Francesco Marinucci DEPM 604 Section 9040 8/3/2012 A4 Attributes and issues

Attributes and issues of DE leadership Francesco Marinucci University of Maryland University College

Introduction Distance education is a fairly new discipline in the broad scenario of educational sciences. Nowadays, the ever-increasing number of technologies applicable to teaching and learning, and the wide accessibility to the Internet, are pushing the boundaries of distance education within traditional education institutions and in several business sectors. The resulting higher visibility of this discipline has raised huge expectations on its effectiveness, in particular when compared to class-based education. While distance education (DE) programs have been successfully managed, the lack of solid foundations for DE leaders to emerge is still source of misconceptions around this discipline. The Key Attributes Solid theoretical knowledge DE leaders should be, first of all, experts in the DE area. For this reason they have to master theories and best practices in this field. The greater their mastery the broader the vision they are able to elaborate. Besides, in depth understanding of DE principles will definitely support DE leaders to make arguments in favor of this discipline. This aspect is particularly important in these days where

suspicious feelings around DE are limiting its affirmation as a valid constituent of educational sciences discipline. Only by showing the solid theoretical basis on which DE has laid its foundations can help DE leaders to avoid the distrust on distance learning. Vision - DE leaders should have an outstanding capacity of visioning and communicating an inspiring image of the future of DE within their organization. Any other attribute of DE leaders, technical support or management strategies, can never be effective without an appropriate vision (Kotter, 1996). Besides, effective leaders should be able to communicate their vision in a way that stimulates interest and involves followers in the change process. Because of the broad diffusion of technologies and the Internet, it is important that leaders use multiple media and different channels to communicate in a dynamic way. The aspect of dealing with evolving communication strategies is crucial in the digital age because of the new communication tools and social media, which DE leaders should keep abreast of to effectively including them in their communication strategy. Emotional intelligence This term comprises different characteristics such as selfawareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill each leader should have (Goleman, 1996). The combination of this set of elements well applies to DE area where potential leaders have the hard tasks of self-managing themselves and managing relationships with others in a hostile environment. These skills are critical to navigate within organizations where the introduction and acceptance of DE often relies on several key people and followers. But they are also crucial when dealing with other DE professionals with whom the discussion around theory and practice of leadership in this field is still open. With the growing delocalization of team members working in the

same DE program, DE leaders have to show flexibility by tailoring their emotional intelligence skills to the digital environment. Solid technical knowledge Only by knowing the latest innovations on communication technologies, devices, and software DE leaders can really understand their best use in the DE context. This aspect can sound redundant but it is of crucial importance. In a time where decision makers and DE skeptics are embedded in a technological world, the mastery of technologies available to everyone for educational purposes is absolutely important. Therefore, solid technical knowledge can give DE leaders more chances to advocate for DE within those people who do not see technology-mediated education as a solid alternative to conventional face-to-face classes. Even if technologies remain the tools used for delivering content and promote interactions in distance courses, their increasing availability and wide use demand DE leaders for state-of-the-art technical knowledge. Showing how to effectively integrate theory of learning and teaching online with the most appropriate technology for a specific context is an effective way for DE leaders to succeed in the digital age. Creativity Education is definitely a non-static discipline where teachers, managers, and leaders rely on their personal inspiration to put educational theories into practice. This is more important in the distance education field where leaders often have to give space to their creativity to succeed. This leaders characteristic has changed in the more recent era of DE where the advent of Web 2.0 has increased the opportunities for innovating and personalizing teaching styles. The creativity applies to the design of distance courses and the best use of media and technologies, but it is also relevant to improve the efficacy of communication. The combination of creativity and vision can result in a winning

