Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4.
The Existing ICT Infrastructure
The nature of the ICT infrastructure within the schools reflected the extent and
effectiveness of past planning and also appeared to influence how effective a school
would be in realizing future ICT-related initiatives. Schools that had accumulated
technology without any long-term plan identified issues such as the need to change
operating platforms because older computers were becoming too costly to maintain or
were incompatible with newer hardware and software. Principal 8 noted that when his
school first began to plan seriously for ICT, it already had in place “ a collection of
computers, with some Apples and some PCs of varying ages and descriptions, and they
required a fair bit of bringing together to decide which way we were going to
proceed .” In contrast, schools that had planned their ICT development from the outset
had acquired specific components to enhance their general capability. School 3, for
example, had planned for and had in place a well-developed, single-platform infrastruc-
ture with a school-wide network and a laptop for each teacher/classroom. The ability
of this school to build effectively on its infrastructure would doubtless be greater than
the ability of those schools that had not planned their infrastructures.
While some of the schools had one or two staff with some technical knowledge, or a
board member or parent who could provide advice, others struggled with the technical
decisions to be made (for example, which server to purchase; how best to network the
school). The lack of in-house technical expertise, coupled with the cost of hiring
external expertise, was a problem for most schools.
5.
Alignment Between the Schools' ICT-Related Strategies and Educational Strategies
Of the schools, only the principal from School 3 had clearly articulated the role of ICT
in supporting school strategic planning in respect of teaching, learning, and improving
its administrative functions. The documentation from two of the other schools revealed
some obvious links between their strategic plans and their ICT plans. For example,
School 8 stated in its ICT plan its intention to “ utilize the computer resource . . . [and]
to continue staff development in ICT,” while School 7 intended to “ build an (ICT)
resource area . . . [and] establish an IT program and plan that will ensure that children
are provided with opportunities to develop their knowledge of and skills in the use
of IT .” However, for the remaining schools, we were unable to find links between the
two plans.
Our analysis of the schools' strategic plans confirmed that only one or two schools saw
ICT as a tool that could go beyond supporting curriculum initiatives to supporting
changes and improvements within the school. For example, although the plans had
common strategic objectives like, “ the promotion of the school or its activities” and
the need to focus on numeracy and literacy ,” ICT was infrequently identified as a tool
for supporting either of these objectives. Only Schools 3 and 6 were using ICT to
enhance the recording and analysis of student progress, and only School 6 had clearly
articulated this use in its ICT and strategic plans.
The role that ICT can play in facilitating school administration appeared to have been
overlooked in the strategic planning of all schools except School 3. While many of the
seven remaining principals identified the large administrative workloads carried by
themselves and the teachers, when asked how they thought ICT might be used to
support such functions, their responses indicated they had not seriously considered
the potential of ICT to improve administration and communications as well as resource
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