My Theory of Learning..(p.2)

Alas, this class is nearing the end of the semester and the shop is about to close up.  In this post, I revisit my learning theory and reflect on how my ideas and answers to the following questions may have shifted/stayed the same.

1. What do you currently understand learning to be--for yourself as a learner and for your students if you teach?

My take on learning has shifted somewhat through the experience of participating in my first online course of grad school.  But I also have the feeling that what I understand learning to be actually shifts a little every time a take a course.  You see, I realize more and more that learning is embodied in so many aspects of my experiences (in particular, as outlined by Boetther, three types of online learning interactions :  instructor-learner, learner-learner, and learner-content/resources) and how I take from that and carry it onto the next learning experience is what's key.  I lean towards the constructivist approach to  learning and designing for learning online (the theories of Piaget and Dewey have enlightened me and strengthened my view on how previous experience and knowledge are important to learning), and where learners are encouraged to take on an active role in their learning, vs a passive one.  

2. Why (on what basis) do you hold those views, both for yourself and for your students? (If you are not a teacher think of a situation where you have taught somebody something.)

I believe my views are shaped by my grad experience and each person I meet, each class I take, it builds as I go along.  Quite similarly to how learning theories that we have looked at in our class build upon one another (ie.  L Vigotsky and J. Bruner building on Piaget and Dewey).  The social aspect is an important one when it comes to designing for online learning experiences.  In my scope, however, adult education is the focus, and I often wondered how much of these theories apply to this audience specifically and the workplace learning context in which I worked, though I did find foundations applicable to online adult education. 

3. What role does knowledge play in learning?

I hold firm to my prior belief that the role of knowledge is essential to learning.  As I mentioned, the skills and experience that people bring to the learning process impact distributed cognition through to distributed intelligence (Pea) and as Lave and Wenger (1991) allude, situated learning pertaining to a particular context and environment influence that knowledge brought to the learning process as well.

Boettcher explains in Core Learning Principle #5: Learners Bring Their Own Personalized Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes...to the Learning Experience.  This influences my theory of learning greatly as adult learners bring a wealth of these elements to the table, and instructors and designers need to take this into account when designing education.

4. What role do others play in your learning (e.g. peers, teachers etc)?

Interactions between others such as instructors, peers, family, co-workers, etc are all important to learning.  I feel most aligned to more introverted learners, and find that online participation allows for the playing field to be leveled.  An Introverted learner need not compete to answer the fasted, loudest or most detailed.  Online learning enables deeper reflection for some as instant responses are not expected.

My learning theory now leans towards the role of others contributing to knowledge sharing, building and co-constructing.  This may take the form of contributing in a learning community, community of practice or community of inquiry.  I think its important that every learner find the comfort level necessary to truly learn and share in an online learning environment, without the barriers of language, technology access, and digital literacy, etc.

Social media and informal learning are still important aspects of my learning theory as it more a part of the everyday than ever before.  In this manner, its hard to tell where learning starts and stops and offers continuous learning to occur and contribute to lifelong learning goals.

References:

Boettcher, J. 2007. Ten Core Principles for Designing Effective Learning Environments: Insights from Brain Research and Pedagogical Theory. Innovate 3 (3).


Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1990). Chapter 1 in Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. LPP.pdf


Pea, R.D. (1993). Practices of distributed intelligence and designs for education. In G. Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions. Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 47-87). NY: Cambridge University Press. peaDistrib.pdf


Vygotsky, L. (1934) 2. Piaget’s Theory Child Language and Thought.  http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/words/ch02.htm

Where's the Future of Learning Online Going

This week as we close up shop for our class online this semester, our discussions which centre around principles of online learning design, took a turn in the direction of future online learning participation.  I had the opportunity to reflect back on my own participation in our Pepper online learning environment, and what could have enhanced my experience.

