Development as a leader (5cr)

Evaluation scale

Pass/Fail

Content scheduling

Autumn 2024 – 2 ECTS
0.5 ECTS Course orientation and learning outcomes
1 ECTS Theoretical background of leadership theories and concepts
0.5 ECTS Ethical Leadership

Spring 2025 – 3 ECTS
1.5 ECTS Self-knowledge and leadership identity
1.5 ECTS credits Self-leadership, agency and leadership career development

Objective

Purpose of the course
Leadership is a key competence in contemporary working life. In this course, you will deepen your understanding of your own leadership, strengthen your self‑awareness, and identify your strengths and areas for development. You will learn to analyse and evaluate your leadership from the perspectives of self‑leadership, people leadership and task leadership, and to develop your leadership approach systematically. You will also expand your knowledge of ethical and responsible leadership and learn to promote these principles within your organisation through reflective practice and role‑modelling. Through reflection, you will gain insight into your leadership career opportunities and be able to plan your professional development purposefully.

Developing as a leader is a process that requires time and self- and peer reflection to grow. Considering this development, the course lasts for a semester/year.

Competencies of the course
Learning to learn: You can evaluate and plan your leadership career in a versatile and goal-oriented way.
Ethics: You can promote the realisation of ethical principles in work communities and organisations with your leadership.

Learning Outcomes
Through a structured reflection process, you deepen your self‑awareness and are able to analyse and evaluate your leadership from the perspectives of self‑leadership, people leadership, and task leadership. You can apply key leadership theories and perspectives to strengthen your own leadership identity. You are able to promote the implementation of ethical principles in your work community and/or organisation by reflecting on your ethical leadership and acting as a role model. Through self‑reflection, you are also able to plan the development of your leadership career.

Execution methods

Lectures
Exercises
Online discussion

Content

In this course, you will learn about self-awareness, leadership identity, leadership theories and conceptions, ethical leadership, agency, self-leadership, and the development of a leadership career.

Materials

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. https://books.google.fi/books?id=gX5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP38&hl=fi&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational research review, 10, 45–65.

Goller, M., & Harteis, C. (2017). Human agency at work: Towards a clarifica-tion and operationalisation of the concept. In M. Goller & S. Paloniemi (Eds.), Agency at work: An agentic perspective on professional learning and devel-opment (pp. 85–103). Cham: Springer.

Scientific article chosen by you

Other material based on independent information gathering

Teaching methods

Study methods
Developing as a leader is a multidisciplinary online course. Your studies take place in the Moodle learning environment, where you will find course instructions, schedules, assignments and study materials. You will also attend webinars. The webinars include expert lectures and you will reflect and share using collaborative learning methods what you have learned. Participating in webinars requires a camera, headphones and microphone.
You will conduct independent information retrieval and apply what you have learned in the Leadership Development Workbook assignment, in which you compile all the assignments of the course.

Guidance
You will receive guidance in voluntary online meetings. In addition, guidance takes place in the Moodle learning environment (forum for question and answer).
You will also receive guidance from peer students and in the form of mentoring.

Feedback
You will get feedback on your Leadership Development Workbook assignment.
You give feedback on the course (mid-term and final feedback on the implementation).

Employer connections

Your student group forms a working life peer learning network.

Exam schedules

-

International connections

During the course, you will utilise international research literature and reflect on the cultural dimensions of leadership.

Completion alternatives

You can familiarise yourself with 17§ of Jamk's degree regulations when considering the recognition of course competence based on your previously acquired competence and the objectives of the course.

Student workload

Your indicative use of time during the 5-credit course is 135 working hours, which is divided as follows:
Online lectures and webinars 6 hours
Familiarization with study material 27 hours
Individual assignment 94 hours
Collaborative learning 6 hours
Mentoring 2 hours

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Pass: You are able to assess and analyse your own leadership by drawing on key leadership theories. You identify your strengths and areas for development and set well‑justified development goals based on them. You demonstrate advanced self-awareness and use reflection to strengthen your leadership identity. You are able to apply the principles of ethical and responsible leadership in your own actions and to evaluate the realisation of ethical practices within your work community. In addition, you recognise realistic career options and develop a goal-oriented plan for enhancing your leadership competence and advancing your leadership career.

Fail: The student does not achieve the competence goals of the course

Qualifications

No prior knowledge required.

Further information

The learning during the course will be qualitatively evaluated based on the learning outcomes using many different methods: feedback and mentoring from the teacher, the student's own self-assessment and feedback received from peers in webinars.

During the course, the utilization of artificial intelligence, instructions and possible ethical questions follow the updated recommendations of Arene and Jamk's rules.

The participants of the course will be checked three weeks after the start of the implementation. Participation in the course requires that you have submitted Learning Assignment 1 by 22.9.2024.