Author: Chadaporn Sanguankaew. Bangkok
Title: The Information and Communication Technology Administration
of the ICT Model School
Abstract
The objectives of this research were to study and compare the level of ICT administration of the ICT Model School Kasetsart University ; they were Wat Sommanat School , Anurajchaprasit School , Prathomthanbin Khumpheangsean School and Patai Udomsuksa School
The results of the study were as follows: the ICT administration of the ICT Model School
The fact that both administrators and teachers had congruent opinions in overall aspects of ICT administration because of the participative management in modern management period. However, when each aspect considered apart, administrators and teachers had different perspective in that the administrators were more perceptive to management than were the teachers.
Introduction
In the 21st Century, with the support of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the world has become the learning society linking students from all different regions together. ICT is the significant tool for empowering the youths to produce as well as consume knowledge, achieve high capability and quality, and be able to respond quickly to new technologies and changes in the world as specified in National Education Act of B.E.2542 (1999) and its improved version in year 2002 (2nd edition, Chapter 9: Technologies for Education). In National Education Act chapter 9, it mentioned that the State should promote and support the use of technologies for education to meet quality and efficiency. To do so, students should be taught and practiced how to utilize technology for acquiring knowledge, and developing their ability in the proper ways (Office of the National Education Commission, 2005). This came up with the Ministry of Education’s 2004-2006 ICT Master Plan which had the vision that all students, educational institutions and organizations shall have the opportunity not only to access and make use of ICT for continuous lifelong learning in the areas of research, career development and management, but also learn how to apply ICT for improving the quality of life. Everyone shall be provided with equal efficient services leading to the society of wisdom and learning.
Starting from the government’s idea of education reform that aims at providing an education program emphasizing student development, the Ministry of Education launched the project of ICT administration of ICT Model Schools in 2003. For this project, the ministry collaborated with 5 universities and higher education institutions in order to amend 12 schools in the initial phase (Wipaporn Nitiprechanon, 2005). Working on this project in the beginning, it was found that schools had the problems of ICT administration in many areas such as planning (e.g. the lack of knowledge to make integrated lesson plan through the use of ICT), organizing (for instance, it is hard to assign people to positions requiring ICT skill, especially teachers are unskilled in integrating ICT to class). Also, another ICT administration’s problems found in schools was controlling, schools need more efficient tracking and assessment systems to ensure the real success of ICT student development program which is the goal of the project (Primprie Supapodok, 2005: 1-3).
With the need of ICT for education programs, Thailand
Objectives
- To study the level of ICT administration of the ICT Model Schools.
- To compare the level of ICT administration of the ICT Model Schools in different aspects.
Area of research
This research was a survey research.
The samples used in this research comprised administrators and teachers of 4 ICT Model Schools mentored by Kasetsart University Wat Sommanas School , Anurajchaprasit School , Prathomthanbin Kamphaeng Saen School and Patai Udomsuksa School
The key parameters for the research consisted of active variable which was the position of the questionnaire respondents, and dependent variables were the 4 areas of ICT administration of the ICT Model Schools which were Planning, Organizing Leading, and Controlling according to the 5 standards of developing ICT Model Schools that were school administration, basic structure, instruction management, learning processes and resources.
Method
Population and sample were administrators and teachers of the ICT Model Schools under the mentor of Kasetsart University Wat Sommanas School , Anurajchaprasit School , Prathomthanbin Kamphaeng Saen School and Patai Udomsuksa School
Tools used in research were the questionnaire created by the researcher that was divided into 3 parts
Part1: The respondents were asked about their status by choosing an answer from the checklist for each question.
Part2: The respondents were asked about ICT administration in their schools. 36 items of a 5-point Likert scale was employed in this part of questionnaire.
Part3: The respondents were asked 4 open-ended questions about the key success factors of ICT administration in their schools.
The researcher started gathering and summarizing data by sending the letters and 181 copies of questionnaires from Graduate School of Chandrakasem Rajabhat University to the administrators of 4 ICT Model Schools. The 174 complete questionnaires were returned (response rate 96.31%). The data was then analyzed by means of SPSS/PC+ (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences/Personal Computer Plus) to calculate frequency, percentage, mean, SD (standard deviation) and t-test value.
Research findings
1. The data on the status of the respondents gathered from 174 returned questionnaires reveal that the respondents consisted of 46 administrators or 26.4% and 128 teachers or 73.6%.
2. The data on ICT management reveal that the overall level of ICT management according to the perception of administrators and teachers in 4 aspects are well with the mean of 4.13. When considering in each aspect, it is found that the mean in each aspect classified as good. In details, the means in the aspect of planning, leading, organizing and controlling are 4.30, 4.16, 4.11 and 4.30 respectively.
3. The findings in comparing the level of ICT management between the perception of administrators and teachers are as follows:
In overall, the findings in comparing the level of ICT management between the perception of administrators and teachers in 4 aspects are different. The mean of management level according to the perception of administrators is about 4.42 which is greater than the mean of those according to teacher perception which is about 4.04. Considered in each aspect, the data reveal that the level of the management according to the perception of administrators is greater than the level of the management according to the perception of teachers in all 4 aspects: planning, leading, managing and controlling
In a comparison of t-test score, it is found that the overall level of ICT management between the perception of administrators and teachers is statistically different with level of significance of 0.05.
