The College of Education
Departmental Course Syllabus
ADE 7271
Leadership in Continuing Education and Human Resource Development
1. Course Prefix and Number: ADE 7271
2. Course Title: Leadership in Continuing Education and Human Resource
Development
3. Regular Instructors: Drs. William Young and Rosemary Closson
4. Course Prerequisites: None
5. Course Description:
This course is a study of administrative theory, public policy analysis, best practices and
related research to leadership in continuing education and human resource development.
6. Course Goals and Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
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Critically evaluate both the organizational and individual implications of a variety
of leadership styles and approaches that relate to adult education, continuing
education and human resource development;
Compare and contrast the major research approaches to the study of leadership in
adult education, continuing education and human resource development;
Identify and analyze the major adult education, continuing education and human
resource development leadership paradigms within the literature including but not
limited to functionalist, radical humanist and postmodern paradigms;
Develop a personal statement of leadership for use in the field;
Identify and analyze common ethical dilemmas that adult education, continuing
education and human resource development leaders face;
Develop cultures for tomorrow’s adult education, continuing education and
human resource development workplace as a leadership strategy; and
Develop new capabilities, competency models and planning strategies for
leadership in the field.
7. Course Outline/Topics::
Activities will include lectures, student presentations, discussions, individual research,
field site visit, and the development of a portfolio as a culminating course experience.
Topics include but are not limited to: Ethical Judgments and Considerations in Education
and Business; A Mentorship Model of Leadership for the Field; Symbolic Leadership;
Creating a Learning Organization in an adult education, continuing education or human
resource development unit; Leadership and Staff Development in Adult Continuing
Education and Human Resource Development; Leadership and the Future of
Adult/Continuing Education and Human Resource Development; Visioning and Strategic
Planning Adult/Continuing Education and Human Resource Development;
Transformational Leadership in Administrative and Academic Units; Executive
Characteristics for Leadership in the Field; Leadership in Using Information Technology;
Using Adult/Continuing Education and Human Resource Development Best Practices
and Trends; Mastering Change; Team Building as a Leadership Strategy; Leadership in
Creating New Marketing and Finance Systems in Adult/Continuing Education and
Human Resource Development; Using Annual Reports Effectively; and Global
Leadership in the Field
8. Evaluation of Student Outcomes
Requirements include:
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Attendance and Active Participation
Design and Delivery of a Presentation
Completion of a Research Project
Site Visit with a leader in the field and subsequent written report
Completion of a Course Portfolio
9. Grading Criteria
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Attendance and Participation – 10%
Chapter Presentation – 10%
Design and Delivery of a Presentation – 25%
Group Research Project – 30%
Site Visit and Written Report – 10%
Portfolio – 15%
Attendance and Participation
An essential element in the continuing education and human resource development
setting is participation. Learning is enhanced when leaders and leaders in training
activity participate in activities and make decisions regarding the nature of their inquiries.
Class members are expected to engage in class discussions and invite others to
participate. The final grade of class members who miss more than three class session will
be reduced accordingly.
Design and Delivery of a Presentation
Each class member will design and deliver a presentation to other class members on a
leadership topic approved by the instructor. The presentation should be 30-45 minutes in
length and should involve the class as active participants. A short presentation followed
by a case study analysis using group work and group feedback would be one example.
Team development, culture development strategies, strategic planning, empowerment,
decision making, problem solving, and critical thinking in leadership are a few of the
areas which can be explored to design and deliver a presentation.
Research Project
Each class member working in a group of 3 to 5 members will complete a research
project approved by the instructor. The project should be no more than twenty-five pages
of work and contain a statement of problem under study, a purpose of the project, and the
question or questions to be answered via the project. Subjects could include but are not
limited to differences between leadership and management; managing change or planning
for change; the decision making process; creating shared visions and teamwork; and
process leadership in marketing, finance or new programming. The Publication Manual
of the American Psychological Association should be used to create the document. A
title page, abstract, presentation of findings, summary and references should be included.
Literature used should be current and varied.
Chapter Presentations
Each student will make a presentation on a chapter in one of the books suggested for
study for this course. The presentation should be no longer than twenty minutes and
students will select the chapter of choice during the first or second class session. The
presentation should involve a student handout summarizing the presentation.
