The first person that comes to mind is one of the university professors I had during my time at Millersville University. When I think about why, the first thing that comes to mind is his strength in pedagogy and content knowledge. He was very knowledgeable on the topics he taught, including building relationships with students, being sensitive to students with unique challenges, integrating educational technology, and always "made me think." His instructional strategies for getting me to think were always simple but engaging. I learned the most in his classes by learning from others, and his ability to "give up the reins" of the class so that his students could flourish was especially noticeable. I cannot recall a class where he did a full direct lecture and I loved that aspect of his courses. Finally, he is extremely skilled at technology. I attribute my own interest in this to his and my experiences in his classes...so much so, that I have taken a number of graduate level courses with him too so that I can continue to learn new ways of teaching! In a nutshell, I believe that this professor fits directly in the center of the TPACK model, which is no wonder since he actually teaches this framework and has written blog posts on it himself! I've included an image of TPACK below. His photo belongs in the center with "TPACK."
Another aspect that makes him visionary is that he is excellent at "lifting others up." He is constantly providing the students opportunities to shine. For instance, he had our class attend and present at the PSAT conference. If you are interested in viewing the footage of this, featuring a young Laura Vogel, click here (194 views to date). He also writes about other professors on campus and highlights their innovative approaches to teaching. I know this because he writes about it on his personal/professional blog that I still follow (10 years later!). The fact that he notices he is in tune with what other professors on campus are doing and is highlighting and praising their work, shows that he is a great observer/listener and also open to learning from others. These are all other signs of visionary leaders in my opinion.
Additional qualities of visionary leadership that were highlighted in this week's content included:
- Ability to see the big picture
- Ability to think ahead for the future
- Ability to work and take recommendations from other professionals and stakeholders
I value these three qualities of visionary leaders the most, which is why I identified my undergraduate professor as a visionary leader.