The biggest difference for me could have been timing of my participation.  This relates to:

 Core Learning Principle #10: Everything Else Being Equal, More Time-on-Task Equals More Learning (Boethcher, p6)

As we juggle more things (ie. work, school, family,volunteer work, etc.), the more we realize how dependent we are becoming on our mobile technologies.  Shhhhhhh....there are some people out there that set limits on the use of their technology, however, I'm not necessarily one of those people.  Sure I turn the volume off in places like the library, movies, theatre, etc. but I do very much keep things running in the background so that I can keep up any time I choose to.  In terms of this course and the pepper platform, first, I think I'm actually going to miss interacting with my peers on a regular basis online.  I set up notifications in this learning environment so every time someone responds to one of my responses, I get an email--and for me this means usually first reading the notification on my blackberry.

There were times, where I would log in from my Blackberry to read a response, try to respond, but didn't get anywhere with Pepper and the Blackberry platform sadly.  For example, at the start of March break, a friend of mine and her son were visiting from out-of-province. We decided to take a drive up to Banff and Lake Louise.  Along the way, I saw an email notification about a reply to one of my posts, quickly read it and proceeded to try to respond...but alas, no-can-do, and I was stuck waiting until we returned home.
so a couple things about this situation,

• Responses are not as timely as they could be, the conversation changes direction quickly
• Responses once inspired by the moment, could be lost by the participants by the time they get home to access
• Responses, could have been richer (mobile photo, voice clip, video, (etc).  

Of course, not every response needs to be completed with the use of mobile technology,  I'm suggesting just the quick replies with personal context.  Longer replies that involve literacy research and larger attachments should definitely wait until full access.  (Or at least access on a tablet with full keyboard).

I think a blended technology supported platform would be ideal electronic learning.  Learning where it's just-in-time, and customizable to the student needs and learning abilities.

The creation of knowledge:  I certainly found that knowledge-sharing and creation was a large part of our discussions, assignment-planning, journeling, theory-expeansion, etc.  As Lulee mentioneds:

   They argued that interaction was the process through which the participants negotiated their meaning and co-created the knowledge.  (Garrisson, Anderson, & Archer, 2000)

There was lots of negotiation of meaning, which made the interactions meaningful, in my humble opinion.  We also worked together to come-up with joint solutions and new ideas for creating a better online environment, one that would help address issues of social, economic and digital divide, cultural and cognitive abilities, etc. To get there, we have to be prepared for change.

Change is inevitable, and as we look at how we design and use online environments, there has to be flexibility in thinking and engaging as instructors, learners and designers.  Quinnton advises:

In order to manage such unprecedented change,  educational institutions should first identify the impact on teaching and learning that will result from the expanding presence of an information dominated world and then enter into a transitional stage of actively re-examining the design and purpose of their education delivery systems.  (p. 332)

By "actively re-examining of information and purpose", we are constantly reading ourselves for change in the learning landscape.  Let's call it agile constructivism and design for online learning environments.  Exciting times ahead...

I'm grateful to my professor and my fellow learners in CTL 1608H for my learning experience and look forward to returning to the ideas we discussed.

Shall we:
Create
Rip
Mix
Burn

References:
Boettcher, J. 2007. Ten Core Principles for Designing Effective Learning Environments: Insights from Brain Research and Pedagogical Theory. Innovate 3 (3).


Lulee, S. T. (2011). Basic Principles of Interaction for Learning in Web-Based Environment, Educause Blogs, URL: http://www.educause.edu/blog/susanlulee/BasicPrinciplesofInteractionfo/227198


Quinton, S.R. (2010). Principles of Effective Learning Environment Design. In Ebner, M. & Schiefner, M. (Eds.) Looking Toward the Future of Technology-Enhanced Education: Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital Native, 327-352.

Digital Divide in Online Learning

On another note, an interesting element of our discussion tuned into the notion of 'digital divide.'  The have and have-nots when it comes to access to technology, knowledge of computing technologies, or the world wide web.  Is the divide shrinking?  How does this divide impact online learning and design for online learning environments?

