Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs Learning Community

 

Working Meeting

 

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

 9:00 am – 11:00 am

 Junior Ballroom C

 

 

The Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs Learning Community (GLEP/LC) held its first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday, October 31, 2007. Thirty-six members attended.

 

The purpose of the meeting was “…to develop the sets of Guiding Questions the answers to which will inform the development of new leadership education programs and/or the enhancement of existing programs. Sets of Guiding Questions (were) developed for the topics Conceptual Framework, Context, Content, Teaching and Learning, and Outcomes and Assessment. These Guiding Questions (were) further refined during the roundtables on Friday morning; final versions (have been) posted to the GLEP/LC WKIKI http://ilaguidelineslc.pbwiki.com/.

 

The complete white paper that outlined the purpose and background of the meeting is included in this report as Attachment A.

 

This meeting, the roundtables and subsequent discussions also resulted in a proposal to the ILA Board of Directors. This proposal is included in this report as Attachment B.

 

The ILA Board of Directors approved the first three “bullets” while asking the GLEP/LC to continue to manage the process for writing and receiving responses to the Guiding Questions. They deferred decisions on the other three “bullets” pending completion of the draft Guiding Questions: Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs.

 

 

 

Attachment A

 

The International Leadership Association’s

Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs Learning Community

Meeting October 31, 2007 Sheraton Wall Centre, Junior Ballroom C

 

Purpose

Our purpose is to develop the sets of Guiding Questions the answers to which will inform the development of new leadership education programs and/or the enhancement of existing programs. Sets of Guiding Questions will be developed for the topics Conceptual Framework, Context, Content, Teaching and Learning, and Outcomes and Assessment. These Guiding Questions will be further refined during the roundtables on Friday morning; final versions will be posted to the GLEP/LC WKIKI http://ilaguidelineslc.pbwiki.com/. Following this, we will issue a call for research and best practices papers that answer these questions.

 

Background

The Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs Learning Community (GLEP/LC) is a volunteer project that has its roots in discussions and presentations dating back to the conference in Seattle (2002). In Washington (2004), a formal panel entitled “Emerging Accreditation Issues: Toward Professional Standards for Leadership Programs?” sparked interest in pursuing the issues that were raised. (Ritch, Robinson, Riggio, Roberts and Cherrey, 2004).

 

As a follow up to these and other discussions regarding the establishment of guidelines and standards for leadership studies programs, six ILA members gathered  in roundtable sponsored by Regent University in early 2005.

 

The roundtable participants agreed on primary directions to move forward, understanding that this was the beginning of a complex process would require the voices and expertise of many and diverse stakeholders. The following benefits, and therefore aims, were declared:

 

1.      Create frameworks to articulate both the essential nature and distinctiveness of individual leadership programs.

2.      Address issues of legitimacy both internal and external to academia.

3.      Serve as a resource for new and developing programs.

4.      Serve as a reference for programs responding to accrediting processes.

5.      Maintain an internal locus of control and creativity for individual programs.

 

A research agenda was proposed to explore both the content and context of leadership programs. Although this research was originally designed to be more prescriptive through an inclusive process of setting standards, this was later modified due to ILA member input in Amsterdam (2005).

 

The ILA Board of Directors approved this proposal in April, 2005. A voluntary advisory group comprised of representatives from nine colleges and universities was assembled and Regent University faculty began research over that summer.

 

This preliminary research was presented in a panel, “Academic Standards for Leadership Studies Programs: Enlarging the Conversation” (Patterson, King, Hartsfield, Klenke, and Harter, 2005) in Amsterdam.  In addition, two related programs, one a roundtable and the other a forum, were presented in Amsterdam. The roundtable, “Tools, Guidelines, and Outcomes for Leadership Studies Programs” (Robinson, 2005) resulted in not only a sharing of experiences but also a first spark of ideas concerning the topics that might be most helpful to address in a document.  The forum, “Standards and Guidelines for Leadership Programs: What Shall We Do?” was a deliberative, democratic forum that was designed to inform and expand the conversation among the ILA membership and conference attendees regarding guidelines and standards for leadership programs (Ritch and Roberts, 2005). This forum also modeled a highly effective process for achieving consensus and direction for social change. A full report including a description of the choicework process, alternatives, and participant responses is available in the ILA 2005 Conference Proceedings.

