Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Leaders vs. Managers

I know this topic has little to do with instructional technology, but it does impact it greatly. I often wonder what the difference is between a leader and a manager. My husband just recently finished his MEd in Educational Leadership and he read many books about leadership. He would spout off a plethora of facts and figures about leadership qualities and they all rang very true in my mind. However, as I sit here pondering what makes a leader....I wonder how do you become a leader. My other thought is...do you ever become a leader if you don't naturally have those skills? Are some people just destined to be better leaders and others just cannot effectively acquire and apply those skills? I have had the good fortune to work for several exceptional leaders while working at MCCCD. I think about what my "leaders" brought to the table that enabled me to excel at my job -- (1) flexibility and trust (go together), (2) integrity, (3) connectedness, (4) human relations. As I look at this short, far-from-complete, list, I realize that these characteristics cannot be taught. These are values that you either have or don't have. What do you think?

This topic is of utmost importance as we move into a new classroom culture and dynamic led by new social technologies. I hope that our leaders in Maricopa recognize the importance of being innovative and out-of-the-box. Learning is no longer only taking place in a classroom with rows and desks with a sage on the stage.....learning is occuring everywhere and it is our job at the community colleges to spearhead and embrace that movement. Just my .02.....

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Facebook annoys me

Anybody out there find some of the features in Facebook annoying???? Before Facebook, I was a faithful MySpace user and abuser. I loved to pimp my page with fun HTML coding and add various pictures of me and my family. I found it was a great way to stay in touch with my circle of friends....it even helped me stay in touch with people I wouldn't normally stay in touch with. Neat-o! I decided about a year ago that I needed to explore Facebook as I am an instructional technologist that needs to stay abreast of teaching technologies. I got my account.....and just never really grew very attached to it. In fact, I loathed the thought of updating my page. I got sooooooo irritated with all the "pokes" and "waves" and "cocktails" and other sorts of various requests and notifications that I was receiving. My goodness.....who cares about all those things? What I loved about MySpace (comments, blogs, personal connections, messages, etc....) just never came to fruition on my Facebook page. Am I partially to blame? I found it very cumbersome to try and maintain the environment I had in my Myspace account in my Facebook account. Nevertheless.....those stupid notifications just get on my nerves!