Virtual worlds are authentic sites for learning

This chapter considers how ‘meaningful learning’ can be understood in the context of knowledge-age skills. Through a study conducted in Second Life™, it investigates whether terms such as ‘authentic’, ‘active’ and ‘collaborative’ can be applied to activities undertaken in virtual worlds. It examines the knowledge-age skills employed in virtual worlds, relating these skills to the characteristics of the learning environment. Finally, it asks whether the distinction between meaningful and non-meaningful learning environments is more important for the development of knowledge-age skills than the distinction between formal and informal situations or between staff-run and student-run situations

Authentic Leadership and Leadership Ethics: Proposing A New Perspective

Authentic leadership is considered a new field of leadership research. Its formative status makes it possible to attract unique commentary and re-examination. Based on a comparison between authentic leadership and leadership ethics and focusing on the theoretical perspective of authentic leadership, this essay argues for a new perspective of authentic leadership. Consistencies resulting from the comparison serve to reinforce this essay’s central argument, namely, that just as ethics is central to all forms leadership, the main perspectives and components of authentic leadership as well as factors that influence it are also central to the various leadership approaches. In other words, the centrality of ethics to leadership seems consistent with the centrality of authenticity to leadership. Therefore, rather than continue research in authentic leadership as a unique leadership approach, this essay recommends research in concepts such as authentic transformational leadership, authentic servant leadership, authentic team leadership, authentic transactional leadership, among other forms of leadership. The essay concludes with a study recommendation, sampling some research questions and a hypothesis

The Impact of Authentic, Ethical, Transformational Leadership on Leader Effectiveness

Authentic, ethical and transformational leadership in 21st century business leaders is needed. This research posits that ethical, authentic and transformational leaders are more effective, that there are incremental improvements in a leader’s effectiveness for each of these leadership qualities, and that transformational leadership moderates the impact of the leader’s authentic and ethical leadership on the leader’s outcomes. Analysis shows that authentic, ethical and transformational leadership behaviors make incremental independent contributions to explain leader effectiveness. The study did not find support for transformational leadership as a moderator of the relationships between authentic and ethical leadership behaviors and a leader’s effectiveness

Authentic assessment: What does it mean and how is it instantiated by a group of distance learning academics?

This paper reports on a project undertaken at The Open University which set out to explore academics’ notion and practice of authentic assessment. The findings revealed that authentic assessment is not only a difficult notion to define but it is also problematic to collate features within an assessment task that define it as authentic assessment. An electronic questionnaire was constructed to investigate academics’ understanding of authentic assessment. The tutors’ perceptions of authentic assessment fell into two distinct areas: one that is associated with real world scenarios and the other linked to the construction and marking of an authentic assessment task. The findings point the way towards increasing the understanding of this concept in order to avoid making assessment appear on the surface to be more like real life but with the students still perceiving the questions to be rather artificial and contrived

Coaching Greatness: An Application of Authentic Leadership Development Theory to Wooden and Lombardi

Authentic leadership development theory is applied to examine the success achieved by two of the greatest coaches in the history of elite level American sports: John Wooden and Vince Lombardi. Authentic leadership development theory posits authenticity in the leader as a key ingredient in the success of corporate endeavours. Their authentic leadership fosters greater willingness on the part of followers to act in ways that serve the interests of a mutual vision of an organisation’s values and mission. At its best, the product of this interplay – or authentic leadership development – is long-term performance that consistently exceeds expectations. Wooden and Lombardi were doubtless authentic leaders whose incredible record of achievement can be understood in significant measure through the lens of authentic leadership development theory

How authentic leadership promotes individual creativity: The mediating role of affective commitment

This study sought to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how authentic leadership can affect employees’ individual creativity through affective commitment’s mediating role. The sample included 177 leader-follower dyads from 26 private, small and medium-sized enterprises. Followers reported their levels of affective commitment and perceptions of authentic leadership, and leaders assessed each follower’s level of creativity. The results show that authentic leadership has a positive impact on affective commitment and creativity. Moreover, affective commitment fully mediates the relationship between perceived authentic leadership and individual creativity. Organizations can thus increase employees’ affective commitment and creativity by encouraging their managers to adopt more authentic leadership styles. Additional studies with larger samples are needed to determine more clearly not only authentic leadership’s influence on individual creativity but also other psychosocial and personal variables’ effects on that relationship.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How We Became Authentic

This is a postprint (accepted manuscript) version of the article published in Ethos 37(1):148-53. The final version of the article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2009.01034_1.x (login required to access content). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author.Accepted Manuscriptye

Teaching Authentic English Pronounciation

Most of the evidence from different research and literature indicates that learners beyond the age of puberty cannot acquire authentic pronunciation of a second language, because the articulation muscles have already lost their flexibility to be able to make new sounds which has not been in the first language. However, there are some adult learners who have the ability to achieve a perfect native like pronunciation of English. In relating Howard Gardner?s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences (MI) to second language learning, we can more easily discern the acquisition of authentic accent by adult learners in spite of the flexibility loss of the vocal cords. According to Gardner?s theory, which attaches important features to the notion of intelligence, learners within a wide range of IQs can be successful in acquiring a second language. In this regard, “musical intelligence” -the forth intelligence in Gardner?s theory- can explain the relative ease that learners have in perceiving and producing the intonation patterns of a language. This research aims to seek ways to enhance the ability of language learners to acquire more native-like pronunciation by the aid of their musical intelligence which is almost an innate ability in everyone. Keywords: Teaching, English & Pronounciatio

Enacting the 'true self': Towards a theory of embodied authentic leadership

This paper argues that although authentic leadership may be rooted in the notion of a ‘true self’, it is through the embodiment of that ‘true self’ that leaders are perceived as authentic or not. In making this claim, we consider ways in which a somatic sense of self contributes to the felt sense of authenticity, and how through engaging with somatic cues, leadership can be performed in a way which is experienced as authentic, both to the leader and to those he or she seeks to lead. In developing our ideas further, we draw from the acting theory of Stanislavski (1936a, 1936b, 1961) to explore how authentic dramatic performances are created, focusing on the role of emotional memory, the magic ‘if’ and physical aspects of performances. We propose three key components of a resulting theory of how embodied authentic leadership is created: self exposure, relating, and making lead