ICT Leadership for Education Managers

Issues regarding effective use of ICT resources (Module 3: Workshop 2)

"Policy provides school community members with the guidance required to ensure a consistent approach in dealing with a contentious issue. With the increasing impact of ICT integration, the need for a well-articulated and understood information policy process has been brought to the fore in many schools. And the key to successful policy implementation is that this is developed and 'owned' by all stakeholders within the community." Hay, L. (2001). Information leadership: Managing the ICT integration equation.

Computers in New Zealand Schools, 13(3), Nov: 5-12.
» http://www.tki.org.nz/r/ict/ictpd/learnatschool/index_e.php

By the end of this task you could achieve the following outcomes:

- Identify the characteristics of an information literate learner.
- Discuss , reflect on and identify best ideas for managing access to ICT.
- Identify ways in which you can encourage ethical use of information in your school.
- Evaluate effective use of ICT in your school.

3 hours 15 min

Workshop questions: Is ICT an opportunity or a burden?

	Description	Resources
1	Information literacy (60 min) Meet in groups of three. Identify a list of characteristics of an information literate learner. The resource may provide you with some ideas. (15 min) Share your list with the class group and add useful new ideas to your list. (10 min) Meet in pairs. Identify the main points of a plan of action to ensure that learners in your school are information literate. (15 min) Open your course workbook and update section 3-2-1. (20 min)	» View Information Literate Learners. » View the course workbook (first time only). Information literacy is the ability to locate, evaluate and effectively use the information needed for a particular purpose. Ultimately information literate people know how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how information is organised, how to find information and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. (ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy 1989)
2	Managing control and access (30 min) Work in groups of four (each from a different school). Share how each school manages access to the ICT facilities. Use these questions as a guide: (20 min) Who gains access during the day? How do they schedule the access? Who gains access after school hours? How is the use of the ICT facility monitored and supervised? Is access equitable? Is there a clear user policy? How is it managed? Work on your own. Open your course workbook at 3-2-2 and list the best ideas for managing access to ICT that you heard in your discussion.
3	Ethical use of information (30 min) Listen to the trainer presentation on copyright and fair use. Ask questions to clarify your understanding. Take the short copyright quiz. Work in pairs. Identify and list ways in which you can make your teachers and learners aware of copyright you can prevent learners copying and pasting information (plagiarising) Update your course workbook at item 3-2-3.	» View the trainer presentation on Copyright and Fair Use. » Start the Copyright Quiz.
4	Acceptable use (30 min) Work in pairs. Read one Acceptable Use Policy each. (10 min) Discuss the Acceptable Use Policies, using the following questions as a guideline: (10min) What is the purpose of an AUP? Is an AUP necessary in a school? Is an AUP just a set of rules? Can you improve on these AUPs? What is your plan of action regarding an AUP in your school ? Open your course workbook at item 3-2-4 and note your intentions. (10 min)	» Read the Acceptable Use Policy for Grayston Prep » Read the Acceptable Use Policy for Sun Valley Prep
5	Effective use (45 min) Work in groups of four. It is an important part of the budgetary cycle and ICT policy cycle to assess the use of ICT in your school. Start by discussing what you would regard as effective use of ICT in your schools. (15 min) Construct a list of indicators of effective use of ICT. In other words, what would you need to see happening to know that ICT is being effectively used? (15 min) Open your course workbook at item 3-2-5 and record these indicators. (15 min)	» View the guidelines questions on effective use.
6	Community of principals Join the Partners in Learning Network and find a community of principals online.	» Go to the Partners in Learning Network

Related scenarios

» Information leadership: Managing ICT resources
» School ICT learning programmes
» School ICT readiness