ICT Support for Digital Teaching - The School Leader's Role
Achieving 100% ‘Up Time’
A Note for School Leaders
When a school achieves ‘digital take off’ and has all its teachers using IWBs
– and in turn ICT - as an integral part of their everyday teaching every day of
the year, it is imperative to have an appropriate ICT support structure.
Teachers will rightly expect to use their digital teaching tools and the
networked world 100% of the teaching year, with not a minute’s down time.
Blackboards and traditional whiteboards have provided this facility. Teachers
ought to rightly expect that of interactive whiteboards (IWBs).
The challenge for school leaders is to make sure this happens.
As a society we now expect our phone system and our cars to work every time
we use them. That was not always so.
Teachers should expect to be able to use their digital teaching tools every
minute of the school day, every day of the teaching year, uninterrupted. That
doesn’t happen now. The ‘computer is down’ culture needs to disappear and very
quickly, if schools are to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by
the shift to a digital teaching mode.
Fundamental to this is instituting an effective and efficient ICT support
model. There is much excellent advice available on the nature of that support,
but as yet few schools or systems have adopted a holistic model of support
designed specifically for a predominantly digital mode of teaching. For more
information click here.
To achieve the 100% reliability and ‘up time’, school and system leaders need
to give priority to ICT infrastructure support not previously accorded and to
shape the desired model using a completely clean sheet. It is appreciated that
most school leaders do not have an in-depth understanding of ICT infrastructure
– and nor should they – but all can appreciate the key variables to be
incorporated into a model that befits their situation now and in the future and
which can be readily integrated into the school’s other operations.
All in schools can be the ever-expanding use of ICT in schooling, and the
fundamental shift occurring in the nature of schooling. What Mal?
The aim here is to briefly describe the main variables, to provide an idea of
the desired and once again highlight the importance of the school leadership
taking the lead in shaping the wise use of ICT.
The Current Situation
Few schools world-wide have in place an ICT support structure that enables
the total teaching staff to access the networked world 100% uninterrupted
throughout the teaching year.
Rather one sees across the world a plethora of solutions, most ‘jerry built’,
that have been developed within the existing work practices and pay structures,
invariably without regard to an ideal form.
Some of the well resourced arrangements work reasonably but the vast majority
of the ICT support models, including many that are well resourced, go no way
near enabling 100% teacher usage of ICT.
A perusal of the discussions on any of the education lists around the
developed world concerned with the use of ICT will reveal a litany of complaints
about the ICT support arrangements. A constant concern is the amount of ‘down
time’, the glitches within the system, the unreliability of some technology and
network managers who have little appreciation of the needs of teachers, who
decide unilaterally what is best for teachers. Terms like ‘network Nazi’
unfortunately abound.
There is constant reference to dedicated staff putting in hours for no
recognition and teachers having to do the work of technicians, ambiguous and
often meaningless position descriptions, a bemoaning of the school leadership’s
lack of appreciation of what is entailed in maintaining a quality network and
the propensity of governments to buy – and publicise – the high profile
technology and skimp on vital, unseen infrastructure like cabling and storage.
The time has come for astute school and system leaders to put in place an ICT
support model that will provide teachers effective and efficient ICT support now
and indeed for many years to come.
The Desired Model
It is also time for those leaders to forget what is in place now, and get in
their helicopters and identify from high the desired model for the future. Hard
decisions may need to be made and if necessary for the restructuring of school
staffing to begin.
One of the key aspects of any new model will be how the ICT support fits
within the school’s wider information services operations and what position
organizationally will be responsible for ensuring all operations that make use
of ICT are integrated and functioning appropriately.
The desired ICT support for the teaching process will invariably entail both
curriculum and technical support, and while the two components need to be
considered in totality and for the staff concerned to work closely, the reality
is that both functions will invariably require different people, with different
talents, and different role statements.
The ICT curriculum support is a professional position that ought to keep the
teachers abreast of the digital resources they can use to enrich their teaching.
It calls for an on-going appreciation of the ever-emerging digital resources –
the software and the hardware – and the people management skills to support all
manner of teachers.
The prime function of the ICT technical staff is to ensure the teachers and
the administration have uninterrupted use of the appropriate information and
communications technology.
The Key Elements
It is appreciated that the ideal situation for schools and systems will vary,
depending very much on their particular context and the resources available.
