MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE IFIP - The International Federation for Information Processing IFIP was founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO, following the First World Computer Congress held in Paris the previous year. An umbrella organization for societies working in information processing, IFlP'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 ofa ll people. IFIP is a non-profitmaking organization, run almost solely by 2500 volunteers. It operates through a number of technical committees, which organize events and publications. IFIP's events range from an international congress to local seminars, but the most important are: • The IFlP World Computer Congress, held every second year; • Open conferences; • Working conferences. The flagship event is the IFIP 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 IFlP 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 ofIFIP, 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 IFlP bodies. Affiliated membership is open to non-national societies, and individual and honorary membership schemes are also offered. MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE The Role of leT IFlP TC3/ WG3.7 Fifth Working Conference on Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM 2002) August 18-22, 2002, Helsink~ Finland Edited by Ian D. Selwood The University of Birmingham United Kingdom Alex C.W. Fung Hong Kong Baptist University China Christopher D. 0' Mahony The Royal High School, Bath United Kingdom ~. " KLUWERACADEMIC PUBLISHERS BOSTON/DORDRECHT/LONDON Distributors for North, Central and South America: Kluwer Academic Publishers 101 Philip Drive Assinippi Park Norwell, Massachusetts 02061 USA Telephone (781) 871-6600 Fax (781) 681-9045 E-Mail <[email protected]> Distributors for ali other countries: Kluwer Academic Publishers Group Post Oftice Box 322 3300 AH Dordrecht, THE NETHERLANDS Telephone 31 786576000 *Fax 31 786576254 E-Mail <[email protected]> Electronic Services <http://www.wkap.nl> Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Management of Education in the Jnformation Age: The Role of JCT Edited by lan D. Selwood, Alex C.W. Fung, and Christopher D. O'Mahony ISBN 978-1-4757-1037-3 ISBN 978-0-387-35689-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-35689-1 Copyright © 2003 by International Federation for Information Processing. Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2003 AU rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo copying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell, Massachusetts 02061), with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose ofbeing entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper. Contents Management of Education in the Information Age 1 Ian Selwood, Alex Fung and Christopher O'Mahony Section 1-ICT for Managing Student Learning Management and the Use ofICT in Subject Teaching 11 Leonard Newton Data Use in the Classroom 21 Christopher Thorn Section 2 - ICT for Managing Educational Institutions The Results of Implementing SIMS in English Secondary Schools 33 Adrie Visscher, Phil Wild and Debbi Smith The Implementation of ITEM in Botswana 47 Coach Kereteletswe and Ian Selwood The Impact of ICT on the Work of the School Principal 63 Margaret Haughey Information Technology and Control in Educational Management 73 Arthur Tatnall and Allan Pitman vi MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE Involving the Academic 83 Bill Davey and Arthur Tatnall Portal Technology for Integrated, User-Centric University Information Systems 93 Marko Bajec, Viljan Mahnic and Marjan Krisper Section 3 - The Management of e.Learning Fostering Web Based Teaching and Learning in a University 105 Alex Fung and Jenilyn Ledesma Leamer and Course Interoperability in a Web Based Training Model 119 Rima Abdallah, Abdelmalek Benzekri, Ali EI Hajj and Ibrahim Moukarzel Collaborative Work Tools in Learning Environments 129 Mario Marrero, Celso Perdomo, Jorge Rodrfguez and Antonio Gonzalez Section 4 - I CT Training for Educational Professionals Managing ICT Access and Training for Educators 141 Christopher O'Mahony Assessing the ICT Training Conditions for Educational Managers 155 Javier Osorio Managing Learning Environments in Schools 167 Maureen Lambert and Patrick Nolan Section 5 - Reports from Discussion Groups The Management of e-Learning 183 Alex Fung and Jenilyn Ledesma Management Systems in the Classroom 189 Leonard Newton and Adrie Visscher Core Competences for ITEM 195 Ian Selwood and Christopher O'Mahony Contents vii Index of contributors 203 Key word index 205 Editorial MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE Ian D. Selwood, Alex C.W. Fung and Christopher D. O'Mahony Since the mid-1980s, computer assisted educational information systems have been developing in various parts of the world and the knowledge surrounding the development and implementation of these systems has been growing. In 1994, the fIrst international working conference on Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM) was held in Jerusalem. Two years later, a second working conference was held in Hong Kong and following this event, Working Group (WG) 3.7 of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) was established. WG 3.7 focuses on promoting the effective and efficient use of IT in the management of educational institutions. Subsequently conferences have been held in Maine (USA), and Auckland (New Zealand) and Helsinki (Finland). The conferences have engendered a spirit of co-operation amongst people around the world resulting in the publication of five previous books; three special editions of academic journals; numerous academic papers; research funding obtained; and research projects completed. More detailed information about WG 3.7 can be found at - http://ifi~item.hkbu.edu.hk The content of this book has 5 sections. The first four sections, consists of papers selected from the proceedings of the Fifth IFIP Working Conference of WG 3.7 on