Nocom, Noeme M. <br/><br/>
Digital leadership practices of deans in selected state universities and colleges in Region III  Implications on the 21st century education /  [manuscript] : 
Noeme M. Nocom. 
 - Balanga City :  BPSU,  2016. 
 - 168 leaves ;  28 cm. 
<br/><br/> Include bibliographical reference. 
<br/><br/> Twenty first century education is a great concern and challenge to all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) because of the so-called digital and innovative learners 'NetGen'. Thus, digital higher education leaders no longer have a choice but to excel in virtual as well as physical spaces, requiring them to acquire professional and technological competencies since they are considered 'heartware', the internal operating system as a whole in the digital age with core values, life, mission and passion. This paper therefore, describes the digital leadership practices of deans in selected State Universities and Colleges and the implication of its findings on 21st Century education.  Specifically, the study identified the demographic profiles of both deans and faculty members in terms of age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, and length of service. It presents further the digital leadership practices of the deans such as visionary leadership, digital age learning culture, professional excellence, systematic improvement, and digital citizenship, described by both the deans themselves and the faculty members. It also tested the significant difference between the perceptions of deans themselves and faculty members on the digital leadership practices of deans, and the digital leadership practices of the deans when grouped according to their profile. Findings of the study, moreover presented the implications on the 21st century education.  This study got a total of 346 respondents of which 40 or 100% of them are deans while 306 or 45.54% are faculty members of different programs or colleges in selected eight SUCs in Region III.  This study utilized descriptive-cross sectional method of research, using universal sampling technique for dean respondents and stratified sampling technique for faculty respondents. It employs modified standardized test as a survey-questionnaire as the main tool for data gathering, set by ISTE.NETS.A- International Society for Technology in Education. National Educational Technology Standards. Administrators Item Reference Matrices.  Data were tallied, scored, tabulated, presented, interpreted and analyzed based on the format required on the specific problems stated in Chapter 1 of the study. Statistical treatment of data such as frequency, mean, and inferential statistics was carried out with the use of statistical software called SPSS version 17.00.   In light of the findings, the researcher has drawn fundamental issues such as: comparatively, in terms of respondents' profile, most faculty members are younger compared to the deans in terms of age; female outnumber the male respondents in both dean and faculty members; likewise in terms of civil status, majority are married; concerning the highest educational attainment, dean respondents got the most highest educational attainment being Doctorate degree holders while most faculty members are Master's degree holders; lastly, as regards to the length of service, dean respondents have been teaching longer than the faculty members who are mostly new in their teaching profession.   Digital leadership practices of the deans in selected SUCs in Region III are somewhat satisfactory as a whole based on how the deans themselves and the faculty members rate them. However, among the five areas namely: visionary leadership, digital age learning culture, professional excellence, systematic improvement and digital citizenship, both visionary leadership and professional excellent practices are found to have 'sometimes practiced', which may well be considered as the areas of strengths of the deans. In contrast, digital citizenship practices are concerns which suggest the weakest area. Evidently, all the digital leadership practices obtained a rating suggesting that they are consistently 'sometimes practiced' by the deans.     With the Digital Leadership Practices of the Deans as Perceived by Deans Themselves and the Faculty Members, significant difference exists between them, thus; the null hypothesis of no significant difference between these two (2) groups is rejected. Though the mean rank of the deans is higher compared to the faculty members, both are found to have 'sometimes practiced' in regard to digital leadership practices. Hence, while the deans have significantly higher appreciation for their own digital leadership practices than how the faculty members esteem them, both groups have mean ratings equivalent to "sometimes practiced" is somehow satisfactory. As a whole, digital leadership practices of the deans are perceived to be 'sometimes practicing' which is also agreed upon by the faculty members.  Concerning the significant differences of the digital practices of the deans when their profiles are grouped accordingly, age, sex, civil status and highest educational attainment are found 'not significant' while the length of service variable is found to be 'significant'.   The findings of the study therefore give implications that though majority of the deans in selected SUCs in Region III belongs to Generation X, they can still welcome changes and innovations using technological devices for the transformation needed from traditional to digital leadership; may possess an unusually large degree of openness to new information and strong conviction and persistence to meet and exceed learning with innovations to strengthen one's weakness in terms of digital age learning culture practices, achieving excellence in performance as they put emphasis on technology literacy to develop professional growth in digital community, with full electronic participation in society, not only confine with national but in global community as well.  On digital leadership practices, deans are good in visionary leadership and professional excellence. Embodying these may collaboratively involve the university to digital community in creating and sustaining shared values, vison, mission and goals to take part in attaining the 21st century education. On the other hand, the weakest point which is digital citizenship can be justified through the deans' age being digital immigrants, thus older deans in the university should strive to be tech-savvy leaders.  Obviously, there is consistency between the perceptions of two sets of respondents, revealing significant differences exist on the digital leadership practices of the deans. Distributed leadership is an important determinant of productive collaboration in a virtual environment, a way of supporting professional excellence which has shown the most significant difference.  To lead in the 21st century requires keen attention as a part of visionary leadership to clearly see where the leader chooses to be in the future and formulate necessary steps to get the organization there. Older deans are found to practice these always than younger deans of the university. Becoming a more authentic leader this 21st century requires self-improvement strategies, taking responsibility for his own development to be at ease with the many technological tools in a digital environment to become globally competent and competitive.   Lastly, as length of service is found significant in digital leadership practices of deans, the process of digital transformation, school deans and other academic leaders should be guided by notions that such transformation is a marathon- a race that never ends yet a long-term goal which has to be consistently developed, thus as years in service increases, deans' expertise in digital leadership also enhances.  Deans' digital leadership practices as a whole, though considered 'sometimes practiced' are somehow satisfactory and esteemed to be 21st century way. They can be catalysts for change and the pillars to provide support to stakeholders especially the faculty members who are in contact with the learners of today's generation.  	It gives further recommendation for sustaining digital leadership practices linked with the five areas. As a whole, State Universities and Colleges' should developed competencies and training on digital literacy, as well as opportunities to engage with faculty members, students, staffs and other deans in the use of digital tools for the purpose of building a cultural understanding and global awareness.   Specifically, The deans, together with the faculty should welcome innovation, embrace change and challenge themselves to walk-the-walk as efficient and effective model within the support system to encourage all improve their status of being 'digital immigrants' closer to being 'digital natives'-digital citizenship. The deans need to be in tuned with faculty members to gauge their opinions and views and involve them for effective technology planning in terms of e-learning activities utilizing digital tools. It is most significant that the dean provides ICT training and seminars for all faculty members for successful e-learning activities like making their own curriculum mapping, preparing presentations through Power Point and Prezi presentations-professional excellence. Deans should focus on continuous improvement of existing approaches and processes and adaptation to change and invest in personal learning through education, training and opportunities using e-tools so as to improve e-learning environment and may start allowing faculty members making assessment for learning philosophy and a strong understanding of 21st century pedagogy-systematic improvement. The Academic Council where the deans belong, has to ensure that there should be updated revisions of curriculums were ICT integration and the utilization of different digital tools and gadgets within and beyond the classroom setting be considered within the system to expose all learners- officials, faculty, staffs and students in digital communication  and collaboration-visionary leadership. As one of the university leaders, the deans need to acknowledge that learners are