However it is suggested that all the models, be they for small or large
schools, or indeed education systems, will need to address the following
elements.
Of fundamental importance is the adoption of a school wide culture that
ensures all teachers have access to their digital teaching resources every
moment of the teaching year. The mission of the ICT support staff is to ensure
that happens.
- Leadership and Supervision
The adoption and strict observance of that culture needs to be the
responsibility of the school, and where applicable, the system leaders.
In a time of ever changing political agendas, growing pressures on the school
administration and the propensity of senior school and system ICT personnel to
pursue their own agendas, it will take strong educational leadership to keep the
needs of the teachers to the fore.
The daily observance of the on-going support for teachers ought to be the
responsibility of the school’s ‘chief information officer’; that senior educator
I’ve written about on many other occasions, who should oversee all the school’s
information services, be it the Deputy Head, the Director of Information
Services or indeed a CIO.
Another challenge for the school leadership is to get the various ICT support
staff working as one to support the teachers. Most schools still use a highly
segmented organizational model, with various facets of the ICT support being
handled by different parts of the school staff. The support will usually draw
upon the library or information services, the ICT curriculum support and ICT
technical support staffs, as well some general teachers and possibly some
students.
Those efforts need to be focused on a common goal, a challenge often
heightened by the nature and background of the people filling those roles and by
the propensity to create discrete ‘empires’.
The ICT support should be performance driven, with clear goals, the foremost
of which should be to ensure all teachers have access to the networked world
100% of teaching time each year.
It is appreciated that considerable work, and indeed careful buying will need
to be done to achieve that goal, but it ought to be the target.
So too it will be important to use appropriate, on-going measurement and
evaluation tools.
The focus of the ICT support should be to enhance the productivity of all the
teachers and to provide the support and direction required to enrich their
teaching and in turn the student attainment.
A key variable in shaping any ICT support model will be the finances required
to provide the desired support.
As indicated earlier the general approach has been to work in the main within
the existing parameters, even if it is readily apparent the resources are
inadequate.
Now is the time to forget the ways of the past, to identify the most
effective and efficient support model, to cost it and to allocate the desired
monies.
In seeking to acquire those monies look primarily to diverting existing
resources, either the finance or the personnel.
In shifting from a paper based to a predominantly digital mode of teaching it
should be possible to divert the resources from largely superceded situations.
It is appreciated this could entail making some hard decisions, varying working
conditions, phasing out positions and generally restructuring, but like many
other organizations, schools need to appreciate that they too have to adjust to
the new ways and requirements.
Closely allied to the finding of the finance is the necessity of ensuring the
school constantly addresses the total cost of its ICT and ICT support.
Unfortunately one regularly sees supposed savings being made on inexpensive
ICT, only to find the school’s support and maintenance costs escalating.
As indicated below the aim should be to consider the total cost of the ICT
and to cost in the planning all the monies paid to those playing an ICT support
role, be it teacher release time, permanent staff, contracted staff or service
contracts.
- Focus on Reliability and Simplicity of Use
Central to that containment is to shift the focus when acquiring ICT from
performance to reliability and ease of use.
To achieve 100% uptime for all teachers one will want exceptionally reliable
technology, which every teacher, the expert and those who are ‘challenged’ can
use.
The present ICT situation in schools is akin to the car industry before the
Japanese changed the focus to reliability and every day use.
Virtually every ICT advertisement, and indeed tender, places performance and
not reliability to the fore.
The vast majority of teachers – who are the key clientele, simply want
technology that can work appropriately, uninterrupted every time they teach.
One of the great ‘selling’ points with IWBs is their reliability and ease of
use.
It should be valid to assume all teachers – with assistance and a little
training – will be responsible for the care of their own digital tools and to
handle the ‘first base’ maintenance.
- Harnessing of Student Interest and Needs
Every school, primary and secondary and indeed probably every class and year
group will have students with a deep interest in ICT who could well be looking
to a career that entails the considerable use of ICT.
Across the world there are already a plethora of informal and formal programs
in schools enhancing the students’ facility to maintain various types of ICT.
It is suggested every school should nurture its student interest in
maintaining ICT and factor that help into its ICT support model.
In considering the type of ICT support required by schools one is looking at
a continuum of needs, from the simple to the complex and in turn from the
inexpensive to the very expensive.
