Course Syllabus

Fall 2026 | EDU-2041-VO01 - Leadership, Mentoring & Supervision for Early

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Heather Mattison
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Philip Crossman

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course focuses on the development of leadership and mentoring by practitioners in early education and afterschool settings. It provides a basic understanding of leadership and group dynamics theory, including goal setting, decision making, problem solving, delegation, motivation, and performance evaluation. Students develop a personal philosophy of leadership and become familiar with strategies for mentoring early childhood and afterschool professionals.

Essential Objectives

1. Describe a variety of leadership strategies that can be used in early childhood education and afterschool settings, and develop a personal philosophy of leadership.
2. Analyze leadership styles for strengths and challenges connected to ongoing professional development for an early childhood education or afterschool practitioner.
3. Demonstrate supervisory strategies for effective management of group dynamics within early education and afterschool environments (e.g., problem solving, decision making, prioritizing, delegating, reporting, motivating).
4. Create a professional development plan designed to advocate for and influence regional, state, and national early childhood or afterschool education initiatives.
5. Discuss moral and ethical issues for leaders in early childhood education and afterschool programs.
6. Discuss the importance of cultural competence in early childhood education and afterschool professions and identify skills and strategies for supporting and collaborating with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
7. Practice the interpersonal skills necessary for effective mentoring and coaching, including efforts to solicit and share differing viewpoints and perspectives.
8. Explore practices for identifying professional stressors and strategies for promoting resiliency among early childhood education and afterschool practitioners.
9. Describe the process of creating and revising mission and vision statements within organizations engaging program staff in its development and implementation.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Allowed: This course's generative AI policy acknowledges technology, including generative AI, plays a supportive role in learning and feedback. During our class, we may use AI writing tools such as ChatGPT in certain specific cases. You will be informed as to when, where, and how these tools are permitted to be used, along with guidance for attribution. Any use outside of these specific cases constitutes a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

During our class, you may use AI support tools for grammatical support, such as Grammarly.

Methods

• Online discussions
• Short written assignments
• Cumulative reflective writing assignment

Evaluation Criteria

1) Class participation (60%) gives the student opportunities to demonstrate mastery of the course content through discussion, in-depth analysis of the content, and expression of ideas about the material. Participation will be graded based on the time spent participating in online discussions.

2) Leadership and Advocacy Professional Development Plan (20%) allows the student to plan how to continue their professional development on leadership, mentoring, and supervision skills.

3) Personal Leadership Philosophy (20%) allows the student to reflect on the class learning and how they will incorporate the material into their own leadership.

Participation

Participation is graded through the class discussions. The class will run from Tuesday to Monday each week. The class discussions are open for the semester; this means you can — and should — look ahead to what's coming to prepare for future weeks while participating in the current week’s discussion. The expectation for participation is:

• You will post a response to the class question by Thursday at midnight
• You will pose your own question by Saturday at midnight each week
• You will respond to at least three other classmates by Monday at midnight each week

Online Discussion Grading

Grading Criteria:Excellent	t (4 pts)	Good (2 – 3 pts)	Fair (1-2 pts)	Poor (0 pts)
Relevance of Post	The posting thoroughly answers the discussion prompts and demonstrates an understanding of the material with well-developed ideas. The posting integrates assigned content and makes strong connections to practice.	Posting addresses most of the prompt(s) and demonstrates a mild understanding of the material, with well-developed ideas. The posting references assigned content butmay not make connections to practice.	The posting fails to address all components of the Makes short or irrelevant remarks. The posting lacks a connection to practice.	No posting.
Quality of Post	Appropriate comments: thoughtful, reflective, and respectful of others’ postings.	Appropriately comments and responds respectfully to others' postings.	Responds, but with minimum effort. (e.g., "I agree with Bill")	No posting.
Contribution to the Learning Community	Post meaningful questions to the community, motivate the group discussion, and present creative approaches to the topic.	Attempts to direct the discussion and present relevant viewpoints for the group's consideration; interacts freely.	Minimum effort is made to participate in the learning community as it develops.	No feedback provided to fellow student(s).
Timeliness	Initial post by Thursday of the week of class, question to classmates by Saturday, and at least three responses by Monday.	Two out of three requirements (initial response, question, and three responses) are posted on time. One requirement is late.	One out of three requirements (initial response, question, and three responses) is posted on time. Two requirements are late.	All three requirements are late.

Leadership and Advocacy Professional Development Plan (20% of grade)

Early childhood and afterschool leaders have a variety of roles in their programs and in the community, state, and national systems that support the industry. Growing as a leader and advocating for industry changes are two critical areas for early childhood and afterschool leadership to develop.

In this assignment, you will submit a professional development plan for yourself that focuses on developing your knowledge and skills in your leadership and on advocating for changes. Developing knowledge or skills in leadership means identifying areas that interest you in leading staff, families, or the community in early childhood or afterschool settings, such as mentoring, supervision, support, observation, and more. Advocating for change means speaking to someone or a group to express your support. This could involve advocating to your local community, a business, the state or federal government, or other groups that can effect change.

Your professional development plan must include the following components:

• Assessment of leadership strategies, including the strengths and challenges of the different strategies. It also must include a self-assessment of your knowledge/skills in advocacy
• At least one goal for each area: leadership skills or knowledge and advocating for change (these should be SMART goals)
• Strategies and resources to achieve the goals
• A Timeline

Personal Leadership Philosophy (20% of the grade)

Personal Leadership Philosophy allows students to reflect on what they learned in class and how they will incorporate the material into their own leadership. This philosophy should describe students’ beliefs about how best to lead, supervise, and mentor early childhood or afterschool staff. Expected length is at least 2 to 3 paragraphs, no longer than two pages.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Any missed classes will affect your grade. We will be covering a lot of material over the course of the semester and most of it will not be able to be replicated through outside assignments. The course is designed to enhance learning through participation and when you miss class you will miss that learning opportunity. Attendance is defined as participation in the online discussion. Three or more absences may result in failure of the class.

Missing & Late Work Policy

It is expected that assignments will be handed in on time. You can expect your assignments to be returned to you on time, as well- one week after the due date. Assignments will be marked down to half of the points it would have been given if on time if handed in up to a week late. After a week the assignment will receive a zero. This is the policy regardless of the reason the assignment is late.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/student-support/accessibility-services/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.