...constantly searching to find the best travel deals and places to visit. A never-ending quest for adventure!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

End of Day 1

Finally back to the hotel, and I am wiped...today was a really great day overall, but I'm ready for some sleep.  Before I do that though, a quick recap is in order.

The first concurrent session was Leading the Transition from the Comfort Zone of Traditional Education to the Risky zone of Technology Enhanced learning.  Quite the title.  I was expecting a flutter of all things wonderful about technology, but the presenters did a good job of weaving in the pros and cons, along with a little context of where each had come from in their particular research area.  The Chair of this group was a grad of the U of Phx, so I was curious about what direction she might take.  But she steered clear of UoP advocacy and kept trained on the viability of tools to enhance instruction.  A very interesting discussion.

Session 2 was a packed room - Teaching Student Leaders and Leadership Studies Students.  I'm very proud that one of our own USD 'rockstar's was part of this panel session, Cindy Martinez.  She and the co-panelists talked about three approaches to teaching leadership, and Cindy's was focused on her work at USC in the school of Communications.  I thought each perspective had its own flavor for focusing on the instruction - some direct, some indirect.  Cindy's mentor model was well-received by the attendees, and she had a lot of good questions about development.  Was very proud of how she did.

For session 3 I was torn - I wanted to get to both colleagues from USD that were presenting at the same time (George and Cheryl) but knew I couldn't get all of both.  So I started in at Cheryl's talk - Margins and Mainstreams of PhD Leadership Studies programs in higher ed.  This panel included Eastern University and Lancaster University and each program highlighted the pluses and minuses of what is included in each experience.  I'm proud of where we are as a program, and Cheryl did a nice job of talking through our balance between practitioner and scholar-based focuses (and of course our highlights of 600 and 602).  I think we really are a well-respected program, and the discussion questions were good - including a mini debate about the EdD vs the Phd.  After a bit I quickly left and managed to sit in on the end of George's talk on New Research in Ethics, which was also a packed and SRO.  Many good comments and discussions overhead about it afterwards, so I know that he did a great job.

When this was over, I decided to spend time at the Emerging Scholars Research Consortium area and see various posters that were being discussed by students and selected senior scholars.  I was very impressed by the research being conducted, and look forward to seeing more about each outcome.  I especially enjoyed listening to John Adair give feedback - he is truly a sage in the world of leadership.

Overall a great day - can't wait for tomorrow.  My presentation will be in the afternoon!

No comments:

Post a Comment