Sandra Jones

RMIT University, Management, Faculty Member

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Papers by Sandra Jones

Revealing the Nexus Between Distributed Leadership and Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice, 2016

Distributed leadership is a leadership approach that aligns with, and supports, the creating and ... more Distributed leadership is a leadership approach that aligns with, and supports, the creating and sustaining of Communities of Practice (CoP) in higher education. Agreeing with the editors’ proposition that CoP need to be positioned within the broader social learning literature, the proposition is expanded to consider the relationship between CoP and distributed leadership (DL). This chapter argues that while the focus of DL is on building leadership capacity, its synergistic relationship with CoP results in it being indirectly linked to social learning. On the one hand, DL provides the context in which CoP are created and sustained, and, on the other hand CoP contribute to the enabling of distributed leadership. Together they support the social learning that occurs within the CoP. DL provides the ‘best fit’ for creating and sustaining a community of people within the CoPs and thus social learning (Green and Ruutz in Engaging communities, proceedings of the 31st HERDSA annual conference, Rotorua, pp. 163–172, 2008).

Blended Leadership: From Conceptualization to Practice

University development and administration, 2018

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Responding to a Changing Higher Education Sector: The Role of Professional and Support Staff

Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education, 2018

This chapter discusses some of the contemporary challenges and driving forces for change in the h... more This chapter discusses some of the contemporary challenges and driving forces for change in the higher education sector globally. Five unique case studies are introduced to illustrate how individual universities are capitalising on their professional staff to address and respond to a fast changing higher education system. These cases, from five different universities, are explored within a scholarly context providing a critical exploration of the professional staff and the contexts in which they work. The chapters provide some key implications for higher education in the current climate of change

Challenge accepted: Women claiming leadership in higher education learning and teaching

Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2022

A recognised challenge for women in higher education learning and teaching is of rightfully claim... more A recognised challenge for women in higher education learning and teaching is of rightfully claiming leadership. Higher education processes for recruitment, promotion, awards, grants and fellowship are founded on an ability to document and convincingly present one’s leadership contribution. The focus is on evidencing from a traditional, formal positional role view of leadership. However, the leadership contribution of women to learning and teaching often accords with a more distributed leadership approach. This may lead to women, unguided in how to evidence their leadership contribution and impact, being unable to self-acknowledge and claim their leadership contribution. The challenge for women is in claiming their leadership contribution and impact so as not to be disadvantaged in academic career progression and recognition. Drawing on a database of 15 years of research into a distributed leadership in learning and teaching, a Linguistics Inquiry approach is employed to explore ref...

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Developing Multi-level Leadership in The Use of Student Feedback to Enhance Student Learning and Teaching Practice

Demonstrating the impact of a distributed leadership approach in higher education

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2017

Higher education is under pressure to advance from a singular focus on assessment of outputs (mea... more Higher education is under pressure to advance from a singular focus on assessment of outputs (measurements) to encompass the impact (influence) of initiatives across all aspects of academic endeavour (research, learning and teaching and leadership). This paper focuses on the implications of this shift for leadership in higher education. Demonstrating the impact of leadership in higher education requires taking a step beyond measuring the skills, behaviours and achievements of individual leaders to demonstrating how universities can evaluate the impact of actions taken to build leadership capacity across the institution. The authors extend the outcome of empirical research into how a distributed leadership approach can be enabled and evaluated in Australian higher education-to analyse the effectiveness of these processes for both measuring output and assessing the impact and influence of practice.

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A conceptual approach for blended leadership for tertiary education institutions

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2014

ABSTRACT Over the last 20 years, the tertiary education sector has adopted new administrative man... more ABSTRACT Over the last 20 years, the tertiary education sector has adopted new administrative management approaches, with the aim of improving accountable and strategic focus. Over the same period, the question of how to build leadership capacity to improve learning and teaching and research outcomes has led to discussion on what constitutes academic leadership. While both these advances are needed, what is missing is integration between the two such that academics and professional staff are engaged collaboratively to achieve learning and teaching and research outcomes that are accountable within a strategic focus. This article builds on research into the use of distributed leadership to build leadership for learning and teaching that resulted in the design of a conceptual framework for distributed leadership. Based on this conceptual framework, it proposes a conceptual blended leadership approach to engage academics and professional staff working in collaboration.

