Learning leadership in outdoor education: Effects of feedback

There is paucity of knowledge regarding learning outcomes from outdoor leadership training courses. The aim of this pilot study was to examine progress in perceived leadership skills after a six-month outdoor education course, and to examine the effect of systematic feedback from fellow students. Seventeen students were randomized into intervention and control groups and participated in six outdoor excursions during which they took leader roles. The intervention consisted of systematic use of feedback from fellow students. To assess the progress in students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills, the students answered a questionnaire covering four categories of leadership both before and after the course. Significant progress in perceived outdoor leadership was found for all students after the six-month course. Systematic feedback from fellow students did not seem to enhance students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills. The reasons could be that the feedback was not given in the actual situations or that the student feedback was not valued. Feedback from teachers and from nature (self-experience) were found to be important for strengthening perceived leadership skills.

The Complex Case of Noncredit Credential Innovation in Public Universities

Four-year public institutions of higher education (IHEs) face increasing pressure to innovate with noncredit credentials. The chapter aims to develop leaders' mental models for navigating unique complexities associated with offering programs that do not award academic credit. First, a review of noncredit literature and organizational science principles explains that noncredit programming is often unaligned with IHE organizational culture and structure. Then, two metaphors for leaders' roles in overcoming barriers to innovation are introduced and critiqued: Buller's organic leadership concept and Christensen and Eyring's higher education DNA concept. Complexity leadership theory is next presented as a mental model to understand three complementary leader roles for fostering innovation with a complex organizational environment. Finally, the chapter's case features three vignettes from public IHE continuing education leaders that exemplify the complexities related to pursuing noncredit credential innovation. Strategies and discussion questions are included.

Instructional Leadership

While principals are ultimately accountable for instructional leadership, they also are burdened by the increasing demands of the administrative job and, therefore, must rely on the capable teaching professionals to help carry out the instructional mission of the school. Indicators of instructional leadership for teacher leaders include coaching and mentoring, collaboration, and understanding the context of school and community. This chapter addresses the constructs of instructional leadership, including 1) understanding effective instructional practices, 2) alignment of school-wide instructional systems, 3) use of data to improve instruction, 4) the fostering of collective continuous improvement, and 5) inclusion of collaborative professional development for school personnel to build professional capacity and leadership in all. The intersection between principal and teacher leader roles, as a premise for distributive leadership, will be explored and proposed with recommendations for future research.

Distributed Leadership in Collegiate Esports

Background. Current research supports the use of recreational games in higher education settings for student development. Team-based esports in collegiate settings offer leadership experiences analogous to other organizational contexts. Distributed leadership reflects leader roles shared dynamically with multiple points of salience and dynamic or absent hierarchy. Aim. This study looked at elements of distributed leadership claimed among collegiate esports teams and whether esports play contributed to distributed leadership development. Methods. This phenomenological deductive qualitative research study used themes from distributed leadership theory to examine the experiences of focus groups composed of competitive collegiate esports participants on three teams from three different popular esport games, respectively. Results. Researchers found that ample comparisons across respondent team interviews corresponded with the leadership theory and found that the more static influence of credibility seemed to mediate team-based communications and behaviors. Conclusion. Implications for distributed leadership both in esports and in other organizations include considerations for intentionality behind how hierarchies are enacted and how credibility may inform an understanding of power distribution within teams.

An exploration of the professional and leader identity of IT professionals transitioning to a permanent hybrid role: a longitudinal investigation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the role of professional and leader identity and the maintenance of identity, through identity work as IT professionals transitioned to a permanent hybrid role. This study therefore contributes to the under-researched area of permanent transition to a hybrid role in the context of IT, where there is a requirement to enact both the professional and leader roles together.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilised a longitudinal design and two qualitative methods (interviews and reflective diaries) to gather data from 17 IT professionals transitioning to hybrid roles.FindingsThe study findings reveal that IT professionals engage in an ongoing process of reconciliation of professional and leader identity as they transition to a permanent hybrid role, and they construct hybrid professional–leader identities while continuing to value their professional identity. They experience professional–leader identity conflict resulting from reluctance to reconcile both professional and leader identities. They used both integration and differentiation identity work tactics to ameliorate these tensions.Originality/valueThe longitudinal study design, the qualitative approaches used and the unique context of the participants provide a dynamic and deep understanding of the challenges involved in performing hybrid roles in the context of IT.

The Teacher's Role in Personalized Learning

This chapter is designed to inform teachers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers on the role of the teacher in a personalized learning (PL) environment. Teaching using a PL strategy creates a new role and set of responsibilities for teachers that also may impact the training and credentialing of preservice teachers and the professional development of existing teaching professionals. In a PL school setting, teachers may have more opportunities to settle into teacher-leader roles. The chapter provides an introduction, background information, and recent research on teaching in a PL environment. Additional resources are included as well. A survey to assess teachers' attitudes toward PL can be found in the appendix of this chapter.

Intersections of ISIS media leader loss and media campaign strategy: A visual framing analysis

The decision to target leaders of groups like ISIS to hamper their effectiveness has served as a longstanding principle of counterterrorism efforts. Yet, previous research suggests that any results may simply be temporary. Using insights from confiscated ISIS documents from Afghanistan to define the media leader roles that qualified for each level of the cascade, CTC (Combating Terrorism Center) records to identify media leaders who died, and a content analysis of all ISIS images displayed in the group’s Arabic weekly newsletter to identify the group’s visual framing strategies, this study assesses whether and how leader loss helps explain changes in the level and nature of the group’s visual output over time. ISIS’s quantity of output and visual framing strategies displayed significant changes before, during, and after media leader losses. The level of the killed leader within the group’s organizational hierarchy also corresponded to different changes in ISIS’s media framing.

Leadership for “The All of It”: Formalizing Teacher-Leader Networks

Background/Context Research underscores that school improvement relies on leadership that stretches beyond a principal, but significant developments to the design of school level leadership lags. This paper shares data and interpretations of school leadership organized as a network of formalized teacher-leader roles that are ranked, titled, and differently paid. Purpose/Research Question The study examined the functions, tasks, and boundaries of different teacher-leader roles as well as teachers’ perceptions of their legitimacy and value. It also explored whether formal roles generated negative side effects on school climate or teacher relations. Focus of Study Ongoing skepticism of role formalization and ranking within teaching directed the study's attention to an extensive empirical case of formalization. Setting Data were collected from eight secondary schools in England, where formalized teacher-leader roles are long established and associated with school performance. Research Design The study was designed as a descriptive investigation of a leader system. It was conceptually framed by perspectives on schools as organizations and literatures on role formalization, leadership, and school improvements. Data Collection and Analysis Observation, artifact, and interview data were collected. Description and analysis focused on the design of leader roles, the activities and conditions they generated, and school member perceptions of their legitimacy and value. Findings/Results Formal roles that blend teaching with instructional and managerial leadership gain legitimacy and pass tests of goodness and value for teachers when they directly contribute to teachers’ day-to-day work and success, as when they elevate working conditions, bring disciplinary knowledge and local understandings to learning and problem solving, and contribute to individual and collective efficacy. Conclusions/Recommendations Networks of formal teacher-leader roles can bring more substantial and reliable resources to the conditions of teaching and school organizations than informal leadership or targeted coaching roles. Fears of negative social and professional consequences do not emerge when roles remain rooted in teaching, when leaders’ tasks flow across logistical, instructional, and social dimensions of teachers’ work, and when norms emphasize help and reciprocity.