New Course Proposal Syllabus Outline for EDA 7206

New Course Proposal Syllabus Outline for EDA 7206

Full Title: (62 characters maximum)

Appreciative Inquiry and Organizing in Public Education

Abbreviated Title: (30 characters maximum)

Appreciative Organizing

Credit Hours:

3 Credit Hours

Course Description: (255 characters maximum – including spaces)

This course introduces Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Organizing in Public Education as a strength- based approach to school leadership and continuous improvement. It seeks to inform and build leadership capacity among students to participate in generative conversations within and outside the school leading the work of improving schools and/or districts. The emphasis is on school improvement starting with relational leadership through strengths based theory of action, creating common purposes and shared values. It is sustained through generative learning processes resulting in whole system coherence. Students will be provided opportunities to acquire, enhance, and express types of knowledge, skills, and dispositions associated with Appreciative Organizing and reflective of course goals and objectives. (long version)

This course introduces Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Organizing in Public Education as a strength-based, problem solving and continuous improvement approach to inform and build school and district leadership capacity. (short version)

Course Objectives:

This course is designed to:

·  Increase students’ knowledge of Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Organizing in Public Schools.

·  Provide students with understandings of multiple positive strengths based approaches to unleash their leadership capacity and the capacity of others.

·  Incite students to consider a different way of leading and working while critically examining leadership texts.

·  Enable students to analyze current practices through an appreciative lens at the intersection of theory and practice.

·  Prepare students to serve as self-reflective researchers and theorists in the area of their capstone project.

Student Learning Outcomes:

At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:

·  Understand the power of strengths based school improvement work and its purpose in public education.

·  Apply the principles of Appreciative Organizing in Public Education and Appreciative Inquiry.

·  Apply positive strengths based principles and exercises as a part of personal leadership development.

·  Build an appreciative foundation and structure for the capstone project.

·  Use Relational Leadership, Positive Strengths Based Change, and Generative Learning while developing Core Purposes and Values and Whole System Coherence in leadership practice and the capstone project.

Major Course Topics:

The major course topics are:

·  Appreciative Inquiry

o  Definition of Appreciative Inquiry

o  Power of positive questions

o  4 D Cycle

o  Practicing Appreciative Inquiry in their leadership role

·  Appreciative Organizing in Public Education

o  Relational Leadership

o  Positive Strengths Based Change

o  Developing Core Purposes and Values

o  Using Generative Learning and Capacity Building to get to

Whole System Coherence and managing External and Internal Accountability

·  Deeper research into:

o  Capstone Project Topic

o  Case study

Course Textbooks: (600 characters maximum)

The following texts are required for the course. I have chosen texts that I believe will be valuable for this course, as well as for your future coursework and practice as educational leaders.

Barrett, F., & Fry, R. (2005). Appreciative inquiry: A positive approach to building cooperative capacity. Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute Publications.

Burrello, L., Beitz L., & Mann J. (in press). Appreciative organizing in public education (First ed.). Ashford, CT: Elephant Rock Productions

Cooperrider, D. L., & Whitney, D. K. (2005). Appreciative inquiry: A positive revolution in change. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia.

Shields, C. (2013) Transformative leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Course Readings, Online Resources, and other purchases:

