Mobilizing Leadership for Innovative Open and Distance Education in the 21st Century

Leading change and digital transformation takes more than technology. It will require a rediscovery of a new leadership and putting innovation back into the core of each leader. Building a community for innovation requires a synergy of the entire community – educators, government and ministry leaders, students, faculty, private providers, social service organizations, religious leaders, parents, and more. Indeed, what we should be developing are ‘communities for innovation’ that collectively embrace innovation in all its guises and creative capacities (Olcott, 2014; Rogers, 2003). Returning to Kotter’s change model, innovation is inherent in all eight steps. We want to encourage, nurture and reward innovation and creativity. Leadership is at the crossroads. We will stay there in open and distance learning unless we begin to think differently about how we think about vision making and leading change.