UNO Educational Leadership Faculty Books and Monographs | Department of Educational Leadership

Educational Leadership Faculty Books and Monographs

Books and monographs written in whole or in part by the Educational Leadership Department faculty members are collected here.

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Women and Educational Leadership: A practitioner’s handbook

Jeanne Surface and Kay Anne Keiser

Women in Educational Leadership: A practitioner’s handbook is a handbook for practitioners in the field who identify as women or support women in leadership at all levels. We know that education, although predominantly and traditionally a profession of women, still clings to a patriarchal hierarchy that leaves women navigating leadership differently. By recognizing, deconstructing and interrogating the intersectionality of this experience, our hope is that this book will provide a diversity of narratives that will prompt reflection, dialogue and inspire change. Whether you are a teacher, a school or system leader, or an aspiring educator or leader, and wherever you are on the spectrum of gender, this collection of essays will help you to see different, question more deeply and create space for possibility in all educational settings.
The Leader Reader: Narratives of Experience

Darrin Griffiths, Scott Lowrey, and Jeanne Surface

A book written by Educational Leaders for Educational Leaders! The Leader Reader is a superb collection of 119 narratives from educational leaders throughout the world. These authentic and powerful international learning experiences take the reader from Utah to Malta, Gloucestershire to Singapore, Toronto to Abu Dhabi and back again, with new inspiration, learnings, and hope after every chapter. Whether dealing with an under-resourced school or an overwhelming workload, these educational leaders have seen it all and share their hard-won experiences. This book is essential reading for educational leaders wanting a broader network of peers to learn from and ideas to explore.
The Principal Reader: Narratives of Experience

Darrin Griffiths, Scott Lowrey, and Jeanne Surface

The Principal Reader speaks directly to aspiring, novice, and experienced school leaders. The book features 56 leadership narratives from practising school leaders from the United States and Canada on topics such as: leadership theories in practice; confronting the status quo; improving instruction; reconciliation through education; leading through adversity; the challenge of change; fostering collaborative learning cultures; and social justice.
Digital Media in Teaching and its Added Value

David F. Conway, Stephanie A. Hillen, Melodie Landis, Mary T. Schlegelmilch, Peter Wolcott, Deepak Khazanchi, Bjørn Erik Munkvold, Aleksandra Lazareva, Jeanne L. Surface, Mary T. Schlegelmilch, Phyllis K. Adcock, Victor L. Winter, Paul J.A. van Vliet, and Jeremy Harris Lipschultz

Editors: David F. Conway (UNO faculty member), Stefanie Hillen, Melodee Landis, Mary T. Schlegelmilch, Peter Wolcott (UNO faculty member)

Chapter, The Value of Investigating Information Technology Applications for Teaching and Learning Purposes, co-authored by David F. Conway and Peter Wolcott, UNO faculty members.

Chapter, Towards a Contingency Theory of eLearning, co-authored by Deepak Khazanchi, UNO faculty member.

Chapter, Collaborative Technologies and Digital Media in Teaching and Learning: Starting Small and Learning Along the Way, co-authored by Jeanne Surface and Phyllis Adcock, UNO faculty members.

Chapter, Information Technology for Development: Service Learning from Classroom to Community and Back Again, co-authored by Peter Wolcott, UNO faculty member.

Chapter, The World Needs More Computer Science! What to do?, authored by Victor Winter, UNO faculty member.

Chapter, Building an Online Systems Development Course – Experiences with Content and Interaction Design, authored by Paul J. A. van Vliet UNO faculty member.

Chapter, Social Media Communication in the Classroom: A Pedagogical Case Study of Social Network Analysis, authored by Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, UNO faculty member.

This book project was initiated in fall 2013 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Nebraska during a Global Engagement Research and Teaching Workshop between faculty from UNO and the University of Agder (UiA), Norway.

The anthology presents articles that center on the application of digital technologies that add value to the teaching and learning process in a globalized context. The unique focus of the book is the intersection between pedagogy and technology, specifically the innovative use of technology to improve higher education teaching and learning. With the increased mobility of faculty and students, more diversity among our students and faculty, increased cross-disciplinary designs, alternative environments enabled by technology, and greater demand from the millennial generation for increased access and flexibility, it is important to share accounts where technology has made a positive impact on the instructional process.

Topics that are discussed are local studies with implications for the global environment and the innovative use of technology to improve higher education teaching and learning.

