So last night we had about 40 people join us for Open Mic Night to talk about leadership, and I have to say, it was a really interesting conversation. The key question that stuck out for me, at least, is whether or not effective leaders have to have a strong vision for the uses of social tools and technology in general in the learning process, or whether it’s more important to be open to facilitate that vision as a community. (At least that’s what I took away.) Both would be great, but it seemed like those types of leaders aren’t very easy to find. Anyway, I’ve posted the chat in below, (full doc format is here) and here is a link to the Elluminate archive if you’d like to listen.
It’s been interesting to moderate these Open Mic nights over the past few weeks. Shelly Blake-Plock, my co-moderator, said after last night’s session that they seem to be getting better and better, and I have to agree. As much as I like putting my own opinion of the world out there, I also like the listening/prodding role that comes with being “just” a moderator. (The idea is that Shelly and I don’t voice our own opinions, though we did drop just a couple into last night’s conversation.) And the whole idea of Open Mic is to give people who want to a chance to just have a conversation about whatever the topic is, not to have someone presenting to the group. Kind of like an unconference session. Anyway, I’m enjoying the result so far; if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for improving it, just let us know.
I don’t think a good leader needs to be a visionary. In fact – that can possibly get in the way. I’ve known at least one excellent leader who had the wisdom to recognize leadership in others and then support, encourage and respect it. And being a leader also means getting out of the way and respecting (i.e. following) the leadership of others in their areas of expertise. Leadership then is a choice we all have. It means encouraging risk, reducing injury (by forging connections and creating community), and standing with people as they get the recognition for their work or confront a challenge.
Great stuff! Is there any chance the Elluminate sessions could be posted in .mp3 format?
Thanks.
There have always been exceptional leaders in schools in the past, before there was social digital technology per say. If we were to drop say, and exceptional leader from a school in 1950 into a school in 2010, would they be considered just as exceptional? Is their exceptionality a mindset or a skillset? I would think the former.
In regards to students leading instruction. It should never be an “all or nothing†design. There are definitely times when student lead instruction is appropriate and times when it is not. We always talk about students being very competent in their social uses of technology, sms, FB, etc., etc., but when it comes to instructional uses, information literacy, etc., etc., they are at a loss. Actually, when I think about it a little more, and if time was not an issue, (i.e. a deadline for graduating looming,) in the right environment/setting, I think students probably could develop the ability to become competent learners in the use of technology and information literate. That’s how we as adults have developed those skills. The one difference for us is that we have a lifetime of experiences that helped accelerate that learning. So, there are times when teacher lead instruction is also important.
Finally, in regards to the use of technology by teachers, (and this also relates to the statement above, and just about throws it out the window…) I have found it has been very easy to bring teachers unfamiliar with social technology tools up to the level of their students. However, the real challenge with teachers, is just about the same challenge we have for our students, getting them to understand where the use of technology can have a beneficial impact on their teaching/learning (…and their lifetime of experiences does not seem to aide in the development of instruction that effectively incorporates technology tools 🙂
More and more educators are discovering digital avenues to engage in meaningful conversations. While I’ve been unable to dive into your open mic conversations, I’d be interested to see narrowly focused topics posted for consideration at least a few day in advance of a meeting.
If a timely news item; article; event; podcast; or blog post was used as a jumping off point, it might serve multiple purposes:
1] to validate the publishing of known and edu-bloggers;
2] to bring ‘new’ topics to light;
3] to seed conversations with something more than the current understandings or opinions of participants.