32 research outputs found
Συνέντευξη με τον Don Olcott Jr.
No full textΣυνέντευξη με τον Don Olcott Jr
Συνέντευξη με τον Don Olcott
No full textDr. Don Olcott, Jr., FRSA: President, HJ Global Associates Professor of Leadership and ODL (Adjunct) University of Maryland University College (UMUC
Book Review: Leading the eLearning Transformation of Higher Education: Leadership Strategies for the New Generation, 2nd ed. Gary E. Miller and Kathleen S. Ives (Eds.)
No full textOlcott, D. J. (2022). Book Review: Leading the eLearning transformation of higher education: Leadership strategies for the new generation, 2nd ed. Gary E. Miller and Kathleen S. Ives (Eds.). Online Learning, 26(2), 1-7
In Search of Leadership: Practical Perspectives on Leading Distance Education Organisations
No full textA major leader shift is needed in open and distance learning. Leaders must think differently about their approaches to leadership. This paper discussed five major leadership challenges, provided mini-cases for each challenge and targeted key strategies and lessons from these cases. They are based on actual situations; identification of the institution and leader is anonymous in all cases. Do you have the right staff around you and do they create the optimum fit? Is your vision viable for growth and agility? Are you willing to accept the leadership deal – all successes to your followers; the leader takes responsibility for all failures? Can you change the way you think about leadership, the organisation and the world? This aligns with Maxwell’s (2019) leadershift framework as well as one of Peter Senge’s (1992) disciplines – mental models. Finally, with all your talents and abilities can you operationalise your vision? Can you design, lead and implement change? More succinctly, can you go the distance and stay the course for your vision and your organisation? The author suggests that intangible value-added attributes of effective leadership may need more focus in the future. The paper concludes with a summary discussion of a few observations about leadership in open and distance learning organisations post-pandemic and future research. The author argues that leaders that display empathy, common sense, sound judgment, calm under fire, cultural agility and the capacity to lead and implement effective change can use these value-added attributes to assist in executing and leading effective organisational transformation.Olcott, Jr. D. (2020). In Search of Leadership: Practical Perspectives on Leading Distance Education Organisations. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(2),48-57.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.429319
Leading Strategic Reset: A Framework for Revisioning University Strategic Priorities
No full textStrategic reset is the process of reassessing an institution’s strategic priorities, making changes if warranted, and assessing whether the institution can effectively engage and respond to any zeitgeist in the future through agility, flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to all key stakeholders. The prerequisite for strategic reset is, Why change? What forces are the catalyst for change? The author notes that stakeholder demands for change in education are not new and not all institutions necessarily have to engage in all priority strategic areas for strategic reset. Moreover, reframing strategic priorities must be phased-in based on priority synergy areas. Attempting to do everything fragments resources, increases negative public perceptions about mission ambiguity and diminished quality and leads to mediocrity. Competitors will reframe their institutions with new architectures and streamlined strategic priorities to ensure focus, agility, and responsiveness to highly complex market forces. Competition will drive your institution off the playing field unless the leaders step back, reset, engage and focus their leadership team on resetting strategic priorities and creating the university of the future
The Zelensky files: Leadership strategies and practices for university leaders
No full textLeadership, in all its guises, is complex, messy, elusive and often times enigmatic. Talented leaders fail and average leaders thrive in all sectors of society, including universities. Dynamic leadership situations with the right timing and a little luck create great leaders; complex situations also result in failure for some of the most talented leaders. And, occasionally a leader’s talent transcends even the most complex situational context resulting in sustainable transformational change. This paper is a descriptive analysis of one leader who has captured the hearts, minds and imaginations of people across the world – President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. The article askes: Does Zelensky’s leadership contribute to the field of leadership? Do the Zelensky’s files [lessons] provide leadership options for university leaders? The author concludes yes to both research questions. Indeed, this article is not a political statement nor advocacy for any particular position. It is a discussion and analysis of leadership – and not simply for presidents and senior CEO leaders but all leaders within universities and schools, particularly those in educational technology and online digital learning. Education is at a crossroads and it is increasingly clear that institutions of the future must be resilient, adaptive and agile organisations capable of responding rapidly and effectively to societal trends and change. Future-proofing education against uncertainty, change, and complexity is simply not a viable option. Organisations will need a dynamic, humanistic and inspirational approach to leadership centred around empathy, empowerment, engagement and execution. Leaders of digital online learning units and managers of educational technology will need The Zelensky Files as much as chief executives