approach to coming up with innovative ways of doing things to effectively lead the DE field. Critical thinking The capacity of being critical in regard to the evolution and application of distance learning is another important attribute DE leaders should have. This is of crucial importance for successful DE leaders to understand the multiple factors characterizing each DE project. The variety of players, institutional policies, and market demand are among those variables DE leaders should take into account in different settings. Their capacity of coming up with in-depth analysis of potential scenarios is a central component of DE leadership, which importance is exacerbated in the most recent era of DE. Again, the numerous new technologies, teaching theories, and learning styles require DE leaders to have fast critical thinking skills and real-time capacity to translate their analyses into practice (Burge, 2007). The key issues Sense of urgency In the authors view one critical issue DE leaders are facing nowadays is to amplify the urgency level. In a world connected through the WWW with our lives seconded by technology, it is inevitable for the education sector not to be overwhelmed. DE leaders are at the edge of this transformation and they have the tough task of pushing the discussion from if implementing DE to how to effective implement DE. The process of moving the educational sector from face-to-face to online is irreversible, but without pushing the sense of urgency DE leaders risk having things happen in the wrong direction. Without urging for a straight shift the risk of having DE effectiveness misunderstood increases. This can bring DE to a status where the distorted perception of its role could be very hard to reverse. DE leaders have to take advantage of the natural

crisis the education sector is facing in the digital age instead of waiting for something to happen. The reasons why the upper level sense of urgency is hard to achieve are multiple but, in authors view, they are mainly internal to each organization. Therefore, each leader should focus his efforts on the specific tensions within his context to achieve that level of urgency that can facilitate full understanding, adoption, and implementation of DE. In authors view, this issue of low sense of urgency is really confining DE in a corner without giving the opportunity to consider DE as the most appropriate - and in many cases the only viable solution to revamp the education sector. Support of DE movement One reason why DE leaders are struggling to escalate the sense of urgency within their organizations is the incomplete maturity of DE discipline as movement. Leading the change without solid and uniform recognition of best practices and leadership styles within the DE community can be a very hard task to achieve. In authors view, the lack of common leadership culture is an issue that is limiting DE to upgrade from a niche practice to an affirmed discipline. A potential major risk is that without channeling all the different DE realities towards the definition of best DE theories and practices, DE leaders might feel a sense of isolation and frustration. In a worse case scenario this sterile fragmentation of DE theories can also have a negative effect. For example, in the attempt of guiding an organization by following their leadership style, DE leader credibility is continuously threatening if his potential followers have access to multiple different examples of DE leadership. This scenario urges common attention by DE leaders, professional associations, and education institutions to develop the agenda for strengthening the theoretical foundations of DE discipline. A major threat to this process to happen comes from DE practitioners. The

presence of individualisms, the lack of dialogue, and the desire of affirming personal positions represent a major barrier to DE movement maturity. Credibility of DE Besides the need for solid theoretical foundations, DE leaders also face the issue of proving the effectiveness of DE. The lack of well-established pedagogical framework to refer to as standard for effective DE course implementation is a challenge for DE leaders. In the education sector the best approach for leading change is to prove that the advantages of the model proposed are reproducible. Because of the numerous factors contributing to the success of any DE program, this standardization is still far to happen. Also, the inexorable comparison between DE and class-based education is a major challenge for DE leaders where they have to promote studentcentered, in contrast to teacher-centered approach. For people who have built their professional careers on the teacher-centered approach it is hard to believe that a different approach can be as much - if not more effective. The only way DE leaders have to contrast this skepticism is by providing examples of DE effectiveness in different settings and circumstances. Unfortunately, with the growing interest on DE by education institutions, this resistance is also growing. In authors view, to overcome this cultural barrier it is just a matter of time, when key positions within these institutions will be held by professionals entirely trained online. Meanwhile, DE leaders and practitioners have to continue with their daily efforts in the attempt of providing the most valid, pedagogic sound, and formative distance learning experience. Conclusions Because of the evolving digital environment where DE is embedded and the suspicious opinion the general public has on its efficacy, DE leaders have to be prepared

to face challenges in different settings. The attributes discussed above provide DE leaders with comprehensive technical and social skills to be used to build their leadership. Those factors are strictly interrelated and only if they are connected with each other they can result helpful for DE leaders to successfully guide their organizations. In regard to the issues presented, DE leaders are at the forefront of their organizations for leading the change that can be achieved only by pushing up the sense of urgency. While DE leaders might be alone in this effort in the context of their institutions, the general recognition of DE discipline as valid option to improve the quality of education in the near future should be also pursued. In the authors experience the acknowledgment of the attributes above is a first important step to become DE leader in its own context. This stage must be accompanied by the recognition of being part of a minority group of education professionals where there is an absolute need for collegiality to deal with today and future issues in distance education.

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