In Which Way IT and IT Development Plans Can be of Help for Schools?

Tõnis Eelma

What made me write this article and give a presentation on the same topic at a conference “Telematics ‘98”? The Tiger Leap was started together with ISE program and most of the schools are busy with adding equipment to their computer labs. It seems nobody has any doubts about the usefulness of information technology (IT) for schools.

Still, IT appears to be rather expensive resource accompanied with danger of fast moral depreciation and so the big investments made at the moment may turn out to be rather unprofitable for schools in the future.

The reasons for writing this piece also lay in the past, “Telematics”-conference that took place two years ago; I used my presentation made at that conference to describe how it is possible to make changes in learning process just with one computer (“only one soldier can do a lot in a battle”).

In the following I’m offering you some reflections that do not try to be neither scientific nor perfect, and that are meant for schools interested in development and efficient use of IT.

Computer Usage Must not Provide Immediate and Excellent Results – it is Important Just to Start Using it!

Improvement and up-dating of learning process is usually mentioned as one of the main purposes of computerization programs carried out in Estonian (not only) schools. Computers provide us with a chance to individualize learning process, decrease the amount of time spent on routine technical work, make use of immense information resources via Internet, etc. Still, the people having doubts will want to know before applying IT whether the learning will become more effective? Will the time spent on fooling around with equipment be compensated with methodological innovations?

I’d answer that these doubts cannot be seen as an obstacle for using IT, as introducing the students with computers as everyday tools is of primary importance. The obligation of a school is to bring up students socially fit and the requirements set by an information society differ from the requirements that were valid 10 years ago. Because of all the requirements information society sets to educated labor schools must make efforts for diversified use of computers, as every computer lessons cancelled will decrease the value of investments made into IT and postpones acquiring of a skill required to use an indispensable tool and learning facility for the student. This will bring us down to one of the main responsibilities faced by a school equipped with IT: does the school do everything it can to provide the students with facilities of computer use? Is the computer lab being used to its full capacity?

School computerization in Estonia has been well-timed – the society has accepted IT as an everyday tool, but the living standard will not let every household to get a computer. Being a mediator between these two sides even increases the responsibility faced by a school.

One of the main reasons given for insufficient computer use is overextended national syllabus – the teachers are busy with sticking to the syllabus and a computer lesson would rob some more of their valuable teaching time (it’s quite clear that computer use asks for some extra time, at least in the beginning). We seem to forget that the present national syllabus we try to follow says: “Every school must develop its own syllabus based on national framework. This presumes some agreements related to development trends and specific features of a school made within the school personnel, while also considering the regional requirements, wishes expressed by the students and their parents, and also existing material and spiritual resources.” In addition to that, one of the features running through the compulsory syllabus is “Informatics and Information Technology”, described as: “/---/ Making use of contemporary information technology will diversify a learning process and teaching methodologies, supports systematic thinking and develops information skills and communication with other schools and the whole world./---/”.

Are There Any More Ways Computers Can Be of Use for Schools?

Besides being helpful tools in realising national obligation of educating the students the schools have to fulfil, IT has proven to be a measure schools can use for doing organisational work.

In addition to common storage of various school data and school management via computers IT also plays an important role in increasing the qualification of the personnel. We shouldn’t be afraid of highly qualified people leaving the schools after being trained – people will anyway leave schools not interested in development.

Internet connection that appears to be a natural part of school computerisation, will provide us with additional communication means: school can make use of immense and constantly increasing information resource, technological solutions for cooperation projects, promotion channel, tool to systemize in-house information exchange, etc.

We have probably heard and read all these slogans many times, but these are still worth repeating, as information technology can be used as a tool for economizing human labor, training materials, communication and training expenditures, etc. To achieve such savings we have to, of course, take some trouble first to make IT use more efficient.

Some Ideas Related to IT-Planning

Although IT use only includes good future outlooks for a school, we still have to take some steps requiring considerable courage first. The best results can only be achieved when having some objectives in mind, its is of essential importance to develop a proper scheme for applying information technology that offers wide range of possibilities. The way from the objective to the results is not necessarily one-directional in case of IT applications. Here we can refer to a warning example about IT use in industry – 80% of time required for later computer use proceeds from bad planning (Horsch, J. “Quality Assurance in Computer Applications”).

