Syllabus MOOC DelftX

Leadership for Engineers

Faculty of Technology,
Policy and Management

Learn how to effectively lead in a technology-driven

world, define your personal leadership journey, and make
your career choices

Welcome!
Welcome to this MOOC LfE101x Leadership for Engineers and thank you very much for joining us! We have
worked with great enthusiasm to create an interesting and inspiring program, and we hope you will share our
enthusiasm.
The course is offered in a self-paced format. This means that you have until 28 February 2017 to complete the
course. Although this course is estimated to require 2-4 hours/week for 5 weeks, the self-paced format gives
you the freedom to complete the course at your own pace.
In this MOOC we will not only provide you with valuable insights about leadership and leadership styles, but we
will also help you to create a better understanding of your personal leadership style and how you can apply this
in your career. We believe that only an understanding of technology is not enough both the ideas, and the
know-how to put these ideas into action is what a successful leader needs.
Furthermore, we aim to create a lively community of participants from all over the world, who are interested in
leadership, especially from an engineering perspective. Within this community we can learn from and help each
other, aiming to improve leadership on all different levels and in different cultures.
Again, thank you for joining us. We hope you will enjoy this MOOC.

On behalf of the course team,

Hans de Bruijn

Syllabus contents
The syllabus consists out of three parts: part A, B and C.

Part A contains a discussion of the learning goals, prerequisites, materials and workload, and rules of
the game.

Part B discusses the different forms of assessment in the course, the grading system and the assignment
deadlines.

Part C gives a per week overview of the content of the course: the course outline.

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Part A
Learning goals, prerequisites, materials and workload, and rules of
the game
A.1. Learning goals

How to be a successful leader in a complex, tech-centred world

What leaders can do in this world, and what strategies they develop

A deeper understanding of yourself as a leader

A personal charter to guide your life and leadership decisions

The concept of sustainable leadership

How to make your career choices

How to position yourself as a leader

A.2. Course prerequisites

The course is designed specifically for individuals who are currently enrolled in an engineering
program or who are in possession of an engineering degree. However, people with working
experience or a strong interest in the topic are welcome to participate.

A.3. Course materials and workload

The course materials are comprised of the following: web lectures, texts written on the EdX platform,
questionnaires, the assignments, and your contributions on the world map and the discussion forum.
Moreover, you may also find a list of further readings after each section. This list of grey and
academic literature is compiled for those of you that would like to read beyond what is required for
this course and its assignments.

A.4. Rules of the game

The participants of this MOOC come from different backgrounds and are in different stages of their
career. We ask you to be respectful to participants coming from different cultures or being less / more
experienced with leadership. Please be judgemental free in your feedback to one other, be analytical
and helpful, especially when participating in the discussion forum. We all can learn from each other,
and we look forward to many interesting discussions and learning moments.

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A.5. Discussion forum

The discussion forum is a great way to ask your burning questions. Throughout this MOOC, we ask you to
share your thoughts on subjects with a link to the discussion forum. The forum is also the ideal place to give
us feedback on how to make the MOOC better. You can place this on the general topic feedback course or
on a specific topic of an assignment. Besides contributing to making the MOOC better, you can ask the staff
if you find something not working right or need help on edX.

A.6. Teams
Lots of students of the first run of this course asked for more interaction with other students. Since this is a
MOOC which runs for half a year, we cut the discussions up in months. We encourage you to link up with
members who have started in the same month as you. You can pick each others brains and help each other
with the assignments. For example, even though the assignments are self-assessed you can ask peers in the
forum what they think of your assignment before you submit to make it a stronger submission.

