The College of which I am Principal is about to advertise for a new position. The position is a two (2) point paid known as Pedagogy Leader (PL). In fact, there will be two PLs appointed for the beginning of the 2013 school year. The PLs will be responsible for leading innovative thinking and action which shapes a positive culture of student-centred learning at the College.
I am just wondering…. If the two persons to be appointed are to be “responsible for leading innovative thinking and action”, should we ask for a traditional application? Traditional applications require the usual covering letter, a response to selection criteria, a resume and the provision of referees. Again, if the College needs two persons who will be “responsible for leading innovative thinking and action”, is it best to ask for the “same old, same old” traditional application?
Could applicants provide a different style of application? If these persons are to be capable of “shaping a positive culture of student-centred learning”, shouldn’t they be capable of shaping their own application, an application that best supports their chances of appointment? Could it be that it is an “employee-centred application” where they exercise choice of the form, medium, and style of application?
Could prospective employees make their application by way of You Tube clip, iPad Application or other digital technology? Could it be a combination of hard copy and digital technology? Could they forward their application by traditional mail, email the College, forward directly to the school’s Facebook site or Direct Message (DM) the principal on Twitter?
Hhhhmmmm. Contemplations abound! Your thoughts?
Greg.
LEARN AND LEAD 
I would embed by digital portfolio in a QR Code and send the code via email or upload CV to a link your school provides. Flavors.me http://flavors.me/ allows you to link in as many aspects of your digital tatoo/projects/works/CV and son on in one central place. Perhaps a google form of job specifications/requirements that you could send out? In that, you could ask for the QR code or link to a site such as Flavors? Keep us posted to what eventuates. How wonderful that you are open to a variety of possibilities rather than same old snail mail. Exciting times to lead schools! A great position you are in to influence change.
Hi Greg,Thanks for tweet – excited to have these kinds of discussions.I would imagine that a 21st C pedagogical Leader should be able to communicate to a broad audience via multiple means – esp utilisation of tech. An accessible application that demonstrates this AND responds to key selection criteria in a creative way is a great idea but take care that you can track these – you don;t want someone saying "hey I dm’d the Prin via twitter and it was received etc" – I think you need a mechanism for tracking and organising – you also need to consider who will be vetting applications and how they can access etc. My big question would be tell me about how you have and will continue to influence pedagogy within school and broader ed community – someone who doesn’t use multiple platforms would cause we concern in terms of levels of engagement beyond F2F. I would therefore agree that a paper CV and application is too limiting – but emphasis that all applications have to clearly address key selection criteria but can do so in innovative ways etc. That’s my Saturday afternoon 2cents – hope it is useful – and let’s keep the conversation up – it has made me think!!!Cheers, Catherine As leadership is the ability to influence others I would want
PS: Just re-read my post – spelling and grammar errors abound… perhaps ironic given focus on applications and demonstrating knowledge, values, skills, disposition etc – I am an English teacher!
Very interesting topic.I suppose where and how you advertise the positions will depend on the types of applicants you get."If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got."
As well as thinking outside of the box for the applicants, could the ‘panel’ perhaps convene via VC or Google Hangout and collaborate via Google Docs? (Some money-making recruiter is going to make $$$ out of all of these ideas!)
In July of this year I was successful in gaining the new position of Learning Technologies Coordinator at Aquinas College, Gold Coast where I have worked for 16 years in a number of roles. I went to the interview with only my iPad on which I had created a Keynote presentation outlining my ideas on what the position should entail, including a role description I had written.I certainly felt the need to display the requisite skills given that one member of the interview panel was unknown to me. I try to everything I can in digital form. I have started to deliver PD via the blog noted above and a number of web tools.I can also be found on Twitter @connectedtchr
Hi Greg,Agree that method should reflect innovation sought.Interestingly we have just been through a very similar recruitment process to appoint 2 roles – diverted from traditional process by involving 1 page submission expressing motivation for the role followed by a presentation of key strengths and suitability to a leadership group (any style of presentation allowed). This created a shortlist – final and most critical differentiator was to present plan fo address an authentic school scenario ( again method not dictated only timeframe), again to group.This last item allows for observable behaviour vs opinion of self and is powerful then for focusing reference checks if external candidates. Q&a from the group around "solution" presented showed influencing behaviour as well as quality of thought process.
What a great opportunity to be bold! When you ask ‘Could…?’, I think straight away ‘Why couldn’t …’ . You do not need to know what the applicants know, rather what they can do. It would give you, as Principal, the chance to see what potential leaders would bring to the role, and at the same time allow applicants to shape the role themselves because quite likely the people who eventually fill these positions will have ideas and capabilities that haven’t yet been considered.
Greg – I love out of the box questions? I skipped straight to the answer box before reading all the others’ comments/suggestions, so as not to sway my thinking. I think you should just open it up with something like, "Please send me your contact information and reasons why you would be a successful candidate." Then give all your contact information (email, Twitter, blog, phone, etc.) and see what they come up with. Creative people would see the opportunity to be creative, rule-followers would be traditional, middle-of-the road people would probably contact you to see what you were looking for. In the least, candidates for a position such as this would send some sort of portfolio, presume, slideshow, or video. Great idea, though, to look for something different. I would think about applying… if I lived in the same continent!
GregIf applicants are going to use technology it needs to transforming not just a substitute. True innovative practices (whether using technology or not) need to be transforming education. A keynote/powerpoint is just a substitution for getting up and chalk and talking.An application that reaches out to the global community for testimonials, a presentation that incorporates Augmented Reality and not QR codes is what I would be looking for.Good luck Greg and I hope you find a wonderful, inspirational leader.Paul
Greg, Perused the comments above. So many great ideas, advice and suggestions here. What an opportunity for MDCC ! Two questions emerge.1. "The PLs will be responsible for leading innovative thinking and action which shapes a positive culture of student-centred learning at the College." Then will the students have a role in assisting/advising the PL in their leadership to create the positive culture student-centred learning?2. How does this innovative application process ( which I applaud) sit with the "system" requests and processes? I certainly see the opportunity for MDCC to be the innovator and leader here for others to follow.Congrats on your opening of the discussion and hopefully more will take your lead.RegardsAlan
Hey Greg, Loving your thinking here. Asking prospective colleagues about what they could bring to the table and how they would do it is one thing…But giving them a clean slate to do this any way they want would give you a far greater insight into how they could work with you team than any ‘traditional’ process.Would be very interested to see/hear how this pans out…Good luck!Dan