Synthesising theory and practice

Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2014

Changes facing higher education from increased government, student and community demands are resu... more Changes facing higher education from increased government, student and community demands are resulting in a greater focus on leadership within universities. Attempts to adapt to higher education theory that underpins leadership in other sectors have been criticised for failing to recognise its unique role in the development of creative and innovative thinking required to increase and exchange knowledge. What is needed is a new approach to leadership that goes beyond individual control and management bureaucracy to embrace more sharing and collaboration. One such approach is distributed leadership; however, existing research into distributed leadership in higher education has been criticised for being normative and less democratic than is suggested in its theorisation. The research for this paper focuses on the reflections of participants in projects designed to use distributed leadership to build leadership capacity in learning and teaching in Australian higher education. The outcom...

Working together to ride the waves: the action self enabling reflectice tool (ASERT)

New models of leadership are required if the higher education sector is to continue to provide le... more New models of leadership are required if the higher education sector is to continue to provide leading edge change. While multiple theories of leadership exist, the Higher Education sector requires a less hierarchical approach that takes account of its specialised and professional context. This paper explores how an action self enabling tool, developed from research into the experience of several higher education institutions, can be used to support a distributed leadership process to build leadership capacity. While the focus of ...

Collaboration - a Threat to Academic Autonomy?

Universities have historically encouraged individual academics with research expertise in a discr... more Universities have historically encouraged individual academics with research expertise in a discrete area of study to undertake research and teaching in their discipline. In this process academics have had full autonomy, from the discovery of knowledge, the method used to integrate and interpret it, and the means used to convey it to students and to assess student learning. In recent times pressures for change have affected universities. First, business requires graduates with broad knowledge and skill capabilities as well as discipline-based content knowledge. Second, universities are required to demonstrate quality control and improvement. Third, private expenditure has replaced a previous almost complete reliance on publicly provided university places. Finally, technological advance has made possible more flexible and innovative learning opportunities. It is argued in this paper that these changes require a new culture of collaboration to supplement academic autonomy. Academics a...

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Distributed leadership: a collaborative framework for academics, executives and professionals in higher education

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2012

New models of leadership are needed for the higher education sector to continue to graduate stude... more New models of leadership are needed for the higher education sector to continue to graduate students with leading edge capabilities. While multiple theories of leadership exist, the higher education sector requires a less hierarchical approach that takes account of its specialised and professional context. Over the last decade the sector has explored new leadership approaches based on public and private sector models accompanied by an increase in managerial control, market competition, government scrutiny and organisational restructuring. These changes have increased the gap between academics and 'other' staff as academic autonomy has been reduced. This paper presents a distributive leadership approach that places emphasis on collective collaboration rather than individual power and control. It describes a self-enabling tool developed from the experience of four Australian universities that used a distributed leadership approach to build leadership capacity in learning and teaching. The authors identify that while the intent of the original project did not include building collaboration between academics and executive and professional staff, the outcome was recognition of the importance of both a multi-level and cross-functional approach to leadership.

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Scoping a distributed leadership matrix for higher education

While there has been significant research into the theory and practice of distributed leadership ... more While there has been significant research into the theory and practice of distributed leadership in the school system, there has been less research into its applicability into higher education. This is somewhat surprising given the pressure on universities to reshape their governance models to accommodate a more competitive business environment as education becomes an important contributor to national economies. It is also interesting that, despite resistance from academics to the more 'enterprise-based' approach to shaping university leadership, there has not been a focus on a distributed leadership model that appears to accommodate the need for the autonomy that underpins academic culture. It is within this context that this paper intends to use the findings of four recently completed empirical projects funded under the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (AL TC) Leadership Project (LP) grant scheme to identify synergies in approach. This identification constitutes a ...

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Adding value to online role-plays; Virtual situated learning environments

Role-play as a means of involving learners in experiential learning opportunities has been a char... more Role-play as a means of involving learners in experiential learning opportunities has been a characteristic of student-centered learning environments for many years. Developments in the digital environment have enabled the design of more sophisticated role play environments in which learners deal with the complexity and ambiguity of real-life issues and the same time develop their knowledge of the advantages and limitations of online communication. Virtual Situated Learning Environments (VSLEs) add a further 'realworld' quality to role-plays.

