Do we really need ICT Co-ordinators?

The role of ICT Co-ordinator has been around for decades – ever since, in fact, someone decided that ICT activities ought to be co-ordinated across the curriculum. But why should it be, and what does it even mean to co-ordinate it anyway?

The rationale of co-ordinating ICT across the curriculum is possibly laudable. If the purpose is to ensure that a student is not placed at a disadvantage in terms of learning about and with technology by choosing a particular set of subject options, then I suppose that’s fine. It’s then a matter of digital and, more important, educational equity, and that fits in well with my own values system. But I fear that too often it’s seen as a defensive measure, to prevent the school's being “caught out” whilst being inspected or otherwise evaluated.

The thing is, though, I have been into several schools where there is ICT going on all over the place without its being “co-ordinated” at all. Faced with the dilemma of whether or not to castigate the school for its lack of attentiveness to such matters, or take a more pragmatic approach, I decided on the latter. After all, ICT was happening. The fact that nobody was overseeing it seemed an irrelevance. As Darrell Huff said in his brilliant book How to Lie With Statistics, a difference is only a difference if it makes a difference.

What does “co-ordinating ICT” even mean? Is it to ensure that the same practice happens across the board, which sounds pretty boring to me? Or is it to ensure that the computer labs are not over- or under-booked in any one week? If the latter, then surely all someone needs to do is make sure that everyone has access to a room-booking timetable? Ideally, that should be on the school’s VLE or Learning Platform, so that nobody even has to get up from their chair when they want to book a room (or any other technology come to that), but even a paper copy on the staffroom noticeboard would be OK as long as the school wasn’t on a split site with the computer rooms on one site only. Incidentally, everything I’ve said here about booking computer rooms applies to booking laptops or anything else.

An important issue surfaced several times at the EduSummIT conference I recently attended. If you’d like to extend the use of technology across a school, say – ie to scale up what has been found to work – what you do not want or need is replication, but variations on a theme. Subject leaders should be encouraged to adopt the use of technology as and when it is appropriate. Would it not be fair to assume that, being the experts in their field, they are fully aware of when that might be?

If you’re interesting in discussing these issues, why not do one or more of the following:

• Post a comment at the bottom of this article.
• Contribute to the discussion in the Vital forum (free registration required).
• Join in a live discussion on Tuesday 14th June at 19:00 British Summer Time. Use this world clock time converter to find out what the time will be where you are.

Related articles

• Exploring a whole-of-school approach to information and communication technology (ICT) integration (libbypittardteaches.wordpress.com)
• Are you an ICT facilitator? (whatedsaid.wordpress.com)

Comments

[C. Abbing]

So you're suggesting we no longer need coordinators? I think using new technology needs some form of overseeing, but it definitely needs a change for the better. ICT can be used in way more effective and efficient ways!

I'd say the job of the coordinator should change frome keeping the booking table, cleaning the keyboards (yes, currently part of the job too!) and ordering new parts, to a merely coaching job: the ICT coordinator should be the guy that stimulates and inspires others to try new technology, and assist them into effectively implementing it! Like that, there's always a person you can turn too with questions, but also with new ideas and suggestions. He or she then doesn't take over, but encourages you to discover and explore the possibilities yourself.

Speaking of inspiring and stimulating: shouldn't ICT coordination be a part of the management work? Generally, we designate ICT coordination to some man (or woman) on the team that is good with computers and/or new technology anyway. ICT becomes a stand-alone subject on which a certain amount per week should be spent.

I think education is better of with the fully integrated use of new technology and computers. Therefore every teacher should know how to work with it. ICT coordination thus fits perfectly into the job description of the management: to inspire and stimulate their team members to get the best out of themselves and their students.

[Annie]

I think ICT Leader is probably a more accurate reflection of the role of many ICT support staff/coordinators.
My role description and some details are below - I am given a minor allowance and only several lessons per week to do it. It is an engaging and massive role and I COULD spend all week on it!
What has been confirmed for me, daily, is that without a dedicated leadership or coordinator role in ICT, there will be 'pockets' of development and even inspirational work in ICT in classes- but there will be others who use little or no technology in their classes. They do not or can not use ICT - or see it as someone else's job. Assistance for those new to technology by peers /colleagues is not sufficient and is a huge demand on teachers who are already under huge time pressures . With technology developing at such a rapid rate, it is imperative that there is someone dedicated to keeping up to date, attending conferences, disseminating information, giving regular links to resources, helping set up systems, liaising with the admin and IT tech departments, helping teachers and departments commit to best practise in terms of integrating ICT across the curriculum.

Here is one way to view an ICT role description in a primary school:

Incorporate contemporary ICT teaching and learning pedagogy in teacher planning
o Plan with teachers
o Assist with providing models or opportunities to share ICT ideas

Support teachers in preparing and monitoring the ICT teaching and learning for P-6
o Within planning – column or appendix
o Using the ICT resource bank (e.g. Diigo Bookmarking site and intranet links) that we will set up

Assist in developing high standards in ICT educational delivery

Develop opportunities for the use of learning technologies within the classroom

Assist in ICT professional development and relevant induction of new staff

Support effective communication re ICT with staff, students, parents
o Promoting ICTs
o Buddy classes – opportunities – to liaise
o Integration across the curriculum – planning stage – make links
o Sourcing programs – a place to list them all (delicious, CC Teacher Reference page)
o Modelling samples of multimedia use
o Intranet and Technical program support
o Promoting ICTs in staff meetings, parent events, intranet
o PD’s to suit staff needs e.g. Technical software assistance of popular programs

Liaise with IT: Budget, managing resources, care and use of equipment, workplace Health & Safety
o Work with IT Tech Department (3 staff), to voice Junior school concerns or issues e.g. data storage, SOE

Other ICT leaders and coordinators I have worked with in other schools have similarly diverse and rich roles - however all of us have one thing in common: we need more time!! One thing an ICT role has never been about, in my experience, is about getting staff or classes 'coordinated' so that they do things in the same way. Quite the opposite. It is about how to use technology to best suit the subject, purpose of the task, and target (e.g. real, global) audience. It is about helping teachers know how to differentiate and individualise teaching and learning.

