This is my response to Simarjit Shergill’s post on Unit 10’s Learning Activity.

Hi Simarjit,

I have enjoyed learning alongside you in LDRS 591!

Like you, I work in a large organization where decision making is not only up to me. In fact, oftentimes I am left out of much of the policy decision making at my work. Similar to you as well, I find that the skills I have learned in this course aids me in research and improvements in my own practice. I have found that as a teacher, after receiving my degree in education, it is up to myself to pursue meaningful professional development. Understanding how to discern and decide whether the resources I am using are credible helps me to improve my practice in my classroom. As well, it allows me to share ideas with my colleagues without worrying what I am sharing is unreliable. It makes me feel extra smart too when I am able to contribute to intellectual discussions on educational practices in the office 😉

I hope we are in the same course again soon!

🙂 Ruth

How can I know that I can trust what I am reading?

The best way to know whether the article is valid is by researching the authors as well as the journal that the article is published in. Making sure that the journal is reputable and selective is very important because that ensures that the articles were vetted properly. Another thing I like to do is check how many times it has been cited by other articles and studies. This is an option that is available in many databases online now where it states the number of times an article has been cited by others. I use this as a general gauge of how valid the article is since I imagine that other authors who cited this article would have gone through the same investigation process to ensure the article is trustworthy.

How do I know the research has been performed competently?

Carefully reading through and analyzing the methods and procedures is an important part of deciding whether the research has been performed competently. The quality of the description of the methods section is a good measure of whether the research was executed well.

How do I know the research is reported honestly?

There is no way that I can know for sure that the research is reported honestly. However, if I have done my due diligence in researching the publishing journal and the authors and have determined that they are credible sources, then I can assume that the report is accurate. As well, comparing it with other similar research and works can help me determine whether the results presented are logical.

How do I know the findings presented are consistent with what other researchers would conclude?

I can do this by comparing the results to other similar and past research. I can also look into other articles that cited the specific research and see what other researchers have to say.

Close with one question that invites further comment and discussion.

If you are 100% certain that there are errors in a research article, what would you do? Is it professional to contact the authors?

Original assignment post found here. 

Transformational leadership is characterized by idealized (or charismatic) influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration while servant leadership is marked by it’s ten characteristics – listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and community building (TWU, 2017, p. 14). A transformational servant leader always puts the best interest of the followers first. In order to do so effectively, a transformational servant leader must be knowledgeable and well-informed in all the decisions that he or she makes. To do this, a servant leader must used evidence-based decision making.

While a leader must make decisions based on sympathy and the feelings of those around him or her, it is also important to sometimes remove emotions from the situation and to make a decision based on evidence. Evidence-based research offers insight on long-term effects of decisions made by others and thus can offer valuable knowledge that leaders should consider in their decision-making. In a sense, evidence-based decision making allows leaders to avoid mistakes or errors already made by others in the past. It eliminates unnecessary trial-and-error in leadership.

Using evidence-based decision making also gives credibility to a leader’s strategies and leadership. When followers know that the leader has done his or her due diligence and research all the implications of a decision, they will be more likely to put their trust in the leadership.

An effective leader is a life-long learner. As society and culture changes, so do effective leadership strategies and methods. By continually looking to evidence-based research and studies to improve leadership skills, a transformational servant leader can remain relevant and aware of the needs of the followers.

References

Trinity Western University (TWU). (2017). Leadership Monograph 2017. Retrieved from https://learn.twu.ca/pluginfile.php/51434/mod_resource/content/1/Final_Monograph_2017.pdf

Original assignment post found here. 

In unit 1, I discussed my decision making process regarding my baby daughter’s feeding options. I even mentioned the possibility of our exclusively pumping method changing and potentially Macey would learn to latch and breastfeed. Ten weeks later, no such luck and we are still pumping and bottling. However, I continue to research “exclusively pumping” regularly as a way to ease my mind. Because of the amount of work that goes into pumping and then feeding (essentially “double feeding”), I find I need to routinely read about the benefits of breastmilk (even if it is from a bottle) in order to stay motivated and stay on track.

