2019 Leadership Education Academy Seeks Facilitators
By Corey Seemiller and Dan Jenkins
Corey Seemiller is a seasoned educator, researcher, and speaker, presenting nationally and internationally on issues related to leadership, civic engagement, career development, and social justice. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Communication, Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, and Ph.D. in Higher Education and currently serves as a faculty member in the Department of Leadership Studies in Education and Organizations at Wright State University teaching courses in Organizational Leadership. She has worked with colleges, K-12 institutions, non-profits, military, and community organizations engaging in leadership and organizational development for more than 20 years and is the author of The Student Leadership Competencies Guidebook, Generation Z Goes to College, and Generation Z Leads.
Dan Jenkins is Chair and Associate Professor of Leadership & Organizational Studies at the University of Southern Maine. He received his doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction (Higher Education Administration) from the University of South Florida. Dan has published more than 30 articles on leadership education and assessment and is an associate editor for the Journal of Leadership Studies. Dan is also a past Chair of the ILA Leadership Education MIG, Co-Chair of the ILA Leadership Education Academy, and enjoys numerous volunteer roles with the Association of Leadership Educators. Follow Dan @Dr_Leadership.
The 2015 and 2017 Leadership Education Academy (LEA) experiences were a great success! Most recently, in August 2017, LEA brought together nearly 60 leadership educators and 10 facilitators over the course of three-and-a-half days to explore, enhance, and deepen leadership knowledge and pedagogical practices. The success of LEA was both personal for us and an indicator that we truly created an experience that helped develop — both personally and professionally — the capacities of leadership educators in an intentional and developmental way. We could not have created, nor delivered, such an experience without the dedication, wisdom, and contributions of our amazing LEA facilitators and the willingness of the participants to put forth ideas and energy to make a difference in their own programs.
LEA is comprised of three interlocking elements that contribute to leadership education — content, pedagogy, and identity.
First, not only did participants learn about foundational leadership content to teach or facilitate, they experienced it! Through sharing of best practices, experiential activities, and our workbook full of resources, participants were able to add to their leadership toolboxes.
I cannot offer enough praise for this experience. Every aspect of LEA contributed to my development in a rich and meaningful way. I am returning from this retreat feeling invigorated and energized. Moreover, I feel like I have the tools, competence, and confidence necessary to achieve my goals — both immediate and long term. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The second aspect of LEA focused on pedagogy and instructional design, helping participants explore developmental sequencing, backwards design, and various strategies for content delivery.
The most significant learning occurred during discussions and development around the topic of pedagogies and instructional strategies. It was really helpful to learn more about the different pedagogies and how to incorporate them into any type of learning and to achieve a wide variety of programmatic goals. The roundtables were great for increasing knowledge and sharing of ideas. The PRACTICE session on day three really helped to conceptualize and apply the pedagogies to topics that were not familiar to us and it provided an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and go outside of our comfort zone to combine pedagogies and instructional strategies.
A large focus of LEA is working on ourselves as leadership educators. We spent a great deal of time exploring our professional identities and how we bring our own selves into leadership education.
Without a doubt, the most significant learning I walked away with was related to the development of my own leadership educator identity. Yes, the framework provided did offer immense support to the work that I am doing in my current role, but the more valuable development that occurred for me was related to increases in confidence, efficacy, and motivation related to my leadership educator identity. LEA helped to awaken the intrinsic motivation necessary for me to pursue this identity and gave me tangible tools (networks, resources, information) to engage in that pursuit.
As we plan for the 2019 LEA, we are seeking experienced leadership educators to serve in the incredibly important role of LEA Facilitator. Facilitators will meet monthly beginning in July 2018 to shape the curriculum and resources of the program. At LEA, facilitators will engage in both large and small group facilitation as well as coaching of leadership educators. We cannot emphasize how influential the facilitators are to the program. One participant from 2017 put it best:
The facilitators and community were the best part of this experience. The two coaching sessions I engaged in were extremely valuable. The facilitators were extremely knowledgeable, personable, and helpful! The workbook we received was outstanding, and will continue to be an important resource for me. I'm thankful for the facilitators who chose to do this simply because they want to give back to their profession. Awesome stuff!
The 2019 Leadership Education Academy is scheduled for the first week of August 2019. Exact dates and the location (in the USA) are being finalized. If you are interested in learning more about being an LEA Facilitator and the application process, please go to our LEA Facilitator Overview page. Applications are due by 5pm EDT on June 1, 2018. Click here to apply.