Leadership
"Caught between a rock and several hard places": Cultivating the roles of the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) and the Course Coordinator
The project challenge was to identify a set of strategies that would build leadership capacity for excellence in learning and teaching at the Associate Deans and Course Coordinators level across all three participating institutions. The emphasis was on system and institutional level themes and strategies. Outcome: The three conditions for effective curriculum leadership development programs are:
- Strongly supportive organisational culture and conditions.
- Comprehensive induction to, and mentoring in, the role of curriculum leader.
- Planned curriculum leadership development.
A range of recommended strategies were put forward as a response to these findings.
The Framework document contains the handouts and resources that were used to run the Southwell project.
Development of distributed institutional leadership capacity in online learning and teaching project
The project was designed to develop distributed institutional leadership capacity in the pedagogical and evaluative dimensions of online learning and teaching in the University. The particular Carrick Institute priority to which it was linked was that of institutional leadership. The approach taken was to develop leadership capacity among six academic staff (Online Advisers) for application at a University-wide level, but also in relation to the specific needs and circumstances of the various campus, faculty and discipline contexts. In Phase I of the project, the Online Advisers were engaged in specialised training in pedagogical and evaluative dimensions of online learning and teaching, and in leadership. In Phase II, the Online Advisers undertook a range of activities at campus, faculty and University levels in which they applied their developing leadership capacities. In Phase III, from 2008 onwards, the Online Advisers are continuing to operate in leadership roles, funded by the Faculties.
The project defined leadership in terms of two factors, namely ‘providing direction’ and ‘exercising influence’. It focused on distributed or shared leadership, placing it within a well-established field of research and practice. The project contributed to building the knowledge and skills base of staff involved in e-learning, comprising both the Online Advisers themselves and the academic staff whom they in turn guide and support through their various training and development activities.
Independent evaluation of Chesterton final report.
Production of a prototype online leadership learning tool and system for Australia’s universities
This project has involved more than 600 experienced leaders in higher education within and beyond Australia in the production of a comprehensive Online Leadership Learning System (OLLS) for our universities. The project actions the outcomes and key recommendations from the earlier ALTC project ‘Learning Leaders in times of change’ (Scott, Coates & Anderson, 2008). It provides Australian higher education with a distinctive, user-developed, university-specific and comprehensive option for systematically and proactively addressing the leadership succession crisis currently faced not only by Australian universities but also by universities internationally.
Promoting learning and teaching communities
The ANU project used communities of practice to build distributed leadership (in this context meaning shared by the group) capacity in staff committed to enhancing learning and teaching at ANU. The Promoting Teaching and Learning Communities Project proposed, over a two-year period, to resource between four to eight communities of practice, based across a range of disciplines. The project approached communities of practice as groups of people who share a passion for something that they ‘know how’ to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better (Lave and Wenger 1991). This staged action research sought to test if such communities were a suitable means for developing leadership capacity for staff engaged in teaching and learning within the higher education sector. Initially it was envisaged that leadership capacity building would occur through action learning sets and other specific needs-based interventions. In part this was a response to a new ANU promotion policy that potentially recognised performance achievements in teaching and learning. In the second year the project
- piloted a fast track model of capacity development through a meta community of practice (labelled Super Community of Practice); and
- organised an experiential group-learning dissemination event—the Practice in Leadership Workshop;
The project focussed on working with early to mid-career university staff, who were in the main seeking to effect change in teaching and learning. Fifty people have been actively involved in communities of practice over the two years of the project from ANU.
Strategic leadership for institutional teaching and learning centres: developing a model for the 21st century
The project set out to identify common factors to be considered in the effective strategic leadership of central organisational structures to enhance long-term learning and teaching performance and to highlight how these factors are being dealt with contextually in a selection of contemporary university settings in Australian higher education. The outcomes of this project are based on progressively collected data where the findings of each phase were used to inform and shape the subsequent phases. In the initial stage the project team undertook a literature review that informed the direction and approach taken for the remainder of the project. The second phase involved interviews with 37 key stakeholders in learning and teaching from six Australian universities. An online survey of centre directors was administered to 38 institutions and this was followed by focus group discussions held at a representative sample of Australian institutions. The project’s findings were also informed by a workshop on how teaching and learning centres can effectively contribute to enhancing the student learning experience and outcomes, conducted by eight members of the project team at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) international conference.
The purpose of this Guide is to assist teaching and learning centre leaders and staff members engage in a productive strategic leadership development program to enhance long-term performance.
The GREEN Report: The development of leadership capacity in higher education
This project investigated the development and trial of a Leadership Capacity Development Framework (LCDF) for teaching and learning in higher education. The primary aim of the project was to assess the relevance and validity of the LCDF in developing leadership capacity. Four Australian universities were involved in the project. In the first stage the LCDF was trialed in two universities that were similar in size, regional positioning, and current mission i.e. developing a teaching and learning-intensive culture within a research-intensive culture. In the second stage, two additional universities trialed a refined LCDF using a ‘cascade approach’, whereby the facilitators and participants from the first stage universities mentored and supported the second stage universities.
The LCDF was assessed and reviewed through an iterative evaluation process. Participants in Stage 1 of the project informed the evaluation and subsequent modification of the LCDF. The LCDF was then trialed, evaluated and validated by Stage 2 participants.
Elaborates on the framework for developing leadership capacity in higher education.
Identifies the relevant findings from the project, the underpinning theories and their practical application, characteristics of good practice, challenges and the implemented initiatives in each of the five domains that emerged from the project.
Includes an overview of the activities that were facilitated throughout the project to promote leadership capacity development.