In this 45-minute session, we will spark audience discussions and encourage microblogging as we explore open visions of learning and leadership. Changes in demographics, enrollment patterns, decreased governmental funding, information accessibility, technological advancements, educational business models, systems infrastructure, and educational practices are but a few of the pressures that push and pull on open initiatives at post-secondary institutions. Questions are being asked of our pedagogical approaches, student engagement in their learning, and institutional supports for teaching and learning. Additionally, campus discussions regarding copyright practices, costs of textbooks and journal subscriptions, and e-learning/blended learning adoptions, have all combined to create a context for greater expectations of a new vision for learning. At a time when many post-secondary institutions are facing significant pressures with the traditional models of support for learning, teaching, and leadership, changing the culture of academia toward openness provides the opportunity for enabling innovation in higher education.
What will that vision look like? Open. The values and practices of open education and leadership will be at the heart of this vision. Such vision entails moving away from the over-reliance on educational traditions. In this space between what was and what will be, we find a creative a set of tensions around the push and pull of openness in higher education. The questions many of us are faced with include:
By participating in a facilitated conversation about changing the culture of academia to embrace open educational practices and leadership on our campuses, we will explore the above questions and acquire new ideas / strategies for moving educational traditions and current leadership to embrace open practices. Participants are encouraged to bring questions, success stories, and lessons learned to share the diversity of approaches for enabling open practices on our campuses. Questions, strategies, lessons and resources will be collected and shared back with all participants. Participants are also encouraged to bring electronic devices so that they can contribute to the discussions via shared documents, twitter, and other public channels of communication and sharing. Artifacts acquired through our facilitated discussions, reflections and critical analyses will be collected and shared back to the group. Educators and/or administrators in all career stages, and prior knowledge of the open practices, are welcomed.
Li, C. (2010). Open Leadership: How Social Technology can Transform the Way you Lead. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
