Information Technology in Educational Management

206 Pages·2001·7.16 MB·English

by  Adrie J. Visscher (auth.), Adrie J. Visscher, Phil Wild, Alex C. W. Fung (eds.)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Information Technology
in Educational Management
Edited by
Adrie J. Visscher
University of1Wente.
Faculty of Educational Science and Technology.
Enschede. The Netherlands
Phil Wild
Loughborough University.
Department of Education,
Loughborough, United Kingdom
and
Alex C.W. Fung
Hong Kong Baptist University.
Hong Kong SAR. China
"~.
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5734-1 ISBN 978-94-017-1884-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-1884-4
Printed on acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2001
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
CONTENTS
PREFACE XI
xv
LIST OF ACRONYMS
SECTION I Introduction to the nature of computer-assisted
school information systems 1
Chapter 1 Computer-assisted school information systems:
the concepts, intended benefits, and stages of
development (Adrie J. Visscher) 3
1. Introduction 3
2. Conceptualisation 3
3. An Overview of SIS-modules and Types of Assistance 5
3.1 A SIS-framework 5
3.2 Five Types of Support 8
4. Intended Benefits 10
5. The History of School Information Systems 12
5.1 The Four Stages 13
5.2 Design Strategies and Tailor-made or Standard
SISs? 14
6. The Increasing Importance of the Field 16
References 17
Chapter 2 The commercially developed SIMS from a humble
beginning (Phil Wild & John Walker) 19
I. Introduction 19
2. The Context and History of SISs in the UK 19
3. The Design of SIMS 22
4. Current Status and Future Development 22
4.1 The Current SIMS Software Suite 24
4.1.1 Alert Manager 24
4.1.2 Analyst 24
4.1.3 Assessment Suite 24
4.1.4 Attendance 25
4.1.5 Curriculum Planner 25
4.1.6 Development Planner 25
4.1.7 Equipment Register 25
4.1.8 Financial Management System (FMS) 26
4.1.9 Budget Planning 26
4.1.10 Key Stage Diagnostics 26
4.1.11 Management Information Data Access
Systems (MIDAS) 26
4.1.12 Examinations 26
v
vi
4.1.13 Timetabling 27
4.1.14 Options 27
4.1.15 Personnel 27
4.1.16 Photo Importer 27
4.1.17 RepGen Lite 27
4.1.18 Special Educational Needs Code of
Practice (SENCO) 28
4.1.19 Students Teaching and Academic Records
(STAR) 28
4.1.20 Value Added 28
4.1.21 Visitor Log 28
5. Implementation Processes 28
6. Evaluative Study 31
6.1 Quality ofthe System 32
6.1.1 Basic System 32
6.1.2 Data Quality compared to the Previous
System used 32
6.2 Use of SIMS 32
6.2.1 Frequence of Module Use 32
6.3 Training in System Use 35
6.4 Effects of System Use 36
6.5 User's Comments and Conclusions 37
7. Lessons Learned 37
References 38
Chapter 3 SAMS in Hong Kong: a centrally developed SIS
for primary and secondary schools 39
(Alex C. W. Fung & Jenilyn Ledesma)
1. Introduction 39
2. Educational Context in Hong Kong 39
3. The History of Computer-aided School Administration
in the Territory 40
4. An Overview of the Structure and Content of SAMS 41
4.1 The 12 Core Applications 42
4.2 The Four Supporting Modules 43
5. The Design Strategy of SAMS 43
6. The Large-scale Implementation of SAMS 44
7. Evaluations of the SAMS project 46
7.1 System Utilization and Related Factors 46
7.1.1 Degree of Use: The Extent of SAMS Usage
in Hong Kong Schools 47
7.1.2 Users' Difficulties in Implementing SAMS 48
7.1.3 Users' Satisfaction with SAMS 48
7.1.4 System Support 49
7.1.5 SAMS Training provided 49
7.1.6 Users' Suggestions for Improvement 49
vii
CONTENTS
8. The Impact and the Future of SAMS 50
9. Conclusion 52
References 53
Chapter 4 MUSAC in New Zealand: from grass roots to system
wide in a decade 55
(Cl. Patrick Nolan, Margaret A. Brown & Bruce Graves)
1. Introduction 55
2. Purpose 57
3. School Information System Development in New
Zealand 57
4. MUSAC Origins 58
5. MUSAC Development Strategy 59
6. Structure and Contents of the MUSAC System 61
6.1 Establishment 62
6.2 Expansion 63
6.3 Refinement and Consolidation 63
7. The System Quality of MUSAC 65
8. MUSAC Software Use Patterns 66
9. MUSAC Implementation 69
10. MUSAC Support Agencies 71
11. Conclusions 72
References 75
SECTION II Design and implementation of school information systems -
Learning from experience 77
Chapter 5 A holistic view of SISs as an innovation and the
factors determining success 79
(Alex C W Fung & Adrie l. Visscher)
1. Introduction 79
2. A Holistic View of SIS Development &
Implementation 79