Barrett, F. (n.d.). Creating Appreciative Learning Cultures.Organizational Dynamics,36-49.
Boyatzis, R. (2011). NEUROSCIENCE AND LEADERSHIP: THE PROMISE OF INSIGHTS. Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved from http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/neuroscience-and-leadership-the-promise-of-insights#.U4NU6JRdU5Y
Bradberry, T. (2012). Leadership 2.0: Are You An Adaptive Leader?. Forbes Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2012/11/09/leadership-2-0-are-you-an-adaptive-leader/
Burrello, L. , Hoffman L., and Murray L.. School Leaders Building Capacity from Within: Resolving Competing Agendas Creatively. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press, 2005. Print.
Chenoweth, K. It's Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2007. Print.
Cooperrider, D. L, Whitney D., and Stavros. J. Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change. Brunswick, OH: Crown Custom Pub, 2008. Print.
Dachler, H. (1992). Management and leadership as relational phenomena (1st ed.). (S.I.: s.n.).
Drath, W. (2001). The Deep Blue Sea: Rethinking the source of leadership (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Center for Creative Leadership
Fredrickson, Barbara. Positivity. New York: Crown Publishers, 2009. Print.
Fritz, R. (1999). The path of least resistance for managers: Designing organizations to succeed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Fritz, Robert. The Path of Least Resistance for Managers: Designing Organizations to Succeed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1999. Internet resource.
Fullan, Michael. Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Print.
Fullan, M. (2011). Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform. Centre for Strategic Education: Seminar Series, April (204).
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers (1st ed.). New York: Little, Brown and Co.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., McKee, A., & Morey, A. (2002). Primal leadership (1st ed.). New York: Audio Renaissance.
Greenleaf, R. (2008). The Servant as Leader. (1st ed.). Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Hammond, Sue A. The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Plano, Tex: Thin Book Pub. Co, 1998. Print.
Heifetz, R. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. (1st ed.). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Hersted, L. and Gergen, K. (2013).Relational Leading Practices for Dialogically Based Collaboration. 1st ed. Chagrin Falls: Taos Institute Publication.
Hollander, E. (1978). Leadership dynamics. a practical guide to effective relationships (1st ed.). New York.
Hollander, E. (1992). The essential interdependence of leadership and followership. Current Directions In Psychological Science 1(2), 71-75.
Hollander, E. (1995). Ethical challenges in the leader-follower relationship. Business Ethics Quarterly 5(1), 55-65.
Hosking, D., Dachler, H., & Gergen, K. (1995). The Primacy of Relations in Socially Constructing Organizational Realities. In H. Dachler & D. Hosking, Management and Organization: Relational Perspectives (1st ed., pp. 1-23). Ashgate/Avebury.
Kirp, David L. Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools. , 2013. Print.
Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press, 1996. Print.
Komives, S., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. (2007). Exploring Leadership "The Relational Leadership Model" (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lewis, S., & Moore, L. (2011). Positive and Appreciative Leadership. AI Practitioner, Volume 13 Number 1, 4-6. Doi:9788-1-907549-04-5
Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002. Print.
Orem, Sara, Jacqueline Binkert, and Ann L. Clancy. Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2007. Print.

Shechtman, N., DeBarger, A., Dornsife, C., Rosier, S., & Yarnall, L. (2014). Promoting Grit, Tenacity and Perseverance: Critical Factors for Success in 21st Century. U.S. Department Of Education Office Of Educational Technology, (Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International).

Snyder, Karolyn J, Michele Acker-Hocevar, and Kristen M. Snyder. Living on the Edge of Chaos: Leading Schools into the Global Age. Milwaukee, Wis: ASQ Quality Press, 2008. Print.
Snyder, Karolyn J, and Robert H. Anderson. Managing Productive Schools: Toward an Ecology. Orlando: Academic Press College Division, 1986. Print.

Wagner, W. (1996). The social change model of leadership: A brief overview. Leadership, 11.

Waitley, D. (2014). The Official Site for Denis Waitley. Waitley.com. Retrieved 25 May 2014, from http://www.waitley.com

Whitney, D., Cooperrider, D., Trosten-Bloom, A. & Kaplin, B. (2002). Encyclopedia of Positive Questions (1st ed.). Euclid, OH: Lakeshore Communications.

Williams, P., Fitzsimons, G., & Block, L. (2004). When Consumers Do Not Recognize “Benign” Intention Questions as Persuasion Attempts. JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc., 31(December 2004), 540-550.

Student Expectations/requirements and Grading Policy with Percentages:

In this class, students are expected to begin their journey to become more skilled practitioners and generators of knowledge. We will do this through multiple avenues:

1) Learning tasks designed to guide student inquiry within school, district and focused capstone topics;

2) Books and articles selected to help students prepare for personal leadership growth and focused capstone topics;

3) Mini-lectures and direct instruction of students around theoretical frames and inquiry, as well as appreciative content;

4) Seminar-style instructor and student guided large and small group discussion; and

5) Videos, simulations, and guest speakers when appropriate.

In addition to providing you with theoretical frameworks and inquiry processes that are important components of graduate level work, the assigned readings and theoretical frameworks introduced in the class should further understanding of your lived experiences, orient you to new possibilities, as well as provide you with tools for inquiry-based and appreciative practice in particular school and/or district environments. The instructor will make the assigned articles and syllabus available through Canvas.

