Course Team Symposia

A useful launch pad for exploring course leadership?

Abstract

Course Team Symposia are a funding opportunity provided by Charles Sturt University’s Flexible Learning Institute to help course leaders engage their teams in blended and flexible learning design. Initial findings from this preliminary study suggest that course leaders and their educational designers have used the symposium process to ‘try out’ leadership practices on the job by clarifying and developing a shared vision of blended and flexible learning, supporting collaborative planning, helping their teams reflect on their own practice and forming strategies to improve that practice. In doing so, they are building a repertoire of leadership strategies to use with their teams in the future. Further research involving more symposium recipients will shed additional light on how leadership is being supported through this initiative, and any implications for student outcomes.