weLEAD Online Magazine

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weLEAD In Learning: March 2002

By J. Howard Baker, Ph.D.

In January 2002, I was asked to become Editor of a brand new section of the weLEAD web site called "weLEAD In Learning". In the January 2002 issue of weLEAD magazine, Greg Thomas interviewed me regarding this new role. In that interview I introduced my initial vision of the weLEAD In Learning project. The web site for weLEAD In Learning is currently under construction. It can be found at www.weLEADInLearning.org.

In this brief article I want to bring the weLEAD readership up to date on the progress of weLEAD In Learning and share my current vision of this new project.

First, I want to point out what weLEAD In Learning is not. It is not a new leadership magazine. It is not even a new section of the current weLEAD magazine. As I stated in the January interview, weLEAD In Learning is a project. The primary goal of the project is to make the concepts of personal and organizational learning understandable and easier to access. We believe that the way we are approaching this project is truly avant-garde and sets weLEAD apart from other leadership web sites.

The first step, which has already begun, is the formation of the project team. The project team is actually made up of two functional teams. The first team is a content team. Currently there are seven members of the content team, including myself. It is anticipated that at least one more person will be added to this team shortly. The content team will do research, writing, and editing of the weLEAD In Learning web site. The team is currently composed of individuals from both industry and academia. They represent a number of disciplines and educational backgrounds. All content team members hold a terminal degree in their field. Over time the makeup of this team may vary as new areas of organizational learning are explored. As Editor, I view myself as the facilitator of the content team.

The second team is the implementation team. It will be composed of one or more web page designers and a Webmaster. This team will create the final product that is published on the weLEAD In Learning web site. At present there are three members of the implementation team, including myself. One is a web designer and the other is the Webmaster. As Editor, I again view myself as the facilitator of the implementation team.

When the weLEAD In Learning web site is published later this year, a biography, e-mail address, and photo of each team member will be made accessible via a TEAM hyperlink button on the home page.

In addition to the project team members, there will be external experts who will be invited to work with the team and contribute to specific research projects. These experts will be recognized in a special part of the web site.

After forming the project team, I perceive my first responsibility will be to help the team members achieve a greater vision of what the group can become, how it might operate, and what it can achieve. Just like Martin Luther King, “I Have A Dream” regarding weLEAD In Learning. I am currently working on sharing this vision with the team members and learning from the members as I share my personal vision. The second part of that statement is key. As a facilitator, I don’t have all the answers. Those who make up a learning team do not believe they have all the answers. They recognize their incompleteness and listen to others so they can learn and grow. Continuous learning and growth will be a part of the weLEAD In Learning culture.

My intent is to encourage the team members to interact together and build a consensus as to the principles by which the team will operate. I want to provide sufficient time and safety for the team members to develop their own sense of the vision. It is recognized that no two visions will be exactly alike. As team facilitator, I will strive to inspire and motivate the team members toward the achievement of our evolving shared vision.

The project team will be organized as a learning organization. It will, first and foremost, strive to practice the concepts of a learning organization. Team learning is one of the five learning disciplines identified by Peter Senge. I believe that such a team cannot truly learn and effectively convey the concepts of a learning organization while working only in the abstract. The concepts of a learning organization must be put into practice by the weLEAD In Learning team to be truly understood and adequately conveyed. The team will learn about learning by living the principles of a learning culture.

As the project team begins to function, it will be learning and growing. Not only will weLEAD In Learning connect people to information, it will also connect people to people. Team members will be encouraged to discover the unique qualities of other team members. They will learn to draw upon newly discovered resources present within the team. This should create an environment of inclusion. We will celebrate the diversity that will be present in the team and will strive to build a synergistic learning community. When necessary, the team will seek experts from outside the project team to contribute to the evolving content. Eventually weLEAD In Learning will explore innovative ways of including the entire readership of weLEAD as an active part of this learning community.

The web contents will be organic rather than mechanistic in nature. That is, it will grow over time like a garden. A garden grows a little every minute, every hour, every day. As material is completed and reviewed, it will immediately be added to the web site. Unlike a formal magazine like weLEAD, which is published in monthly issues, the weLEAD In Learning project content will be published on an as-completed basis. That means that the web site will change in small increments on a continuous basis. Those who regularly visit and explore the weLEAD In Learning web site will experience continuous learning.

It is anticipated that the first published material on the weLEAD In Learning web site will be a web resource containing a list of terms associated with learning organizations. A critical early step in building our learning community will be to establish a common vocabulary. The terms will be researched and have detailed, scholarly writing associated with it. The writing associated with this taxonomy will be a presentation of terms and will share a common bibliography. Entries in the bibliography may have a book review link attached to it if weLEAD magazine has already reviewed that resource.

The writers of the contents of the weLEAD In Learning taxonomy and discussion will attempt to present the material based on a knowledge presentation for human understanding paradigm using a systems thinking model of “What-should-I-do”, “How-should-I-do-it”, and “Why-should-I-do-it?” Stephen Covey calls the intersection of these three things a “Habit”. The model essentially describes knowledge, skill, and motivation (or desire). These three concepts are often associated with the head (knowledge), the hand (skill), and the heart (motivation or desire). In fact, three of the four “H’s” in the 4-H Club motto are Head, Heart, and Hands. (The fourth “H” stands for Health.) The Head, Heart, and Hand model addresses education of the “whole person”.

Such an approach to knowledge presentation for human understanding will be exploratory in nature. It is hoped that this means of presentation will significantly reduce learning times and provide a common protocol between knowledge providers and knowledge users. Therefore, weLEAD In Learning will explore the use of such an approach.

This form of presentation is avant-garde and experimental in nature. The team will be learning about this approach as we publish material on the web site. We recognize that we are taking a risk using this new approach, but moderate risk taking and tolerance for failure is part of a learning culture. The weLEAD In Learning project is exploring this new and creative presentation technique for web-based learning as part of its own learning. On March 12, 2002, as Editor of weLEAD In Learning, I presented a scholarly paper in Seattle, WA at the Knowledge Technologies 2002 conference describing the weLEAD In Learning web site and our plans to implement our taxonomy and this innovative model of presentation.

Comments to Howard Baker: jhb001@juno.com

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About the author:

Dr. J. Howard Baker is Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Dr. Baker has been a Franklin Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People certified facilitator for eight years, and has served the University of Texas at Tyler as their facilitator for four years. During the summer he offers a graduate and undergraduate course at U. T. Tyler in personal and organizational leadership. He holds a B.S. in Management from Samford University, a Master of Accounting (MAcc) from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Baker is Editor of the weLEAD In Learning Online project.