From my own experience working at a home and community health care organization, we find that there definitely was a digital divide among employees when it came to accessing online learning.  As the organization is spread across geographies nationally both in rural, urban and suburban areas, so was the scope of access to and knowledge of technology (and technology for learning purposes) and how to use it.

As online learning instructors and designers of such environments, I think we not only have to be aware of the audience and who has access to technology, both physical hardware and access to the web (including know speed of access), but also understand how sophisticated the audience of learners are in terms of knowing how to learn in an online environment. The following questions come to mind:

• Do they know how to interact with others in a forum, what's acceptable interaction, what's not?  
• Do they know about their rights as an online learner when it comes to posting personal information or accessing others information?
• Do they understand the learning objectives and outcomes of participating in online education?
• Do they understand online eithics and etiquette of referencing and copyright?
• What are their expectations of participating in an online learning environment?

When it comes to the digital divide and online learning, have designers and instructors planned for these gaps and how to address them.  Its something, we need to ensure we are considering in order there to be successful learning interactions between learners, learners and the instructor and learners and the learning environment (including instructional material).

Returning to the organizational example, we had to take into account computer literacy when designing online learning programs and courses.  We took a two-pronged approach: We had to ensure that those with the lowest levels were given the tools and aid to access technology and understand how to physically use it, before online learning participation.  And, we had to keep more advanced learners engaged--how, by providing optional ways of learning like participating in forums, advanced learning activities and encouraging participation in mentoring others on the online learning experience.

Challenges, still persist, but by helping one-another learn, we are slowing closing the divide.  Also by understanding how learners use technology or what technology they are more comfortable using and building for that learning environment.  (ie. are they more comfortable with using a smartphone over a computer?  Or is their preference for a tablet? Perhaps a hybrid or blended learning approach where a teleconference or live interaction is coupled with online learning?)

References:

Online learning and the digital divide in the workplace:  http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/archive/mbrown.html

E-learning & the digital divide in higher education:  http://is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis/20050141.pdf

Ethical issues in e-learning:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N134hn-KfDo

Online Learning -- More Suited to Us Introverts?

As we design for online learning environments, how often is the social aspect of introversion/extroversion taken into account?  Over the last few discussions in my class, the notion of who the audience is culturally, socially, etc has come up.  While I do believe that in an online environment, there are allowances for learners to either be completely themselves or another character altogether, there is the opportunity for those who are more introverted to have an enhanced learning experience over in-person education.  As an introvert myself, I feel that there are some key justifications for this sentiment:

1. More opportunity for reflection, critical thinking and research prior to contributing an idea, comment or answer.
2. More opportunity in a forum to express one's full opinion and ask questions
3. More opportunity to connect with other learners in an open or private environment.

I was inspired partially due to my experience in this course environment (as a first time Pepper user) and also by a TED talk by Susan Cain on Introverts.  Introduced to TED talks by a couple peers in this course, I've found them to be insightful, thought-provoking and some questionable, but a great source for inspiration and further inquiry into a specific topic.

Social Media and Situated Learning

A work about the upcoming blog posts:  You'll have to forgive me for the stream of things.  I did a blogger taboo...or what seems to be and that's writing it offline first and then transferring these posts to the screen.  You see, not always having an internet connection or my netbook on hand, it was more convenient to go back to traditional means of journaling...at least for a short while.  This and the next two posts were written offline first. However, linking and graphics are done live while posting.

  Social media and social networking has quickly made a fan out of me over the last decade.  I remember starting my undergrad at the University of Toronto in the mid 90's and getting introduced to the world wide web.  I had no idea what was to follow.  How consuming it could be.  How far-reaching it would take me.  How much knowledge and fiction and all the likes-in-between that I would find there.  I recall the line-ups to get a standing spot at a library computer, the max. thirty minute usage (which didn't take you very far, especially when things were on dial-up speed!).  Oh were these ever exciting, adventurous and trying times!  I would even argue, that it was 'legitimate peripheral participation' (Lave & Wenger (1991)).  This community of students as we were, congregating daily in the library commons, waiting for that elusive spot to access the world wide web, observing other's already in the 'spot' waiting for the little hourglass to stop spinning and bring on a new page of wonder.  We talked of websites and webpages to visit and to avoid, we exchanged familiar glances of anticipation and of frustration when a page took long to load, eating up precious coveted minutes of use.  We were all learning to us this new phenomenon individually and together.  A situated learning experience that you didn't necessarily have to sign up for.