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Enabling distributed leadership for learning and teaching : the self enabling reflective tool (ASERT)

Leadership, management, governance and policy in higher education Background literature The chall... more Leadership, management, governance and policy in higher education Background literature The challenges facing Higher Education (HE) require a distinct leadership approach that recognises both change required to meet the demands of complex, ambiguous environments and the diversity of disciplinary approaches that contribute to a university (Becher 1987, 1989). The sector needs to take a leading edge role in order to graduate students with skills for industry (Employability skills for the future, 2002), at the same time accommodating reduced government financial support for HE. While multiple theories abound about leadership outside HE, it is claimed that academic leadership is different as it exists in a highly specialised and professional, non hierarchical environment. This has led to much discussion about what constitutes leadership in Higher Education and how to build systematic, multi-facetted collaborative leadership capacity (Marshal 2006). Two principle concepts are being explored on Institutional leadershipa structural model that focuses on how to develop the skills, traits and behaviours of individual leaders, and a distributed model that focuses on how activity theory (Engestrom, 1999) can be used to explain the interplay between subjects, objects and instruments, rules, community and division of labour (

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Enhancing the student experience through responding to student feedback: distributed leadership approach

How to improve student satisfaction with their learning experience has become a major concern for... more How to improve student satisfaction with their learning experience has become a major concern for universities worldwide as the pressure on higher education to move to a more self-funded model has increased. As government financial support is tied to demonstrable measures of excellence in student learning and satisfaction, pressure is applied to universities to improve student feedback, increase student retention and graduation rates and improve graduate employability skills. In most instances the focus for improving student satisfaction is on the individual academic leading the design and delivery of the educational experience for students. This paper presents a different focus in recognising the multi-layered, distributed leadership contribution needed to support the academic in order to enhance the student learning experience as evidenced in their feedback. Arising from the 'lived experience' explained in this paper a framework for a multi-level, distributed leadership ap...

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Distributed Leadership : Working Together to Ride the Waves : The Self Enabling Reflective Tool ( ASERT )

New models of leadership are required if the Higher Education sector is to continue to provide le... more New models of leadership are required if the Higher Education sector is to continue to provide leading edge change. While multiple theories of leadership exist, the Higher Education sector requires a less hierarchical approach that takes account of its specialised and professional context. This paper explores how a self enabling tool, developed from research into the experience of several higher education institutions, can be used to support a distributed leadership process to build leadership capacity. While the focus of the project that underpinned the tool was on building leadership capacity of academics for learning and teaching, the findings demonstrate the need for an inclusive participative approach by which professional, administrative and academic staff need to collaborate to build a systematic, multi-facetted leadership approach appropriate for the sector.

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Leadership Evolution for Planetary Health: A Genomics Perspective

Challenges

We are living in the Anthropocene period, where human activity has become the dominant influence ... more We are living in the Anthropocene period, where human activity has become the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Addressing the question of how nature and societies will evolve in the Anthropocene is one of the grand challenges of our time. This challenge requires a new form of leadership, one capable of transmuting the eroding relationship between business, society and nature. Yet at this critical time, leadership theory is at a crossroads, with many arguing that leadership, as a field of study, should be abandoned. Operating in parallel to this Anthropocene challenge is an increasing understanding of the complexity of the genome, including the inherent plasticity of our genomic hierarchies, and the influence of the genome on health, disease and evolution. This has demanded a change in thinking to view the genome from an evolutionary systems perspective. To address the imbalance presented by the Anthropocene, we propose using a genomic lens as the basis for thinking...

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Using the Arts to Inform and Present Social Research in a Digital Age

Designing and producing effective e-learning opportunities - moving from cross-functional teams to Communities of Practice (CoPs)

... than operating in the formally established larger cross-functional team, the core ... an IT-a... more ... than operating in the formally established larger cross-functional team, the core ... an IT-augmented student-centred learning environment&amp;#x27;, Annual HERDSA Conference, Perth, July ... e-Learning Conference on Design &amp;amp; Development: Instructional Design Applying first principles ...

Information Technology - Partner or Predator in Teaching Employment Relations

The dynamic nature of employment relations ensures that teaching in the discipline is complex. Pr... more The dynamic nature of employment relations ensures that teaching in the discipline is complex. Providing experiential opportunities in which student can develop their own view of events as well as their knowledge and skill capabilities in dealing with various employment relations situations is advocated as a meaningful and realistic learning methodology. It is argued that the application of technology, including the internet, can provide the opportunity for students to experience and become part of 'real-life' events. The paper presents two examples in which technology is used to provide students with experiential learning opportunities. In the first example multi-media technology, in the form of a video, provided students with the quasi-experiential opportunity to participate in an industrial conflict. In the second example, a mock company web site was provided to enable students to prepare for a face-to-face negotiation role-play. The paper concludes that it is better to use technology as a partner to, rather than a predator upon, face-to-face teaching. It is argued that without the face-to-face component, the ability for students to discuss and reflect upon their experience will reduce the learning opportunity and restrict the ability of students to develop their own world-view of the employment relations interactions.

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