My research method has stayed more or less the same because I believe I had proficient research skills even before. However, in this course, I have learned to use the databases more effectively. I have to admit, when I was working through the research assignments in the course, I often searched breastfeeding or exclusively pumping as keywords to see what would come up in the different search methods. I have found that while there are numerous articles on breastfeeding, there are almost no articles on exclusively pumping as it is not very common and has only become a realistic option in recent years with the production of more effective breast pumps and the push in normalizing breastfeeding, and thus the branches of breastfeeding as well.

I am now more aware of the credibility of sources. When reading articles, not only do I judge credibility based on whether it is peer-reviewed or written by an accomplished researcher, but I can now also assess the validity of a study by reading through the article and assessing the quality of each section. I am able to make more of my own judgement calls instead of relying on other factors such as publishing journal or academic affiliations.

Original assignment post found here. 

The most important things for me about the conclusions section of a high-quality research report are having the results clearly identified and summarized as well as having the limitations explicitly stated.

For me, it is important for the results to be clearly summarized and stated because oftentimes the methods section is not easily understandable, especially if the procedures include in-depth analysis using specific and complicated statistical calculations. The results section should clearly state the correlations that were found and explain and analyze the results that were collected from the study. Relationships between different factors should be explained and trends should be drawn and stated.

It is important for limitations to be clearly stated because it allows the reader to use it to measure the level of consistency and validity in the results that are presented. As well, limitation can help give direction for further research and how to improve on the current study and research.

Implications for practice is also an important part of the conclusions section. This section is what makes the research relevant and practical. It allows the reader to understand the importance of the research and acts as the important “take away” for the study.

My question is: Stating the limitations of a study can help readers determine the validity of the study and to understand some of the biases in the study. However, since the weaknesses are being pointed out, does stating the limitation strengthen or weaken the results of the study? 

Original assignment post found here. 

The article that I will be focusing on for this activity is Barbuto and Gottfredson’s article An Examination of Emotional Intelligence as an Antecedent of Servant Leadership.

• Are the major results identified and summarized?
  Rating: 3/3
  Yes, Barbuto and Gottfredson (2014) states the correlations that were found between  the leaders’ emotional intelligence and each of the five dimensions of servant leadership (p. 320). The authors clearly state how the results compare to the original hypotheses (Barbuto & Gottfredson, 2014, p. 320).
• Are the results related to the literature?
  Rating: 3/3
  Barbuto and Gottfredson (2014) mention that all the results support the hypotheses with the exception of one where the results did not support the hypothesis (p. 320). The authors (Barbuto & Gottfredson, 2014) compare their results to their findings in prior research in the discussion portion of the article (p.320).
• Are appropriate implications of the results for practice identified and justified?
  Rating: 2/3
  The authors (Barbuto & Gottfredson, 2014) include a short recommendation in the conclusion section of their article (p. 322). They advise that “organizations use emotional intelligence, which is a mixture of trait and skill, for leader selection and development if they are seeking to hire leaders who are inclined to lead with a servant-leader ideology” (p. 322).
• Is there a thoughtful critique of the study’s limitations?
  Rating: 3/3
  Yes Barbuto and Gottfredson (2014) include a detailed list of the limitation of this study (p. 322). These include common bias, a lack of signification results in some cases, and the limitations of the sample size (Barbuto & Gottfredson, 2014, p. 322).
• Are suitable suggestions for future research provided?
  Rating: 3/3
  Yes, after identifying the limitations of the study, Barbuto and Gottfredson (2014) suggest potential research that could solidify and confirm their findings (p, 322). They suggest that future research increase the followers to leaders ratio and that a similar study be done in the private sector so that the results can be compared to this study (Barbuto & Gottfredson, 2014, p. 322).

References

Barbuto, J. E., Gottfredson, R. K., & Searle, T. P. (2014). An examination of emotional intelligence as an antecedent of servant leadership. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 21(3), 315-323.

