Capping It Off: Identifying What’s Been Missed

• In Event: Making It Real: Using Experience to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Short Description

What do seniors in a four year leadership program say they still need in terms of leadership education and development as they prepare for their next steps in life? An ongoing study that identifies seven categories of capstone projects picked by students will be shared, with observations and interpretations.

Detailed Abstract

Leadership programs across the world are becoming more prevalent due to the perceived need for leadership capacity in increasingly turbulent times (Hotho & Dowling, 2010). Higher education has responded to this need by offering academic and co-curricular leadership programs for students (Schwartz, Axtman, & Freeman, 1998). Additionally, literature (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg) supports the need to support students transitioning from higher education to career. Given the breadth and depth of current leadership programs, what do senior-level students who have been through a four year leadership program (and involves both academic and co-curricular elements) say they still need in terms of leadership education and development as they prepare for their next steps in life?

Over the past few years, instructors at a large Midwestern university have been assigning a semester long project for students to self-identify what they want to work on in terms of their leadership development. As the instructors gained experience in administering the assignment, they started to notice that the projects fell into several common categories. Anecdotally, the categories included introverted students who want to be less so, students who want to learn to listen empathetically, self-care, delegating/stepping down from a role, service learning projects, and projects examining a specific leadership concept such as personality types or motivation. The question of what general categories students select for their projects is examined and studied with this research.

Data for the study came from student projects in a senior level leadership course. The course is the capstone in a four year leadership program that is primarily academic, but also includes co-curricular components. The project, called the iLEAD project, asks students to think about their own leadership education and development. What will be essential to their leadership development and learning as they complete a leadership program? What will be necessary for their continued growth and development as they transition from college to career or graduate school? Students are asked to think about these questions and come up with what they want to do for their project and what they want to work on for their own leadership learning and development. Students are encouraged to be honest and vulnerable in deciding on their projects and are steered away from “safe” or “fluffy” projects that entail little engagement from the student. The parameters of the project are deliberately broad to encourage student creativity and students are allowed to choose their own project and what they will be doing to develop their own leadership skills.

Examples of past projects include: developing empathetic listening skills through scheduled coaching sessions, participating in a local Toastmasters club, teaching strengths to coworkers, examining a work groups’ personality differences and how to leverage those differences, a leader of a student group made it her goal to know every one of her members’ names and something about them with about 80 members, and one student used the project to practice his speech for a non-profit he is starting as well as help launch the non-profit. The projects have had varying levels of investment by the students, but most of the instructors are generally pleased with the projects both at the beginning and end of the semester.

The project contracts were collected for five sections of 20 students each, representing approximately 100 participants. Data collection is ongoing and will continue longitudinally. Initial analysis suggests seven categories.

1. Introversion projects – students who self-perceive they are introverts often want to be more extraverted. This is expressed through comments such as, “I wish I spoke out more in class” or “I wish I was more comfortable stating my opinion.”
2. Listening projects – Perhaps opposite of introversion projects where students express a desire to listen more and to listen with more empathy, e.g. listen to understand versus listening to respond.
3. Self-care projects – many students are burned out, have mental health issues, or just life issues that need addressing. These students intentionally create room to take better care of themselves. These projects can include activities such as yoga, meditation, and counseling.
4. Delegating/stepping-down – some students are involved in extra-curricular activities and have leadership positions in those groups. Students that choose these types of projects often self-identify as controlling or over-involved. So they use the project to experiment with delegating or helping with succession planning.
5. Service learning/civic engagement – some students are interested in serving their community and will join an existing group or do something on their own in the community.
6. Next steps for career – some students wish to focus on doing something that will help them prepare for their first job out of college or graduate school. These projects could include joining and participating in a sales club or finding a mentor in their field and engaging with them.
7. Specific content – Students often connect with 1 or 2 content areas in the leadership program and wish to learn more about that area. Examples include teaching strengths or personality differences to colleagues and figuring out how to leverage those strengths or differences.

Further data and analyses will be provided at the conference.

Means for Discussion

This proposal invites leadership scholars and educators to share their experiences, observations, and interpretations of what students say they need in terms of leadership development as they leave college. Participants will have the opportunity to pose powerful questions for discussion and these broad questions can hopefully provide a starting point:
• What are the benefits of allowing students to select their own leadership project?
• What are the potential downsides to allowing students to select their own leadership project?
• What strategies can be used to foster critical reflection of self in terms of leadership development?
• As students prepare to enter a very turbulent world, what do they most need from leadership educators?
• How can we foster a growth mindset in our students so they see their own leadership learning and development as not only an ongoing and never ending process, but also as their own responsibility?

Participants

• Andrew Wefald, Kansas State University

• Chance Lee, Kansas State University