Weekly Journal 09-05-00

Section 1:  Preparation for class

I was very intrigued by the concept of lead-management rather than boss-management.  I have been involved in the business world functioning as both manager and worker.  The "boss-management" style was always used and was accepted by those in the position as worker as well as those in position of managers.

I see the merits of lead-management but am concerned about several aspects.  First, will grades no longer be used to assess student mastery and, if not, how will mastery be assessed?  Second, will the entire educational system we now are part of need to be changed to accommodate lead-management?  For example, will the learning class become asynchronous rather than synchronous and will legislative requirements concerning successful completion rates for financial aid need to be changed to accommodate coursework that is no longer based on a time frame.

Section 2:  Reflections

I understand the merits of lead-management and am attempting to determine how it can be accomplished without overhauling the entire educational system.  The worker should become involved and I believe that ownership in the organization will lead to greater productivity.  However, in education I anticipate that criteria will be invoked that students must adhere to in order to have reached "mastery" in specific studies.

Section 3:  Applications

In contemplating how I could apply this in my current job as instructor I have thought about allowing students to decide what specific activities they would like to participate in during my Concepts of Physical Activities class.  This would transfer some ownership to the students for the class objectives.  I also could allow students to decide upon a method of evaluation for these activities.

Section 4:  "Light Bulb Moments?"

What could be considered a "light bulb moment" is that while completing the reading, I realized that this lead-management theory could, in effect, be part of what is now being called "thinking out of the box".  For a couple of semesters there has been talk about thinking out of the box meaning that we should do things outside the realm of what is traditionally considered our responsibilities as teachers in order to yield a greater accommodation to our customers the students.

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