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ICT Leadership for Education Managers

Information leadership: Managing ICT resources (Module 3: Workshop 1)

Schools at present operate largely as separate worlds. Staff work long hours and have relatively little contact with other schools and school systems. Effective transformation requires leadership and vision to connect schools in a networked age, to expose teachers to 'the bigger picture', and to work collaboratively within and outside the school. That is, leadership is needed to make the school a place which mirrors the global world environment which students will enter, and which encourages and supports students and teachers to move beyond today's physical boundaries of the school.

Strategic Analysis: Improving Teaching and Learning in Australian School Education through the use of ICT. (1999).
» Curtin, ACT: LifeLong Learning Associates.

It is striking how similar teaching situations and challenges are around the world. The extent to which individual schools succeed is largely dependent on the information leadership that principals can provide.

Is ICT central to curriculum development in your whole-school improvement plan?
How well are teachers in your school supported in their use of ICT through continuing professional development, ready access to ICT resources and technical support?

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

- Conduct and reflect on a visual attitude self-assessment.
- Analyse ICT integration practice.
- Plan specific actions to improve ICT integration in your school.
- Articulate a personal ICT vision for your school.
- Reflect on school ICT policy.
- Manipulate a school ICT budget.

3 hours

Workshop questions: Can ICT be managed equitably?
Can I provide information leadership?

  Description Resources
1 Attitudes (20 min)
  • Working on your own, complete the visual attitude chart which gives a view of your attitude towards computers.
  • If you complete that task early, open the Teacher Attitude Survey and read through it. You may like to administer this survey to your teachers.
 » View the visual attitude chart

» View the Teacher Attitude Survey
2 Information leadership (40 min)

An information leadership 'equation' considers a whole school ICT approach to information use through three key domains - information literacy, information policy and knowledge management
  • Listen to the trainer presentation. (10 minutes)
  • Work in pairs. Open the worksheet and discuss each point. In your discussion identify what action you can take to achieve or overcome each pitfall.
  • In summary, open your course workbook at item 3-1-2 and answer this question: What sort of things as a leader will you have to do to support ICT integration at the school?
 » View the ICT Integration worksheet

» View the trainer presentation

» View the course workbook (first time only)

» Information Leadership
3 Vision (45 min)
  • Meet in pairs and explore what you would like to see happening with ICT in your school. (10 min)
    • What sort of vision is there about what learners and educators will do in a school where ICTs are integrated?
    • What kind of visible results (and/or changes in behaviour) would you like to see at the school from ICT-change and within what time-frames
    • The support that will be needed at the school for ICT-related changes in behaviour and practices to be achieved;
  • Join pairs to form groups of four. Share your ICT vision with the group. Discuss and clarify issues that may arise. (10 minutes)
  • Work on your own. Open your course workbook. Write a press article that you imagine someone writing about your school in three years' time would write. What would you ideally like the reporter to be saying about the impact of ICT and related events at your school at that time? (25 min)
  
4 ICT Policy (30 min)

A policy can be used to communicate the vision to the school community, and to explain the beliefs that underpin it. A policy explains what is intended to happen and the process through which it will happen.

Your school ICT vision should be a shared vision and your policy should be a participatory process.
  • Discuss the trainer presentation with the whole group and make notes in your workshop diary about what policy decisions can make your personal vision become possible.
 » View the trainer presentation on ICT Policy.

» ICT Policy guidelines

» The NAACE Self-review Framework
5 Budget (45 min)
  • Work in pairs or with a colleague from your school.
  • Do a visual ranking of ICT budget items.
  • Open the budget and change the grey areas to reflect your ideas about ICT budget. You may also change the labels and add items.
  • Compare your budget allocations to your visual ranking results. Were you consistent with your decisions? Did you allocate a greater percentage of your budget to your top choices in the visual ranking?
 » View the budget file
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

» Issues regarding effective use of ICT resources
» School ICT learning programmes
» School ICT readiness


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