Education Commons^™

Appreciating Empathy: How Writing Center Collaborations Inform Leadership Development For Student Wellness And Success, Hugo Werstler

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my action research project was to understand the practice of collaboration within the University of San Diego’s Writing Center as an emerging leader in Higher Education. The goal of this study was to explore the benefits of empathy and relationship development as practiced by the Writing Center to develop leadership strategies for other campus organizations that regularly interact with the institution’s student population. Using several research cycles of Appreciative Inquiry, I observed that the Writing Center functions as a stellar example of collaboration, focusing on peer-to-peer writing consultations with an emphasis on student empathy and relationship development. …

The Landwarnet School, The Army Learning Model, And Appreciative Inquiry: How Is A Centralized Training Organization Improved By Introducing Decentralization?, Lisa Jayne Stamper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory, qualitative case study describes how a centralized training organization (LandWarNet School) was improved by introducing decentralization (Army Learning Model) toward “the best competitive position” or "sweet spot," defined by Brafman and Beckstrom (2006) as “enough decentralization for creativity, but sufficient structure and controls to ensure consistency” (pp. 189, 191). Any presence of the six chaordic elements of a decentralized organization, as described by Hock (1999), was also considered.

LandWarNet School (LWNS) trains approximately 6000 US Army Soldiers annually and is centrally organized. The new Army Learning Model (ALM) is a vision for a more decentralized training approach where …