Leadership for the Emerging Age: Transforming Practice in Adult and Continuing Education (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) [Hardcover]

Jerold W. Apps (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787900362 | ISBN-13: 978-0787900366 | Publication Date: October 25, 1994 | Edition: 1st

Jerold W. Apps draws on twenty-five years of experience researching and teaching leadership and leadership development to provide adult educators with a blueprint for developing a profoundly different approach to leadership--one that is all-embracing of ideas and people, capitalizes on diversity, and remains open and responsive to change.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Leaders no longer control and determine. They guide and respond. In this book, Jerold W. Apps provides adult educators with a blueprint for developing a profoundly different approach to leadership--one that is all-embracing of ideas and people, capitalizes on diversity, and remains open and responsive to change.Apps draws on twenty-five years of experience researching and teaching leadership and leadership development to show adult educators how to leave behind their ``expert'' role and learn from the learners. Using ideas from behavioral science and the arts and humanities, he reveals how an individual's beliefs and values about knowledge, people, and ethics are at the core of leadership. And he outlines a process for examining those beliefs and developing a personal philosophy of leadership that encourages cooperative work, as well as individual achievement. Apps also offers specific guidance on how leaders can take charge of their own development--and ultimate transformation--including advice on developing a personal learning plan, keeping a journal, and writing a personal credo statement.

From the Back Cover

Leaders no longer control and determine. They guide and respond. In this book, Jerold W. Apps provides adult educators with a blueprint for developing a profoundly different approach to leadership--one that is all-embracing of ideas and people, capitalizes on diversity, and remains open and responsive to change.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (October 25, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787900362
• ISBN-13: 978-0787900366
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Leadership for the Emerging Age, February 19, 2006

By 

Daleena Babcock "Daleena" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leadership for the Emerging Age: Transforming Practice in Adult and Continuing Education (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) (Hardcover)

Leadership for the Emerging Age was written for adult educators who are looking for new ways to hook learners as society changes and people have different expectations of educators, educational intuitions, and teaching styles.
The purpose of this text is three fold: (1) to examine the characteristics of this new era we are experiencing and its implications for adult education, (2) to explore the dimensions of a leadership approach that fits the times, and (3) to provide a series of practical suggestions for people who want to become leaders in the emerging age. (Apps, xi)
With leadership education as my undergraduate major this book and the tie between leadership and program planning was very interesting to me, and I enjoyed the read. I feel that the leadership aspect of the text is accurate, the author lacks depth in his writing on these topics, but what has been discussed is accurate according to my previous research.
Leadership for the Emerging Ages is written with a mix of scientific research on leadership theory and approaches matched with the authors personal experiences in the educational field and his personal opinion about education and leadership. The book is a good read for anyone who would like some general information about leadership and how their leadership philosophy might tie into their work as an educator. However, the book is over eleven years old and I feel compelled to question many of the author's ideas because as we know things change so fast in this "information age" that it is hard to find opinions about leadership relevant when it is over ten years old. My other reservation with this text is in the fact that the author talks a lot about what people should do to become leaders of the emerging age, but never offers any real solutions on how to implement these ideas into the reader's life.
The text is organized in a series of chapters that are designed to help educate the reader on the three goals mentioned above. I would like to examine the text to see if in fact the author did meat his goals.
The first goal of the text according to Apps is "to examine the characteristics of this new era we are experiencing and its implications for adult education." (Apps ix) I feel that Apps does an excellent job in the first two chapters of looking at adult learners today, compared to the past. Apps discusses some of the changes that we see as society moves forward. One point that the author made was "As we move from age to age, some elements of the pervious age continue. We don't cut all ties with the pervious age in favor of the new." (Apps 13)
I think as educators it is important that we remember that we are working with people of a new age, but there are still those who are living in the past that we must serve too. As we move forward we must remember that we can't change everything. Change is a process not an action.
Apps also discusses the new perspective on adult education and says "The perspective is shifting from a mechanistic attitude marked by objectivity, control, predictability, competition, efficiency, and single view of knowledge to an attitude that values context, shared power, multiple relationships, and varied knowledge sources in which predictability is often impossible." (Apps 18)
Through Apps vision of the new perspective I see his connection of education to leadership. We move from educators to leaders when we can make the destination between filling empty vessels with as much information as possible and partnering with our students to help them learn as much as they can so that the knowledge gained can be used.
The second goal that Apps wanted to reach with his writing was to "explore the dimensions of a leadership approach, that fits the times." (Apps ix) The term from the book that I think sums up what Apps is trying to get across to the reader regarding the new leadership approach is `whole person" leadership. "The whole person approach to leadership is an approach that combines thinking and feeling, matters of the head and matters of the heart. " (Apps 4) The authors believes that in order to have a whole person approach to leadership that you must first have a personal leadership philosophy. It is important to have a basic understanding of leadership before you can create your own personal leadership philosophy. The author discusses different leadership theories, and what theories are thought to be accurate for today's age.
The third goal Apps hoped to reach through the text was to "provide a series of practical suggestions for people who want to become leaders in the emerging age." (Apps ix) The majority of the text was designated to cover this goal. The author discusses how to develop your own personal philosophy of leadership and how values and beliefs tie into that as well as how gender differences affect leadership. In my opinion the author touches the edges of how to create a philosophy, but no real suggestions or techniques are mentioned on how to go about completing this task. I was disappointed with this aspect of the text. The goal was met to make suggestions for what people might consider doing to become a leader, but I really felt that the author should have given some tips on how to go about making these suggestions into reality.
In conclusion, Leadership for the Emerging Age is a book written to encourage educators to look at innovative ways of teaching and leading, in their career field, to reach out to a boarder range of potential students and change their teaching styles and attitudes to match with the new age. People today are looking more for a partner in their educational experience rather then a dictator. The author states three goals that he hopes to reach through the text, and I felt that he did a good job of educating the reader on those three goals. Although this book does have some relevant information I would not recommend it because I feel that there are more recently published books available that do a better job of introducing leadership ideas and give ample recommendations and tips on how to implement these leadership tactics into the lives of the reader.

