Information Technology in Educational Management for the Schools of the Future IFlP - The International Federation for Information Processing IFIP was founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO, following the First World Computer Congres.s held in Paris the previous year. An umbrella organization for societies working in information processing, IPlP's aim is two-fold: to support information processing within its member countries and to encourage technology transfer to developing nations. As its mission statement clearly states, IFIP's mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organization which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of information technology for the benefit of all people. IPIP is a non-profitmaking organization, run almost solely by 2500 volunteers. It operates through a number of technical committees, which organize events and publications. IPlP's events range from an international congress to local seminars, but the most important are: • the IFIP World Computer Congress, held every second year; • open conferences; • working conferences. The flagship event is the IPIP World Computer Congress, at which both invited and contributed papers are presented. Contributed papers are rigorously refereed and the rejection rate is high. As with the Congress, participation in the open conferences is open to all and papers may be invited or submitted. Again, submitted papers are stringently refereed. The working conferences are structured differently. They are usually run by a working group and attendance is small and by invitation only. Their purpose is to create an atmosphere conducive to innovation and development. Refereeing is less rigorous and papers are subjected to extensive group discussion. Publications arising from IPIP events vary. The papers presented at the IFIP World Computer Congress and at open conferences are published as conference proceedings, while the results of the working conferences are often published as collections of selected and edited papers. Any national society whose primary activity is in information may apply to become a full member of IFIP, although full membership is restricted to one society per country. Full members are entitled to vote at the annual·General Assembly, National societies preferring a less committed involvement may apply for associate or corresponding membership. Associate members enjoy the same benefits as full members, but without voting rights. Corresponding members are not represented in IFIP bodies. Affiliated membership is open to non-national societies, and individual and honorary membership schemes are also offered. JOIN US ON THE INTERNET VIA WWW, GOPHER, FTP OR EMAil: WWW: http://www.thomson.com GOPHER: gopher.thomson.com fri'\® A service of I(DP FTP: ftp.thomson.com EMAIL: [email protected] Information Technology in Educational Management for the Schools of the Future IFIP TC3/ WG 3.4 International Conference on Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM), 22-26 July 1996, Hong Kong Edited by Alex C.W . Fung Department of Education Studies Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Adrie ..1. Visscher Faculty of Educational Science and Technology University of Twente Enschede, The Netherlands Ben-Zion Barta Ministry of Education Jerusalem, Israel David C. B. Teather Faculty of Social Sciences Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong [un[ SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.v. First edition 1997 © 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Chapman & Hali in 1997 ISBN 978-1-4757-5497-1 ISBN 978-0-387-35090-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-35090-5 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction only in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with the terms of Iicenses issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here should be sent to the publishers at the London address printed on this page. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibiIity or Iiability for any errors or omissions that may be made. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library i§ Printed on permanent acid-free text paper, manufactured in accordance with ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 and ANSIINISO Z39.48-1984 (permanence of Paper). CONTENTS Preface x Key Note Speech 1. Quo Vadis? - Internet 3 Elizabeth Wong, Legislative Councillor, Hong Kong Part 1: Tomorrow Schools 2. Internet support to school innovation management 7 Barta, B.Z. and Telem, M. 3. The impact of internet on ITEM: educational management in 15 preparation for the future Fung, A. C. W. and Pun, S. W. 4. Information technology - a tool and an obstacle in the education of the future 23 Makela, M. 5. Information technology in educational management of tomorrow's school 31 Telem, M., Barta, B.Z. and Levin, K.D. Part 2: Computer-assisted Decision-making 6. Technological facilitation for decision-making in education 41 w., Spuck, D. MacNeil, A.f., Prater, D.L. and Palumbo, D.B. 7. Potential contributions of management science to expert information systems in schools 52 Taylor, R.G. 8. Facilities for computer-supported decision-making in schools: 57 explanations for lack of use and proposals for improvement Visscher, A.f. VI Contents Part 3: Organisational Cultnre 9. Information systems effectiveness and organisational culture: an underlying. model for ITEM evaluation 65 O'Mahony, C.D. 10. The impact of organizational culture on the success of information technology projects 73 Reyes, M.G. Part 4: Evaluation & Implementation 11. Implementation of the School Administration and Management System: a Hong Kong experience 83 Ip Tsang, B.C.H. and Lee, S.Y.F 12. An operational