Lave & Wenger (1990) describe situated-learning as learning which:

• takes place in an authentic environment and, ideally, the setting and context in which that learning would normally be applied; 
• is  facilitated by interaction and collaboration between colleagues (i.e. a community of practice);
• cannot  be achieved in a organisational setting, without the consent of all stakeholders.

In that space at time, I believe we were in an authentic setting where learning would be applied...the library is inherently a learning setting after all isn't it?  There was certainly interaction and collaboration, seeming we were a community of practice (students learning to use the internet and electronic communication, sharing what we learned with each other--I recall the exchange of email addresses, the "could you send me that link to that site..", etc). And, alas, the consent...the building camaraderie, the sharing of information readily, the helping your partner at the computer beside you while waiting for your webpage to load, the welcoming smiles as you recognized someone who helped you yesterday...yes I'd say there was consent.

It's been a long time since the days of that communal off/online setting.  But, I realized that it still exists and it keeps morphing, especially as we learn and adapt to new social media and social networking.  I may not physically be standing beside someone in a community of practice, but now virtually on a discussion board offering advice to a new mom, or to a group of friends posting about where to find the best travel deals, or professionally about a particular practice in an industry.  Whether its Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (or one of the many many other social apps out there), I realized that learning is non-stop, it's everywhere, its accessible. 

It quite reminds me of Peter Senge's concept of the learning organization.  Where people are continually learning, formally, informally, etc.  Where new patterns of thinking are constantly emerging and shifting.  Sometimes you're participating directly from within the circle, sometimes from the peripheral by simply absorbing and learning.

Social networking, once feared by organizations, is now being embraced by many as a way of enhancing workplace learning and employee engagement.  Who would have thought, the once banned sites (IT denied access at work) of past, would be sought for organizational learning and success.  An example of this is when I discovered that my organization had a "group" page on Facebook made up of employees, at first informally organized, but later used more formally by the organization to hold discussions on particular events, ideas, happenings, and for sharing new information on other learning opportunities or call for participation in other sub-groups. 

Adult education, workplace situated learning, has certainly come some way with the inclusion/infusion of social media in the everyday.  It will be exciting to see how things continue to morph in the organizational and community environments, in the context of work and outreach.  I leave with one take on the Future Workplace.

References:

Lave J. and Wenger E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation, 

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Senge P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, 

Century Business/Doubleday.

Distributed Cognition Through Informal Adult Education

Learning is everywhere.
Thus, I hypothesize that distributed cognition is crafted informally and faster and faster as technology has increasing becoming a larger part of people's everyday lives.  People, artifacts and technology coming together almost constantly.  I can't tell you how many times I've been walking somewhere and a question about the place comes up and i whip out my trusty blackberry, one click to Google and voila I've go 326 links in .98 seconds to potentially answer my question. Or the other option, text a friend. Or another option, poll on twitter or facebook.  This is resembling who wants to be a millionaire more and more, yet no really money to be made.

However, the winning is the informal learning or rather informal constant knowledge building.
We've somehow come to create an insatiable need for answers to our questions here and now.  Long gone are the days of when i would go home, ask my parents, or pull out the index book of our Collier's Encyclopedia collection and proceed to find the key work that would lead me to the correct volume, page and paragraph in which i would hope to find my answer.  If I didn't well, then it was back to the drawing board of solutions.

Today, we can't leave home without our smart phones, tables, netbooks or laptops.  Is this truly a good enabler of informal learning and distributed cognition or are we just going to burn ourselves out with?