Aim to adopt an ICT acquisition’s policy that maximizes the reliability of
the technology, both software and hardware, minimizes the amount of maintenance
and support required and in turn enables the school to provide the desired
support most efficiently and effectively.
While the size, complexity and indeed location of the school will impact on
the ICT support model chosen, it is suggested the most economic arrangement is
likely to be one where the school has ICT support staff able to provide simply
the equivalent of ‘road side’ assistance and that all other support which calls
for greater expertise and expense would be on call at a regional level or out of
house.
In adopting the desired model, schools and indeed education systems that take
on the support role, need to consider:
- The cost of ‘in house’ compared with ‘out of house’ support. Related is
the need to address the use of permanent or contract staff and the related
industrial laws.
In house staff, although convenient, can be very expensive in that the school
has to pay all the costs associated with a salaried employer, including ‘on
costs’, as well as the not inconsiderable, on-going training costs.
If the school opts to make the support permanent employees, it also has to
pay the not inconsiderable associated costs, like leave loading and
superannuation, as well as deal with support positions that become redundant.
The ‘public sector’ ICT support service is littered with ICT support staff whose
original role has been made redundant, invariably by technological advances.
Schools need to decide if they want to carry that person.
An option is to use contract staff, to pay a little more in salary but cover
oneself from redundancies and reduced need.
These arrangements can be used with ‘stand alone’ schools or groupings of
schools.
- Technical or Teaching Staff?
Many schools and systems use teachers to provide the ICT technical support.
Most have moved into the position because there had not been a preparedness
to restructure staffing.
While there are undoubtedly some excellent teachers in the role, doing an
excellent job, the reality is that most are untrained and are being paid at a
level well above what would be paid first base technical assistance.
Even in very small schools where it is uneconomic to employ full time ICT
support, it will invariably be more efficient to train one of the other general
support to fill the role part time.
The level of ICT support required by the school – and hence the funding to be
allocated – will depend on its context, its size, complexity and most
importantly the nature of the information and technology selected.
The ideal would be to create a formula that could identify the level of ICT
technical support required in all school situations.
Such a formula would need to take into account such variables as the:
- number of units
- number of users
- range of digital tools in use – ie computers, interactive whiteboards,
printers, scanners
- reliability of each of the major pieces of hardware and software in use
- number of hard wired network outlets
- warranty period
- nature of the operating systems
- culture of care
- user capacity to handle maintenance.
Bear in mind the greater the number of hard-wired network connections the
greater the ICT support required. As a general rule, the percentage of those
connections one reduces, will be the percentage of the savings that will be
accrued.
- On-Going Support Minimization
The challenge is to continue to provide the desired ICT support while at the
same time minimizing the quantity required. It will be a delicate balancing act,
where the emphasis has always to be on providing the requisite support and
keeping the teachers operational.
Forty years ago most car drivers carried a set of tools and indeed an engine
start handle. Over time that need has disappeared.
The aim with the school ICT is to reach that situation.
Forty years ago with cars it was an achievement to obtain six months
‘limited’ warranty. Today with the reliability of the automotive technology it
is not unusual to secure five years full warranty.
Schools and systems should rightly be seeking to extend the warranty on the
ICT and in turn to use that extended warranty to lower the support budget.
- Working Conditions and Remuneration
In rethinking the ICT support model for the school it is imperative the
agreed arrangements be incorporated into the appropriate conditions of
employment and remuneration, both for the teachers and the ICT support staff.
It will also be important to put in place ‘job logging’ arrangements that
allow the leadership to audit the load on the ICT support staff and to vary the
conditions should the need arise.
One of the rightful complaints expressed on the ICT support ’lists’ is the
school leaderships’ failure to appreciate what is entailed in providing the
requisite support. An on-going audit, linked to an appropriate workflow
monitoring system, will help enhance that understanding.
Related is the desirability of also clarifying the nomenclature used to
describe the various ICT support positions and linking the terms used to the
payments, responsibilities and selection criteria.
Conclusion
If schools want the teachers to be able to use their digital teaching tools
100% of the year they need to shift from the present ad hoc arrangements to a
well considered model that will in time provide the desired up time.
The task will need to be easy and could well entail making some hard
decisions, but the move is essential as schools move increasingly to a
predominantly digital mode of teaching.
