Distributed leadership and digital collaborative learning: A synergistic relationship?

This paper explores the synergy between distributed leadership and digital collaborative learning. It argues that distributed leadership offers an important theoretical lens for understanding and explaining how digital collaboration is best supported and led. Drawing upon evidence from two online educational platforms, the paper explores the challenges of leading and facilitating digital collaborative learning. The paper concludes that distributed leadership is integral to effective digital collaboration and is an important determinant of productive collaboration in a virtual environment. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic • The establishment of digital platforms as a way of supporting professional learning is now ubiquitous, and this has underlined the need to explore and understand leadership in a virtual setting. • In the digital world, inevitably leadership has to be shared or distributed, and this places particular challenges upon those leading in such environments. What this paper adds • A commentary on the practical challenges of leading and forming collaborative groups online. • A reflection on issues of power and authority where leadership is “invisible.” • The argument that technological competence is necessary but not sufficient for effective collaborative learning online and that collaborative skills are also needed to be explicitly taught and refined in the online environment. Implications for practice and/or policy • The implication for practice is the need for training and preparation in the use of the online platform for those leading or facilitating the collaborative learning prior to