Hollan, Huchins, and Kirsh of the University of California, discuss this relationship further in:  Distributed Cognition: Toward a New Foundation for Human-Computer Interaction Research .

Situated Learning in Online Communities & Discussion Boards

Over the last week or two, as a consequence of participating in the online discussion forum for class, I had much opportunity to reflect over the various e-learning experiences I've had in the last decade of my career.  Lave and Wenger enticed me to really consider what i had defined as "situated learning"  and how we tossed around the terms "community of practice" and "community of learning" in the workplace.  What I had thought it to be in context of work, was that a community of practice was a group of people connecting and networking for the purpose of knowledge-sharing and support as people within a particular profession.  As an example, for online courses we designed for nurses and supportive care staff, there were discussion forums facilitated to discuss practice issues, challenges, and changes, which was set up in each e-learning course.
My thinking of a community of learning was that it was a group of people, not necessarily of the same profession, coming together online to share information related to a common topic of interest.  As it turns out, the term for what i'm describing is actually referred to as a "learning community."  Peter Senge, who defined the learning organization, discusses this concept as a necessary element in a learning organization.

In the workplace, if we look around, there are lots of communities.  Communities of managers, communities of staff of a similar profession, of staff of similar level, but differing profession, of staff of common projects and objectives, but differing profession and level, etc.  How the participants in these communities interact, whether in person or online is important, but the knowledge sharing and building that occurs is the real key.  In coming posts, I will look closer at these shared interests and artifacts and collaborative relationships when our class examines distributed cognition and intelligence.
In the meantime, take moment to reflect on some of the online communities you're a part of, most commonly through places like facebook, linkedin and twitter groups. Why did you join?  What were your looking to learn?  How have you shared your knowledge?  There are some very savvy things happening in many corners of the web, a very interesting site i came across is Social Logical.  Here we can see how many players of different means, backgrounds, geographies come together online for a particular purpose and learn from one another about social business.

My Theory of Learning..(p.1)

As part of our learning process, we are charged with defining the following now (part 1 of this post) and reflecting on this at the end of the term in April (part 2 of this post).

so here goes...

1. What do you currently understand learning to be--for yourself as a learner and for your students if you teach?

My worldview on learning so to speak consists of learning through a variety of modes, informal, formal and non-formal learning.  Personally, i think my learning breakdown is as follows currently: 

80% Informal learning  (what i read/hear/view online, hear in the news, what my husband teaches me daily, the knowledge my co-workers pass on, etc.)

15% Formal learning (participating daily/weekly in studies for my masters degree in Adult Education at the University of Toronto)

5% Non-formal learning (the non-accredited learning i do to keep up with my project management designation *PMP)

As with my students, my culture, background, socio-economic standing, experience as a student, experience as a worker, experience as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, etc. all come into play when it comes to what knowledge I gain, how i learn it, and how I interpret it as useful moving forward.

For students (adult learners) that I teach, it's a combo of non-formal and informal learning.  I try to infuse the need-to-know information with what they come to learn and what they bring to the learning (ie. their experiences, skills, background, etc.)  I also design and do program planning for learning and development for workplace learning with these things in mind along with other key variables like adult learning styles, evaluation objectives, etc.

2. Why (on what basis) do you hold those views, both for yourself and for your students? (If you are not a teacher think of a situation where you have taught somebody something.)

I believe I've come to have the above view, and really become aware of my view through my experience as an OISE student at U. of T.  I know that as project manager working on design of e-learning and learning and development programs and projects, I was aware of nuances of adults and learning styles, but it was not as reflective of my part in learning as a learner, nor as a teacher, but over the last 2 years, I've come to think more critically, and expand my lens on learning both on myself and others I instruct.  

More recently in my role as a Master Trainer for the Stanford University developed Chronic Disease Self-Management (CDSM) Program sponsored in Ontario by Saint Elizabeth Health Care Foundation, I trained new leaders for CDSM community workshops.  While the curriculum is standardized, the examples and connections the students make to the material is highly personalized.  It is only through personal experience that I draw shared knowledge that makes for a much more enriching learning environment for the participants.

