EDLD 9531- Educational Leadership in the 21st Century
- I enjoyed most of the assignments in this class, but found the assignments below to be the most meaningful in relation to my work in higher education. For example, the theory chart allowed my mind to wrap around the various leadership theories and how they fit together. Although at times the theories became blurred, creating a leadership theory chart allowed me to reflect on the various topics as the semester continued and even see them apply in my own work place. An assignment finished later in the course was part II of the original leadership paper. Through this reflective piece, I could see how my views on leadership had changed this semester, as I gained a better understanding of the theories of leadership. Prior to the start of this class, I viewed leadership in a very one-size-fits-all way. This assignment allowed me to understand that leaders can utilize multiple theories and, in fact, need to in many situation. The most meaningful assignment I completed in this course was the interview with an educational leader. Requiring this assignment allowed me to set aside devoted time to meet with a mentor and explore how I envision my own leadership development. I also appreciated that the class was given the opportunity to choose a leadership book of their own to read and critique. I selected Simon Sinek's Leaders Eat Last, a book that was at times a little less theory heavy but definitely always accessible. Never would I have read this book if not given this assignment, so I appreciated the opportunity.
- EDLD 9631- Research Seminar I
- Research Seminar I was a unique course in that it, like the previous Directed Research course, required a great deal of independent work. I entered the class with an idea of a potential pre-prospectus topic, but have been able to hone in on my topic and methodology with the guidance of the professor. Although there were not as many "official" assignments in the class, I chose 2 meaningful documents I created this semester. These documents represent a great deal of time and work put in to the semester. The course culminated in a finished pre-prospectus and a 3 minute thesis video. Being able to express my topic in 3 minutes on video was a key part in conceptualizing the upcoming dissertation process and helped me fully wrap my mind around my topic. Dr. McBrayer allowed one whole class to be used as a writing day, which gave the class a chance to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) in getting some writing completed. I felt this class was one of the best I've taken so far because of the devoted time we had to work on a topic that is meaningful to us.
- Course syllabus
- Meaningful Assignments
- Research Seminar I was a unique course in that it, like the previous Directed Research course, required a great deal of independent work. I entered the class with an idea of a potential pre-prospectus topic, but have been able to hone in on my topic and methodology with the guidance of the professor. Although there were not as many "official" assignments in the class, I chose 2 meaningful documents I created this semester. These documents represent a great deal of time and work put in to the semester. The course culminated in a finished pre-prospectus and a 3 minute thesis video. Being able to express my topic in 3 minutes on video was a key part in conceptualizing the upcoming dissertation process and helped me fully wrap my mind around my topic. Dr. McBrayer allowed one whole class to be used as a writing day, which gave the class a chance to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) in getting some writing completed. I felt this class was one of the best I've taken so far because of the devoted time we had to work on a topic that is meaningful to us.