Site Visit
Each class member will interview a leader in continuing education or human resource
development live or via the phone. Students will prepare a semi-structured interview
schedule and will secure instructor approval prior to the interview. A written report
containing the questions and the leader responses will be submitted to the instructor.
Portfolio
Students will prepare a portfolio containing their class notes, their written observations if
any, student and faculty handouts from presentations and site visits, group research
projects, and chapter presentations. The portfolio can be done electronically if desired.
Policy on Academic Misconduct
This class will follow the procedures for academic misconduct set by the University of
South Florida. Substantive and procedural due process will be afforded students charged
with violations of cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and misrepresentation.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism involves borrowing someone else’s words and writing them as your own.
Plagiarism is wrong and will not be tolerated. See the American Psychological
Association (APA) manual for a discussion of plagiarism and how to recognize it.
Because it can be confusing to make decisions about how and when to quote and how
much paraphrasing is allowable, please read the section on plagiarism in the APA manual
and also the section in the USF Graduate Handbook. Plagiarism on papers for this course
will result in an “F” grade on the paper and for the course.
Statement on Equal Treatment and Disabilities
The instructor and students will act with integrity and engage in equitable and respectful
verbal and nonverbal behavior with respect to differences of any kind including age,
gender, race, disability, or religion.
A student should notify the instructor in writing or by e-mail within the first week if one
needs a reasonable accommodation for a disability for this course. The instructor must
receive a letter from USF Office of Study Disability Services within one week of the
request. The Student Disability Services office is located in the Student Services
Building, Room 1133 on the Tampa campus, Telephone 813-974-4309, e-mail
jfiler@admin.usf.edu. Additional resource information on accommodations available
through the USF Graduate Catalog.
Religious Observances
If a section of this course includes an in-person meeting, students should notify the
instructor in writing or by e-mail within the first two weeks of any announced meeting
that the student will not be attending class for religious reasons.
10. Texts
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Cynthia C. Jones Shoemaker, (1998). Leadership in continuing education and
distance education in higher education, Allyn and Bacon.
Sarita Chawla and John Renesch, Eds. (1995), Learning organizations:
Developing cultures for tomorrow’s workplace, Productivity Press.
Roth, K. K.(2004). Executive leadership attributes relating to transformational
organizational human resource services, Dissertation.Com, Boca Raton, FL.
Best Practices, Adult learning, (2004), Volume 15, Number 2, Spring.
Edelson, P. J., Ed., (1992). Rethinking leadership in adult and continuing
education, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Number 56,
Winter, Jossey-Bass Publishers.
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Walker, J. W. (2000). Developing human resource leaders, Human Resource
Planning, March.
Bass, B. (1990). From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to
share the vision. Organizational Dynamics. 19 (3), 19-32.
Donaldson, J., & Edelson, P. (2000). From functionalism to postmodernism in
adult education leadership. In A.L. Wilson & E. R. Hayes (eds), Handbook of
adult and continuing education (new edition), pp. 1919-207). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Northhouse, P.G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Palmer, G., & Watkins, K. (2000). Cultural diversity and the learning
organization. Thresholds in Education 26 (2)m 33-39.
Slater, Robert (2004), Jack Welch on leadership, McGraw-Hill.
Attachment I
1. Rationale for Setting Goals and Objectives: Instructor knowledge; research on theory
and current practice of instructional/teaching/learning methods; and dialogue with
colleagues from other institutions of higher education and from colleagues from other
USF programs and departments.
2. List the competencies addressed from the relevant national guidelines. N/A
3. Are there field-based experiences in this course: Site Visit and Site Visit Report
4. Is technology used? Regular email communications occur between and among the
instructor and the students and the students themselves. Students may choose to use
software such as Power Point for their presentations. Students will be expected to access
and download reports, data, and documents from national and state web sites. Some class
materials may be placed on electronic reserve. Blackboard will be used for some class
discussions.
5. List the competencies addressed from the Florida Adopted Subject Area
Competencies. N/A
6. Are there any components of the course designed to prepare teacher candidates to help
K-12 students achieve the Sunshine State Standards? N/A