4. The suggestions on successful ICT management offered by administrators and teachers are as followed:
In the aspect of planning, the suggestion that is found the most is “ICT development plan (medium period 3-5 years) should be made”. The suggestion that is found the second most is “ICT Plan/Project should be contained in Operational Plan annually”. The suggestion that is found the third most is “The participation of everyone concerned in making both development plan and annual operational plan”.
In the aspect of organizing, the suggestion that is found the most is “The appointment of the one who is responsible for the operation in ICT should be clearly issued”. The suggestion that is found second most is “The work or project on ICT management, strategic plan and operational plan should be made annually. The suggestion that is found the third most rank is divided into three aspects with equal points. The first is “Intranet network in school should be established”; the second is “Internet network in school should be established” and the third is “Software in accordance with the work in school should be provided.
In the aspect of leading, the suggestion that is found the most is “ICT workshop and conference for teacher should be arranged”. Three suggestions of equal points that are found the second most are “Comfortable access in using ICT in teaching and learning should be provided”, “The display of ICT product made by teachers and students should be supporter”, and “Working groups consulting about the use of ICT should be appointed” The two suggestions that is found the third most are “The teacher’s meeting for pointing out the important of ICT and raising awareness in the use of ICT for learning should be organized” and “ICT product that made by teacher or student should be send to the competition”.
In the aspect of controlling, the suggestion that is found the most is “The evaluation should be continuously made in every period of management by emphasizing as the major routine work”, the suggestion that is found the most in second rank is “The supervision and monitoring in the use of ICT for learning management should be made”, the suggestion that found third most is “the result of evaluation should be used for developing ICT management continuously for stimulating the real development”.
Discussion
1. The level of ICT management of the ICT Model Schools in based on administrators and teachers’ perception are as follows:
In the overall, the ICT management level based on the perception of administrators and teachers is coherent. For instance, considering the overall four aspects, such as planning, leading, organizing, and controlling, each of them is averagely at a high level. Because the schooling management based on education reform emphasizes participatory administration, both administrators and teachers reflect coherent perspectives on school management in the overall.
As for, the planning aspect, the ICT management level based on the perception of administrators and teachers is also at the high level. When considered in each item, all are in the high level. Since the school was selected as the ICT Model School the was, a new form of school development based on the educational reform in the National Education Act 1999 and revised act 2002 (the second edition) (The Office of the Educational Council, 2005), it was therefore supported and introduced to the development planning, strategic planning, operational planning, and educational management planning in ICT. More are, other organizations concerned also place an emphasis on planning, thereby leading to a high average level in this aspect. The highest average level based on the perception of administrators and teachers is having the learning management plan with its use of ICT as a learning tool for developing process in classes, roles of teachers, roles of students, leaning methods, and finally for developing the students themselves. A consideration of teacher perception poses a consistent result with the highest average level in the educational management planning.
In the overall, the leading aspect in ICT management level based on the perception of administrators and teachers is at the high level and when considered by items, all are in good level. Congruent with teachers’ perception, the highest average point based on the perception of administrators and teachers is the nomination of teacher and students’ ICT work for award competitions. In this respect, it is one of the strategies for developing model schools with its use of ICT in learning (Bhuphachard Thunhikorn, 2006) to encourage development, presentations, and dissemination of the were, as well as to build self esteem, and school reputation. All are a proactive public relation campaign that potentially brings about visible and concrete outcomes.
Furthermore, the organizing aspect in the level of ICT management based on the perception of administrators and teachers is generally at the high level and when considered by items, all are in the good level. Congruent with both teachers and administrators’ perception, the highest average point based on the perception of administrators and teachers is the appointment of the ICT operation. Considering the suggestions for successful ICT management, the most suggestion is a clear-cut appointment of persons to be responsible for ICT. Such a characteristic demonstrates that the appointment for responsible officers is crucial for the ICT management and causes the success of ICT model schools (Wipaporn Nitiprechanon, 2005).
As for the controlling aspect in the ICT management level based on the perception of administrators and teachers is in the high level and when considered by items, all are at the good level. Congruent with the teachers’ perception, the highest average point based on the perception of administrators and teachers is the student evaluation in accordance with basic educational curriculum and ICT implementation for learning. According to the National Education Act 1999 and revised act 2002 (the second edition), modern technologies are utilized in ICT in order to increase effectiveness and develop knowledge and skills for the students.
2. The comparison of the ICT management level of the ICT model schools based on administrators and teachers’ perception entails as follows:
In general, there are differences among the four aspects of the ICT management level based on administrators and teachers’ perception. Namely, the perception of administrators in the management level is higher than that of teachers with respect to all four aspects, such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. This is due to the fact that management is a direct responsibility of administrators, but is an indirect job for the teachers.
Recommendations for the future findings
· For the planning aspect: An intermediate ICT developing plan (3-5 years) and should be determined the student qualifications based on basic educational curriculum in ICT learning
· For the organizing aspect: ICT officers should be appointed and the e-library or ICT learning center that gathers learning tools and technologies as ICT educational treasury should be established furthermore job description regarding ICT management should be described on will as the ICT management guidebook should be produces.
· For the leading aspect: Workshop for teachers should the continuously arranged to train them ICT knowledge and skills on using ICT for learning and the comfortable access to ICT for learning should be provided or well to provide ICT knowledge, implementation, and skills.
· For the controlling aspect: Monition’s and Evaluating ICT implementation should be undertaken constantly in order to revise and assess its feedback. In addition, the ICT operation and its feedback should be reported back in order to effectively develop and improve the management.
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