas for resource allocations
PREPARE FOR CHANGE….

Problem: Productivity

Too many online students, not enough staff!
Massive reorganization college-wide
Re-education, training, training, and more training

Old Organizational Chart
President
Vice President for Academic & Student Services
Provost of Seminole/eCampus
Associate Provost of Seminole eCampus
One Department: eCampus
eCampus Program Director – (multi-discipline)
Cyberadvisors
Staff

Proposed Solution: Decentralization
Spread the Wealth and Responsibilities
PROS:

College-wide scheduling
College-wide student services
College-wide training
College-wide buy-in

CONS:

Confused students
Confused staff

New Organizational Chart
President
Vice President for Academic & Student Services
Provosts for 4 Campuses and 3 Centers
Associate Provosts for 4 Campuses and 3 Centers
6 Academic Deans (college-wide)
24+ Academic Chairs (6 per campus)
Cyberadvisors (2 per campus)
eCampus skeletal staff
Office staff college-wide

Outcome: Too soon to tell
Year 1 of new organizational chart
Dean, Staff and Students are still learning the procedures
Florida education budgets facing severe cutbacks

Recommendation:Enlist Traits of Good Leadership

Honesty - Fair-Minded
Competence - Broad-Minded
Forward-Looking - Courageous
Inspiring - Straightforward
Intelligent - Imaginative

Traits of a Good Leader by the Tom Peters Group

Trait: Distributed Leadership
With an emphasis on
TEAMWORK
even when Teamwork seems to be MORE work.

“Retreat? Hell, we just got here!”
Captain Lloyd Williams, Officer in the United States Marine Corps, World War I, 1918, when advised to withdraw by a French officer at the defensive line.
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”Winston Churchill

2009 Leadership Academy
Understand your organization
Develop your own leadership model
Identify and acquire key tools
Gain a network of practitioners
July 26-29, 2009
Costa Mesa, California