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From the Editor’s Clipboard Leadership educators have the opportunity to participate in continuous improvement. Every class, every student, every comment yields possible innovation, invention and re-creation. In a recent class of college undergraduates, students were asked to write what they thought transformational leaders should do to ensure success with followers. This activity was not scientific, the students might have been biased from class instruction, and we cannot make broad conclusions from the students’ ideas. But, it is always refreshing to reflect on what 20-year-olds are thinking. They said: a truly transformational leader should
Do any of these responses surprise you? Perhaps the list does not contain anything new or profound. Yet, a deep look may reveal a slight shift in thinking. In the group of 29 responses, five of the students mentioned “reward” as a method of motivating others for positive and successful outcomes. At this point, it was not clear if students were commenting about the use of reward because of their age, generational group, leadership experience, leadership classes, or other inputs. It is interesting to sustain conversation to ascertain if there are differences in how transformational leaders are viewed by the different generations or if current college students are developing a different philosophy of leadership. The Journal of Leadership Education (JOLE) is an important venue to share research and practices that add to the body of scholarly knowledge in leadership education. As the discipline matures, it is our responsibility to update the state of leadership practices and blend this knowledge with theory of education. Leadership educators have an opportunity to affect the intentional education of future and current leaders. JOLE is one excellent source for continuous improvement of leadership education classes, courses, and programs. Issue Information The Journal of Leadership Education continues to strive for excellence in manuscript review and acceptance. Acceptance rates are calculated for each issue and vary depending on the number of submissions. The JOLE acceptance rate for this issue is 29%. In their review of the submitted documents, representatives of the JOLE Editorial Board provided a juried assessment of a manuscript’s scholarly significance and relevance. The Theoretical Features, Research Features, Application and Idea Briefs were closely scrutinized to ensure selected manuscripts advance the theory and practice of leadership education. See the journal website for a more detailed discussion of these categories (www.fhsu.edu/JOLE/). This issue of JOLE supports scholars in their development of new knowledge in the quest for successful leadership education.
Respectfully submitted, Christine D. Townsend, Editor
Click here for the full issue! EDITOR REVIEWED COMMENTARIES AND BRIEFS Accepted Commentaries For this issue of the Journal of Leadership Education (JOLE), the editor accepted two commentary features. According to the JOLE Article Category guidelines, commentary pieces allow authors to share an opinion related to leadership education. The commentaries are not reviewed by the JOLE Board of Reviewers and, therefore, do not contribute to the acceptance rate for this issue. In the first commentary, Stech develops a rationale for leadership educators by discussing education, training, and development. He guides the reader through a discussion instructional types and how each distinguishes from the other. Stech’s article provides a current view for how research in leadership education may be distinguished by the intention of the instruction and objectives for a course or program. A second commentary is provided to provoke conversation for development of a new category within JOLE. Van De Valk submitted a review of literature that concerns leadership and social capital. In his review, he does not draw conclusions nor write implications. This summary of the literature is a valuable tool for other researchers interested in this component of leadership education. Readers are encouraged to review his commentary as a summary of research in the area of leadership and social capital. Another aspect of this commentary is to begin discussion of adding a new category for JOLE readers. PEER REVIEWED RESEARCH AND THEORY FEATURES Accepted Research Features The study conducted by Ricketts, Bruce, and Ewing examined how college students viewed their leadership future. Students studying in a particular college at a large university were questioned as to their social leadership views. The researchers concluded that changes have occurred over time as to how college students viewed their leadership responsibilities. Given these changes, it was recommended that a review of leadership education curriculum be conducted. DiPaolo, in his study, complimented the proposal to evaluate leadership curriculum. He conducted longitudinal research to investigate the impact of leadership education in contrast to personal leadership experiences. His findings revealed two years after a leadership retreat that the participants attributed their leadership development more to experience than to the retreat. DiPaolo suggested revision of current leadership curricula with noted emphasis on long-term leadership models instead of short-term leadership models. Greiman and Addington contributed to the discussion of how leadership education programs were organized by investigating those who teach leadership. In their study, the researchers sought to determine factors that influenced leadership teachers’ self-efficacy. Their results indicated that transformational and laissez-faire styles were predictors of self-efficacy. As leadership education programs and courses are evaluated, Greiman and Addington added a provocative component for consideration – the self-efficacy of those who teach leadership. Bruce and Ricketts studied practitioners who worked on interdisciplinary teams. Their intent was to explore one aspect of leadership education – cooperation. Their results have implications as to what to include in future leadership education programs or courses. Those who participated on interdisciplinary teams revealed several barriers to productive cooperation. These areas, including lack of relationships and networking skills, may be the foci of newly created or revised leadership curricula. How leadership educators deliver subject matter was the focus of McCotter’s work. In her study, she investigated the motivation of students who completed their leadership education course via technology-assisted learning. Her results provided an empirical justification for how leadership educators approach course development and student motivation. She provided rationale for developing a sense of community within the course and addressing the pressures students experience within different paradigms of delivery systems. PEER REVIEWED APPLICATION BRIEFS Accepted Application Briefs Three application briefs in this issue provided excellent examples to enhance leadership education experiences. Roberts discussed reflection as a part of a leadership education course. In her brief, she outlined procedures for leadership educators to incorporate reflection into their course. She included rationale for the importance of developing “reflective leaders” who are faced with an increasingly diverse and complex society. Middlebrooks discussed another reflective technique – “the Kiva.” In his brief, he included the historical basis for the Southwestern Native American Kiva. In this process, the students in a leadership education course were able to discuss a difficult issue through an organized procedure. The Kiva process allowed students to conduct productive conversation with multiple and reflective responses. The third application brief introduced another activity to enhance leadership education. In his brief, Allen explained the use of the simulation, “StarPower.” He used this simulation with great success. Participants recommended the use of “StarPower” to teach students about ethical behavior. Allen’s example, when added to Roberts’ reflection and Middlebrooks’s Kiva form an excellent set of activities to enhance the leadership education classroom.
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