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Activity 9: Creating a shared vision for your school towards ICT integration

Considering questions and designing presentation: 3 hrs
Feedback and changes: 1 hr
Prepare for and hold school meeting: 3 hrs
Report back and discussion with group: 1 hr

 

8 hrs



 

This activity is largely school- and action-based. Through it, you will be synthesizing and putting into practice the considerations that this module has taken you through. It requires you, as a school leader (and/or ICT champion) to set up a meeting with members of your school in order to motivate for and create a shared vision that will allow for the introduction of ICTs at your school.

While part of your presentation will involve the slides that you have created through this module, the meeting should be a discussion session that encourages all to participate, share their views and make an input. If you have already introduced ICTs at your school, this meeting can be used as a mid-progress evaluation session, considering the following questions:

Is the progress that your school has made towards ICT integration aligned to a shared vision that all hold and adhere to in the school?

  • What gaps are there in the work you have done?
  • What can be improved and what further plans are needed to assist with further implementation?
  • Are there lessons that can be learned from other schools?

Activity

  1. Review the power-point slides that you have created in this module, with the following questions in mind:
  • Which of these will be most useful for your purposes at the school?
  • Will you use all of them or do you feel that a selection of a number of them would be more appropriate? If so, which are these?
  • How intelligible and clear are your slides?
  • Have you designed the slides in such a way that they are not simply `leader-centred'? In other words, have you created them in such a way that you will be able to invite further discussion?

    Remember that the purpose of this presentation is to allow for a broad, shared visioning process to take place. It is not the purpose of this presentation to come out of the school meeting with a full strategic plan. Instead you want to focus on articulating and agreeing upon a realistic shared vision for the school. In broad outline, you, in collaboration with others at the school, can begin to sketch through this meeting the broad outlines of the change process, who will be responsible for what and in what time-frames.

    You might want to consider incorporating references to, and inviting discussion, on the following points covered in this module:
  • Attitudes to ICT-related change at the school;
  • Present learning needs and/or learning area priorities that need attention at the school;
  • The motivation for change at the school towards ICT integration (driving forces and restraining forces);
  • Something of the change process, how and why it is recommended that ICT-related change should be done with the whole school in mind;
  • The importance of creating a shared vision;
  • What you've learned about the school itself from your snap survey(s);
  • What you've learned from other schools that are integrating ICTs into their school system and the implications for your school;
  • The kind of visible results (and/or changes in behaviour) that you would like to see at the school from ICT-change and within what time-frames;
  • The support that will be needed at the school, for ICT-related results, changes in behaviour and practices, to be achieved;
  • How problems will be handled and/or prevented;
  • Any other points you feel will be important for this presentation
  1. When you are happy with the content and flow of your presentation, share the full presentation with your group online (using the subject heading "Creating a shared vision"). Ask for constructive feedback on the full presentation. Tell them how you will conduct the presentation and what time-frame you are budgeting for the meeting.

Incorporate constructive feedback into your work, while making sure that you respond to at least one other presentation that you receive from your group members.

  1. Call the school meeting. Are you going to ask members of the school to read and/or prepare anything beforehand? If so, what will this be?

    Ensure that all logistical arrangements are properly handled for this meeting to take place.

  • Who will be taking minutes of the meeting?
  • Is a flipchart stand, markers and newsprint needed for brainstorming exercises in the meeting?
  • Will anyone else be assisting you with the facilitation of the meeting? If so, ensure that roles are clearly understood, so that the meeting flows smoothly.

    Through the discussion that is held in the school meeting, crystallize a shared vision for the school and set a time for the next follow-up meeting. Ensure that decisions taken are minuted and ensure that school members understand any assigned tasks that have come out of this meeting. Who will be responsible for what and in what time-frames?

  1. In a message to your group (using the subject heading "Shared vision meeting"), report on the meeting. In your message, cover some of the following points:
  • How did it go?
  • What decisions were taken? What difficulties and/or successes did you encounter?
  • Explain the first steps that the school will undergo in order to either initiate the introduction of ICTs at the school or to further progress ICT implementation and integration at the school.
  • Who will be responsible for what, with what time-frames?
  • Your feelings after the meeting. Were you an effective presenter/motivator?

Your reflections on the journey ahead.

You might want to send the minutes of the meeting as an attachment. Ensure that these minutes are produced timeously (i.e. within the week that the meeting takes place).

  1. Write your closing thoughts in the e-diary.

Optional Follow-Up

After undergoing this collaborative, shared visioning process at the school, you will need to undergo a similar process with parents and community members.

Plan a second, broad stakeholder meeting in consultation with your school senior management team. Your preparations for this meeting will be very similar to your first meeting.

In preparation for this meeting, ask yourself the following questions:
  • Will you make a similar presentation to parents of the school? If so, which power-point slides will you include and/or amend for this different audience? Perhaps the main slides that you will focus on, for this presentation, will be the one or two slides that you created (in Step 7) which report on the shared vision that members of the school have articulated and agreed upon.
  • In the meeting with parents, what motivations for introducing and/or further integrating ICTs at the school will be stated? What compelling arguments/ideas will be presented?
  • Will another, or other, member(s) of the staff be enabled and encouraged to make a similar presentation to parents, instead of the school leader? If so, how will the school leader support this process?

Call the parent/stakeholder meeting and invite inputs towards a more widely agreed upon shared vision.

After the parent/stakeholder meeting, refine the shared vision of the school and find a way to disseminate it.

 

NEXT

Once you have completed this activity, click here to move to Activity 10 - New partnerships.
 
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