SOG
The Topic
This is a book about organizational leadership, framed through the lens of school leadership. Published online, in the very world it seeks to describe, this book offers instruction, examples, and a network with which to connect. Reading it and interacting with it will, indeed, help you to build some of the skills needed to thrive in today's rapidly changing leadership landscape.
We both love paper books, but we wrote this electronic book to see if we could make a text that, as much as possible, performs the ideas it expresses. It's best to think of it as a demo. Our goal from the beginning was to demonstrate the potential of what we discuss (technology, the Internet, emerging models of leadership) as our discussion unfolds.
Undaunted by the rapid development of technologies, the savviest leaders understand that, increasingly, leadership happens in a blend of online and offline spaces. They take this condition as reality, and an inspiring one at that, working to become as adept at leading screen-to-screen as they are at leading face-to-face. In fact, some go even further, planning and maintaining the online aspects of their schools with as much care and expertise as they would a new brick-and-mortar facility.
Regardless of your online orientation, we hope that Leading Online will serve as an essential guide for you if you believe that learning doesn't just happen in the buildings we call schools.
We both love paper books, but we wrote this electronic book to see if we could make a text that, as much as possible, performs the ideas it expresses. It's best to think of it as a demo. Our goal from the beginning was to demonstrate the potential of what we discuss (technology, the Internet, emerging models of leadership) as our discussion unfolds.
Undaunted by the rapid development of technologies, the savviest leaders understand that, increasingly, leadership happens in a blend of online and offline spaces. They take this condition as reality, and an inspiring one at that, working to become as adept at leading screen-to-screen as they are at leading face-to-face. In fact, some go even further, planning and maintaining the online aspects of their schools with as much care and expertise as they would a new brick-and-mortar facility.
Regardless of your online orientation, we hope that Leading Online will serve as an essential guide for you if you believe that learning doesn't just happen in the buildings we call schools.
The Authors
Stephen J. Valentine serves as Assistant Head of Upper School and Director of Academic Leadership at Montclair Kimberley Academy. He blogs at www.refreshingwednesday.com and is the coordinating editor of the Klingenstein Center’s Klingbrief. He is the author of Everything but Teaching (Corwin, 2009).
Dr. Reshan Richards is the Director of Educational Technology and a Middle School Math Teacher at Montclair Kimberley Academy. He blogs at www.constructivisttoolkit.com and is one of the creators of the Explain Everything app. He has an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University, an Ed.M from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Columbia University.
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The Network
Part of the proposed value of Leading Online is the network of leaders it presents through its drop-in contributors. These are leaders you will want to follow and know. These are leaders with whom you will want to connect. Why? Because they are doing interesting work and making that work visible online so that others can learn from it. At the same time, they ask great questions — also visibly, online — so that others can see them in the act of learning.
They are leaders who, we're guessing, will be doing their most interesting and important work in the near future, making them both established and emerging. You will want to see what they do next. They are seizing the momentum made available to them by advances in technology. You will notice that they understand the fundamentals of leadership but also actively push against and question traditional approaches. Finally, and most important, they understand that relationships mediated by technology can be as kind and humane and generous as face-to-face relationships.
(P.S. While Steve and Reshan are proud of their work, they only threw themselves in below because it made for a nice 5 x 3 grid when viewing this site on larger screen. They are really describing the other 13 people who contributed!!)
They are leaders who, we're guessing, will be doing their most interesting and important work in the near future, making them both established and emerging. You will want to see what they do next. They are seizing the momentum made available to them by advances in technology. You will notice that they understand the fundamentals of leadership but also actively push against and question traditional approaches. Finally, and most important, they understand that relationships mediated by technology can be as kind and humane and generous as face-to-face relationships.
(P.S. While Steve and Reshan are proud of their work, they only threw themselves in below because it made for a nice 5 x 3 grid when viewing this site on larger screen. They are really describing the other 13 people who contributed!!)