RebeccaAnderson10/09/2015

LeadershipinDigitaland
CollaborativeLearning

LDCAssessment2

RebeccaAnderson
TheMindLabUnitec

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Introduction

Mysyndicatehasbeenluckyenoughtoreceivealargedonationof
Chromebooksrecently.PrevioustotheseChromebooksmyclasshadverylimited
accesstodigitaldevices.Throughoutthischangeinitiativethreemainleadershipstyles
becameapparent,transformationalleadership,democraticleadershipandlaissezfaire
leadership.Asdiscussed,thecombinationofthesethreeleadershipstyleshada
positiveimpactonmychangeinitiative.

TheChangeInitiative

Iamcurrentlyinthemiddleofaleadingahugechangeinitiativewithinmy
classroom.WehavereceivedalargedonationofChromebooksandIamleadingthe
integrationofdigitaltechnologieswithinoursixYear34classrooms.Beforethe
Chromebooks,theclasseshadaccesstothreeiPadseach(ofwhichwillremaininthe
classes)andasetofMiniNotes(thesehadhugefunctionalityproblems)thatwere
sharedonaroster.ThenewChromebookshaveledtostudenttodeviceratioofatmost
3:1.Myleadershiprolewithinthechangeinitiativeishelpingmystudentsbecome
confidentusersofourChromebooksaswellasbeingabletousetheschoolUltranet
pageasperschoolpolicy.

LeadershipStylesRelevanttoChangeInitiative

Whileexploringleadershiptheories,IfoundthatIidentifiedmostwith
TransformationalLeadership.Ipurposelysetoutonthisinitiativetobecomemore
Transformationalinmyleadershipstyle.TransformationalLeadershiprequiresthe
leadertouseavisiontoempowerandmotivateteammembers(Winchester,2013).I
satdownwithmyclass,andwechoseavisiontogether.ThisblendedTransformational
LeadershipandDemocraticLeadershipstylestogether.DemocraticLeadershipoccurs
whentheleaderincludesteammembersinthedecisionmakingprocess(Wallin,2003).
Wedecidedtogether,thatourvisionwouldbetohavestudentsworkingcollaboratively

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andconfidentlyonournewChromebooks,andtoensureallstudentshavethe
necessaryskillstouseGoogleDocsandourschoolUltranetpagesuccessfully.Itwas
importantforthestudentstobeabletovoicetheirownideasandopinionsaboutthe
visionasithelpeduscreateavisionthatwasrepresentativeoftheclassaswellas
givingthemownershipofthevision(Wallin,2003).Ialsofounditimportanttobemore
DemocraticinstyleatthispointasIwantedmystudentstoalsoplaytheroleofleader
inourchangeinitiativeasareflectionofWallinscasestudy(2003).Gill(2006)argues
thisisnotpossiblethroughastrictlyTransformationalLeadershipstyle.

Movingonfromdecidingourvision,Ithenspenttimesettingupour
Chromebooks,GoogleDriveandUltranetpageproperly.Iensuredthattheylayoutof
eachwaseasyforstudentstounderstandandnavigate,leadingtolessavoidable
restrictionstotheirprogresstowardsourvision.Ialsosetuprelevantactivitiesthat
wouldchallengethem,andthatwereinkeepingourvision(Beverborg,Sleegers&van
Veer,2015).Forexample,studentsneededtosetuptheirprofilepagesonUltranet
anduseGoogleDrivetopublishandshareastory.Thiswasinkeepingto
TransformationalLeadershipstyle,wherebyIwasfacilitatingastimulatingenvironment
wherestudentsaremotivatedbybeingchallenged(Beverborg,Sleegers&vanVeer,
2015).IalsoneededtoshowmystudentsthatIamalsoalearneralongonthejourney
withthem,bykeepingmyownlearningondisplay(Winchester,2013).Thiswasanew
concepttomeaswellasthestudentssotheyneededtoknowthatwewereonthe
journeytogether.

Fromhere,myleadershipstylebecomemoreLaissezFaire.LaissezFaire
Leadershipisdefinedasaleadershipstylewhereindividualsarelefttomaketheirown
decisionswiththeleaderbeingthereforsupport(Ediger,2003).OnceIknewstudents
hadthebasicsdownpat,Istoodbackandletthemexplore.Iftheyfelttheyneeded
morepracticeusingourschoolUltranetpage,Igavethemtimetoexplorethepageat
theirownpace.IftheyfeltthatGoogleDocswasanareatheywishedtoworkon,itwas
theirresponsibilitytoaskquestions,findafriendwhocouldhelpthemandexplore.I

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wantedthestudentstounderstandthattheyneededtoberisktakersondigitaldevices
astheyareineveryotheraspectofschool.Ediger(2003)reportsthepossiblenegative
impactsofLaissezFaireleadershipwithintheclassroom,inparticular,thegreat
possibilityofanarchy,however,Ifeltthatthisstylehadapositiveimpactonmyclass.
WhileIwasstillthemainsupportperson,itmeantthatstudentswhohadstrongabilities
ontheChromebooksandUltranethadachancetobecomeexpertsbyalsohelping
thosearoundthem.