 

The conclusions of this forum were crucial in the evolution of this project:

 

“There was unanimous agreement that this project and process must be kept grounded in the mission of the International Leadership Association.  …The consensus was that these conversations and the research associated with them should continue. The research should be broadened to include not only the content and context of our field but also “best practices” relating to conceptual framework, mission, assessment, instruction, and other programmatic elements. This research should produce guidelines, endorsed by the ILA that can be used, following a format of essential “guiding questions,” to create and improve leadership programs. This process should be an important professional imperative that is transparent, iterative, and ongoing.” (Ritch and Roberts, 2005).

 

In Chicago (2006) participants in the learning lab “Guidelines for Leadership Programs: Enlarging the Conversation” (Ritch, 2006) identified organizing topics/chapters, guiding questions, and recommendations for next steps that were consistent with the consensus reached in Amsterdam.

Chicago Learning Lab Summary, Recommendations, and Progress

Process: Conference participants joined in a modified study circle process that was designed to identify the organizing topics/chapters and questions essential to the development of leadership education programs. Conclusions were posted for review and comment by the general assembly. Revisions were made based on the advice gathered from this process; organizing topics/chapters as well as preliminary guiding questions (detailed below) were developed that were intended to become the basis for writing a guidelines document for consideration for endorsement by the ILA.

Recommendations: Participants in Chicago recommended that a conference be held to review invited papers that address the topics.  At this conference, these papers would be integrated into a first draft of a guidelines document. This draft would be research based. Further, participants recommended that this work be revised and further edited through the establishment of a learning community. Finally, Participants volunteered to serve as “topic leaders” to facilitate the process of defining and clarifying the scope of the invited papers and the conference process of integrating them into a first draft.

There was also consensus in support of the following principles and goals:

• To keep the Guidelines Initiative grounded in the mission of the International Leadership Association and to encourage face-to-face conversations, continue to invite papers, presentations and discussions regarding guidelines and related issues for leadership education programs at the annual conference.

 

• To build community, commitment, and provide first drafts, use a study circles process and host a conference to receive, review and synthesize papers that address the organizing topics/guiding questions and related content areas identified in this learning lab.

 

• To ensure that the process is transparent, iterative, and ongoing, establish a community of practice (learning community) to write and revise the organizing topics/guiding questions.

Progress: These recommendations, along with a formal request to establish a learning community, were proposed to the ILA Board of Directors in February, 2007. This resulted in the establishment of the Guidelines for leadership Education Programs Learning Community (GLEP/LC), a charge to create a WIKI to facilitate learning and issue a call for papers to be published on the WIKI prior to a meeting of the GLEP/LC immediately prior to the ILA’s annual international meeting in Vancouver in November, 2007. All of these actions were undertaken; unfortunately few responded to the call.

Nonetheless, GLEP/LC topic teams and members generated additional questions for the call for papers as well as matrices that identified the discrete topics that must be addressed. Please refer to http://ilaguidelineslc.pbwiki.com/ and handouts.

Thus, several members of the GLEP/LC determined that we would meet in Vancouver to develop and finalize sets of Guiding Questions for each topic. Following this, we would issue a call for research and best practices papers that answer these questions.  

The general goal remains to have a final draft for presentation at the conference in Los Angeles, 2008, which is the tenth anniversary of the formation of the International Leadership Association.

 

 

 

 

Original Organizing Topics, Chapters and Guiding Questions derived in Chicago, 2006

 

Conceptual Framework

• (Question) How do we make this a generic document yet give adequate direction?
• Clear definition of program’s conceptual framework/platform/manifesto.
• Clear idea of mission and vision statements; strategic plan: goals and values.
• How does theoretical framework fit into the organizational mission and vision?
• What kinds of leadership concepts/theories fit into what the organization is trying to accomplish?
• Strategic process for implementation including evaluation and revision. Relate to activities of program including curricular and co-curricular.
• (Resources) Examples of other frameworks/platforms/manifestos.
• (Resources) Case studies/best practices.
• (Resources) Human resources, people to assist in development/creation/ implementation/etc.
• (Comment) ILA to provide consultation with institutions

 

Teaching/Learning

• (Question) Who, What, How and Why will you teach?
• Andragogy/Pedagogy
• Methods
  • Activities
  • Experiences   
  • Discussion
  • Media
  • Observation
  • Simulation
  • Role playing
  • Case studies
  • Story telling  
  • Service learning
• Teaching theories
• Learning theories
  • Practice
  • Experiential
  • Coaching/mentoring
  • Peer learning
  • Adult Transformative Learning
• Applied theories
• Action learning/Action research
• Assessment/Evaluation
  • Projects       
  • Individual students
  • Courses
  • Teacher
  • Validation of what was accomplished in addition to evaluation
• Inquiry
• Student centered learning
• Teacher centered learning
• Self starting learning
• Training-to-practice
• Link/Relevance to community
• Naturalistic inquiry/Foundation for theory development
• Syllabus
  • Readings
  • Content of course
  • Activities
• Researched practices
• Outcomes-driven
  • Comparative (program-to-program)
  • Draw from environmental scan
  • Important elements to teach
  • Continuous quality improvement
  • Course refinement and redevelopment

 

 

Context

 (Question) What are the contexts of leadership programs?

