When I initially enrolled in this class, my children
remarked favorably on my long-overdue foray into the digital environment. While I owned a smart phone, communicated via
email, maintained a profile on professional networking sites, and spent considerable
time encouraging my staff to adopt new technologies, my personal use of
technology remained limited and clouded by ignorance. I certainly could be
classified as a “networked worker,” however, my ability to analyze and think
critically about technology and its impact on my personal and professional life
emerged throughout my readings and writings in this course. Thus, developing a
blog became the first of many new learning experiences I engaged in as part of
this course.
Applying
the Learning to My Professional Environment
Subsequent to the development of the blog, I began
an intentional exploration of the personal technology tools that may enhance my
effectiveness as a leader. Over the past
seven weeks, I found myself exploring technology as a mechanism for enhancing
our organizational effectiveness. I
began questioning more intentionally the investments our institution was making
into new technologies and I engaged our digital adult learning division with
more interest and insight. Specifically,
I enrolled in the course our institution required for all faculty aspiring to
teach online. As I became more
intentionally immersed in the technology shaping higher education, I became
more cognitively aware of the important role leaders play in shaping technology
strategy and thereby institutional outcomes. In my new institutional role, I
realized that the previous administration’s decision to exclude the chief
information officer from the executive leadership team had stifled
institutional growth by encouraging haphazard technology investments, rather
than embracing technology as a critical component of the institutional
strategic planning and budgeting process.
Over the past eight weeks, I invited our chief information technology
officer to the executive team and his team will be intimately involved in our
new planning initiatives. In the absence
of presence at the executive leadership level, technology decision-making
failed to align with the university’s strategic objectives.
Application
of the Learning to Ethical Principles
The initial readings in week one provided
contrasting perspectives on the impact of the flattened world on humanity. Friedman (2007) provided evidence from the
emerging economies of India, China, and other parts of Southeast Asia to suggest
that a flatter world allowed more individuals access to opportunity, which
thereby, strengthened struggling economies and facilitated the growth of a
middle class. In contrast, the Florida
(2005) article asserted that the beneficiaries of a flattened economy were limited
to a few players in the global marketplace.
While opportunities have strengthened cities like Bangalore or Gurgaon,
most people across the world still lacked access to the benefits of
globalization 3.0. This contrasting
analysis raised important issues of economic and social justice. As the readings expanded throughout the
course, much evidence suggested that technology continues to grow at
unprecedented rates (Freidman, 2007).
From Google glasses to Dow Corning’s vision for future kitchens,
technology has rapidly proliferated. If
economies continue to struggle with providing basic needs, the likelihood that
many individuals can continue to make investments in the quickly emerging
technologies remains questionable. Do
the rapid changes shaping technology suffocate the opportunities for the masses
to access this emerging technology and truly seize new opportunities? Do the resource-constrained livelihoods of
many in the developing world limit an individual’s ability to garner the
advantage of globalization 3.0? Clearly,
the emergence of new technologies provides access for millions to connect,
network, and access knowledge that otherwise would not have been possible. However, access to knowledge and the ability
to translate that knowledge into economic opportunity are two distinct issues. My growing concern is that the rapidity with
which technology development is evolving limits access to those individuals or
organizations that have the financial means to transform the knowledge into
innovation. Domestically, leadership and
public policy have a critical role to play in ensuring equity of opportunity in
the public schools systems of America.
Providing young people with the knowledge of how to use and access
emerging technologies will be critical to expanding their opportunities in the
future. Globally, leaders must consider
the ramifications of their investments on the citizenry of the developing
world.
Application
to Leadership
Perhaps most notably, the readings throughout the
course reminded me of the important role critical and collaborative thinking,
learning and leadership play in our response to emerging technologies. Fundamentally, the technology is only as good
as the user. Ultimately, we may be able
to access millions of terabytes of information, but transforming that
information into useful knowledge requires individuals skilled with sophisticated
abilities to discern critically reliable, valid, and relevant information from
a myriad of sources. One must be careful that in our quest to access
information, we do not become victims of “group think” and unable to creatively
problem-solve. We can rely on our
network of collaborators to contribute to problem solving, but we must be wary
of the consequences of failing to think independently and instead copying the
ideas of others. Collaboration does not
imply copying. Rather, it implies direct
interaction with the problem and an engagement of potential solutions with
other networks of experts. Creative
thinking still requires an ability to focus, delve deep into an issue, and generate
a response to a difficult question. Unfocused
searching for answers, fleeting investments in problem solving, and an
inability to develop original thoughts and ideas yields mediocre outcomes. Douglas Engelbart, an early technology
innovator, suggested “The grand challenge is to boost the collective IQ of organizations
and of society” (Gruber, 2008). To
achieve this end, technology must maximize access to knowledge and humans must
be prepared to actively engage, sort, and discern the usefulness of the
resulting findings. Thus, the human and machine must “each do what they do
best” (Gruber, 2008, p. 5).
Fundamentally, technology will continue to change
the course of humanity. Whether those
changes manifest themselves as a greater divide between the rich and poor, or
alternatively as a pathway of opportunity for the masses depend upon
leadership. Effective leaders understand
the importance of integrating technology into our education systems and
organizations, promoting learning and work environments that value the ability
to create new ideas, delve deeply into subjects of substance, critically and
collaboratively engage information, and make decisions that use sound ethical
judgments. If leaders demonstrate ability to value new
ways of working, networking, and collaborating, they will be able to seize
emerging opportunities and gain competitive advantages. Access to technology and support of education
systems that leverage this technology in the learning process will be critical
to improving opportunity both domestically and across the globe.
Sources:
Gruber, T. (2008).
Collective knowledge systems:
Where the social web meets the semantic web. Journal
of Web Semantics, 6, 4-13.
Florida, R. (2005, October). The world is spiky. The
Atlantic Monthly.
Friedman, T. L. (2007). The
world is flat. New York, NY: Picador.