So the schools interested in making computer use in their schools more efficient compile/update an IT development scheme for their own school (development scheme related to information technology). IT development scheme states the future visions the school has for IT use and detailed plans for reaching the objectives, considering as many factors as possible. IT development scheme also gives a summary of the present situation at a schools and appears to be the main tool that can be used for applying for additional resources.

More Computers!??

In case we take a look at the present development situation in schools, we can see they’re mainly interested in obtaining (more) hardware. The schools having no or very limited number of computers complain that “it’s difficult to achieve something with so little equipment”; these having one contemporary computer lab see getting another one as their main option for development. This strategy is rather understandable, when we consider the present situation – because of our national leap policy schools have to do relatively little to get additional hardware.

Mart Laanpere has already tried to point our attention to the fact of school IT development schemes being rather one-sided – he wrote an article titled “The Tiger Leap – 10 Years Later or Some Reflections about the Strategy of Taking the Future” (http:/viru.tpu.ee/eesti/nr3-4.htm#Tiigrihüpe). This problems is probably related to the fact that IT schemes are mainly compiled by information managers (computer teachers, technical personnel), who can only see development from their own point of view, area of responsibility and competence.

Can every school promise they’re going to fulfil all the promises given in their applications for getting new hardware (some are already being satisfied)? I’m afraid not. When trying to get more new resources we often seem to forget about things already available and being used in rather inefficient way. Efficient use of all the resources available will provide the schools with experiences of using out-dated equipment in the future, when the national resources allocated for obtaining IT may be cut down.

As a rule, additional hardware will bring along some additional work (using responsibility/obligations). In case available hardware is being used inefficiently, we should take some time out for reflections before buying additional equipment: may-be it will be more profitable to invest into human resources (training of the employees, wages of the information manager, …). Such an investment may postpone getting new computers for some time, but it will also provide stringer prerequisites for obtaining additional resources in the future.

Some Ideas about IT Development Scheme

Every school using computers or intending to do so should compile an IT development scheme. When compiling a development scheme, do not concentrate on the final product (document) only, as this can easily only be a paper never used, but try to focus on the process of compiling the development scheme. As this should be a document relating to the development of the school as whole, it must not be a creation of 1-2 people, but of joint venture of a bigger group (that must surely include the schoolmaster). The development scheme does not include just some visions for the future, it should be used as an action plan for the school as a whole and because of that it should be public and acceptable for all the teachers. The initiative group can be expanded by organising brainstorms and meetings, public discussions of the development scheme, training and other similar events. As the realisation of the development scheme is a task for the whole school, the people going to be responsible for the realisation and its outcomes should be involved in development of the scheme as much as possible.

As the development scheme is being written down, the people doing it will become aware of many problems they were not able to notice before; strong (and weak) points in current IT use will be noted; the present situation in school will be shown; possible resources for development will be identified. When developing the scheme we can discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of different development trends, determine investment priorities – because of all that as many people from that school as possible should be involved in compiling the development scheme (its always a good idea to involve foreign experts, parents, representatives of local municipalities, etc.).

In the following we are not providing you with ready-made methods for compiling IT development schemes – people compiling the scheme should offer different forms of teamwork, SWOT-analysis, etc. themselves We are just giving a list of possible subjects that could be included in the development scheme and try to support these with some comments – the final choice will be made by the school and you can be sure of one more thing – this list given below does not exhaust all the topics.

Background Information – every development scheme should provide some information about the school, as IT development scheme can be used as an annex of different applications and for a stranger making decisions it is very important to have a clear picture of the school-applicant (short description of the school, specific features of the school, strong points of the schools, etc.).