model for the implementation of computerised school information systems 90 Nolan, CJ.P', Ayres, D.A. and McKinnon, D.H. 13. Administration, management and IT in education 98 Selwood, I.D. and Drenoyianni, H. 14. Evaluation ofITEM for proactive development 105 Wild, P. & Fung, A. C W. Part 5: Systems Development 15. Distributed ITEM for the future: moving towards client-server systems 117 Davey, B. and Tatnall, A. 16. Developing information systems for schools of the future 122 Fulmer, CL. and Frank, FP. 17. TESS: An interactive support system for school timetabling 131 w.Y. Ng, 18. The intelligent discussion supporting system over the computer network 138 Okamoto, T. and Inaba, A. 19. Benchmarking for education managers 146 Warwick, J.D. Contents Vll Part 6: Learning Process Management 20. Support system for Chinese language teachers: a case of ITEM in support of teaching 155 Fung, A.c. Wand Hau, S.S. 21. An educational tool for planning and monitoring the teaching-learning process in Dutch secondary education 161 Hogenbirk, P. 22. Electronic learning contract for the assessment of projects in information systems 166 Kwok, R.C. Wand Ma, J. 23. System modelling of ITEM: re-engineering of educational processes 172 Yndestad, H Part 7: Panels and Discussions -Summaries 24. The preconditions for computer-assisted decision-making in tomorrow's schools 181 Hogenbirk, P., Taylor; R.G. with Davey, B., Tarrago, F.R. and Warwick, J.D. 25. Impact of information and communication technology on the management of future schools 185 Makela, M., Nolan, P., Fulmer, c., Tatnal!, A. with Frank, F., Fung, A.c. W, Gorsler; H, Okamota, T., Visscher, A.J., Yndestad, Hand Yongmanitchai, W 26. Evaluation strategy for ITEM quality 189 O'Mahony, C.D., Wild, P. with Selwood, J.D., Kraidej, L. and Reyes, M.G. Index of Contributors 195 Keyword Index 196 INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE Dr. Ben-Zion Barta (Chair) Israel Dr. Alex e.w. Fung (Co-chair) Hong Kong Dr. Moshe Telem (Co-chair) Israel Mr. Gordon Davies UK Mrs. Betty Ip Hong Kong Mr. Y.Y. Ng Hong Kong Prof. Patrick Nolan New Zealand Mr. Brian Samways UK Prof. Dennis Spuck USA Prof. Raymond Taylor USA Dr. Adrie Visscher Netherlands Dr. Phil Wild UK Prof. Harald Y ndestad Norway CONFERENCE ORGANISING COMMITTEE Dr. Alex e.w. Fung (Chair) Hong Kong Baptist University Dr. Jack Chan Hong Kong Baptist University Mr. Jerome Day Hong Kong Baptist University Mr. W.K. Kwok Hong Kong Education Department Mr. M.S. Lau Hong Kong Education Department Mr. Jacky Pow (Secretary) Hong Kong Baptist University Mr. S.W. Pun Hong Kong Institute of Education Dr. Atara Sivan Hong Kong Baptist University Prof. David Teather Hong Kong Baptist University SPONSORS International Federation for Information Processing, T.e. 3, W.G. 3.4 Department of Education, Hong Kong Government Hong Kong Baptist University THE WORKING CONFERENCE HAS BEEN SUPPORTED BY Epson Foundation, Hong Kong Novell Hong Kong Ltd PREFACE This book is for both specialist and generalist. For Information Technology (IT) and Educational Management (EM) researchers, it brings together the latest information and analysis of ITEM projects in eleven countries. But the issues raised by this collection of papers are so important for schools, school systems and the future of education that it is essential reading not only for researchers but also for teachers, administrators and all concerned with the planning and governance of our education systems. New technologies may improve our lives in two ways: by enabling us to do things better (accomplishing what we do already more efficiently) and by enabling us to do better things (accomplishing new things that we were not able to do before). Sometimes "doing things better" merges into "doing better things". Thus in the 19th century the coming of the railway enabled our forbears to accomplish their existing journies in less time and in greater comfort. But it also opened up the prospect of new journies to more distant places, and led ultimately to far-reaching changes in lifestyles in new, commuter settlements far from the old city centres. So it is in the present day with Information Technology in Educational Management. Some of the papers in this volume focus on specialist tasks, for example how to develop a computer-based decision-support system to help those drawing up school timetables. Others address situations in which the power of the technology offers us the potential to change radically what we do. The papers in this volume have been selected from those presented at the second International Working Conference on ITEM, held in Hong Kong in July 1996. Participation in the Conference was by invitation only, to leaders in the ITEM field from around the world. The first International Working Conference on ITEM, held two years previously in Israel, was aware that "a massive and rapid computerisation process in schools, school districts, and throughout the other levels of the educational system" was then going on. Delegates were well aware that successful implementation of ITEM depends not only on hardware, but also on adequate software - mainly Management Information Systems (MIS)lDecision Support Systems (DSS) - and on human factors. Two years later the context has moved on, but similar issues are still with us. Thus in the abstract of his paper, Matti Makela states: "Information Technology will cause continuous changes in our technology environment. The general impression is that the digital age will improve our lives and societies. Huge national strategies and programmes are underpinned by this belief. They do not properly take into account the human dimension." The main theme of the second Conference on ITEM caused us to focus on the