5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership for the Emerging Age, April 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Leadership for the Emerging Age: Transforming Practice in Adult and Continuing Education (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) (Hardcover)

(C) 2004
Leadership for the Emerging age is about the emergence of leadership for adult educators. Program planners are being asked to learn new approaches to getting through to adult learners. Apps concludes we must include overlooked audiences, provide learning environments with both the traditional and distance types of learning, and provide a program, which exceeds standards and quality of the past. These changes are occurring everyday and the changes are created after a pattern of time. Therefore, the current and new leaders who are also called program planners must create a present type of teaching and foster an inventive learning for adult education. "The Purpose of this book is to:
~Examine the characteristics of this new era we are experiencing and its implications for adult learning.
~To explore the dimensions of a leadership approach that fits the times.
~To provide a series of practical suggestions for people who want to become leaders in the emerging age.

This book is written for any program planners or leaders in adult education, those who are interested in learning how to become a leader, and those graduate students who are studying about adult and continuing education."
The chapters of the book are based around the definitions of the emerging age and leadership.
1- Adult education from traditions in churches, military, and in corporations.
2-New perspectives referred to as the "emerging age."
3- Historical perspectives on leadership; myths; leadership.
4-Writing personal philosophy in leadership.
5-Beliefs and values - philosophy in leadership.
6-Characteristics for leaders in a transition period.
7- Creating a common Vision/Mission statement.
8-Gender differences in leadership.
9-Changing times for teachers and learners.
10-Personal learning plan using a journal and reflection.
11-Making a transformation.
12- Operating planning programs.

As the author explains ways to create leadership in the emerging age, visions and structures which were outdated must now be expanded. Even though the author wrote this book in 1994, we are still in a transition into the emerging age. The author has proven throughout this book that program planning in adult education is a continuing process as we enter the emerging age. It is evident according to Apps that we can adapt to changes to ensure future success in our approach to planning.
As a future program planner, I realize how important it is to create a vision and mission statement which remains constant into the emerging age. There are differing methods of creating a vision statement and philosophy for our educational setting. We added to and amended our philosophy to track the varying needs. We faced a challenge of creating a new philosophy to fit all of the participants needs.
What are the essentials for participants in a program planning model? One of the principals stated by Apps is how important flexibility is when offering a distance course. Participants want courses offered at a distance using computers because of the flexibility it offers which Cafferella confirms. As a program planner, flexibility is a top priority. Another important principal is overcoming the myths of the program planning process.
These myths must be confronted before one can participate in an adult education. Cafferella also confirms that one must overcome myths and accept truth based in reality.
Additionally, a participant must have the skills to adapt to the learning community. Therefore, this must include communication, human relation, critical thinking, perception, sense of time, reflection, abstraction and learning skills. Once participants become accustomed to these skills, they will be able to create their own personal philosophy for the emerging age. The person who does not create a personal philosophy will not have direction for instruction. Cafferella enlightens us as to how important it is to have a proper vision statement, philosophy, and skills to thrive in adult education. On page 65, Apps includes a diagram (fig 4.1) that explains an approach for developing a philosophy of personal leadership. It resembles the program planning model used by Cafferella.
Apps writes, "A leader for the emerging age is a teacher but not just a traditional giver of information, although that is part of the role. The leader as teacher is a counselor, a supporter, an encourager, a modeler, a challenger and a questioner. The leader as teacher helps people learn how to work together in groups, support each other and learn from one another. In these situations, the leader becomes a manager of learning, assisting the learning groups in finding resources and carrying the results of learning from one group to other groups in organization. The leader respects indigenous knowledge, embraces it, and passes it on to others. For the leader, knowledge takes many forms. It comes from reflecting on experience, it comes from experience of the past, it comes from research and scholarship, it comes from moments of solitude."
Reflecting on this paragraph highlights that a teacher is also a leader in the emerging age. A person involved in program planning, should include this book as a resource to enhance learning in an adult and continuing education. It serves as a guide for creating a program planning process. It shows us we should reflect on ourselves to inspire participants with the realization that leaders are lifelong learners who encourage others to do the same. Whether you are a teacher or a leader in another field, you must adapt to the changes coming our way in the emerging age which is the primary theme of Apps book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning and Leadership, March 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Leadership for the Emerging Age: Transforming Practice in Adult and Continuing Education (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) (Hardcover)

Leadership for the Emerging Age is an excellent book about educational leadership and leaders. Each chapter discusses different aspects or ideas about leadership. The chapters build on each other as the reader walks through the steps to find the leader in themselves.
Traditional ideas about leadership are discussed in relation to how these ideas have changed. Change appears to be the constant force in this book. It is interesting that Apps points out one of the aspects of a good leader know oneself to be able to handle change. The one constant is the leader among all the change.
I found this book to succeed in the author's intentions. The layout of the book makes logical sense. It takes the reader from the beginning of the development stage to the transformation and application of new leadership abilities. It is easy to read. The language used by the author is easily understood and excellent examples are provided to give the reader an even clearer understanding. Apps make leadership and the development of these qualities easy to understand for those with an education background and those without.