What makes a successful e learning leader? Change agent skills Model the right behaviour Build a guiding team Establish the need Communicate the “buy in” Create short term wins Be persistent

Model the right behaviour Jemma & Ursula undertook professional development with an e-mentor. They moved out of their comfort zone and learned new things.

Build a guiding team Mobilise people who are focused, committed and enthusiastic In a small organisation this might take the form of one key trainer who can act as an e learning champion Many of the leaders in this project undertook a “champion” role in their organisation without necessarily being the “manager”.

Establish the need Focus on learning tools as solutions to problems rather than an end in themselves. Pam is co ordinator in a very small ACE provider in a very small community. To create her vision she consulted all her stakeholders to ensure that e learning would meet their needs. Mary made consultation with the staff her first step in introducing new technology. This changes the question from “How will this affect me?” to “What problems will this solve?”

Communicate the “buy in” Wayne engaged trainers in PD by carefully choosing a couple of tools and demonstrating what they could do to improve their training on a day to day basis. Sarah found that inducements and “bribes” enabled her to engage staff in training when all else failed.

Create short term wins Successful leaders energise staff by achieving visible, timely and meaningful improvements. They need not be big to be impressive. Pam demonstrated the value of partnering with an e learning company when she achieved her organisation’s first enrolment from outside their geographic area. Kim designed a student satisfaction survey on Survey Monkey that proved popular with students, provided really valuable information for the organisation and saved staff time.

Be persistent Sue trialled three different approaches to introducing e learning into her organisation before she found something that “struck a chord” with staff. Sarah and Wayne conducted several PD sessions for staff despite low attendances at each one.

Lessons learned Small or “baby” steps work best Everyone meets resistance when they propose change Patience and persistence are essential Hands on experiences are really valuable for building skills and knowledge– not just for classroom practitioners but also for leaders Effective leaders don’t have to be managers they can operate at a range of levels across the organisation