LeaderMOOC: So Why Would Anyone Want to Be Led By You?

One of the MOOCs (massive open online courses) I'm enrolled in right now is LeaderMOOC on canvas.net. Canvas offers some pretty excellent courses, anything from Sustainable Energy Innovation to Society, Science, Survival: Lesson's from AMC's The Walking Dead. I highly recommend checking them out in addition to sites like coursera.org or edx.org.

In LeaderMOOC, we're learning about ourselves as leaders. Rather than giving us a mold that you're supposed to somehow fit into, LeaderMOOC has us examine ourselves. Each lesson focuses on becoming self-aware, which in turn, will make us understand how we can lead. 

So Why Would Anyone Want to Be Led By You?
The first assignment was to answer the question: So why would anyone want to be led by you? A bit of a heavy question to start with, but after a few videos on collaborative leadership, I felt comfortable answering. My answer below:

I thought a lot about my own leadership style within an organization where I am the president and final decision-maker.

You would want to be led by me because:

1. I think about the whole process/system rather than just the end result, considering your time, my time and the impact it will make on our organization.
2. I delegate with meaningful tasks. Having been an intern doing mostly data entry, I think about the types of assignments I would want or would be useful to your progress and what needs to be done.
3. I make informed decisions based on research and discussions with people involved in the process. I make it a point to hear many voices, including dissenting ideas. 

I felt really comfortable with this answer and thought it conveyed my ideas well. The first peer-reviewer said: "Carolyn, It is apparent that you have the ability to hold both a micro and macro view which is very unique and a great quality to have in a leader."

I have to say I was flattered by this comment, mostly because that's what I hope to achieve through my leadership style. Having been the lowest in an organization and now the highest in albeit a small organization, I hope that I've learned to see big picture and details.

Unfortunately, the second reviewer was not as kind: Based on your response to #2-are your decisions about what to delegate based on what you think others need, or are you actively engaging them in the process and finding what they really/want need?

I agree this was a valid question as I did not make that clear in my response. I think I was thinking a lot more of myself in that "follower" position rather than as the "leader." The change of perspectives is confusing. However, I'm not sure that validated a 0 on whether the reviewer would want to be led by me. Particularly since there's not much constructive criticism on why this person wouldn't want to be led by me. Perhaps I just don't take criticism well. Something to work on during this process.

September Happiness Project: Let Me Tell You About My Lamp

This week has been ridiculously busy. I feel like I can't keep my head on straight, but luckily tonight is the last of the crazy. Or so I hope. Of course, part of my Happiness Project is to keep myself from feeling overwhelmed and busy.

August Happiness Project

For August, my plan was to floss more, workout more and spend less (time and money). Thus far, I floss about 2-3 times a week at best, which is better than none at all. I keep spending money on a gym I don't go to, but hopefully this weekend I'll make it at least once. The money situation isn't helped by a $177 electric bill this month (my landlord and I will be having a chat about how to seal up my house a bit better). And my time keeps flying out the window.

One success includes bowing out of a very interesting lecture to go see my favorite author, Jasper Fforde (see photo to the left). He signed four of my books!! And it was an absolute delight as he's a funny guy. While I felt guilty about missing the lecture, I knew that if I didn't go see Jasper, I would be pretty disappointed for a long while. All worked out as the folks going to the lecture found each other and I got to see Jasper.

September Happiness Project

This September involves adding to my ongoing goals. I'm going to keep trying to floss. I'm thinking of investing in a physical calendar in hopes that perhaps writing things down will help me to remember they're going on. And I'm going to start making meals for the week on Sundays to save money and time. 

In addition to these small changes to my ongoing goals, I'm making September all about making my days better. The first thing I did was buy a new alarm clock. That sounds a bit silly, but the BEST way for me to wake up is through sunlight. After visiting the BF who of course doesn't have curtains, and waking up feeling blessedly refreshed even while sleeping on a firm mattress, I realized something had to change. 

Now, I can't fall asleep if there is light in the room, so I can't just leave the curtains up as I live in the city and lights are everywhere. But I need natural light to wake up feeling good in the morning. Turns out, they make a lamp for that - meet the Verilux Rise & Shine. I beat out a few other bidders on this lovely used version (retail at over double what I paid). I can't wait to tell you how it turns out. I'm hopeful and excited!

