When you were thinking of taking this course, you may have wondered why we called it 'Digital Leadership'. After all, you might consider yourself more as a manager, than a leader, or you might see yourself as a leader but not necessarily in the 'digital' domain. But since technology is, as we have seen, now entangled with our professional (and personal) lives it is, we would assert, all the more important that each of us feels sufficiently empowered to make decisions for ourselves rather than have them imposed upon us with little or no choice. Working in any sector of education can often feel like we are being pushed along by policy decisions that seem disconnected with reality on the ground ('at the chalkface' to use an old cliche!), or that we are having technologies imposed upon us that are ill-suited to our and our students' needs. In a period in which technological progress is rapid, and economic and political conditions are subject to rapid fluctuation, it is crucial that we do what we can to understand the forces, factors, and influences that are shaping our world whether at the macro-scale of global environment and politics, or at the local level of the choices we make in our classrooms for, and with, our students.

For those of us who have the privilege of managing or leading teams of colleagues, whilst the role has many challenges, it also provides an opportunity for us, as a community, to carve a path through the undergrowth. Developing the competencies expressed in DigCompEdu and combining these with our educational leadership responsibilities will not only help us improve our courses, but also, if done well, create a culture of respect for critical thinking, creativity, and collegiality.

So let us now think a little on what could be encapsulated in educational digital leadership.

Note

If you are interested in more general models of Leadership, we recommend the openly licensed introductory course from the UK's Open University, "Leadership and followership." It is also an example of an OER in that most of the content is released under a Creative Commons licence which lets you use and adapt it. The course covers the basic leadership styles (see the table below, and think if any of these apply to you!) as well as exploring practical issues through a number of different scenarios and situations.

Autocratic – the leader makes decisions themselves, without consulting others	Supportive – focusing on followers’ needs and welfare, creating a positive working environment	Transformational leadership - supporting individual followers; encouraging them to solve problems creatively for themselves, inspiring and enthusing followers, having high moral and ethical standards
Democratic – the leader involves followers in the decision-making process.	Participative – involving followers in decision making and encouraging their ideas	Adaptive leadership - "prepare and encourage people to deal with change"
Laissez faire – the leader has little involvement, allowing followers to make their own decisions.	Achievement-orientated – having high expectations and setting challenging goals that you are confident followers can achieve.	Inclusive leadership - listens to and seeks out the views of diverse people and takes account of these views
Directive – being clear and specific about expectations, tasks and deadlines	Transactional leadership - leaders are process and action oriented, responsive and directive.

Classical leadership styles from the work of Lewin, House, McGregor Burns, Bass, Heifetz, Goniewicz, and Hertelendy.