DISCUSSION

This discussion provides an opportunity to connect your personalized leadership strengths and motivation with your skills as a leader to further develop into an efficient change agent. Being an effective leader who successfully implements change in a school or other organization can be a challenge! Kouzes and Posner (2007) claimed "leadership is an identifiable set of skills that are available to all of us, not just a few charismatic men and women" (p.20). While this may be true, it takes work and inspiration to learn about yourself and the characteristics that build an effective leader. There are multiple theories that indicate that effective leaders can be cultivated through the deliberate acquisition of certain skills (Senge, 1990). According to Senge (1990, p.3):

...organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.

By cultivating these abilities and knowing our own strengths, we can become leaders who can have a significant impact on our classroom, school site, or other organization. You previously read chapter two of Buczynski and Hansen (2014), which discussed the various types of leadership and the mix of behaviors and other skills that are necessary to be an effective leader. Lord and Hall, as cited in Buczynski and Hansen (p. 57) suggest the "leadership role must become part of one's self-identity." Chapter two is an effective source of information for this discussion as well.

Digital poster presentations are increasingly the norm in the field of education as well as other professions. The use of technology in these types of forums is becoming essential in staying updated and competitive in the field. It is essential that you have experience in creating a digital poster presentation. Here you imagine you are presenting a high quality digital presentation to a group of key stakeholders regarding your action research. Therefore, the purpose of this discussion is to link your personalized leadership motivation into your skills as a leader in order to further develop into an efficient change agent. In this case, the change you are instigating is conducted through your action research. This process, in turn, greatly affects your followers, and the organization in which you work. Being motivated to understand and invest in your strengths and areas of challenges greatly informs your practice (Rath& Conchie, 2008).

Initial Post: Imagine you are selected from a large pool of applicants to participate in a distinguished conference poster session focusing on leadership strategies in action research. Your goals are to create a one page digital poster that includes three leadership and motivation themes identified from this week's readings and your experiences, including a one-sentence explanation of each selected theme, and stating the ways leadership and motivational traits are represented in your action research study. Be sure to design the poster so that it is professional in appearance and therefore appropriate for presentation at the conference poster session. As you create your poster, consider what you have learned about what makes professional presentations effective and appealing to an audience. In this case, there will be well-known authors, experts in the field, and influential participants present including stakeholders in your own action research study. Use Glogster, Word, PowerPoint, or other software of your choice to create the poster and post the link to the flyer in your initial post or attach the poster to your initial post, whichever is most appropriate for the technology you chose.

Guided Response: As an instructional leader, you are embedding your leadership and motivational traits into your own continuous development as you complete this course and move towards the attainment of your own professional goals. Your action research is a part of this continuous development. For responses to this discussion, review the digital posters created and posted by your classmates in the discussion board. You are to select at least two to provide constructive feedback on the following:

• Content
• How leadership would affect the change process, and
• Use of effective technology and/or critique of layout, design, and use of graphics in creating the flyer.

In your responses, consider items such as:

• Professional appearance
• Quality of responses to the prompts
• Overall presentation.

Ashford 4: Assignment 1

Ongoing Analysis and Reflection

Action research methodology can provide valuable assessment information regarding the outcome of your research. The major purpose of this assignment is to begin to identify significant themes that are becoming evident in the implementation of your action research project and your data collection. The key is to begin to discover trends in your data without making premature decisions; however minor adjustments can be made next week. Action research provides correlative and data driven information that can be used to make positive changes in the teaching and learning environment (Buczynski& Hansen, 2014); Mills, 2014). Additionally, thinking about the key stakeholders and their role in your research is important as well. In summary, this assignment is a preliminary interpretation of the various data obtained thus far. Without committing to initial assumptions, you are to begin to identify the key patterns that are emerging.
To prepare for this assignment, view the Silva (2011) video, Action Research @ a Glance (for written transcript, click here). Next, construct your written assignment to meet the content and written communication expectations stated below.

Content Expectations

• Video Reflection : In at least one paragraph, reflect on the knowledge you gained or that was reinforced for you by watching the Silva (2011) video.

• Research Question : Analyze to what extent your research question(s) is still answerable or worth answering and how you might defend that your research question(s) is/are worth answering.

• Data Collection : Justify whether your data collection techniques will provide the kind of data you need to address your questions and whether you are effectively filtering out data that you do not need.

Written Communication Expectations

• Page Requirement : Two pages, not including title and references pages.

• APA Formatting : Use APA formatting consistently throughout the assignment.

• Syntax and Mechanics : Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.

• Source Requirement : Include at least two scholarly sources providing compelling evidence to support ideas. All sources on the references page need to be used and cited correctly within the body of the assignment.