You are expected to have read all the assigned readings before class and contribute consistently to discussions and activities in class. Careful completion of the assigned readings is a vital and central student responsibility in this class. Students will be evaluated, in part, on the degree and thoughtfulness of their participation and are expected to demonstrate punctuality and engagement with the assigned readings in class discussions and reflections. Cell phones and pagers are disruptive to classroom discourse and should be turned off or muted during class meetings. Laptops should be used only for class work rather than to check/send emails during class time or to search the web for other unrelated information. Additionally, all private conversations should be reserved for breaks. Food and beverages are allowed as long as they do not disrupt the class.

Evaluation Overview:

Completed work is not necessarily “A” work. If work is not completed to quality, students will be allowed to resubmit their work once within one week of receiving feedback from the instructor. Students are encouraged to contact the instructor before assignments are due with ideas or drafts. An “A” grade is reserved for the students who consistently demonstrate exceptional performance over all activities and assignments. A “B” grade is awarded to students for substantive high quality work in all aspects of the course. A “C” grade may be assigned to the student whose work and/or class performance is not distinguished as graduate level quality. Rarely, lower grades may be assigned for serious failures in student responsibilities for class behavior, written work, or other problems as designated by the instructor.

Grading Scale: The points required to earn a grade are listed below (out of a possible 100 points):

A = 93 – 100

A- = 91 – 92

B+ = 89 – 90

B = 83 – 88

B- = 81 – 82

C+ = 79 – 80

C = 73 – 78

F = Anything at 73 or below. No grade below “C” will be accepted toward a graduate degree.

Assignments, exams and tests:

I. Class Engagement: 10 points/percent

Attendance is expected at all class sessions. You should prepare carefully for each class by completing the necessary readings and assignments before class.

Each class member is expected to contribute thoughtfully and regularly through class participation that reflects deep engagement with the readings. Participation with others through the course content is a critical component of the course. Missing more than 30 minutes of a session constitutes an absence. Students will have the opportunity to earn the points deducted due to an absence by completing an alternative assignment from a list provided by the instructor. Please see attendance policy for more than one absence.

Appreciative Project Work, which includes Literature Review (Group): 40 points/percent

Students will learn the Appreciative project format. They will begin the project and complete the agreed upon steps as is appropriate in this long-term work. They will complete the interviews, literature review, work group formation, and data collection. As is appropriate, they will complete the other steps as discussed and approved by the Professor. Students will begin a literature review on their capstone project topic. We will discuss and read about the purpose of a literature review. Students will construct question(s) to guide a review of literature around the particular capstone project topic. The assignment is due one week after the last day of class and should be a minimum of 10 pages in length. Some references from the class may be used, but at least half should come from outside the assigned class readings and most must be peer reviewed. Articles on conducting a literature review will be made available on Canvas.

In the literature review, students should:

*Define the topic or issue to be examined.

*Review the development of important claims, positive work and strengths around the issue.

*Identify areas of ongoing inquiry and any areas of debate that might arise.

*Discuss what this literature implies for yearlong work on the topic or issue.

*Discuss the vision of what an amazing outcome for your capstone project or issue might look like in one year, or multiple years.

Appreciative Case Study Creation (group): 30 points/percent

As a group, create a case study with discussion questions and activities (10-12 pages). The case should draw on an issue that a group member or members confront in relation to their capstone topic or a school or district issue that can be confronted in an appreciative manner. The case can be a composite of similar experiences among group members and partially fabricated from what the group views as plausible. Using pseudonyms (for people and places), develop the case with details that explain the issue and perspectives of those involved (directly and indirectly). Use relevant literature and course material to create the case with learning activities and discussion prompts. Include an abstract that describes the case and the intended audience. Case Study should include Barrett’s four competencies of appreciative organizations: Affirmative, Expansive, Generative, and Collaborative. Prepare to submit the case using APA style. All contributors should be listed as authors. Groups will present/pilot their case study during class for 30-45 minutes.

Reflective Essay (individual): 20 points/percent

The Reflective Essay is due a week after the last class session ends and is 4 to 5 pages in length. Students are expected to write an individual reflective essay about Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Organizing in Public Education that references their capstone project topic, personal leadership growth, and other key lessons learned through the course. The following performances may be helpful in outlining. Refer to the course objectives and rubric when writing and self-assessing.