PAGE TURNER
by Colby Brown and Tony W. Cawthon
Professionals working in higher education and student affairs, particularly those in housing and dining, know that relationships and human connections are the heart of the profession. As we pass the COVID-19 pandemic’s one-year milestone, we can also better appreciate the connections provided by virtual spaces. Digital Leadership in Higher Education: Purposeful Social Media in a Connected World by Josie Ahlquist (2020, Stylus Publishing) serves as a reminder that students – whether physically on campus or not – yearn for authentic and genuine connection. It is our responsibility to enhance the higher education experience for students, and that includes more effective use of digital technologies. Ahlquist brings this digital leadership philosophy to life through a framework composed of core values, life mission, leadership capacity, and action. This book was crafted to empower educators, practitioners, and aspiring professionals to become digital leaders who enact purposeful social media. It provides critical information on this topic and offers the reader numerous application exercises designed for reflection and application of chapter concepts.
This book is separated into three parts: (a) Primer for Digital Leadership (b) A Purpose-Driven Digital Leadership Presence (c) and Digital Leadership in Practice. In the introduction and Part I, Ahlquist gives a detailed overview of social media and the role of digital tools in society and higher education. Chapter 1 includes practical exercises that readers can use to perform their digital checkup, assess their technology usage, and understand various platforms. Consider this a crash course on media and tools being used in digital leadership. Chapter 2 presents information about purpose-driven digital leadership, providing rich data from a recent quantitative study to discover demographics, social media usage patterns, and higher education professionals’ preferences, including those of residential life. This study provides an excellent baseline for discussion on the use of social media within institutional contexts. Chapter 3 examines digital identity as it connects to the field of higher education. Readers are encouraged to embrace technology in their leadership practice and to explore digital literacy, identity, reputation, and branding through a myriad of reflections and exercises. As professionals explore avenues for increasing their competency with information technology, Ahlquist’s book on digital tools, technologies, and resources and how they enhance student learning and success is a valuable resource.
The second section of the book focuses on purpose-driven digital leadership, which begins in Chapter 4 by inviting the reader to activate the self-work required to lead authentically online. Ahlquist brings leadership theories, branding, and values-based strategies to the exercises and stories that make up this four-chapter section. This chapter spotlights the question of "What is your why for leading online?" As scholars and practitioners navigate and plan for shifting priorities due to the pandemic and recent social injustices – often operating behind a digital screen – it is essential that we bring our mission, beliefs, and values online and ensure and enhance connection with each other and our students. Ahlquist introduces a purpose-driven leadership presence built on five guiding principles: connection, personalization, strategy, change, and legacy. Using these guiding principles, Ahlquist empowers readers to "embrace change and prioritize community building, using a personalized, values-based strategic approach for collaborative meaning-making.” Chapter 5 provides a detailed overview of leadership theories, models, and frameworks – such as strengths-based leadership, servant leadership, and strategic social change – appropriate for digital leadership. Readers with previous knowledge of leadership theory might be tempted to skip this chapter, but it is worth digesting as the information is presented in a manner specifically for digital leadership.
Chapter 6 focuses on the four pillars needed to create values-based social media strategies: (a) community engagement and stakeholder activation (b) digital tools and strategic communication (c) real-time contribution (d) and intended purpose. Social media efforts that include a purposeful plan grounded in values can drive home the importance of belonging and genuine connection. This section concludes with Chapter 7, which concentrates on building a digital presence by prioritizing people and owning and uploading authenticity. The frameworks and examples provided welcome readers to create meaningful content that aligns with their brand mission. One of the professionals interviewed in the book, Kristen Abell, a higher education marketing and communications professional and co-founder of The Committed Project, spoke to the value of authenticity: "I honestly thrive on being authentic and vulnerable in digital spaces – I think it allows me to advocate for others in a way that I had struggled to do offline previously. And it allows me to be a leader in ways that I can't always do offline without a specific degree."
The book concludes with a focus on digital leadership in practice. Chapter 8 presents innovative approaches for social media platforms with practical examples, while Chapters 9 and 10 offer real-life stories and testimonials from forward-thinking digital role models working in higher education. It is here in the book that Marci Walton, previously the associate director of residential life at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and now a training consultant with Com Psych, explains that her why for leading online is that “students are constantly told horror stories of online mistakes but are rarely provided examples of how to engage authentically in online spaces.” The book concludes with an excellent chapter on the future of digital leadership. Specifically, Ahlquist offers higher education-specific considerations for the holistic education of students about digital leadership. This cultural shift would lead to competencies essential to cultivate in higher education spaces, including digital wellness, conflict navigation, and crisis management. Ahlquist closes the book by challenging readers to start leading “with willingness, willpower, and wonder. Lead wherever you are. Simply tell your story. Lead wherever you are. Fill your feed with values. Lead wherever you are. Lead where you are, offline – online – personal – professional. It’s all life. It’s all you.”
Throughout the book Ahlquist calls on the reader to expand their leadership capacity and action in offline and digital spaces. Digital Leadership in Higher Education is packed full of research, case studies, reflective application exercises, and testimonials from current student affairs practitioners and educators leading the digital charge. By engaging with these tools and activities, the reader can understand and reflect on how their identity, core values, and story can fully show up as they embrace digital leadership. The reflective application exercises would be perfect for housing professionals to use in professional staff training and as part of ongoing conversations about professional development.
Separate from training or continued learning, additional testimonials within the book's pages showed that housing professionals held virtual office/student hours and created social media pages for their “fur babies” to post to the campus community. The latter idea came from a residential advisor asking “What would he [the animal] tweet right now, and what would his Facebook status be?” These conversations may prove worthwhile to have when supervising residential assistants or residential hall associations and would provide an opportunity to intentionally reflect on and create social content on the marketing and facilitation of passive and active programs and services. From welcoming residents to their residential hall or onboarding new student staff, could a Google Classroom or series of video content posted on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram provide space for students to have a sense of belonging?
While many higher education institutions and housing professionals have made the swift transition to remote and online/hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, strategies for engaging with all students – each with their own identity and story – are essential. Ahlquist’s book can help all who support the student experience create better connections and a sense of belonging. As Walton stated, “I hope that we see social media as not something we have to manage, but rather as another tool in our toolkit to help reach, retain, and impact students.”
Colby Brown is a Clemson University Business EDGE graduate assistant. Tony Cawthon, Ph.D., is the director of graduate studies for the Clemson University College of Education. "Page Turner" is a recurring column that pairs Cawthon with a graduate student or professional colleague as they review books and scholarship of interest to campus housing and student affairs.
