Top Ten IT Issues
I chose to focus on the IT issues as I am in part of the decision making team (the academic side) that works with the IT department (sometimes effectively, sometimes not) and so I wanted to explore what the survey participants felt were the barriers to good tech implementation. I found this article so useful that I will be referring to it at our next meeting on the 19th. Our CIO was recently “let go” because of difficulties in overcoming the very issues that are described so well in the article. But after reading each one, and seeing how much cooperation and coordination there needs to be in making the various decisions about learning technologies, perhaps his lack of success was not all his fault!
What I appreciated most was that this article was based on survey results – a survey that is very current…and for each issue, the past importance of the topic is described – in other words, if an issue is becoming more of a concern lately than in past surveys, this is stated up front – which shows me the trends in a particular issue. For me, the issues of funding, teaching and learning, security (even more so with cloud computing and privacy-breach potential) and strategic planning are areas that are in the forefront in my school board. I was able to resonate with all of the others however, as part of the many discussions we have held in developing our 21st Century learning environments.
Each section has a list of critical questions to consider when making decisions about learning technologies – questions that are very fitting for each issue.
Overall, I don’t see anything obvious that has been missed…I can’t wait to use it! (and I have a deeper respect for the role of the CIO – quite a complex job description by the number of decisions this article suggests must be made)
Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace
Angela Novoa 9:46 am on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brenda,
About the critical questions to consider that are offered in this report, I think this is very useful. Currently I am working on coordinating a graduate program about new technologies for researchers and educators of Social Studies and Humanities. One of the issues that we are facing is that me and the instructors of the courses had agreed in the needed technologies to run this program, but we did not discuss this issue with other faculty members that are involved in the program (they did not show interest on knowing about it before). The thing is that we are about to start the program and there is one faculty member that does not agree with one of the technologies that we are going to use. If we had discussed about this before, and analyze the opportunities that we had based on reports like this, it would be very useful. I will definitely take a look to it and propose to use it as an option for future programs.
bcourey 3:50 pm on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It sounds like a common problem – including all stakeholders in major decisions about a technology decision – one that I experience regularly in my board. I will much more vocal in insisting that I have a voice in some of these key decisions and I will make sure that others are included in my own projects thanks to this article.
Doug Smith 11:14 pm on September 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Even if the IT Funding was not voted the most important, its importance cannot be understated. I can only imagine the juggling act that CIOs deal with when allocating resources to big ticket items such as ERP and security. This report really opened my eyes to another dimension that I hadn’t given much thought about in terms of education.
David William Price 10:15 am on September 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
“after reading each one, and seeing how much cooperation and coordination there needs to be in making the various decisions about learning technologies, perhaps his lack of success was not all his fault!”
I highly recommend reading the short book “The five dysfunctions of a team” by Patrick Lencioni. I am recognizing more and more the importance of “preparing the garden” before you start planting seeds. This is an issue we are also currently discussing in our Advanced Human Performance Technology class: the differing value systems of each group that must work together to accomplish a task. Without taking concerted efforts to develop team trust, openness to conflict and debate, commitment to a fully debated but final decision, holding each other accountable for meeting specific commitments and focusing on the success of the team as a whole (rather than just the tech department for instance or worse, just individual career success), there is never any true teamwork. Instead you just have a bunch of people whose work causes necessary interactions and unfortunate stress: no synergies, no serendipity, no common understanding at all.
bcourey 4:09 pm on September 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
that sounds like a book I need to find. True teamwork can be a difficult ideal to achieve, yet what organization can really succeed without it? The differing value systems is something I deal with every day…business groups worried only about the balanced budgets, IT worried about a well-oiled tech machine, and the academics worried about best delivery of learning..not well suited for collaborative discussion when the values are so divergent!