You might wonder what qualifies me to write about cultural change in an
organisation. Well, I’ve done it several times, and I thought I’d set myself the
challenge of trying to describe some of the success stories I’ve enjoyed in 250
words or fewer.
My main motivation in writing these vignettes is that I keep
meeting depressed people: people who are in such a dire situation that they have
started to believe that they will never be able to change it.
So what I should
like to do is provide very brief case studies comprising the before and after,
but not the during: my aim is to uplift, rather than instruct, in these stories. That's why I aim to publish them on a Friday: so you can go home full of hope rather than despondency!
Here goes.
This vignette concerns a school I joined as Head of Information and
Communications Technology (= Educational Technology). It was an inner city
comprehensive secondary school (ie high school) in a relatively deprived part of
London.
The school had 3 computer labs, one of which was only for the use of Business
Studies. Of the remaining two, one had only 10 computers in a small, thin room.
ICT was regarded a as kind of sink subject: a lot of the students taking the
course in the senior part of the school had failed at everything else, or had
been rejected from those courses because of their behaviour. All of the
brightest students took Business Studies courses instead.
One of the courses was a graphics course which required little more than the
ability to use Microsoft Paint. Younger students followed an application-based
scheme of work, ie word processing, databases etc, and there was a one year gap
in the middle of it.
The pupils had little pride in the equipment or their work, often failing to
collect their printing, possibly because it was accessible only at the end of
the day.
ICT in other subjects was all but non-existent.
Within 2 years, the following situation existed:
· All students followed an examination course.
· ICT and Business Studies changed places in terms of the uptake of courses
an the calibre of the students.
· Many teachers used ICT for their planning and preparation, and every
subject used it in their lessons to some extent.
· The number of computer labs increased from 2 to 5.
· First year students, aged 11, talked about taking the subject as an
examination course when hey reached 16 years of age.
There you go: 250 words exactly! With a good vision and excellent planning,
and the willingness to appraise the present situation honestly, you can
bring about remarkable changes in a relatively short space of time.
Much of my work is in helping to
bring about transformation in the use and management of educational
technology in schools and other institutions. To find out more about
the sort of work I do, and how I could work with you, look here.
You may find it useful to scroll down the left hand side and click on
the page about the assignments I've undertaken as an independent
education consultant.
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