Counseling in an Andragogical Approach

The introduction provides the unique professional preparation of the author in both fields for merging counseling and andragogy – the art and science of helping adults learn. Providing general counseling information, he then gives a sketch and time gaps of publication in adult education and counseling. Next, he presents a chronology of publications merging the two fields. In the future trends section, a comprehensive model for counseling in adult education is constructed, including: an andragogical approach, dimensions of maturation, closely connecting counseling and learning, with life tasks, challenges, and dealing with our human values and priorities within human systems of adult life. Examples are articulated of both the professional and learner implementing the model.

Organizational Learning and Technology

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of technology in organizational learning. Recognizing that the presence of technology may not always bring about desirable change, this chapter focuses on identifying promising aspects of technologies and their potential to enhance the organization’s learning capacity. Three interrelated constructs—technology, organizational learning, and knowledge management—are examined. This review pointed to several challenges related to technology integration in the organizational learning processes. A variety of technology-based learning platforms are suggested. Virtual learning, virtual dialoguing, virtual communities of practice, and technology-enabled knowledge management systems are recommended as appropriate technology applications for facilitating learning within organizations. Gaining an understanding about how technology can be leveraged to promote learning is key to improving organizational practices.

Community College Leadership and Technology

Community colleges serve an important role in local communities across the United States. These institutions, based on their mission, seek to fulfill a social contract as partner in community development in the 21st century. Their function in local and the wider US community is undeniably important; more than half of the college students enrolled in the United States attend community, technical, and junior colleges (Pew Research Center, 2009). Community college leaders face especially challenging times given the economic, social, political, and technological contexts within which these institutions operate. This chapter brings focus to the various nuances of community college educational leadership with specific focus on technology in this new virtual age.

Sustaining Organizational Innovation

Organizational change is a situation, while innovation is an attitude of change. Organizations cannot, in a global economy, remain static and rooted in current practices. Organizational innovation is the necessary ingredient for successful change. More difficult than both change and innovation is the subject of sustainability. Change is often a temporary “fix” that quickly reverts to status-quo. This chapter recommends practices for change management and organizational innovation by reviewing change theories, describing innovation models, referencing sustainability leadership, and providing examples of technology integration. Educators, trainers, performance specialists, change agents, managers, and organizational development professionals will benefit by understanding the principles and future trends of innovation. Both educational institutions and industrial organizations will utilize the guiding questions to determine their readiness to embrace organizational innovation. The goal is to instill the need for an attitude of change in all stakeholders of the organization in order to be well equipped to direct the nation’s workforce.

E-Leadership and Information Literacy

In the information society, learners need to locate and evaluate resources carefully as well as determine how to use relevant information to solve problems and make wise decisions. As more students learn in online environments, resources and support must be available to optimize their success. Information literacy offers a series of processes as a means to deal successfully with information. By melding information literacy and content matter in e-learning environments, instructional designers can create authentic experiences for students to hone their skills. E-leadership is a core factor for successful experiences. E-leaders orchestrate people, processes, and systems to optimize education’s operations and impact. Within that charge, technology plays a central role.

Utilising Learning Management Systems to Involve and Engage Parents, Families and the Community in Children’s Learning

Parents, families, and the community are, and should be, an integral part of every school. Parental and community involvement has the potential to positively impact a child’s academic and social confidence, competence, and performance. There are many ways schools can support and encourage this involvement. This chapter provides examples of how schools can, and have, engaged parents, families, and the community in children’s learning via parent portals and learning management systems.

Innovative Leadership Training Using Technology across Borders

Leaders in today’s organizations can emerge from culturally and geographically diverse backgrounds. Therefore, leadership training must be innovative in its integration of national and organizational culture into the leadership content. This chapter investigates the impact that technology has had on distributing leadership training across borders and provides examples of effective implementation of this training.

Leadership for Learning

To address current pressures in higher education of viability and sustainability, while also being ambitious and relevant require well placed leadership, technology, and information. The prudent use of technology by competitors can threaten the uptake of high quality education at a non-innovative institute. This is the era of the transforming university through the innovative application of leadership and technology. Expanding avenues for distance education and online learning may help to activate knowledge and skills needed in an epoch of globalization. Impediments facing administrators, educators, and peer-to-peer relations along with opportunities and strategies for employing leadership and ICTs are examined for their impact on learning and culture. Recommendations to enhance accessibility, connectivity, and ingenuity are included.

Changes in Organizational Learning and Leadership Influenced by Technology

Over the past decades, organizational learning and leadership have undergone significant changes as individual areas of study, as inextricably intertwined disciplines, and areas that have been significantly influenced by emerging technologies. This chapter investigates and provides examples of these individual areas, their intersections, and the impact of technology on their past and future.

Educational Leadership for the Technology Enhanced Learning World

PC-games, video-games, serious-games, educational games, and online-games are forerunners of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) tools we will exploit in myriad ways in the future on a variety of novel platforms. These developments challenge ideas of how to prepare educational leaders and curriculum developers to create and apply effective and meaningful learning tools in this rapidly changing environment. This chapter examines the impact on educational leadership of these phenomena compared with previous instructional designs, including e-learning. With these insights, it also examines the infrastructure needed to expedite cross-disciplinary practice in research and educational communities to create tools for 21st century learning.