Information Technology in Educational Management, held between August 18 - 22, 2002 in Helsinki, Finland. All conference presentations were selected after peer review by an international panel. A further review then identified papers for publication in this book. Thus, the book is not a full conference proceedings, but a selection of papers that were selected for their quality, and capture the range and essence of the conference. The fifth section of the book consists of reports from the d Ii.s Dcu. Ssesliwoono d getr oalu. p(esd s.t),h Mata nmageemt entth orf oEudguchaotiuont int hthee Incfoornmfaetrieonn cAege. These reports © International Federation for Information Processing 2003 2 Ian Selwood, Ala Fung and Christopher O'Mahony represent a valuable addition to the subjects covered by the papers and cover key topics of current interest within the ITEM community. They report the deliberations, ideas and key issues that emerged. 1. SECTION 1 -ICT FOR MANAGING STUDENT LEARNING The two papers in this section examine management issues relating to the use of ICf (Information and Communication Technology) in the classroom. Leonard Newton's paper argues that problems of integrating ICf into the teaching and learning of other subjects have a: managerial dimension that relates to the planning and implementation of lessons. Newton draws on experiences in science education and presents frameworks that offer a means of analysing the beneficial features of ICf in relation to teaching and learning goals and identifying the skills of classroom application required to achieve these. Chris Thorn's paper examines the problems and challenges that teachers and school managers encounter, in the USA, when attempting to implement data-based decision-making reform efforts, specifically those decisions that influence teaching and learning in the classroom. Thorn argues that while large-scale assessment and accountability data are generally available these are limited to the operational needs of schools and districts for gauging the performance of educational systems. He contends that there are major differences between the evidence used for external accountability systems and the data needed for making instructional decisions on a daily basis in the classroom, and this data is lacking. Thorn further argues that educational organizations have little experience integrating complex data into their decision-making processes. 2. SECTION 2 - ICT FOR MANAGING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS This section not only demonstrates the international nature of the conference, and this publication, with papers reporting on ITEM in Australia, Botswana, Canada, England, and Slovenia; but also the scope of ITEM with papers reporting on ITEM in schools, universities and central government. At the two previous conferences of WG 3.7, the evaluation of the implementation of computerised school information systems (SISs) in Hong Kong and The Netherlands were presented. The paper written by Adrie Management ofE ducation in the Information Age 3 Visscher, Phil Wild and Debbi Smith describes an evaluative study of the implementation of the School Information Management System (SIMS) which is used to support management and administration in the majority of English secondary schools. The large-scale survey carried out for this study showed that use of SIMS tends to be clerical, and that the use of SIMS to support school managers is still very limited. A range of problems is identified in the paper and these include the reliability of SIMS, user training (especially managers), user support, and the clarity of the innovation process. However, despite these problems users are in general positive on the effects of SIMS use. The paper concludes that wider and better SIMS use would be promoted by more carefully designed needs-based user training. (Training issues are further discussed in Section 3 of this book.) Whilst England has a comparatively long history of the use of ITEM, Botswana has only recently started to implement this use of ICf, and the approach is very different. The paper by Coach Kereteletswe and Ian Selwood briefly describing Botswana and its education system before presenting a framework for analysing the implem~ntation of ITEM in developing countries, and subsequently describes the first stages of ITEM implementation in Botswana. Botswana, like many developing countries, has an education system that has a highly centralised management structure, with very few management responsibilities devolved from central government. The approach to implementing ITEM commencing at the Ministry and then rolling out down the system is perhaps unique. Following a review of the literature concerning the impact of ICf on the work of school principals in various countries, Margaret Haughey reports on her research from Canada, where in the jurisdiction she studied, the process of technology integration is only just beginning. However, she reports that the impact of ICf has already been felt in the principals' offices with principals required to be more knowledgeable about various computer applications, to correspond easily via e-mail, and to organize and retrieve information. Furthermore, she reports that principals are under increased pressure to ensure the quality of their schools, as the district has used the information provided by principals to identify poorly performing schools. The paper by Arthur Tatnall and Allan Pitman further addresses the issue of accountability of schools. In their paper, they argue that even though the use of ITEM offers many advantages to schools it also serves a role in acting to control schools. The use of ITEM in schools in Victoria, Australia and Ontario, Canada is examined in the paper. The authors then argue that even in areas where management responsibilities are devolved to schools, from central education authorities, ITEM may actually play a significant role in tightening the coupling between schools and central education authorities.