Chapter 8 Introduction: Undergraduate Voices in Leadership Learning

Dr. Jayme Renfro

In most collections of teaching cases, especially those addressing leadership in public service, the narratives are authored by scholars or seasoned professionals. This chapter takes a different approach. Here, the cases were written not by graduate students or faculty, but by groups of undergraduate students at the University of Northern Iowa. Their inclusion represents more than an instructional curiosity; it is a purposeful embrace of open pedagogy, a teaching philosophy grounded in the belief that students are not merely passive consumers of knowledge, but capable contributors to it.

Open pedagogy emphasizes collaboration, agency, and the authentic production of knowledge. When undergraduates are invited to create work with a real audience in mind--rather than simply completing assignments for a grade--they engage more deeply with course content and take greater ownership of their learning. In producing these case studies, students weren’t just learning about leadership theory; they were applying it, wrestling with ambiguity, and articulating complex dynamics through original examples. They stepped into the role of teachers themselves, distilling theoretical frameworks into accessible, practice-oriented narratives for others to use.

The cases that follow reflect a diversity of perspectives and contexts. Though undergraduate-authored, they are thoughtful, grounded in course material, and often surprisingly insightful in their interpretation of leadership concepts. These contributions also serve as a reminder that public leadership doesn’t begin with a graduate degree or a formal title. It begins with the capacity to observe, question, and analyze the world around us—and to imagine better ways of leading within it.

By including undergraduate work alongside graduate-level contributions, this chapter reaffirms the value of participatory learning and challenges traditional hierarchies in knowledge production. In doing so, it expands not only what we teach, but who gets to teach it.

This chapter introduction is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.