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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>>However in
schools this was not always the case - individual teachers and other staff
seemed to believe that their individual views represented that of the entire
school, and IT staff were pulled in all directions, often contradictory, After
unblocking one website for one staff member, they'd get another complaining that
their kids could now waste time on that same website. After installing some
piece of software based on one request, theyd have someone else asking him why
staff were being confused with multiple offerings. You can probably see his
dilemma.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>His view that he was paid by the school to meet the school's needs -
but the school's needs were not always clearly defined</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>>He commented that in some schools the IT support people ended up taking
the lead because there seemed to be nobody else willing to manage a process that
reached a school-level view on priority and strategy. He thought this was a
dangerous situation. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ken, has your IT technical manager been speaking to
our IT technical manager? One of the biggest frustrations our guy has is that he
feels he is there to serve the needs of the school community, but that the said
community doesn't seem to have a clue where it wants to go with all this IT
staff. And that is a curriculum issue, not an IT issue.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It sounds to me like Royce is taking a tough but
perfectly understandable line on all this. Not wishing to put words into his
mouth, but something like "show me the evidence that this will improve student
learning, get the school to agree with you, and then come see me with your
proposal"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert T-A</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kenjprice@gmail.com href="mailto:kenjprice@gmail.com">ken price</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=itapps@edulists.com.au
href="mailto:itapps@edulists.com.au">Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing
List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 08, 2008 10:05
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] RE: Google
docs issue</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I agree, the analysis of how IT meets organisational needs is valid as it
is part of the course.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I'll tell a short tale of a very skilled IT technical manager at a
school where I taught. He had spent several years working for large
national organisations as IT manager. He was (and still is) very keen to make
IT work for the school in the best possible way. He is a very valuable school
IT manager.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>After a few months working at the school he made an interesting
observation about schools vs his past employer which might be relevant
here.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He noticed that in the large organisations, there was strong governance
over ICT decisions and investment. Decisions were made/endorsed by senior
management based on needs and suggestions put forward by all staff (including
IT support). It was thus very clear what the organisation wanted in terms of
ICT. However in schools this was not always the case - individual teachers and
other staff seemed to believe that their individual views represented that of
the entire school, and IT staff were pulled in all directions, often
contradictory, After unblocking one website for one staff member, they'd get
another complaining that their kids could now waste time on that same website.
After installing some piece of software based on one request, theyd have
someone else asking him why staff were being confused with multiple offerings.
You can probably see his dilemma.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>His view that he was paid by the school to meet the school's needs - but
the school's needs were not always clearly defined. He felt that if staff in
most large organisations directly approached their IT support unit demanding
their own way, they'd be referred very quickly to the IT decision-making
committee. If they did it more than once, things would get serious for them.
Similarly, he saw that if his IT support staff ignored the priorities set by
the organisation and did whatever they thought was a good idea or interesting,
their job would be in jeopardy.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He commented that in some schools the IT support people ended up taking
the lead because there seemed to be nobody else willing to manage a process
that reached a school-level view on priority and strategy. He thought this was
a dangerous situation. It relates directly to Anne's quote from the Unit3
syllabus.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>So perhaps there is another issue here - the nature of schools and how
they reach decisions on how they want to use IT,innovate, etc, and how these
decisions are informed by educational and technical issues?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The IT manager was unsure if schools are inherently different
to other large organisations, or if there is something else here. I haven't
spoken to him for some time, so I'll get in touch and see what his views are
now,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps we can get some examples of how schools manage this school-level
decision making and how it translates into the work that "techies" do?
Perhaps they would be useful as case studies for students?</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Ken Price
<DIV>DoE Tasmania</DIV>
<DIV>President, TASITE <A
href="http://www.tasite.edu.au/">www.tasite.edu.au</A><BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:10 AM, <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:murch@tpg.com.au">murch@tpg.com.au</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">This
discussion may have gone on long enough but I would like to argue that it is
not inappropriate to<BR>this list or OT as it embraces the very nature of
the ITA course. From the summary of the VCAA course<BR>design.<BR>"Unit 3
focuses on how individuals or organisations use ICT to solve information
problems. This unit<BR>focuses on how ICT is used by organisations to solve
ongoing information problems and in the<BR>strategies to protect the
integrity of data and security of information."<BR>I think that this is a
realistic problem that teachers and technicians on the list are looking at
and are<BR>discussing. It is one that will be used for my students next year
as they will see the relevance of such a<BR>problem as it pertains to their
education. It has been interesting to hear the opinions of the
various<BR>people involved in organisations - technicians, educationalists
etc And best of all, here is a virtual team<BR>in action trying to solve the
problem.<BR>So thank you to everyone, and I in no way meant to be an
egotistical contributor, simply someone<BR>seeking a solution.<BR>
<DIV class=Ih2E3d>Anne Mirtschin<BR>Hawkesdale P12
College<BR>_______________________________________________<BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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