Technically tetchy, hoping for more women digital leaders is it hopeless?

V McGarvey 2 Tetchy Pumpkins
CC-NC-SA

I know it's not Halloween but it was the best tetchy image I could find in my collection. I am a feminist, I follow loads of hashtag discussions @ women in tech. However, it is still really frustrating to see air punching moments when one more woman gets a CEO tech job, or a one-off award for a innovative enterprise when it should be the norm. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to work in and manage 2 progressive areas in HE, elearning and librarianship, the former male dominated the latter female, both areas have demonstrated great creativity in their use of technology. Even so I have observed across the sector that males still have a strong presence in the management of the digital and technical domains and this has made me tetchy but despite my tetchiness or should that be "techiness" I have hope.

With the swell of organisations supporting women's progression in the tech world and pressures within education to adopt more inclusive approaches to teaching technology, I think things may gradually change. This is also supported by the growth in the number of female led technology focused SMEs, particularly in the wearable market. These companies have been established by women too impatient to wait for the trickle of change.  Brighton based Brighton Digital Women founded in mid 2015 brings together women with a shared passion for digital. Eloise McInerney's  March 2016 blog post on digital leaders reducing the gender gap, referred to last year's government press release which reported that the proportion of women in the digital and creative industries falling  Despite this she injects some hope into the debate stating that "there are a growing number of dynamic, forward-thinking women in the UK digital sector who are not only successful in their own fields, but who are also leading and designing initiatives to get women and young people more excited about digital" She then goes on to profile 5 female leaders who are making an impact with innovative enterprises. A complimentary report is Elearnor Burn's article in the Computer Business Review which listed10 of the most successful women in UK technology. Burns says that although there are "a number of high profile tech leaders Gender equality is a fantasy in the business technology world - men outnumber women and it is apparently going to take around 100 odd years to reach gender parity".  This sounds pretty hopeless however Burns concludes that when we have women in positions of digital leadership, we have role models and role models with a voice. So am I still tetchy? When I see articles that surprisingly exude the isolated success of another female digital leader then yes, but if the article exemplifies hopeful illustrations of leading female role models in the disparate tech world, then I have hope, hope that we are moving closer to the norm.

Acknowledgements

5 Female Digital Leaders Working to Reduce the Gender Gap
29/03/2016 Eloise McInerney

10 of the most successful women in UK technology on influence, leadership, equality and being digital role models Eleanor Burns April 26 2016

This is a modern world: a framework for developing students' digital leadership skills

Bijmer Centrum Amsterdam V McGarvey BY-NC-SA

In June I was awarded a University Teaching Excellent Fellowship. This is a 2 year fellowship and my focus will be on the development of a digital leadership skills via an online multidisciplinary module for final year and postgraduate students, that can be repurposed for different subject areas, using badging for competency acquisition. The focus will be leadership behaviour rather than role. I will be using Staffordshire University's Digital U digital capability values, based on the JISC digital capability framework, which are:

• Communicator, collaborator and participator: using technology to network and develop working relationships and effectively communicating online 
• Information and data handler: managing and interpreting data, as well as keeping it secure
• Creator and innovator: using a range of technologies for different activities and creating digital artefacts and materials  
• Learner and self developer: utilising different digital learning opportunities and using a range of online tools to participate in this
• Ambassador: developing a positive digital profile and looking after personal health and safety in digital settings

Proof of concept will be demonstrated via a mini MOOC for academic staff, which will develop their digital leadership skills and will enable them to be involved in the development of the module so that it is of a quality to deliver to students.

Wan NG at the Sydney University of Technology, has undertaken extensive work on digital literacies, saying that leaders in today’s world need to be digital literate, this means the ability to adapt to new and emerging technologies quickly and being able to engage with the new methods of communication that arise. This literacy includes an intersection of technical (online interfaces, applications), cognitive (critically thinking), and social– emotional (netiquette, safety) dimensions in digital literacy

Edinburgh University Business School's Dr Jim Hamill has stated that transforming digitally is the number one business challenge facing organisations today. Staying relevant in a digital world is the number one personal challenge we all face. We need leaders who possess both the confidence and personal skills to drive digital-led organisational change

Josie Ahlquist's 2014 article, Trending Now: Digital Leadership Education Using Social Media and Journal of Leadership, affirms that leadership educators are charged with preparing students to be relevant and productive citizens; capable of taking on the challenges our society has in store. Technology is a particular challenge that students have to deal with as it is all pervasive, can be disruptive and ever changing,which requires flexibility and being able to adapt. Ahlquist has developed a digital leadership framework, which has 10 competencies that equip students for digital disruptive world, which I will also look at integrating.    

    

1. Awareness of emerging technologies 

2. Digital content analysis and evaluation 

3. Online self awareness 

4. Establishing personal values, privacy, time management 

5. Cultivating professional strategic career online branding 

6. Building personal learning network 

7. Cyber conflict resolution and mediation – identification of negative behaviour 

8. Digital decision making strategies based on positive authentic constructive activity 

9. Integration of digital technologies into leadership presence – common activities encouraging other leaders leading by example 

10. Using social media for the social good 

The aim will be to engage students with the concept that leadership is not only role driven but about showing leadership within a given role. Developing a core set of competencies which they could possibly illustrate in a portfolio of evidence and also applying social change model which integrates reflection. This will develop resilient individuals that are prepared to enter digital world they are about to enter, that can show digital leadership in their given role.

Ahlquist, J., 2014. Trending now: Digital leadership education using social media and the social change model. Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(2), pp.57-60.