Another key element to what has shaped my view/theory of learning, is becoming a mother.  Now, less focused on self, and more on how experiences and knowledge will shape my little one.

3. What role does knowledge play in learning?

Knowledge is essential to learning.  What you know or bring to the table impacts how learning takes place and what is learned.  Knowledge enriches the learning experience for other students as shared knowledge can sometimes be much more impactful and precious than what's on a lesson plan.

I also believe knowledge helps to create context for the student, without acknowledging knowledge in the learning environment or providing an outlet to share relevant knowledge, the learning experience may not be truly authentic.

4. What role do others play in your learning (e.g. peers, teachers etc)?

The roles that others play in my learning is to say the least - huge.  Especially when it comes to the daily informal learning.  By having conversations on a topic of interest, or a new topic (ie, a friend sharing their travel experience to a part of the world I have never been), or by a peer sending me an email with a link to how to subscribe to an online deal site relevant to baby gear, etc. are all such valuable learning opportunities that contribute to what i fill my pocket of knowledge with everyday.  

On a more formal note, my teachers and fellow teachers enable me to build my knowledge through sharing of ideas, research, evidence and critical examination of focused areas of knowledge.

Students I teach also play a great role in my learning by shaping the way I facilitate, by challenging how I share my knowledge and by bringing to the table their own skills and experience.

I believe that without challenge and motivation, we do not learn to our potential, so in my role as a learner and facilitator of learning, I try to keep this in mind to make the most of education and knowledge transfer no matter the platform.

And with that, I shall leave you with a quote from one of our fave writers in my household:

So you see! There's no end to the things you might know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.

Dr. Seuss

Stuck on Constructivism

Moving into the next set of discussions in class during this whole virtual experience, left me feeling more a-tuned to the constructivist perspective on learning.  I will come back to this shortly, however need to comment on the experience of participating in a class that does not hold Adult Education at the heart of its conception has been an entirely new learning experience for me in my masters degree journey at the University of Toronto.

Having spent the last ten years of my life focused on workplace learning in some fashion or another, its quite the change to indulge in the the perspectives of childhood education.  It has allowed me to reflect back on my own learning to various stages of my childhood and in particular, now look at the up and coming education of my own child (although only one), the discussions around theories presented by Piaget, Phillips, Gardner, Vygotsky, Bruner and others have left me with a thirst for more on pedagogy.  I especially am curious about the learning design for students in the public school system versus the private or montessori school system.

The online environment in which our collaborative learning occurs is something that I've had to adjust to as this is my first real online experience as an 'e-learner'.  In my professional practice, I have worked on  e-learning products for internal and external customers, understand key 'best practices' when it comes to creating a valuable experience, however aside from testing, this is my first opportunity as a formal student in this environment and get to judge for myself.  It has really helped me to understand some of the feelings and challenges experienced by e-learners, such as time, motivation, call to action, etc..  In this experience, I think our professor has set up the e-learning environment quite well, in terms of the use of mixed media (words, images, videos) and in-dept use of discussion area made rich by what is shared by almost 20 classmates who are quick to respond.

Back to constructivism.  I have learned that still lean towards the value of bringing prior experience into design of learning and customizing a students experience based on multiple intelligences is something that I prefer as a learning and as an instructor.  Much of my lesson plans for workplace learning programs focused on ensuring that various learning styles and intelligences are incorporated in the design and that learning activities allow for learners to engage based on their past experiences.  I see value in bringing culture into design as well, and so the social aspect of learning also plays an important role as discussed by theorists and classmates.

I look forward to being challenged by other sides to this story and will be sure to comment as things evolve.

Blogging for Constructive Learning and the Design of Online Environments

So, I"m reviving my blog again, this time for a course called "Constructive Learning and the Design of Online Environments."


