The CCK08 Anniversary

It’s about time when we would celebrate the CCK08 anniversary – in September 2009.

I still remember the time when I joined the CCK08 last fall, where I experienced an exciting journey with both the instructors, guest speakers and other co-learners there in the course, forum and blogs etc.

The ‘community’ that evolved out of CCK08 made me feel proud to be involved in a truly global learning network.

I have yet to recollect all those great artifacts that are distributed in the networks, via the various tools like Delicious, Facebook, Ning, Blogs, Wikis .

I think it’s about time not only to reflect upon my experiences and learning, but to prepare for the coming exciting journey in CCK09.

As I have mentioned in my reflection post in this blog, I would like to take on another  ‘flight’ to a ‘higher’ virtual space, this time likely with a blend of old and new participants.

CCK08 would then be superseded by CCK09….

If you are interested, here it is CCK09.  See you.

John

Leadership in education and social networking

 Allison Miller posted in FB “If you are leading and no-one is following you are just going out for a walk” #acpet

Can we lead without any one following?  Why not?

Would leading by going out for a walk be a healthy exercise?

In wikipedia on servant leadership:

Dr. Kent Keith, author of The Case for Servant Leadership and the current CEO of the Greenleaf Center, states that servant leadership is ethical, practical, and meaningful. He identifies seven key practices of servant leaders: self-awareness, listening, changing the pyramid, developing your colleagues, coaching not controlling, unleashing the energy and intelligence of others, and foresight. James Sipe and Don Frick, in their book The Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, state that servant-leaders are individuals of character, they put people first, they are skilled communicators, they are compassionate collaborators, they use foresight, they are systems thinkers, and they exercise moral authority.

Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, servant leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.

That’s servant leadership, where we serve in our “leading” role, especially in a networked learning environment. The best leaders are anonymous, when the “followers” all respond to the leadership “call”: “we have done it through the leadership spirit where every one is leading”. Such leaders won’t need the fame, the honour, because they know their followers and their followers recognise them. Such leaders are altruistic, and always strive hard to serve others, not for their benefits, but others. This is reflected in religious leaders – Jesus, Buddha.

Would it be better to lead without any one following you? Because your “followers” know that they don’t have to follow you to be leaders! They serve others instead and they are practising leadership. Would that be the leadership at its best, not being served or followed – but serving others?

 They would be respected.

See also my previous post on servant leadership.

How would servant leadership be applied in education, in on-line learning and social networking?

Have you found any servant leaders in education?  Who are they?  What do they have in common?

Online Presentation and Facilitation

Jenny writes in her F2F and Online teaching :

“There are people who seem to be equally effective on and offline, but I wonder if a good face-to-face ‘presenter’ also ‘presents’ when working online, and if a good online ‘facilitator’ is also a ‘facilitator’ rather than a ‘presenter’ when working face-to-face.”

I normally found that facilitators are more learner-centred, where presenters are more teacher-centred, though it really depends on the context.

Facilitators would focus on the interests of the audience, based upon the discussion of some topics which are relevant to the audience, whereas presenters would focus on the “presenting or “selling” of their interests” to their audience, which may or may not be able to cater for the interests of their learners. 

Good facilitators and presenters could motivate their audience or readers to learn and be engaged in a session, a blog or a forum.  The best on-line facilitators and presenters could also be great learners, as they understand the needs of other learners.  They could create an environment that is conducive to learning.  They could inspire their learners to pursue their goals of interests, not just by relating to the immediate blogs and topics of interests, but to  reflect upon what they have learnt through the blogs and topics.

There are many fantastic facilitators and presenters:  George, Stephen, Terry, Howard, Grainne, Jay, Alec, Tony, Nancy, Jane,  Jenny, Roy, and many others.

Would bloggers be presenting or facilitating via their blog posts?  

Would people be more interested in presenting or facilitating in social network media such as Ning?

How would we evaluate a good presenter in on-line environment?

How would we evaluate a good facilitator in on-line environment?

Who would you rate as excellent on-line presenters?

Have you met any excellent on-line facilitators?