Abstract
Within the global community, the only constant is change. In Spring 2020, as COVID-19 became a global pandemic, countries closed their borders and closed schools, businesses, and governments. Universities that already had significant online presences and available courses/programs could be reassured that at least some of their programming would continue with minimal interruption. Effective university leaders were able to identify paths forward for their institutions that encompassed their education and were much more able to support faculty, staff, and students with the abrupt change. The authors look at professors as learning leaders, the leadership in higher education institutions, as well as leadership in the private sector. They examine how andragogical leadership can be utilized to shift current educational practices and consider how we might shape learning environments in order to foster more robust learning environments. But essentially, they explain how education leaders develop and organize institutional learning as technology continues to play an essential role.
TopIntroduction
Change can occur incrementally, with small steps taken over time. One example is the establishment of same-sex marriage rights (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015). This is also true for the contraction of rights, such as the recent US Supreme Court decision that removed the fifty-year right to abortion (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 2022). It can occur without warning, requiring immediate responses. Shifting societal viewpoints may fuel these changes, but at other times, shifts occur swiftly as a response to environmental factors. For example, when American men left the country to fight in the world wars, women were brought into factories and workplaces to take on the roles these men had left vacant. Another example of profound change was the global introduction of desk-top computers in the early 1980’s, leading to the proliferation of many households buying this “new” technology and learning to use computers for various everyday professional and personal tasks. The Covid-19 pandemic is the most recent example of swift change. In Spring 2020, as Covid-19 became a global pandemic, countries closed their borders and closed schools, businesses, and governments. Essential services remained open, but most other non-essential employees from various industries were relegated to working indefinitely from their homes (Centers for Disease Control, n.d.). This policy had a significant impact on all facets of life. Organizations and institutions scrambled to identify ways to provide goods and services to customers, clients, students, and citizens while also supporting their employees to learn innovative technology and to continue their work from their homes.
Organizations and institutions weathered the changes wrought by Covid-19 with varying degrees of success. We believe individuals who adopted andragogical leadership approaches during this time were able to support their employees and make decisions that embraced the challenges brought forth by Covid-19. Our chapter will explore the need for adult educators to develop learners not only to be able to undertake the day-to-day responsibilities of their current or immediate employment, but also to prepare them to embrace future work environments which are, in essence, unknown. We believe ground-shifting events like Covid-19, will continue to occur and that it is essential to have leaders and learners who can flourish in uncertainty. We use Covid-19 as a case example to understand how andragogical leadership, coupled with Lewin’s theory of change (Burnes, 2004) and Schein’s (2010) further development of Lewin’s model, can encourage leaders to embrace challenging situations and use them as a platform for positive change. We will emphasize the need to develop an orientation of adaptability and creativity as we may not be able to envision what our workplaces will be like in 10, 20, or 50 years. We link this argument to the role of educational leaders and innovative approaches taken by them when faced with swiftly changing circumstances.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Andragogy: Defined by Knowles (1984) as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (p. 6).
Andragogical Leadership Principles: Leaders “involve their followers in every step of the planning process, assessing needs, formulating goals, designing lines of action, carrying out activities, and evaluating results” (Wang, Introduction).
COVID-19 Global Pandemic: Began in late 2019 to early 2020 as a result of the spread of an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, causing severe illness and deaths. Countries closed their borders, schools, businesses, and governments. Essential services remained minimally open, but non-essential employees, teachers, and students were quickly relegated to working indefinitely remotely from their homes or other “safe” spaces.
Field Theory: Concepts that enable us to understand how environmental stimuli can bring about changes in individuals’ behaviors. If there are “certain circumstances, such as a personal, organizational or societal crisis, the various forces in the field can shift quickly and radically” ( Burnes, 2004 , p. 982).
Lewin’s Theory of Change: A framework to understand how organizations or institutions engage in change. His three steps explain the change process as unfreezing, moving, and refreezing ( Muldoon, 2020 ).
System Leadership: Peter Senge et al. (2015) indicated that change often occurs in response to undesirable outcomes and unexpected environmental demands. They believe that effective system leaders have a proactive rather than reactive approach when handling change. These leaders help mobilize their stakeholders beyond just reacting to problems that demand change.
Self-Directed Learning: “A process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others” ( Knowles, 1975 , p. 18) in diagnosing their learning needs, planning learning goals, activities, and materials to carry out their learning, and then self-evaluating their own learning outcomes. Charungkaittikul and Henschke (2018) contend that “self-direction in learning refers to both the external characteristics of an instructional process and the internal characteristics of the learner, where the individual assumes primary responsibility for a learning experience.”
Schein’s Model: An expansion of Lewin’s framework and situated it in the area of organizational change. It provides a pathway for leaders when they are trying to manage change by learning concepts ( Schein, 2010 ).
Virtual Learning Spaces: Refer to synchronous sessions that are mediated by a technology platform and require participants to be present at a specific time.
Online, Asynchronous Learning: Refers to technology-mediated learning that occurs through learning management systems like Blackboard. Learners complete work at their own pace and meet specified deadlines.