Some Reflections of Leadership Styles

Higher Education, WAS, Working Adult Student 4 comments

View of Bogotá, Colombia from Mount Monserrate. Photo by Jonathan Acuña

Some Reflections of Leadership Styles

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Post 313

When I look back into my former training and studies on working adult students (WASs) in higher education, a stream of ideas start to clutter into my mind coming from many different angles and Andragogical approaches. And to try to give them some shape as a black-and-white document or, at least, as some memoranda to keep track of my thoughts, I need to go back to these questions provided by my former online instructors and course instructional designers to trigger some good reflection on leadership styles and what using them in a course imply.

Questions to Reflect on WASs

· What concept or strategy do you think is more useful in your professional practice in higher education? Choose at least one and explain briefly.

· What recommendation would you give to your academic institution in order to complement virtual classroom work with WASs?

· What are you expectations for teaching and learning strategies as a newly-acquired piece of information for your teaching?

When asked, “What concept or strategy do you think is more useful in your professional practice?,” several thoughts and emotions pop up in my mind as possible responses to the question, or –better stated- multiple answers show their presence. As a seasoned online instructor working with WASs and as a mortar-and-brick college teaching professional dealing with traditional students and WASs within the same classrooms, I am quite certain now that teacher leadership styles and types are necessary in the F2F and virtual classroom for the sake of learning. Working adult students do have a very well defined college entry profile, and understanding what they are and aspire as part of their academic life, one can find the right combination of leadership types to acknowledge their presence and needs to continue studying, and also to help them achieve their personal goals at their current jobs with the aid of course content pertaining their working fields. Leadership styles are not a luxury but a real necessity in one’s teaching settings.

To see the types of leadership most common seen in education with WASs, go to “What kind of Leader Am I?”

In addition to leadership styles, our roles as teachers, as well as the students’ role in the 21^st Century knowledge society, are important to be considered, whether one is teaching in a virtual or F2F setting. WASs are bound to find themselves dealing with new learning environments that were not present at the time they started their majors, which were interrupted for many a different reason. Transitioning to this new model of learning such a hybrid or blended one, where their autonomy can help them boost their desire for learning and achieve professional goals, is not meant to be easy for all of them due to the new challenges that unfold before them. Consequently, it is necessary to help WASs move out of their old-fashioned way of studying and learning to new ways in which current technology (smartphones, tablets, laptops, and so on), an LMS such as Moodle or Blackboard (or any other existing one), and virtual environments can help them work and study according to their tight schedules, expectations, and even their family life responsibilities. Our teaching roles must be carefully utilized with WASs in this 21^st Century knowledge society to really help them become deep and autonomous learners.

When asked by my former trainers about the recommendations I would give my higher education institution in order to complement virtual classroom work with WASs, there is one single thing that worries me a lot, and I do not know if this has already been brought to their attention. At my university what I have been witnessing for quite a while is the lack of use of the Moodle platform we have, at least in my department. It is incredible to see blank virtual classrooms where no information is displayed for learners to aid them in the “digestion” of new content and theories. If our institution has invested thousands of dollars on a tool like this to boost student learning and autonomy, the way is being used has to do with the lack of training provided to faculty members. It is for this reason that at my higher education institution it is necessary that all teaching professionals get some sort of accreditation to start using Moodle to complement their F2F courses with the principles of content selection. And if they were introduced to some principles of instructional design, the use of our Moodle platform would take a more sound direction to potentiate leaner autonomy and deep learning.

What are my expectations and needs for "teaching and learning strategies"? I have high expectations to what it is in store for me in the future while deepening my understanding of WASs. I want to see and even experiment with teaching strategies that can help me assist my working adult students become better at assimilating content, at using this content effectively –first- in class and –then- in their jobs, and at what they do at their workplaces on a regular basis. A lot of what I try to do is based on my common sense, but I am not quite sure how common my way of thinking can be for my WASs. I need to get a solid theoretical background to use teaching strategies that can yield positive results for my students such as learner autonomy and time management and balance in the resources used by adult learners.