Original assignment post found here. 

For my podcast, I chose to focus on the problem of the lack of professional development discussion opportunities for small program teachers.

Original assignment post found here. 

As a teacher at Coquitlam Open Learning, the problems I face at work are unique to an online setting. Here are three issues that I was dealing with before I went on maternity leave.

1. Implementation of New Curriculum
   Since I teach mathematics for grades 10 through 12, implementation of the new curriculum for these course are scheduled for September 2019. While there is still a lot of time until then, this still poses a challenge for online teachers because in September 2019, the entire online course must be developed and ready to go. Unlike classroom teachers who can develop their unit and lesson plans as the school year progresses, online teachers must have everything ready to go at the beginning of the school year because students need to be able to access the whole course upon registration. This is a huge time commitment and with 200+ students in my courses, it is hard to find time to develop new courses. Another challenge that this creates is that there will be students who will be midway through the course. Since we are not bound by semesters and the school year like a “regular’ high school, students can complete their course anytime within a 10 month period. We will need to find a way to transition students under the old curriculum into the new curriculum without disrupting their progress.
2. Student Academic Integrity
   One of the biggest challenges in online learning is ensuring student academic integrity. Since we do not work with the students face-to-face in a classroom and because our student loads are so big, it is difficult to ensure that students are completing their own homework. Furthermore, there have been problems with cheating during testing even though students must write tests in testing sessions supervised by online teachers. For example, when I first started my position at Coquitlam Open Learning, our principal discovered that there was a tutoring agency in Coquitlam that had copies of our tests and was distributing them to their clients.
3. Lack of professional development and interaction

   Coquitlam Open Learning is a small program consisting of only 8 teachers where each teacher is generally responsible for one subject area. As such, I am the only mathematics teacher in the program. Because of this, I do not have the opportunity to discuss topics such as teaching practices, the new curriculum, etc., with other math teachers. A few years ago when I was teaching at a large high school, I often spoke to my mathematics department head and received advice from her regarding classroom management and different activities I could do in the classroom. It is isolating sometimes to not have someone in the same subject area to talk to, especially with the new curriculum being rolled out.

Original assignment post found here. 

The article I chose to focus on for this activity was Melchar and Bosco’s article Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership.

1. What was the purpose of the study?
   Rating: 3/3
   Melchar and Bosco (2010) clearly state at the beginning of their article that the purpose of their study was to determine “whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts or develops other servant leaders” (p. 74).
2. Is there a rationale provided for needing a mixed methods design?
   Rating: 2/3
   The authors do not specifically state that this study was a mixed methods design (Melchar & Bosco, 2010). Instead, they only refer to their research as an empirical study throughout the article (Melchar & Bosco, 2010). However, the procedure is described in detail and thoroughly and the reader is able to identify the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 80).
3. Is the choice of the mixed methods design appropriate and justified?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the Melchar and Bosco (2010) use a mixed methods design so that they can assess both the interactions between staff and leadership and also the empirical responses from questionnaires completed by employees (p. 80-81). Melchar and Bosco (2010) use a qualitative research design to interview leaders to assess their leadership style and to ensure that it meets the servant leadership criteria (p. 80) and a quantitative research design to collect questionnaire responses about employee perspective on leadership (p. 81).
4. What were the results of the study?
   Rating: 3/3
   The results of this study supported the original hypothesis that the “modelling of servant leadership by strategic level managers can create an organizational culture in which servant leaders develop among lower level managers” (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 84).
5. Does the use of mixed methods produce a good understanding of the study’s purpose?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the qualitative research portion of the study was important to understand the qualities that were needed to fulfill the requirement of the qualitative research portion (Melchar & Bosco, 2010). The authors needed to address this criteria before moving forward with their empirical data collection and analysis (Melchar & Bosco, 2010).

References

Melchar, D. E., & Bosco, S. M. (2010). Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership. Journal of Business Inquiry, 9(1), 774-88.

Original post found here.