A Final Reflection-

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.