The target audiences for the book are researchers, teachers and stakeholders in learning organizations interested in using IT for teaching and learning.
Key Questions for Educational Leaders

Darrin Griffiths, John P. Portelli, and Jeanne Surface

Key Questions offers 42 short essays from international educational leadership scholars and practitioners on everything from parental engagement to special education to supporting Indigenous students. This book is a valued and requisite resource for both practising and prospective educational leaders.

Racism, social class, equity, social justice, spirituality, ethics, accountability, indoctrination, authority, accountability, advocacy, social justice, feminism, spiritual leadership, and critical self-reflection are among the many intangible aspects of leadership covered in this book.

Some of the critical questions include:

i). What does racism have to do with school leadership?

ii). Why should school principals think about social class?

iii). How can educational leaders support sexual and gender minority students in our schools?

iv). What is feminist leadership?

v). How should student voice impact educational leaders?

vi). How does educational leadership influence student learning?

vii). How can educational leaders promote mental health in schools?

Each question and response will provide the reader with insight into the challenges and tensions as well as next steps.

This book is the most comprehensive book on educational leadership on the market and its greatest strength is found in the 42 authors ability to connect the theory and practice with improving schools so that all students benefit.
Critical Social Justice Issues for School Practitioners

Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Joanne M. Garrison, John W. Hill, Jeanne L. Surface, Kay Anne Keiser, Peter J. Smith, and Karen L. Hayes

Editors: Sandra Harris and Stacey Edmonson

Chapter 5: From Ice Raids to Equity: Hispanic Students' Progress through High School in an Immigrant Responsive City, co-authored by John Hill, UNO faculty member.

Chapter 9: Focusing School Leadership on Poverty and Ethnicity for K-12 Student Success, co-authored by Jeanne L. Surface, Kay A. Keiser, Peter J. Smith, and Karen L. Hayes.

This project was borne of a desire to support these scholar-practitioner leaders. We invited educational leaders to share recent studies which brought issues of social justice to the fore. Certainly, the 20 papers that were accepted as chapters for this book do not address all of the problems with which educators are faced. Nor do the 20 chapters provide definitive answers to these difficult issues. However, they do provide valuable information and ensure that thoughtful, reflective dialogue is occurring regarding critical social justice understandings or misunderstandings.
Educational Leaders Encouraging the Intellectual and Professional Capacity of Others: A Social Justice Agenda

Elizabeth Murakami-Ramalho, Anita Pankake, Jeanne L. Surface, Peter J. Smith, Kay Anne Keiser, and Karen L. Hayes

Editors: Elizabeth Murakami-Ramalho and Anita Pankake

Chapter 5 Leadership for Social Justice : A Matter of Influencing Policy Development, co-authored by Jeanne Surface, Peter Smith, Kay Anne Keiser and Karen Hayes, UNO faculty members.

This book examines how to encourage the development of others towards social justice practices. The processes of development include practices such as mentoring, coaching, professional development, and the exploration of alternatives to reculture the work environment and enhance collaborative partnerships. Many groups play a role in the leadership and improvement of social justice opportunities in education, such as students, new teachers, veteran teachers, teacher leaders, new campus leaders, veteran campus leaders, parents, district leaders, non-certified school personnel and board of education members. Their preparation and development are explored in this volume through the people’s voices and experiences. Finally, challenges can be recognized in the effort to encourage the development of others, including local and federal policies, new forms of academic delivery, and the preparation of leaders in ever-evolving educational structures. These issues will be fully explored with the aim of informing practitioners and scholars in the field of educational leadership.
Rural Superintendents: How Do Wyoming Rural Superintendents View and Respond to the Challenges Brought about by External Demands on their Schools?

Jeanne L. Surface

Very little is known about how superintendents respond to and view the challenges brought about by increasing external performance demands on their schools. This important study uses a multi-case study format to create portraits of five rural superintendents, the challenges they face, and their responses to those challenges. The participant perceptions were organized into five themes: declining enrollment, isolation, board and community relations, celebrated accomplishments, and rural schools in contrast with urban or suburban schools. The superintendents were most proud of changes they had made to improve instruction in their districts. They spoke of challenges with bringing professional development to teachers in isolated rural areas; declining enrollment and closing schools; federal mandates; schools facilities; serving in multiple roles; and state bureaucracy. There were many misconceptions about rural schools by the general public and even less about the tremendous stress of being a superintendent in a rural school.