2.1 The 'Working Page' 81
2.1.1 Goal & Objectives 81
2.1.2 Design Strategies 81
2.1.3 Technical Design & Development 82
2.1.4 Implementation 82
2.1.5 Monitoring & Evaluation 82
2.2 The 'Linking Page': User-Developer Collaboration 83
3. The Variables that Matter 84
3.1 Block A: the Design Strategy 85
3.1.1 The Goal(s) of Information System Design 87
3.1.2 What will be supported and How? 87
3.1.3 User Participation 88
viii
3.1.4 Uniformity versus Flexibility 88
3.2 Block B: School Information System Quality 89
3.3 Block C: Implementation Process Features 89
3.4 Block D: School Organisational Features 90
3.5 Block E: Usage of the School Information Systems 91
3.6 Block F: the Effects of School Information
System Usage 92
3.7 Measuring the Variables 93
References 93
Chapter 6 Design strategies (Arthur Tatnall) 97
1. Introduction: The Development of Organizational
Information Systems 97
2. Early Attempts at Developing Systems for Use in
Educational Management 97
3. Information Systems Development 99
3.1 Process Modelling - Data Flow Diagrams 99
3.2 Data Modelling - Entity Relationship Diagrams 100
3.3 Alternative Systems Design Methodologies 101
3.3.1 Rapid Application Development 101
3.3.2 Soft Systems Methodology 102
3.3.3 Prototyping 102
4. Who owns the Systems? 102
5. Categories of Organisational Information System 104
5.1 Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) 104
5.2 Management Reporting System (MRS) 104
5.3 Decision Support Systems (DSS) 105
5.4 Executive Information Systems (EIS) 105
5.5 Function-specific versus Integrated Systems 106
6. System Design Considerations 107
6.1 System Purpose, Nature and Ownership 107
6.2 Systems Integration 108
6.3 System Architecture and Scope 108
6.4 Security, Integrity and Backup 110
6.5 Maintenance, Expandability and Upgrading 111
7. Conclusions 111
References 112
Chapter 7 Imperatives for successful implementation of
school iniormation systems 115
(Adrie 1. Visscher & Alex C. W. Fung)
1. Introduction 115
2. The Usage of School Information Systems 115
3. How to implement School Information Systems? 117
3.1 Implementation Levels 118
3.1.1 The Level of Use Perspective 118
ix
CONTENTS
3.1.2 The six-A Model 120
3.2 Empirically verified Implementation Promoting
Factors 124
4. The Role of the Nature of Schools as Organizations 125
4.1 The Decision-making Capacity of Schools 126
4.2 Features of Information Management at Two
School Levels 127
4.2.1 Information Management by School
Managers 127
4.3 Proposals for Promoting more intensive SIS-usage
for Decision-support 129
4.4 Resume 131
References 132
SECTION III Future directions 135
ChapterS The future of school information systems 137
(Debbi Smith & Phil Wild)
1. Introduction 137
2. Schools of the Future 137
3. The Changing Face of Educational Management
and Organisation 139
4. Impact of Emerging Technologies 144
5. The Future from National Perspectives 150
6. The International Perspective 152
7. Software Vendors' Views of the Future 154
8. The Users' View 157
9. Agenda for the Future 158
10. Conclusion 159
References 159
Chapter 9 Conclusions, reflections and the road ahead 161
(Bill Davey, Adrie 1. Visscher & Phil Wild)
1. Introduction 161
2. On the Development of Computer-assisted School
Information Systems 161
2.1 Teacher based School Information Systems 162
2.2 Barriers to SIS-development 162
2.3 The Future for SIS-development 163
2.4 Development of the Next Stage of SISs 164
2.5 Determining What Technologies are Applicable
to SISs 164
2.6 Moving beyond the Replication of Paper based
Systems to Support for Management 165
2.7 Incorporating New Development Methodologies
x
that ensure Robust, Scalable, Expandable Systems 165
3. Effective SIS-usage and the Future 166
3.1 Research and the Variables 166
3.2 Reflections on Successes and Continuing Problems 167
4. The Agenda for Future Research on Computer-assisted
School Information Systems 168
4.1 Which are the (Dis)Advantages of Alternative
Strategies for School Information System Design? 170
4.2 What are the Features of High Quality School
Information Systems? 171
4.3 Which Implementation Process Features prove
to be Crucial for Successful SIS-implementation? 172
4.4 Which Roles do the Organizational Features of
Schools play in the Utilization of SISs? 172
4.5 Which (Un)Intended Effects does SIS-usage
Produce? 173
5. Conclusions 173
References 173
APPENDIX SAMS Questionnaire
(Alex C. W. Fung, Adrie J. Visscher & Phil Wild)