General Information
VENTURES IN LEADERSHIP: Leadership Development in Systems Design, 2002-2003.
Participating AEA's: AEA 4, Prairie Lakes AEA 8, Mississippi Bend AEA 9, Grant Wood AEA 10, Southern Prairie AEA 15, and Great River AEA 16.
A Grant-supported leadership and capacity-developing project for selected Iowa AEA's funded by Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds.
Organized and sponsored by Area Education Agency 9 in Bettendorf, Iowa.
Led by Dr. Susan Leddick
Profound Knowledge Resources, Inc.
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Project Description
VENTURES IN LEADERSHIP: Leadership Development in Systems Design, 2002-2003.
"This project was developed in response to the changing context in education
and, particularly, that of the intermediate service agency- known as Area
Education Agencies or AEA's in Iowa. AEA's were born during the height of
the "age of accessibility" in education and their function was to
ensure equitable access of services to all Iowa students. AEA's excelled at
this function by developing structures and processes to ensure equitable access
to schools and children.
Education is now experiencing a serious watershed with the advent of the "age
of accountability." For the past decade education has been slowly moving
towards heightened accountability for student learning and achievement. We
are now face-to-face with accountability with No Child Left Behind, and now
must re-design AEA's to meet a new function- ensuring successful learning
and achievement for all.
This consortium of Iowa AEA's, led by AEA 9, approached PKR and Dr. Leddick
with the idea of a multi-year project allowing AEA's to come together to learn
systems design with PKR's help. The result was a grant from Wallace-Reader's
Digest Funds. This fund was designed to support innovative ideas in education
leadership. Through this project, key AEA leaders are being trained to by
system designers for their own agencies and the schools they serve.
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Expectations & Outcomes
VENTURES IN LEADERSHIP: Leadership Development in Systems Design, 2002-2003.
As a participant, you should expect:
- Interaction, both large and small group
- Challenge to current thinking about systems and planning
- Applications of new learning to agency plans
- Sharing of examples where they will aid learning
- Introduce selected theory and method of Interactive Design
- Apply Interactive Design to real issues in Iowa AEA's
- Understanding of interactive design theory (a system of systems concepts...)
- Ability to identify and execute the three phases of interactive design, applying design theory in the process
- New understandings and new questions of this context and the future of AEA's
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Upcoming Assignments
VENTURES IN LEADERSHIP: Leadership Development in Systems Design, 2002-2003.
April 28th through the 30th, at AEA 9 in Bettendorf, Iowa
Assignments:
- 1. Approximate/implement a product/service
- 2. Re-read chapters 6 & 7 of Jamshid's "Systems Thinking" with organizational design in mind.
- 3. From the Butterworth reading, chapter (9):
- Extract the design principles and bring them typed and ready to distribute.
- Organize the principles by the "Building Blocks" diagram on handout page 28.
- Do 2-3 principles. Example: design principle = (heuristic) i.e.- form follows function p. 191; Process- "create a mechanism of self-control" p. 191. Functions- "create a relatively short list of essential functions the design must be able to provide." p. 192-193.