Class Preparation (300 points)

Attendance and Participation

Participation of each class member is a central component of this course, and includes both your preparation for class and your engagement in classroom activities. Attendance is a necessary part of participation since you must be present to participate in class sessions. Thus, a 25 point deduction will occur for each class session that you miss (may include late arrivals and early leavers). Each student is granted one "get out of class free" pass (i.e., no points deducted) for one absence provided that he/she let the instructor know in advance of the class that will be missed.

Web Postings (300 points total)

For nearly every week of assigned reading (see course schedule), you will post a response on Web Vista. Your response should be crafted after reading the required reading for the assigned class AND after considering the web posting question (see course schedule). Note: web posting questions are drawn from a critical thinking framework. Web Postings are due (must be posted) by 8:00 am (according to the Web Vista clock) on the day due. Web postings should be 200-250 words. Grading for web postings will be guided by this rubric. In each posting, you must submit original work that reflects your own ideas, understanding and words. Do not copy text or quote ideas directly from another source. Late postings (i.e., posted after 8:00 am on date due) will receive "0 points." The official time of posting will be recorded by the Web Vista clock.

• Guidelines on how to post a message to a Web Vista discussion board (Note: this is a PDF document)

Team Leadership and Writing Assignments

Class presenation and leading a Class Session (250 points, plus 50 points for quality of peer feedback)

Each student/group will present/lead a part of a class session that will address the queston of how leadership and management is used to influence change in human service organizations, the social programs and constituents they serve, and related issues of social and economic injustice. In groups of 3 or 4, students should select a particular population/problem (e.g., adolescent substance abuse, single mothers on public assistance, homelessness, teen pregnancy) served by the social work profession. The student/group will be responsible for:

1. Selecting a relevant reading (maximum 50 pages) and reviewing the Web Vista postings for the class period in which they present. Reading selections must be made known to the instructor at least 8 days prior to the presentation date, so that the readings may be posted on the course website and announced in class at least one week in advance. Readings must be selected from Waldo e-library or e-journals or another credible on-line source and may include chapters from books, research articles, magazines, or newspaper articles. However, the majority of the reading selection must be theoretically or empirically based (e.g., cannot only select newspaper articles).
2. Lead a class presentation of the topic area in a mock training session for beginning level HSO managers/leaders. The presentation/training session must address three basic questions: (a) What do beginning level HSO leaders/managers need to know about leadership and management related to the chosen population/problem of focus? (b) What do beginning level HSO leaders/managers need to be aware of (e.g., what should leaders/managers understand about the impact or effects of the problem on HSO employees or clients)? and, (c) What skills to HSO leaders/managers need to have to be effective change agents in dealing with the problem? Students/groups will be responsible for coordinating the assigned class session, which includes presentation of content, organization of exercises, if any, and facilitating classroom discussion. If students are assigned to groups, then the class presentation may cover all individual topics in the group or focus on one (or two) areas agreed upon by the group. Each group will be provided a private Web Vista discussion forum to communicate and plan their work. The grade for this assignment will be calculated from input given by all participants (instructor and students). Note that the quality of the peer feedback that you give other students/groups will be graded (worth 50 points).

Final Paper (400 points)

For the final assignment of this course, you will write a term paper (7 to 10 pages) that describes your evolving concepts of leadership and how they apply to the challenges faced by leaders/managers of human service organizations that serve populations-at-risk or address issues of social and economic injustice. Your final paper is designed to build on the course readings (and web postings) and to be an extension of your presentation topic. As such, the particular leadership challenges that you choose should fit within the scope of the special topic of the class session that you will lead. Examples include: the disproportionate number of minority or women leaders; abuses of leadership power and the impact on disenfranchised client groups; impact of leadership style on staff versus clients; and, leadership ethics and social advocacy. You have the luxury of choosing a topic that is of interest to you; however, you are expected to integrate ideas from assigned class readings into your paper, as well as add other scholarly sources more specifically related to your topic.