The Zelensky files: courage under fire
No full textThis paper explored the long-term leadership of Zelensky given that when the original article The Zelensky Files: Strategies and approaches for university leaders was published, it was still early days in the war. Zelensky, it seemed went from an obscure, challenged peacetime leader to a global ‘Ambassador for Freedom’ in a very short time. Indeed, as noted in the original article, leadership in all its diverse guises is messy, complex, unpredictable, and often enigmatic. Talented leaders fail every day; other average leaders emerge as the right leader for the right reasons and purposes; and perhaps with a little luck become leadership icons. Zelensky exemplifies the latter but, in reality he also is talented and has an instinctive and refined blend of pragmatism and common sense making him the right choice for Ukraine and freedom. Zelensky’s long-term leadership strategies include 1) the leader’s core values and approaches comprise his/her leadership foundation; 2) recognition that leadership decision making is difficult and often heart wrenching; 3) Partnerships are essential strategies for leaders and organizations; 4) the right people in the right positions is more important than talent; and 5) the leader’s singular and only role is to lead. The world of the university seems at times a universe away from the battlefield and yet when we delve down for a closer look, we find the most remarkable alignments where leadership strategies turn out to be fluid, agile, and adaptive to the needs of many diverse leaders and organizations, wartime and peacetime, and beyond. Ukraine’s universities have faced the destruction of war. One in five institutions in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed. Student enrolments have declined and many foreign students left the country whilst research output overall has been estimated to have declined between 10-18%. Indeed, even with all these challenges, this is where an inspirational, transformative leader who exudes confidence, belief in the cause and love of country during one of the most serious crises in Ukraine’s history since the Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine, 1932-33), can inspire a nation. And, despite the ravages of war, the university doors are open and the classroom lights have remained on in most institutions. The images of students taking online courses in shelters and bunkers whilst others risk their lives sitting by a fountain or in a park for better Internet access all in the name of freedom. The indelible point here is education is freedom. Education is innovation. Education is the future. Education is peaceful revolution. And, education is the heart and soul of the human condition. The Zelensky Files are not a leadership panacea for all the complex issues facing the modern university. A word that may best describe the leadership continuum is kaleidoscope. The kaleidoscope of leadership often seen as a changing array of shapes, sizes and colors. The kaleidoscope of leadership with its changing approaches, strategies and blends over time with the Zeitgeist norms of the era becoming the catalyst for exploring new situational contexts, evolving trends and developments and yet accepting there is no one single silver bullet style of leadership for resolving all issues. The Zelensky Files do, however, contribute to our journey to better understand that elusive, enigmatic endeavor – leadership.
Book Review: Dede & Richards, Eds., The 60-Year Curriculum: New Models for Lifelong Learning in the Digital Economy
No full textThe 60-Year curriculum: New models for lifelong learning in the digital economy examines new
vantage points for higher education reform and global shifts in workforce development driven
primarily by new models of lifelong learning. The chapter authors have provided insightful and
occasionally provocative analyses of how universities in the digital economy will need to
reconceptualise their models of lifelong learning given the impacts of digital technologies and
increases in life expectancy resulting in longer careers and the need for education, training, upskilling-re-
skilling-upgrading. In sum, these trends mean that “what we learn, when we learn it, how we learn
it, and who we learn it from will all change” (Scott, p. 25)
Access under siege: Are the gains of open education keeping pace with the growing barriers to university access?
No full textTraditional and affordable access to a university education is under siege from all sides. National realpolitiks and global economic downturns have driven open education into the mainstream to stand against educational elitism, the growing digital divide, and to support the core values that give education its fundamental credence as a human right. Indeed, open is good—open with measurable impacts is even better. In the final analysis, the future of open education is at a crossroads that must be driven by those core values that define education as an essential human right with a commitment to expanding access and strengthening academic quality.</p
