Enabling educational innovation through complexity leadership? Perspectives from four Dutch universities

Nov 17, 2022·
Martine Schophuizen
,
Aodhán Kelly
,
Caitlin Utama
,
Marcus Specht
Marco Kalz
Marco Kalz
· 1 min read
Abstract
Leadership in higher can influence the structurally embedding of educational technologies in higher education institutions. However, HEIs are complex pluralistic organizational environments with loosely coupled systems, diffused power and goal ambiguity which makes governance of educational innovations a wicked problem in which they have to balance dynamic complex interactions while also setting out a clear vision and enacting this vision towards organizational goals. This paper analyses four qualitative case studies with a focus on the choices made by leaders in four Dutch universities that aim to contribute to organisational educational innovation. We investigated the data through the lens of complexity leadership theory in which three types of leadership play an important role: administrative leadership (i.e. top-down oriented), adaptive leadership (i.e. bottom-up oriented) and enabling leadership that emerges as a leadership type between administrative and adaptive leadership and contributes to governing innovation in complex environments. This study sheds light on how, in the case of HEIs as complex environments, leaders made strategic choices and followed up on them to enable the innovative potential of the organisation.
Type
Publication
Tertiary Education and Management, 29, 471-490. Springer
publications publications

Schophuizen, M., Kelly, A., Utama, C., Specht, M., & Kalz, M. (2022). Enabling educational innovation through complexity leadership? Perspectives from four Dutch universities. Tertiary Education and Management, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-022-09105-8

Open Education Higher Education Educational Innovation Organizational Research Leadership Strategy
Marco Kalz
Authors
Marco Kalz
Professor of Educational Technology

I am a researcher in educational technology whose work explores how digital technologies reshape learning, teaching, and educational institutions. My research combines educational technology, learning sciences, feedback research, and critical perspectives on digital transformation.Current areas of interest include peer feedback and feedback literacy, open and networked learning, AI and misinformation in education, digital learning ecologies, and the societal implications of data-driven and platform-based education. Methodologically, my work spans empirical learning research, psychometric scale development, design-oriented research, and conceptual analyses of digital transformation in education.

I am working as a full professor of educational technology and Chief Information/Chief Digital Officer (CIO/CDO) at the Heidelberg University of Education. I serve as associate editor of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education and editorial board member of the Journal of Computing in Higher Education. I am a senior-fellow of the Interuniversity Center for Educational Sciences (ICO) and the Dutch research school on information and knowledge systems (SIKS). I work as director of the study program E-Learning and Media Education and director of the Heidelberg Centre for Digital Transformation in Education. Over the years I could secure approx. 4 Mio EUR of research funding for my institutions from competitive projects with a total budget of 36 Mio EUR. I have been an invited keynote speaker on more than 60 conferences and events. Besides European projects I am regularly involved in educational innovation and consulting projects with partners inside and outside of my institutions including clients like the International Labour Organisation, United Nations Environment Program, the European Commission, UNESCO, OECD or other international and national organizations.