Training educational managers to make better use of information technology (IT) is an imperative for increasing school productivity. Recommendations for training managers in IT are culled from the literature. This article describes a three phase approach to training. Phase I focuses on IT literacy. Phase II focuses on competence with application software. Phase III focuses on building information systems and data analysis skills. The authors argue that Phase III training, a complex undertaking, should be the work of graduate management programs.
KeywordsProfessional Development, Educational Management, Information Technology
INTRODUCTIONIn this era of rapid application of technology to one's work life, school managers are not keeping pace with race car drivers or nuclear physicists. Two key questions must be asked. First, what is the state of the training school managers? Second, what training must occur to help school managers catch up with the progress of others? The three phase approach proposed in this article is based on the assumptions that managers-in-training evidence great differences in IT skills and that IT training must move them beyond IT literacy to help them become data analysts.B.
Rationale for trainingThe following themes provide a rationale for training. If administrators are to be change agents for schools of the future, they need to understand the power and the potential of technology (Bezonian, Rancher & Speck, 1991; Boost, 1988). The process of integrating technology with the work life of an organisation causes a mutual adaptation process for both humans and information systems (Zuboff, 1988; Crow & Radian, 1993). The issue of training is more crucial than ever for using information systems (Fung, 1991;. Current and future managers expect to use computers in their work (Fulmer, 1990). The final and most obvious theme was the lack of training experiences for educators in the use of information technology (Bosch, 1988;Visscher & Spuck, 1991).
Goals for administrator trainingSeveral themes emerged regarding the goals of administrator training. These included helping educational managers to become computer literate, to acquire knowledge and proficiency in the use of computers, to use computers as problem solving tools, to be trained in the use of information systems, and to analyse the information produced by information systems. For many (Frank, Mackett, & Abrams, 1985Bozeman, Raucher & Spuck, 1991;Visscher & Spuck, 1991;Sproull & Zubrow, 1981) it is not enough to provide literacy training; instead, the goal is for administrators to be able to use information for decision making.
Responsibility for administrator trainingFor the most part, individuals have taken the responsibility for training themselves to use technology to support administrative functions Visscher & Spuck, 1991; Chang, 1990;Carl, 1983;Fulmer, 1990), were self-taught, learned by doing, or learned from other individuals, with only a few receiving formal technology training. Kearsley and Lynch (1992) Bird (1991) and Hui...