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Part B
Methods of assessment, the grading system and assignment
deadlines
B.1. Methods of assessment
This course includes four types of assessments: assignments, a final exam, exercises and
questionnaires. Assignments and the final exam are graded, exercises and questionnaires are not.
Graded assignments
Assignments
During the course you will encounter five assignments. These assignments will together make up 60%
of your grade for this MOOC. There are two types of assignments:
1. Multiple choice questions This questions will automatically be graded via the edX platform.
The answers will be published after the due date of the particular assignment.
2. Self-assessed assignment Self-assessment entails that you yourself have to assign the grade
you think your assignment deserves based on the grading criteria provided for the assignment.
You will be given examples on how to grade your assignment first before you have to grade
your own assignment.
Section B.2 shows the weight and type of all the assignments.
Final exam
At the end of the course you will receive an multiple choice questions exam. This exam will make up
40% of your grade. This can be seen as a test to determine if you understood the content of this MOOC.
Non-graded assignments
Exercises
In order to help you understand some parts of this course, it can be helpful to practise. Therefore this
MOOC contains exercises. In this exercises you will apply the content you just learned to your own
situation or a fictive case. We highly recommend to do the exercises. However, some exercises can be
seen as optional, and when this is the case this is stated clearly above the exercise.
Questionnaires
Throughout the course you will be asked to participate in questionnaires. These questionnaires serve
two purposes: (1) critically reflect on the material you have just been exposed to, and (2) create a
database of perceptions on different aspects of leadership. At the start of the MOOC, you will be asked
whether or not your responses may be used for academic research. If you do not decline this request,
your responses can be anonymously analysed for academic research. Results will be aggregated to the
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group level, so personal information will not be coupled to individual responses. Responses will
certainly not be shared with any third parties.

B.2. Grading system and assignment deadlines

The table below shows per assignment: the method of assessment and the maximum number of points
they count for.
This course uses a pass/fail structure. To pass the course you need to obtain at least 50% of the total
amount of points that can be earned.
Part
#

Graded
assignments

Method of Percentage
assessment

Assignment 1:
Strategies of
the Mayor

Selfassessment

10%

Assignment 2:
Multi-issue
Game

MC
questions

20%

Assignment 3:
Pitch for the
Mayor

Selfassessment

10%

Assignment 4:
Gratitude
letter

Selfassessment

10%

Assignment 5:
Leadership
Styles

Selfassessment

10%

Final exam

MC
questions

40%

Sum

100%

Assignment deadlines
Since this course is self-assessed, you have until the end of the course to finish up the assignments.
However, we do advice you to finish a part before going to the next. The end of the course is 28
February 2017.

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Part C
Course outline
In the first part of this MOOC, you will explore the context that leaders are facing building an
understanding of the complexities of global and business challenges. You will discover the ambiguity
and the many stakeholders that leaders are facing when making their choices. You will get a sense of
effective leadership practices.
From the second half of part two, you will discover your who am I through personal and group
exercises. You will create a Personal Charter that can serve as a guide throughout your life helping
you as a leader to make important choices in your personal and professional life.
Starting in part four, we will bring the knowledge of the context and yourself together. We will
translate the insights of this course into a leadership model and you will discover what sustainable
leaders do. We will offer you frameworks to help you make your own career choices.

C.1. Leadership in a complex world

Episode 1 - A Leader. With a Vision
Episode 2 - Four Years Later
Episode 3 - The Complexity of our World
Episode 4 - How to Lead in a Networked World

C.2. Leadership mindsets

Episode 5 - Leadership: Two mindsets
Episode 6 - Strengths
Episode 7 - Visualisation

C.2. Personal leadership

Episode 8 - Learned optimism
Episode 9 - Freedom to choose your response
Episode 10 - Amygdala hijack

C.2. Leadership models

Episode 11 - The hero leader
Episode 12 - The chameleon leader
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Episode 13 - The transformational leader

Episode 14 - The servant leader
Episode 15 - Sustainable leadership
Episode 16 - Relationship building
Episode 17 - Systems thinking
Episode 18 - Sustainability mindset

C.2. Leadership context and you

Episode 19 - A simple framework to help you make your career choices
Episode 20 - Defining your search strategy
Episode 21 - Organizing support

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Contact details
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
Jaffalaan 5
2628 BX, Delft
The Netherlands
T 015-278 9801
E communicatie-tbm@tudelft.nl
I: http://www.tbm.tudelft.nl/en/