Dwarfs on the Shoulders of Giants (translated with DeeplPro)
by Bernhard von Chartres around 1120
Something new can only start once. And the first version of the new approach and framework Agile Educational Leadership in Post-Digitality (AEL) has already been published here in the form of the AEL Book 1.0 in 2021.
Since then, the title of the approach and framework has been further developed into AAEL – Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership for the co-creation of (higher) education in post-digitality.
And because something truly new can only begin once, instead of the prelude, there is an introduction at this point. It begins with the question of why or how such a framework, followed by a brief definition of Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership in the post-digital age, as well as comments on the structure and special features to facilitate orientation between the versions – and concludes with a renewed invitation
Why AAEL?
Education is important in many ways – in the narrower sense, it is crucial for an individual’s path in life. In the broader sense, our future, our democracy and a healthy life on earth depend on education. Of course, this also applies to other areas of society, such as clever business and politics.
And why then is it such a challenge to make education more adaptable in the face of our current crises, to make it better today with an eye to the future – whatever that may initially mean – and to make it more contemporary? Why do novelties always feel newly new?
Formative examples, such as the AI applications with an focus in German educational system, wherin AI has been widely accessible to all since the end of 2022, show that it is better to negotiate and act together, consistently and quickly. And that it seems appropriate to change our perspective. One that does not view the speed of the respective developments as an obstacle that only needs to be overcome in order to fall back into a state defined as normal, but rather to accept speed as a continuous, everyday accompanying process, so that change, complexity and dynamics are a natural framework for the everyday design and facilitation of education in the digital world.
Isn’t it much more important to go beyond recognizing and dealing with an already challenging present and an uncertain future, and to start dealing with how change can become an active part of transformative everyday life and thus be lived right now? How, then, can a complex entity and its actors – such as the (higher) education sector – develop in such a way that it is always able to act confidently in complex situations and that the people in it can deal with change in a routine and healthy way? So that the next particularly big challenge does not require an ad hoc, hectic and exhausting back and forth between routine and crisis mode?
This is where the framework of Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership (AAEL) in Post-Digitality comes in with its idea of a way forward. Not meant as a supposed silver bullet. And yet as an offer to move step by step, together with all actors in the (higher) education sector across all levels, in a solution-oriented way with the everyday changes in our deeply mediatized society. The digital transformation is in full swing and has contributed to the development of social, communicative and cultural changes to such an extent that it is now a matter of course as part of the framework and the range of possibilities for the education sector. And thus, in a post-digital sense, no longer needs a demarcating differentiation into analog and digital.
The aim of AAEL is to take responsibility for education as the basis and goal of democratic coexistence and participatory interaction. An AAEL addresses both structural and personal aspects as well as cultural developments and contextual conditions. The normative idea behind this is that education is shaped step by step by all actors in their own sphere of action through value- and principle-oriented action in the sense of an AAEL, and that democratic practices are experienced, cultivated and reinforced in everyday life.
The current development process of AAEL is characterized by two special features: on the one hand, my educational and pedagogical as well as media-pedagogical perspective on the field of education and higher education, from which I take a differentiated look at the topics, assess them critically and combine them with each other. And on the other hand, a solution-oriented problematization of challenges in a state of constant change and a conviction of what is already feasible today and can be shaped together.
In this respect, the motivation to continuously develop Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership in post-digitality as an integrative, theoretically and empirically connectable transdisciplinary framework for the sovereign design of (higher) education for all actors has remained constant since version 1.0 – and corresponds to what characterizes and drives me and my previous work in this field.
Term AAEL
Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership (AAEL) is a transdisciplinary framework that aims to actively and sustainably shape education in the post-digital era in a value-based and principle-oriented way. It combines the concepts and approaches of agility and ambidexterity to promote innovation and optimize stability in a process-oriented way. AAEL addresses individuals and organizations equally across micro, meso, and macro levels, enabling a culture of simultaneous agency in complex and dynamic educational contexts. . The framework supports individuals and organizations in education to be able to act in their leadership with confidence and resilience in the face of constant change.
Structure
Since the release of version 1.0, the further development of the framework into Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership (AAEL) for the co-creation of (higher) education in the post-digital era with ambidexterity in the title has not only added a new core building block. In addition to the introduction of the AAEL bot, the release of version 2.0 in the summer of 2024 is particularly noteworthy. For the first time, a short version of the AAEL framework was offered, which included a visualization, AAEL values and principles, and further transfer considerations. It is to be understood as an executive summary with a transfer claim to the practice of higher education and will be continuously updated as the AAEL framework develops.
And now the AAEL framework is available as the current version 2.1, which combines the existing material from version 1.0 in the form of in-depth chapters with completely new material. So, in the spirit of contextual ambidexterity, here is an interplay between the existing and the new. And an endurance of the fact that the existing is not perfectly updated in all places and the new is not yet fully worked out and incorporated.
The current structure of the (A)AEL 2.1 online book includes new and updated texts as version 2.1, while also drawing on the previous work of version 1.0, in which it will remain for the time being. And so, for the moment, it is transparent and authentic in this compilation – especially for those who are particularly interested in the new texts.
The structure of this website and the navigation on the right-hand side have been adapted to allow for both linear reading and targeted reading of individual sections:
And so, the current version 2.1 of the AAEL framework consists of the following elements:
- Introduction (this one)
- AAEL short version
- Weiteren Kapitel aus AEL 1.0
— Why Educational 1.0?
— Digitality 1.0
— Person-orientation 1.0
— Ambidexterity 1.0
— Agility 1.0
— Leadership 1.0 - AAEL Transfer (coming up)
- AAEL Practice (coming up)
- Beyond that (coming up, see Version 1.0)
- Backlog
- Changelog
- AAEL-Bot
Das Backlog wird weiterhin gepflegt und so in der Priorisierung deutlich, woran als nächstes gearbeitet wird. Das Changelog gibt einen stetigen Überblick über die vorgenommenen Veränderungen zwischen den jeweiligen Versionen. Und die flankierenden Beiträge im DUA-Blog, die auch auf der Website des Online-Buchs eingebunden sind, geben weitere Kontextinformationen für etwaige Änderungen zwischendrin.
The next incremental steps will follow shortly. They will continue to be published here as intermediate versions, and thus be made available for discussion and feedback. It remains to be seen which elements will have to be abandoned in the ongoing process, what will be added, and how the next step towards version 3.0 of the AAEL framework will then proceed.
Invitation!
With Ambidextrous Agile Educational Leadership, I would like to invite you to take a step-by-step approach to boldly shaping the future of education together – because that future begins today! We all shape this future in our own environment – with courage and confidence or by waiting and seeing.
Last updated 14.03.2025 (Changelog)
