4 Guys Talking – Episode 5 (Lane Mills)
This morning we had Episode 5 of 4 Guys Talking, the new ‘talk radio’ podcast series from CASTLE. We spent almost the entire time talking about university educational leadership preparation programs.
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Our first 40 minutes was spent with Dr. Lane Mills,Associate Professor at East Carolina University(ECU) andboard member for the journal,Innovate.Among other things, Lane talked about being the ‘lone wolf’ faculty member when it came to trying to prepare his program’s graduates (future school administrators) for the demands of the digital, global age. Lane essentially said that
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Making change in higher education is like pushing a rope.
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We continued to talk about the difficulty of getting our faculty peers on board ideologically and, even when they are, also getting them the training and knowledge that they need but currently lack. There’s little support for faculty even when they do want to move in this direction.
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After Lane left us, we continued to talk about the struggles that educational leadership programs face as they work to prepare appropriately-empowered graduates. One issue that we started to discuss – and probably should spend some more time on in a later podcast – is the desirability of having certain technology and/or leadership expectations for admission of our incoming students (who are typically teachers or principals) and/or explicitly-stated desired outcomes for our graduates regarding technology leadership.
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Jen Hegna challenged us right at the end, stating:
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What can k-12 schools do while higher ed is trying to figure [out] their leadership programs? It is hard for us to wait…we need change now!
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She’s got us dead to rights, I’m afraid. Other than for her to keep plugging away on her end, I don’t have any great answers right now for her concern. It’s going to take a while for those of us in academe to get our act together (if ever we will).
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You can download the podcast or listen to a Web-streamed version here:
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You also can subscribe to the 4 Guys Talking feed using iTunes or a RSS reader.
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Thanks to those of you who joined us live. Our next show will be on May 26, 1pm to 2pm Central. We’ll be talking with Dr. Chuck Heinlein, Director of the West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership, which is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Education.
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[I’m still reworking CASTLE Conversations, the old CASTLE podcast channel, which will include all previous and podcasts (including 4 Guys Talking). I’ll post about it when it’s ready (probably not until later this summer).]
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Happy listening!
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