World Educational Leadership Link (WELL) Project
Providing global leadership experiences for all students in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences is a priority. A key aspect of the Educational Leadership Development Academy curriculum is providing orientation and experience in this arena.
ELDA connects local school and district leaders with others around the world in order to enrich education, promote global citizenship, and build international trust and understanding. To achieve this goal we have outlined a pedagogical approach that is grounded in a framework for collaboration. We assist our students in:
- Finding the right experienced educational leadership partner;
- Initiating and maintaining contact with the chosen international partner, using predictable and dependable communication links with the partner, using technologies such as Skype, WebEx, Adobe Connect, and other reliable online forum tools;
- Developing questions and conversation topics constructed around specific themes of mutual interest.
What we can learn from each other
The collaborative framework will support the following learning objectives:
- Develop insight into education leadership in diverse economic, cultural, social, political and religious systems;
- Improve our understanding of the leadership skills and attributes needed to facilitate greater student success and school development;
- Contribute to the construction and support of an inquiry-based approach that deepens understanding about how to connect with global leadership practitioners;
- Provide an understanding of education and student success from the global perspective.
What we ask of our International Partners
Collaborators involved in the WELL Project must be willing to:
- Devote time for connecting with their international partner through email, Skype, etc.,
- Share their experiences, successes and failures;
- Explore, learn and discover more about educational leadership practice from multiple perspectives;
- Explore new possibilities for student achievement;
What research contributions will be made
Data collected on the WELL project can contribute important information about the improvement and transformation of leadership practice into a broader global framework. It also makes possible the enrichment of understanding of cross-national leadership issues, perspectives and solutions to problems. Each pair will be asked to document:
- Their learning about educational leadership as a result of their conversations with their international partner;
- Their reflections regarding the actual process of collaboration, the factors that challenged them and those that supported the relationship.
For a more detailed explanation of the WELL Project's objectives in communication and research, please see the Important Documents.
If you are interested in being a part of the WELL Project, please contact the ELDA Office at firstname.lastname@example.org or call 619-260-8839