Define a Current Ecosystem: Informal Science Non-Profits

Challenge 1 of the Badges: New Currency for Professional Credentials MOOC

Our first assignment is to consider an industry or community of practice where badges could have a positive impact. As I'm currently working for an informal science non-profit and we are interested in developing a digital badge eco-system, I have chosen to analyze this community of practice.

Describe the Ecosystem

Informal science non-profits include museums, university extension programs and independent non-profits. Not much currently connects these organizations aside from science museums which have their own conference and professional organizations. No organization provides the exact same programming as another and if they do provide similar programming, they are often in different regions. Some address a variety of age groups, other address only students, some only work with teachers and so on. For this particular exercise I'll think of one particular organization in describing stakeholders.

Roles of the Stakeholders

• Learning Providers - Often working on a small budget to provide much needed out-of-school STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs to students, teachers and adults. These programs can vary from after-school programs to lectures to hands-on interactive science days. Most programs are inquiry-based rather than lecture style.
• Job Seekers/Learners - Age range can be anywhere from toddlers to retirees, with many focusing on middle/high school learners. These learners often opt-in to the programs on their own so they are not "forced" to learn material as in more formalized programs.
• Employers - This can be a college (for our younger learners) or a science lab position or technology start-up. The possibilities for a STEM education are really endless. Most students in these programs are looking to enter college. Colleges would be looking for leadership skills and content knowledge of science, perhaps even lab experience at more competitive institutions. 

Personas of Learners

• Middle School Student - This learner often participates in informal science programming for the pursuit of their own interests in science. These students often look for hands-on activities and unique experiences outside of school programming.
• High School Student - This learner is starting to prepare for college and is looking for programs of interest to themselves, but also that can help on a college application. Students can also process higher level of information than the middle school student. These students are also exploring the fields of science that might be of interest to them for a career.
• Professional Scientist - Pursues information relevant to their field and often attends lectures. Possibly has more interest in applying science rather than learning additional information as they are already studying in their field. Younger scientists might be interested in learning new information or keeping abreast of ongoing research.
• Hobbyist - These are adults with no plans on using the information for work, but have a significant interest in science. Possibly have collections or dabble in some scientific work.

Before Badges

Take for example the high school student persona. This student is still in school, but perhaps has limited access to STEM education beyond the required coursework and no access to AP, IB, or other advanced coursework. The student pursues their high interest in STEM through an after-school program, but has no record or validation of the accomplishments made through this program, perhaps aside from a letter of recommendation from the group leader. 

Conclusion

There are certainly opportunities for a badge ecosystem within the Informal Science Non-profit community. The special experiences offered through these non-profits are often completely unique from anything these students experience in school. The ability to demonstrate content knowledge or experience from these programs would be of value, especially to the young learner.

Online Learning in Pursuit of Happiness

May marked two years since graduating with my Masters in Museum Studies. I'm finding it much harder to "deaccession the student" as I am continuously seeking out new learning opportunities. Or perhaps I've just deaccessioned to another institution - the internet. At present, I'm enrolled in two massive open online classes (or MOOCs for short) - one for work and one for personal interest. For work, I'm completing a course on Digital Badges through Course Sites. For my personal interest, I'm taking a class in Leadership through Canvas.net.

Over the course of the last few months, I've discovered that I have a passion for women's leadership and online learning. Thus my interest in these two online courses. I think there's an opportunity to combine these two interests as I pursue future educational and career opportunities. For example, at work, we'd like to branch out into providing digital badges and also work on developing a STEM program for girls. Increased educational opportunities have been linked to increased success for women.

At the same time, I'm leading two special groups through the meetup group I manage: STL Nerdy Girls. One group is working on The Happiness Project - a book written on maximizing happiness in your daily life. The other group is a Lean In group for the leaders of STL Nerdy Girls. Part of my Happiness Project is to explore my interests through online learning. My interest in the Lean In group is to explore women's leadership in a practical and supportive manner. I hope to compare my experiences in the Lean In group to my experiences in the LeaderMOOC, as well as share those resources from my LeaderMOOC with the STL Nerdy Girls.

For the next few months, I'll be blogging my responses to assignments in my MOOCs and talking about the future of online learning in the context of museums, feminism and informal education. In addition, I'll focus on how my Happiness Project and Lean In Groups are going.