• Sectors
  • Government
  • Education
  • Community
  • Business
• Discipline (Location of program)
• Audience
  • Demographic
  • Level of experience
  • Culture/Backgrounds
• Purpose (Impact)
• Reach/Scope (Impact)
• Places of learning (physical or virtual)
  • Classroom
  • Online
  • Community
• Global
• Curricular/Co-curricular/Continuing Education
• Outcome directed (Training)

 

Content

(Question) What is the content of the program and how does it relate to leadership studies? What is the program focus?

Three dimensions of content:

• Knowledge, Skills, Dispositions
• Personal, Community, Global/Society
• Concentration areas:
  • Ethics
  • Theory
  • Leadership methods
  • Change
  • Relationships
  • Conflict
  • Influence
  • Diversity/Inclusiveness
  • Values
  • Self awareness/management
  • Organizational, Community, Group development

(Comment) Systems Theory, Critical thinking

List is not exclusive, research needs to be conducted to identify additional areas.

 

Outcomes and Outcomes Assessment

(Question) How do field of practice and standards inform your outcomes and assessments?

(Statement) Programs need to clarify outcomes as well as the means of assessing outcomes at various levels.

• Clear and specific description of outcomes on an institutional, program, and individual level
• Assessable/observable competency and growth on each level
• How do you assess?
• What conceptual framework informs your choice of outcomes?
• What research informs your assessment process?
• How does field of practice and standards inform your outcomes and assessment?

 

Resources

Agreement was not reached as to whether this should be a separate chapter or should each chapter feature a discussion of relevant resources. There was general sympathy to include resources in each chapter because resources vary by topic area and reverence more than financial considerations but this recommendation remains to be determined.

 

 

 Attachment B

Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs

Background

The International Leadership Association's (ILA) Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs Learning Community (GLEP/LC) was established in February 2007 as a result of deliberate, member-driven panels, forums, and workshops presented at the ILA's global conferences in Washington (2004), Amsterdam (2005), and Chicago (2006). These presentations successively and steadily enlarged the conversation and increased participation regarding the need for and the form of guidelines. The details of these presentations are published in the proceedings of those conferences.

Current Status

The workshop in Chicago resulted in the identification of the five broad organizing topics that should be considered for guidelines:

*        Conceptual Framework (Why)

*     Context (Where)

*        Content (What)

*      Teaching and Learning (How)

* Outcomes and Assessment (To What End)

Thirty-six participants of the GLEP/LC met on Wednesday, October 30 to derive the "Guiding Questions" that should be asked and answered for each organizing topic if one wishes to develop, enhance, or evaluate a leadership education program. These questions were reviewed and revised during the roundtable sessions on Friday, November 2. They will be edited to final form by the GLEP/LC by no later than January 1, 2008.

Proposal

The GLEP/LC and its leadership team are committed to action and therefore propose the following endorsements and actions by the Board of Directors of the ILA:

Accept a format for the Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs that consists of an introduction followed by sections devoted to each of the five organizing topics, the "Guiding Questions" for each topic and answers to each "Guiding Question." Answers will be as brief as possible and should not exceed 2,000 words if at all possible. Answers will include extensive bibliographies with links in an online version.

Identify who within the field is best qualified and able to provide answers to each question and issue invitations and secure commitments by no later than March 1, 2008. Answers will be provided by no later than August 1, 2008.

* Publish the completed Guidelines for Leadership Education  Programs  on the ILA website by no later than October 1, 2008. This will be a secure document along with but separate from an associated WIKI for use by the GLEP/LC for posting suggestions, comments, critiques, and further resources. It will also include space for publishing related research and best practice resource papers. Some of this work may eventually become part of the secure document through an editing protocol and process but as a matter of policy authors will retain the authority to make or reject changes to their original documents.

* Establish a review protocol to ensure (annual) editing of the Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs.

Assist efforts to secure a publisher for an eventual hard copy of the Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs.

Accept the Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs as a 10' Anniversary gift to the ILA and its membership on behalf of its membership, and provide appropriate opportunities (e.g., panel, plenary, and/or reception) at the 10th global conference in Los Angeles to inform the membership and celebrate our progress as a field of study.

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