General (Strategic) Objectives – one of the most important chapters of the development scheme. When putting a development scheme together, the first priority will be to get a vision of the future, in which way one wants to develop. This vision must not necessarily be IT-centered, IT can be just one of the means (unavoidable) for reaching the objectives. What are the expected results, what will happen in the school after the planned changes have taken place? Will the changes reflect both the development wishes of the management and different teachers? How are the development wishes related to national/regional strategies? One should write down general development wishes/trends of the school, the list of different objectives and expectations.

Action Plan – which steps should one take to reach given objectives? IT role and applications should be given as a separate item. Activities planned should be time-related – it is important that the development scheme will show when one does want to achieve one or another of the objectives (chronological table including steps that will be taken to reach the objectives). What are the development criteria, how to assess the stages passed? The action plan should be flexible to avoid the development scheme losing its validity when the circumstances change (the development scheme should also be flexible). Concrete activities can be described in different chapters.

Description of the Situation Within the Context – how to evaluate the present situation in the school? How realistic is that the vision will become a reality? Which activities should take priorities? What are the main points we should pay attention to? What are the obstacles? Again, concrete descriptions can be given in separate sections.

Human Resources – the most important development factor. Who are the key persons when it comes to the realisation of the plan? How many people will be involved in the activities? Does the school have an information manager and what are the tasks of this person? Who will be responsible and for what? What about the competence of the team? Were all the persons listed participating in compiling of the scheme?

IT in learning and teaching processes – probably one of the main development trends. What has been done in this sphere before and how has it worked? Have the previous experiences been stored? What have been the main difficulties and does the development scheme give any hints for overcoming them? Who and how are going to make use of IT? What kind of training have they received and what else do they need? Have the training needs been assessed? How many teachers have elementary computer skills and how many of t hem are willing to use IT in their classes? Are there any support persons helping to carry out the innovations? Are there any means available for stimulating the teachers? Are the teachers willing to take responsibility for development and testing IT ? What are the teaching styles used up to now and will these be changed? Are there any plans to provide some training? What will be the relations between computer training and training/learning with computer? Is some cooperation between the subjects/teachers also planned?

IT in School Administration – today this is a rather common area for every institution. How computers have been used before in this area? Which operations are executed with (only) computers? Which employees have access to the computers, how extensively these are being used? Which data-bases are being administrated with the computer, which data bases should be created/up-dated? How is the data being protected? How is public information made available within the school and outside of it? How is information change within the school organised? Which too time consuming and/or complicated procedures should be carried out with a computer in the future? Are the administrative workers interested in development, training, etc?

Technical Basis – this means the items most of the present school development schemes are made up of. Detailed history of computers is not essential, its more important to show the changes it has brought along. Of course, we only welcome the idea of keeping some track of computer purchases, but don’t overstress its importance. In which rooms the computers are located? Will the resources to be added installed into a single room (computer lab) or will they be distributed between several classes? Why? How many computers have access to the network? What are the network development plans? Are computers and the data safe? Has some attention been given to health care issues? In addition to information technology development related to furniture, lightening, etc, can be planned also. Who will be responsible for technical maintenance? Will there be enough caretakers considering the amount of new technology?

Access to the Computers, Computer Lessons, etc. – if there are computers in school, we should provide as many teachers and students as possible with the access to the computers. How many students (how big a share) are getting computer training (training with computers)? How can students get access to the computers after the classes? Do the teachers have a time and a place where their can use computers or learn how to use them without being disturbed? Is the use of the computer lab part of the school curriculum? Are the computer labs being leased out? Will the school benefit from it or does it mean some losses?

Software – what kind of software does the school have? What software is being used? Have there been any attempts to assess learning software? What software is being needed? Are user manuals in Estonian language available for different software? Are methodical materials for software use available?

Finances – an important chapter for planning development. How this area has been financed up to now? What could be the budget for the next couple of years to come and what are the sources used to get the finances? What are the investment priorities? On what account you are prepared to develop IT use?

This list of chapters does certainly not exhaust all the topics we should think about, but in case these questions have been answered to, the IT development scheme of a given school will be considerably better than the average one. And as it has been said already, it is not important to have a faultless and good-looking development scheme, it is important for a school to stick to the objectives given in the IT development scheme and if possible, also keep documented track of all the related activtities.