{"id":13653,"date":"2015-07-16T16:27:30","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T20:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webmakerblog.wpengine.com\/?p=13653"},"modified":"2019-02-26T12:40:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T20:40:20","slug":"web-literacy-and-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/mozilla-learning\/web-literacy-and-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Web Literacy and Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been talking about \u2018leadership development\u2019 since early on in the Mozilla Learning (aka Academy) planning process. Basically, the idea is to get more people to teach and advocate for web literacy<\/a>. If we can create a global network of these people \u2014 and help them be great at what they do \u2014 our whole web literacy agenda moves faster and is more likely to succeed.
\n 
\n\"leaders\"<\/a>
\nThis sort of leadership development is something we\u2019ve been doing through Hive and fellowships for years. What\u2019s become increasingly clear over the last month or so is: a) this has become one of our core strengths and b) it is one of the biggest places we could have impact going forward. This has lead us to the conclusion that leadership development should be one of the core elements of our overall learning strategy<\/strong>. With this in mind, I want to lay out some initial thinking about what we mean by \u2018leadership\u2019, describe the kind of impact we\u2019re trying to have and pose some questions we need to answer.<\/p>\n

The basics<\/b><\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s start with some basic definitions. For discussion purposes, the kind of \u2018leaders\u2019 we want to find and develop are:<\/p>\n

Leaders = people who in one way or another are helping others to read, write and participate on the web (aka \u2018web literacy<\/a>\u2018).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These leaders could be helping others through teaching or mentoring. Or through organizational change or learning projects. Or by explicitly designing and organizing programs to promote web literacy. I consider all of these to be acts of leadership that advance our cause.
\nWhen we talk about \u2018leadership development\u2019, we are describing the process of:<\/p>\n

Leadership development = helping these people become more skilled, self aware and networked by getting them working on concrete projects. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The approach that we\u2019ve been using \u2014 and will continue to develop \u2014 borrows from the field of service learning<\/a>. We focus on hands-on, experiential learning where people develop skills by working on a project in service of a bigger goal<\/strong> aligned with Mozilla\u2019s mission. These experiences simultaneously: a) help people become better at hard skills (e.g. coding or research); b) provide opportunities to learn soft skills (e.g. teamwork or mentoring); and c) contribute concretely to the work of Mozilla or a partner organization.<\/p>\n

Impact<\/b><\/h4>\n

Ultimately, there are two core places where we hope this part of our strategy<\/em> will have an impact:<\/p>\n

Global = more people teach and advocate for web literacy<\/strong>.
\nPersonal = individuals have more skills, confidence and opportunity<\/strong>. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Combined, these things create both a talent pool and motivational economics that will build momentum. And, ultimately, they make it more likely that we will succeed with our overall agenda of universal web literacy.
\nOn the global level, we are already having a meaningful impact. Hive, Mozilla Clubs and our fellowships are already resulting in:<\/p>\n