EDLD 351 Leadership Seminar Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:45 AM – 12:05 PM Mother Rosalie Hill Hall 127 Cara T. Miller Email: miller@sandiego.edu Office: MRH 273 Phone: (619) 260-4600 x. 2567 Office Hours: By appointment Required Texts Gladwell, Malcom (2002). Tipping Point. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Other texts will be supplied electronically Course Description As the capstone course for the Leadership Minor, students will assimilate past and current interdisciplinary research and theories associated with leadership in the group and organizational context. Inquiry and experience will be utilized to further integrate the theoretical knowledge about leadership into the functional practice and exercise of it. Students will draw on their own research, experience and learning within the Leadership Minor course series to examine their own situational experiences, ability to utilize skills, and personal thinking about leadership. This course is focused primarily on the translation of learning about leadership to a personal integration of the exercise of leadership. The course will be based on the foundation of knowledge concerning the general and distinguishing characteristics that comprise the exercise of leadership, approach to authority and understanding of power. In addition, analysis of the student’s own views about power, leadership and authority as well as myriad opportunities for selfassessment will serve to further identify this course as a practice-focused, scholarshipbased seminar. Course Objectives • • • • •
Critical Thinking – about the relevance of and functional use for the research and theories presented in the pre-requisite courses in the Leadership Minor. Analysis – of interdisciplinary research and theories about leadership, power and authority. Experience – of one’s own past and present, traditional and non-traditional leadership situations. Translation – of knowledge and experience about leadership into one’s choices, communications, conflicts and circumstances of life. Imagination – about the roles, situations and relationships that comprise the student’s life. Anticipatory thinking about the contributions and thought
leadership the student can bring to his/her impending environments, in consideration of the student’s career ambitions. Expectations Only one unexcused absence and two excused absences due to a documented emergency or illness are permitted. Please inform the Instructor by email if you will not be present. It is the student’s responsibility to get announcements, assignments and content from missed class sessions. All reading, work and assignments are due on the dates indicated and are expected to be submitted even in the case of an absence. Make-up work or late assignments are not permitted. If you are a member of an athletic team and will have absences due to travel, it is your responsibility to have the Athletic Department and your Advisor provide your Instructor with proper documentation in the first two weeks of class. All of the course stipulations apply for student athletes. Readings are to be completed by the class session on the date they appear on the reading schedule. All written assignments must be typed in Times New Roman font at 12 pt., 1 inch margins and double-spaced. Written assignments will be graded on logic, clarity, grammar, spelling, adherence to course content, and original thinking. The student should consider whether the paper demonstrates his/her own style, thinking and analysis. Written assignments that summarize, reiterate or show lack of engagement with the content of this course will receive a lower grade. During class sessions, all cell phones and PDAs should be switched to the off position, not vibrate or silent. No text messages are to be sent OR received during class time. If you use a laptop computer to take notes, please disable the Internet browser and messenger functions. While matriculating at USD, students are required to check their USD email accounts at least once a week and are accountable for changes, assignments and updates sent through this address. If you operate another email account, you must have your registered USD student email account forwarded to your alternate account. No allowances are made for information not received because of unchecked USD student email accounts. If you need more information on operating or forwarding your student email account call USD Technical Services at (619) 260-7900. Evaluation 30% Participation/Attendance – Participation in class discussions, activities and in response to the Instructor are expected. Both the participating student and the class benefit from the active and thoughtful contribution of each student. On time attendance is mandatory for all class sessions. In order to respect the learning environment, you will not be permitted to join the class if you arrive late. 25% Reading Assignments/Journal - The journaling process can be greatly beneficial when coupled with the process of learning. Students will write 4 p. reading assignments
that represent thoughtful analysis and reaction to the course material presented in class and in the texts. These should not be summaries of the content but, critical analysis and thinking. Reading assignments will be required every week with few exceptions (see Course Outline and Reading Presentation headings). Reading Assignments must be turned in at the beginning of the Tuesday class session each week, 10:45 AM, MRH 127. No late assignments are accepted. 20% date.
Class Project – A collaborative, action inquiry project will be assigned at a later
25% Final Project – A 10 p. paper will be turned in at the beginning of a Thursday class session near the end of the semester. This paper will be an expansion of a Project Prospectus (due near the last third of the semester) that will take into account the comments, feedback and suggestions for further analysis gleaned from the Instructor review. The Final Project must also integrate your personal learning, knowledge from the lectures and readings, and insights gained from experience in the course. A paper that merely lists theories and sets them within a personal context will not be graded favorably; extensive contemplation and translation must be evident and genuine in the Final Project. The grade on the Final Project will also include a brief but effective presentation of it to the class. Disabilities Students who believe that they may need accommodations for a documented disability should contact Disability Services in Serra Hall 300 (tel. 260-4655) within the first two weeks of classes. Incomplete NOTE: STUDENTS WHO FAIL TO FULFILL THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS COURSE WILL RECEIVE AN “INCOMPLETE.” THE REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET BY THE END OF THE TENTH WEEK OF THE NEXT REGULAR SEMESTER; OTHERWISE, THE “I” GRADE WILL BE COUNTED AS AN “F.”