One week has gone by, taking this course virtually, has opened my eyes to the exciting times and challenges of online learning environments.  Having worked on developing e-learning for the workplace, I was often in discussions with developers, writers, designers, and project managers on how to overcome the barriers faced by online learning participants/students.  Now, others are probably having those conversations about me.  My how the table has turned and i'm kinda liking it!


Having taken eight in person courses for my masters degree, it's fitting to round out this experience with a couple virtual masters courses.  Especially one that explores the theories and practices behind such an experience.


In our first week, we looked at Constructivism and Objectivism.  Which, I personally felt more in tune with the ideas of constructivism.  However, could certainly see how others on the flip side could work.


There is more than meets the eye, when it comes to creating material for an online learning environment.
And there are so many variables that come in to play.  For example, in my workplace, one of the audiences we designed for was quite remote, and there were varying internet speed connections from those who were using dial-up to those who were connected via satellite, and those who only were able to connect in public or community spaces vs connecting to learn at home.  Looking at technologies and what works better in these variables, was key.  Not to mention keeping in mind the nuances of that particular audience.  How did culture, geography and computer literacy impact the design as well.
This was part of the challenge, but also part of the excitement in coming up with a solution that would provide access to education that may not have been possible before!


In working as a volunteer for the Ontario Trillium Foundation, I had the fortune of coming across an exciting project that enabled education in remote area of Ontario for First Nations Students.  The project demonstrated that learners could be motivated to learn even when there are barriers in place that prevent the traditional face-to-face learning from taking place.


I'm looking forward to looking at these environments more closely in this class and understanding how some of the theory behind it impacts how variables play out.


Stay tuned.

Leadership Style Assessment Tools - who knew!

So the big question but out by many of my peers in their seminar work for Organizational Leadership was:  "What's your leadership style?"  And to find that out, we embarked on several quizzes, questionnaires, surveys, assessments, etc. to find the very answer to that query.

On of the first tools we looked at was the Myers-Briggs score or MBTI.  This one looked at what are strengths are in leadership according to how we perceive things and make decisions.  Are you more introverted or extroverted?  A feeler or a thinker?  Perceiving or Judging? Sensing or intuitive?

What's your score/personality type?  I happen to be an INTJ.

Another leadership tool we embraced for some self-exploration/evaluation was the Emotional Intelligence test which looks at our soft skills and we relate to people.

What's your EQ?

Next, we can explore Effective Intelligence, which looks at how people think, thus how people work together based on how they think.  Colour based, green (creative), red (structured), blue (values-based), many people fall into more than one colour, but typically have a dominant thinking colour.

What is your effective intelligence primary colour?

A other ways of looking at leadership style is to consider what quadrant you fall into, whether it's coaching, directing, supporting or delegating.  Take a look and think about where you might place yourself.

Entrepreneur.com has another interesting quiz on leadership style if you want to check this one out:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/quiz/leaderstyle 

There are many avenues out there in terms of exploring your leadership style.  May theories that one can draw on as well.

I will talk more about some of those leadership theories and styles, ones that strike something with me in future posts.

What's your Leadership iQ? How about emotional iQ?

Things are in the swing again for me at OISE, after a semester off to transition from maternity leave back to full-time work, now the focus is on Organizational Leadership. I'm going to start with a reflection on Leadership in general.

I know, I know, what a monster of a topic. Especially when your tasked with picking ONE leadership book at Chapters. The section on Organizational Leadership is HUGE.  I did some research online, read some reviews and narrowed it down to about 5 books, but when I got to the store, it expanded again to 10.  After flipping through each, reading a chapter here and there, I finalized my top two--yes, its true, the indecisive-me had to purchase two books and bother very very different.  The first, Servant Leadership:  a book exploring the true human (kind) side of leadership through caring.  The second, Open Leadership, about using social media as a key component to leadership.  Will keep you posted on both reads as I make it through them.

In the mean time, looking at various leadership types and styles, has been an interesting personal journey.
In the next post, I will dig a bit deeper into some of the tools we used to analyze our leadership traits.