How do I offer my best?  Am I offering my best?  What might be holding me back?  What is my identity?  Do I believe I am a liability or an asset?  Am I an investment or expense?  Am I defined by the accounting office?  Who do I believe I am?

Quotes that caught my attention:  “We manage things without the power to choose, but lead people who do have the power to choose.”  “Leadership is not about control.”

One book that I think of here is “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge.   From his worldview, one can never offer their best without a connection to God.  To what am I called?  If I offer my best I may be view as “wild” by others.  I may be viewed as one who cannot be controlled.  Yet, it is my best that I chose to give.  In this way I give what God has called me to give.  I do have a variety of roles to play in my life.  Yet I am more than any one of these roles or even the sum of the roles (as if that were possible).

This means I must spend time getting to know the real me.  The “me” that is whole and complete.   What are some ways you do this?  What are your insights and thoughts?

A reflection paper is a connection between theory and practice.  We must apply theory in practice before we can write a reflection paper.  The key is to make a link between theory and practice.  Kolb’s Learning Cycle suggests that concrete experiences are followed by reflection, conceptualization, and then experimentation. (The order can be more abstract random)  The principle, however, is that all of these elements are necessary to grow as a result of the combination of practice, theory, reflection and experimentation.  A reflection paper shares the fruit of this cyclical, growing, experience.

The rubric for a reflection paper is in our 2008 handbook on page 29:

45% knowledge base (theory)

45% evidence of integration of knowledge base and practice

10% mechanics

     4% content and organization

     3% APA style/AU Format

     3% grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure

We can’t reflect unless we have something to reflect upon.  Reading academic literature gives us something to think about and try out in our practice.  Connect the dots and write it up in a reflection paper!

Leadership participants believe that portfolios are valid assessment and learning tools.  The self-directed nature of our studies, linked with reflection, strengthens the learning process.  The portfolio development process is iterative and we recognize as we develop our portfolios that we work, we reflect, we improve our work, we reflect, we improve, in a continuous learning cycle.  The act of preparing and presenting a portfolio is a key reflective process.

Reflection is a key element of the process, and educational programs with portfolios, like ours, must have a systematic process for assessing portfolios.  Specific program outcomes must be clear before and during the graduate program so that students know exactly what is expected of them.

When writing reflection papers, it is important that we link reflection to the description of the experience, to relevant theoretical constructs, demonstrate application, and show what learning has taken place.  It’s not sufficient to merely report.

What separates the excellent from the good?  Reflection.

An article that studies the AU Leadership program was mentioned:

Wasley, Paula, “Portfolios are Replacing Qualifying Exams

http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i44/44a00801.htm 

• What makes the leadership program at AU “excellent”?
• What could you do differently next year to make your program more effective?
• What could we do at AU to make your program more effective?

What did you learn from this process? What did you learn about data collection and research? What did you learn about program evaluation? Click “add a comment” above to share.

The one constant in each of our lives is change.  My life is a testimony to that truth.  In the last two weeks my wife and I have travelled to her native country, St. Lucia, to adopt her seven year-old orphaned nephew.  In the next couple of months we will give birth to our first child.  There will be excitement, and there will be new challenges, as I seek to complete the expectations this degree has. 

We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know the One who holds it.  As we begin this Roundtable, and a new year, as great knights we create a legend that will endure for all time.

See you all again next year!

David.

Is there enough interest?  Mixed method study went well

Used an online zoomerang.com survey tool – intentionally chose to interview all undergrad students (previous survey at Seattle University had surveyed student leaders and business students)

Francis’ belief in leadership development informed that decision.

Very strong interest in having class, certificate, or minor from students

514 students would be interested (based on extrapolation)

discriminate analysis was used to determine the characteristics of students most likely to enrol: strong interest from every field/gender – predictors were “students that felt andrews should offer programs” “students who wanted to affirm faith… change the world”

Francis recommended a certificate as part of a degree

Jim Tucker wanted Francis to check out the halo effect around “leadership” – there’s a theory “the romance of leadership”

Doug Berg did a study on Canadian institutions and leadership – published dissertation

• Overview of Learning Theories and Learning Styles
  • Active Learning
  • Adult Learning Theory
  • Motivation
  • Learning Styles
• Faculty Development Theories and Programs
  • General Faculty Development Approaches
  • Faculty Development in Instructional Technology
  • Cost Benefit of Instructional Technology

He interviewed 10 faculty, with very different fields (art, medicine, etc.). The learning process was similar. The professors had all attended workshops in instructional technology.

The interviews were very deep with then interviews. He listened to their learning stories. Note to self! Read this dissertation! From Indiana University.

The data analysis was looking at the themes across the cases. There were several factors that influenced their learning.

• Personal dominant characteristic
• Learning styles
• Personal motivation
• Personal beliefs about the role of technology in education
• Quality of professional development interventions they attend
• Overcoming institutional barriers such as time commitment and the lack of financial and academic rewards

The results are in a table with each of the 10 cases and their dominant characteristic, their learning style, and the theoretical support for their style of learning.

Instructional technology was defined as whatever each person defined it as. The top ones were PowerPoint and teaching online. People told stories about everything including overhead projectors, cassette tapes, digital cameras, etc.

Some learning theory names to check out: Gregorc, Felder, Myers, Brightman, Kolb.

Recommended Books:

• A Cross Section of Educational Research
• Evaluating Research in Academic Journals
• Understanding Research Methods
• Doing a Literature Review
• Narrative Inquiry
• Critical Thinking – how to look at articles. I’m not sure that this links to the right book.

Suggestions for finishing:

• Print the requirements for writing at Andrews and put it in a binder.
• She picked the factors influencing by reading. She found 150 factors and narrowed them down to 8 in the survey.
• Notre Dame library will do a research survey and tell you which of your theorists are still current in their theory.
• DIET: Describe it, Interpret it, Evaluate it, Theme it. For qualitative research.
• She’s an English teacher and gave us a full packet of information to help us with writing our dissertation. She’s helped edit dissertations too.
• The packet has a full set of information of on theories, including a list of theorists under each of the old competencies.
• She has a nice little overview of worldviews as well.