Engaging students

Engaging student is one of the major topics that we discuss these days. We talk about flipped classrooms, active based learning, problem solving learning activities and project based learning.
http://www.creativity-project.net/ is a project that University of South Australia has begun with OLT funds as a project that is investigating design as a catalyst for engaging students in creative problem solving.

The project methodology, tools, and case studies can be found on the website. 

eportfolio for education

 I have been investigating on eportfolio for education for sometime now. Even though there are many tools available to use, it has been a challenging task to decide on a particular tool that will suit a large institution.

My recent findings are by connecting to experts from the area. Desire2Learn eportfolio has quite a number of interesting functions that is useful for educators. Also, Shane@ shanenuessler.blogspot.com.au talks about how they have used eportfolios at their University. He further provides suggestions and ideas how to leverage the functions of eportfolios.

Applying leadership Theories to Distance Education Leadership #Lead2013

Summary of my reading of the paper:

Applying Leadership Theories to Distance Education Leadership

by John Nworie, Kent State University

The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership theories that  could be beneficial to distance education leaders.

Transformational leaders are charismatic, motivational, intellectual, and considerate and often display the qualities of self-confidence, honesty, and integrity (Bass & Steidelmeier, 1998; Dixon, 1998).  

 

Transformational leadership have sought to 

  understand how leaders develop and sustain vision, 

  empower instead of manipulate followers, 

  perceive the importance of organizational contexts, and 

  create a cultural environment (Avolio and Bass, 1991; Bass, 1997; Schein, 1992).  

According to Portugal (2006) DE leaders must be transformational leaders and innovative visionaries with the ability to motivate, energize, inspire, and encourage followers.. 

The situational leadership theory proposes that effective leaders play the roles of leadership and management  

Situational leadership attributes are relevant to management of rapid environmental change that involves varied cadre of staff members.

Complexity leadership theory introduces a new dimension to how leadership is perceived as it shifts focus from the individual leader to the context, a shift which influences the performance of the leader and on outcomes.

This method encourages collaboration, flexibility, systems thinking, reflection, innovative solutions, and adaptability of organizational structures