student feedback and leadership - Office for Learning and Teaching

Student Feedback & Leadership2.2 Project DesignThe project aimed to use this action-research model to engage multi-levelsof leaders in activities aimed at building trust, deepening relationships, andaltering viewpoints as shown in Figure 4, in order to build leadership capacitythrough action rather than as a separate professional development activity.That is, active participation in the process of change to respond to studentfeedback would enable participants to become more skilled in the workof leadership which involves collaboration, dialogue, inquiry, facilitationand conflict resolution skills (Lambert 2005). The project was designedas a reciprocal learning process that would enable individuals workingin teams to work collaboratively to solve problems by creating sharedmeaning, providing a focus for teaching improvement and development,and creating a momentum for change.The approach involved three School level Action Research Teams (ARTs),a Project Team to assist in the planning, scoping and managing of the project,a Community of Practice (in the form of Open Plenaries) of representativesfrom a vertical slice across the University, and a Reference Group.Ethics approval was obtained at the commencement of the project thatenabled information to be collected for research purposes from each of theparticipant groups in the forms of Minutes of Meetings, Notes of Plenarysessions, ART Group Reports and Reports of Project Manager to theProject Team, the Reference Group and to ALTC.Figure 4 Multi-Level Action Research Distributed Leadership FrameworkLeadershipCommunity of PracticeDVC/PVCsHeads of SchoolProgram LeadersAcademic StaffTypes of ActivitiesLeadership theoretical understandingsT&L professional developmentFocus groups & interviewsEvaluationReflectionStudent Learningsupportof actionterms3 Multi-levelAction Learning Groupsof projectsPlenary sessionsFacilitationHOS, Academics,Program LeadersDisseminationReflection cyclesPage 22