Eugene’s Voice: Women Leaders Guiding My Ethics of Caring

Abstract

This is an unlikely tale from an interdisciplinary colleague who began professional practice in the sharp-edged world of engineering. This is a critical narrative of my own development as a scholar and a leader in the field of technology-enhanced learning. It is, in fact a recounting and reflection of a life in engineering, teaching and the professorship through an ethic of care lens. Beginning with my first encounters with technology from youth until now, I examine the idea that women leaders have helped me to shape my passionat care about learners, design, development and education leadership to eventuate much more important caring - the care for others in the profession. By examining reflexive unknowing first, this paper offers examples of caring about and caring for ideas and people over my careers spanning petroleum engineering, K-12 teaching and leadership, a professoriate and AECT leadership. The result is more than an outline of essential characteristics for all leaders engaging an ethic of care - it is an example of how women leaders (and all leaders) can turn indrect caring about things into impactful caring-for people in organisations.

Selected Publications

• Kowch, E.G. 1998. Toulmin’s moral reasoning model applied to ethical decision making: A means for exercising ethical technology leadership. The Canadian Journal of Educational Communications 26(2): 65–85.

• ——. 2003. Policy networks and policy communities in three western Canadian universities and two provinces: A Neo-institutional approach to a pan-institutional issue. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.

• ———. 2005. The knowledge network: A fundamentally new (relational) approach to knowledge management & the study of dependent organizations. Journal of Knowledge Management Practice 6: 13–37.

• ———. 2009. New capabilities for cyber charter leaders. TechTrends 53(4): 41–48.

• ———. 2013a. Towards leading diverse, adaptable and “smarter” organizations that learn. In Technology as a tool for diversity leadership: Implementations and future implications, ed. J. Lewis, A. Green, and D. Surry, 11–34. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

• ———. 2013b. Conceptualizing the essential qualities of adaptive leadership. International Journal of Complexities in Leadership and Management 2(3): 162–184.

• ———. 2013c. Wither thee, educational technology? Suggesting a critical expansion of our epistemology for emerging leaders. TechTrends 57(5): 25–34.

• ———. 2016. Issues of organization: Principles for leading learning, change and innovation in education. In International handbook of educational technology, ed. N. Rushby and D. Surry, 71–88. London, UK: Wiley (in press).