EvidenceofEffectiveness

TotrackmystudentsprogressIusedapreChromebooksurveyandafollowup
surveytoobserveanyprogressintermsofourclassroomvision.Beforelearningtouse
ChromebookstheaverageratingofconfidencetousebothChromebooksandGoogle
Docswas2(thestudentsweregivenascalefrom1notconfidentatallto5very
confident).Ofthe19studentssurveyed,onlytwohadusedaChromebookbefore.Once
studentshadampleopportunitiestoexploretheChromebooks,anothersurveywas
completedwheretheaverageforbothquestionsaveragedoutataratingof4(thatis,I
amquiteconfident).Thisshowedasignificantmovementfromstudentsbeingnotvery
confidenttousetheChromebookstostudentsfeelquiteconfidentaboutusingthe
ChromebooksandGoogleDocs.

Tofindouthowmystudentshaveinterpretedmyleadershipwithintheclassroom
IgaveamultichoicequestionaskingthemwhichstatementbestdescribeshowIhelped
theirprogressontheChromebooksonUltranet.15%ofstudentschosetheoptionshe
letusexploretheChromebooksonourownandmakeourownmistakes,5%chosethe
optionshedideverythingforusandonlyletusdocertainthingsandnostudents
chosetheoptionsherewardedusfordoingthingsrightandpunishedusfordoing
thingswrong.Themajorityofstudents,80%,chosetheoptionsheshowedushowdo
somethingthenletusexploreonourown.Ifeelthatthisstatementreflectsstronglyin
thethreeleadershipstylesthatIhaveidentifiedwith.ItisalsoclearthatIdidnotadopt

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aHierarchicalapproachtoleadershipwhereteammembershavelimitedinputintotheir
work(Ediger,2003),somethingofwhichIamstronglyagainstinclassrooms.

IusedusagestatisticsfromourclassroomUltranetPage(2015)toassessthe
successofstudentsbecomingmoremotivatedandconfidenttouseourclassroom
Ultranetpage.Datacanbebrokendownintoeachmonth,showingthetop50users(of
allstudentsattendingmyschool).Previoustothecurrentmonth,nostudentsfrommy
classfeaturedonthetop50userdata.AllbuttwostudentsusedUltranetsinceJanuary
thisyear.However,oncetheChromebookswereintroducedtoclassandstudentswere
focusedonourclassvisionofbecomingconfidentandableusersofourschoolUltranet
page,14ofmy22studentsmadeup30%ofthetop50yearsofthewholeschool.The
majorityofthestudentsintheTop50usershadaccessedtheUltranetpagemorethan
twiceadaysincereceivingChromebooks.Thishasshownahugeshiftintheusageof
theUltranetpagebymystudents.Theinformationthatstuckoutthemostforme,
however,wasthefactthatthemajorityofstudentshadloggedintoUltranetathometo
practiceusage.ThisheavilyreflectstheaimsofTransformationalLeadershipwherethe
leaderusesavisiontomotivateteammemberstogoaboveandbeyondthecallofduty
toachievetheirgoal(Beverborg,Sleegers&vanVeer,2015).

Conclusion

Usingacombinationofthreedifferentleadershipstyles,Transformational,
LaissezFaireandDemocratic,atdifferentstagesthroughoutourchangeinitiativehas
hadapositiveimpactupontheimplementationofChromebookswithinmyclassroom.
Asdiscussed,theevidenceshowsthatstudentshavemadeprogressinbecomingmore
confidentandableusersofdigitaltechnologies.Studentsshowedgreatmotivationby
takingtheirlearningoutsidetheclassroomandintotheirownhomes.Mynextsteps
now,willbeusingwhatIhavelearntfrommyownclassandhelpingtheotherteachers
inmysyndicateeffectivelyimplementtheChromebookswithintheirownclassrooms.

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References

Beverborg,A.O.G.,Sleegers,P.J.C.,&vanVeen,K.(2015).PromotingVET
teachersindividualandsociallearningactivities:theempoweringandpurposeful
roleoftransformationalleadership,interdependence,andselfefficacy.
Empirical
ResearchinVocationalEducationandTraining,7
(5).doi:
10.1186/s4046101500184

Ediger,M.(2003).
ThePsychologyofImprovingTeachingQuality.
124
(2),321328.

Gill,R.(2006).
TheoryandPracticeofLeadership.
London:SagePublications

Ultranet.(2015).
MangereCentralSchool.
Retrievedfrom
www.mangerecentral.school.nz

Wallin,D.(2003).StudentLeadershipandDemocraticSchools:ACaseStudy.
NASSP
Bulletin,87
(636),5778.
doi:10.1177/019263650308763606

Winchester,M.N.(2013).TransformationalLeadership.
KentuckyNurse,61
(2),4.