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  2. EDU A608 2

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Learning
EDU A608 2

Course Information

Description

This course focuses on how leaders of organizations, both large and small, public and private, translate good ideas into action. These ideas may be entrepreneurial in nature and entail starting new ventures, or they may be intrapreneurial in nature and entail implementing new initiatives within existing organizational structures. We will focus on how leaders can shape and influence complex decision processes regarding innovative and entrepreneurial ideas most effectively. We will examine both those decisions that were flawed and those that were successful in order to derive lessons about leadership and learning in dynamic, complex, and highly uncertain organizational environments, including the education sector, among others. The course will be largely discussion-based and include cases, exercises, and multimedia materials with examples of leadership from a diverse range of contexts. Students will be expected to come to class prepared and ready for discussion, and, if called upon, to role-play their recommendations and take a stand as well. Enrollment is open to all graduate degree candidates at HGSE. For students in the ELOE program, this course fulfills the ELOE Program Core Experience (PCE) requirement if taken for a letter grade and may also be taken as an ELOE elective. Space will be reserved for cross-registration. Auditors of the course are not permitted.

Class Notes

For students in the ELOE program, this course fulfills the ELOE Program Core Experience (PCE) requirement if taken for a letter grade. It may also be taken as an elective. While fulfilling the ELOE requirement, the course is open to all students, with no enrollment preference given to ELOE students.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals <p>Students will develop their skills in leading and managing complex organizational systems, including but not limited to entrepreneurial initiatives in education. Students will walk away from the course with a toolkit of organizational change frameworks as well as concrete examples and experiences that will help them navigate vexing problems in education – those that require entrepreneurial leadership. Students will also develop their own theories about what entrepreneurial leadership means to them and how their own theories will assist them in their careers. Finally, given that this is a discussion-based class, students will develop skills in active listening, empathy, advocacy, inquiry, and constructive dialogue.</p>
Career Focus This course is designed for graduate students of all levels who aspire to lead a team, department, organization, or system through a complex change process. In education, where resources are often scarce, information uncertain, and where stakeholders vary in needs and power, being an effective change agent requires entrepreneurial thinking and behaviors. The course takes a broad view of “entrepreneurship” and so does not solely focus on start-up organizations; entrepreneurship from within entrenched systems, such as the incubation of a new initiative or innovation, is examined as well. Students who aspire to work at the intersection of sectors, such as education and healthcare, business, and/or public policy will benefit from seeing examples of leadership in different contexts and how education intersects with those contexts. Through case examples, exercises, and guest speakers, this course will introduce students to different kinds of careers in education and different ways of exercising entrepreneurial leadership in education.