[Doug Woods]

I'm still in favour of the term 'co-ordinator' (not always with a hyphen) as it indicates that ICT can be co-ordinated across different subjects (do we still need to think in terms of subject teaching?) and is not just a subject in its own right. If, as many are suggesting, the ICT subject curriculum should be dropped or modified more along the 'computer science' model, then I feel there would be more of a role for an ICT co-ordinator to support the use and development of technologies in other subject area.

Which brings me to the comment made in Terry's penultimate paragraph, "Subject leaders should be encouraged to adopt the use of technology as and when it is appropriate. Would it not be fair to assume that, being the experts in their field, they are fully aware of when that might be?" Subject leaders may well be fully aware of their subject but it would be very wrong to assume they are always aware of new ways of teaching that subject or how technology can be deployed to support its teaching. Hence, I'd suggest, the need for ICT co-ordinators to support subject leaders in implementing technology.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@ C Abbing. I actually agree with all the functions you suggest, and definitely that the role should be a management/leadership one. But nothing you've described sounds like a co-ordinating role to me: what's being co-ordinated? Coaching, inspiring, suggesting: all great stuff. Co-ordinating, on the other hands sounds like an admin job, of making sure some boxes are ticked.

Would be great if you (and the other commenters) could join the online discussion about this tomorrow (link in article).

Cheers
Terry

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@Annie Thx for providing such a detailed response, Annie. The only part of your JD that involves "co-ordinating" as far as I can see is:

"Integration across the curriculum – planning stage – make links"

What does that mean, and how is it possible? And what's the point?

When I was an ICT Co-ordinator I would try to encourage subject leaders to see ICT as relevant to their subject from aprocess point of view, eg history involves research, which makes database work relevant to tem; chemistry involves modelling, which can obviously tie in with ICT. But beyond that sort of thing, what does "integration across the curriculum" mean? And wouldn't you have to be an expert in EVERY subject in order to be able to do it?

The rest of the JD seems very rich and rewarding, and the main point of the job as you put it:

"It is about how to use technology to best suit the subject, purpose of the task, and target (e.g. real, global) audience. It is about helping teachers know how to differentiate and individualise teaching and learning."

seems to me to be great -- and not about co-ordinating anything at all. On the contrary, it involves dealing with each subject on its own terms.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@Doug I'd agree with your point that "it would be very wrong to assume [subject leaders] are always aware of new ways of teaching that subject or how technology can be deployed to support its teaching. "

But you still haven't convnced me that anything needs co-ordinating. Even in the highly undesirable situation (IMO) of ICT being delivered only across the curriculum, it would be better to have someone with the job of calling upon subject leaders to use technology in their own subject, than to have someone trying to co-ordinate their efforts, I think.

Cheers
Terry

[Jason Zagami]

Could the reason that ICT is often used for curriculum reform agendas be that it does provide a framework for the integration of subject disciplines, multi-disciplinary PBL, etc. and that needs a role such as ICT-coordinator to be enacted. Of course others could take up this role, teacher-librarians, G&T coordinators, directors of teaching and learning, etc. but for many schools, the ICT coordinator role is more than sharing tips and tricks and supervising resource access,
regards
Jason

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thx, Jason. I agree with a need for the role you describe, but what makes that an ICT co-ordinator's role then?

[Jason Zagami]

ICT is the flavour of the decade, administrators know they are supposed to do it but have no idea what it is, but ICT coordinators have always existed on shaky ground, some even use the mantra "I am trying to put myself out of a job" but while they exist there is an opportunity to combine educational reform with improved use of ICT by teachers. At some point all teachers will be ICT fluent, the cloud will take care of network coordinators, and improvements in software usability will displace the ICT help desk. I suspect however that the real advancements in educational technology are still to come to schools - neural interfaces, biometrics, and fully immersive augmented and virtual environments. The integration of these may be beyond the capacity for teachers to become coordinators of, as most ICT coordinators evolved from the classroom to manage the use of computers in schools, or for existing ICT coordinators - though I suspect many will try as their existing jobs disappear. My hope is that we will finally have educational needs driving technological innovation in education instead of always trying to coop commercial offerings and work out how these can be used. But yes I agree the traditional ICT coordinators role is becoming redundant, as with teacher librarians and gifted & talented coordinators, and all similar extra-classroom roles - this is a natural progression if we are requiring generalist classroom teachers to do all of the things these roles entailed.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, Jason. Great food for thought here. It's interesting what you say about librarians: a lot of the best writing I've seen about ICT and, in particular, web 2.0, has been by librarians, so I think you're right.

[david]

I would suggest that the state of ICT embedded across the curriculum is pretty lamentable.
There may be pockets of good practice- within a school/a department/an authority.
if wonderful things are going on all over the school- well some of those staff will leave and there will be no guarantee
that the replacements will use ICT well in teaching and learning..
So basically at every level- the worst need to be brought up to the standard of the best.
In most cases this will be a huge , sometimes impossible task.
If not the ICT coordinator to at least tackle it then whom?
(well ICT Advisers, National Strategies, Becta..all gone or going; and the the senior leadership team...)

[dougpete]

Thanks for the posting, Terry. I found that I needed more than a reply to comment on your post so did so here. http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/my-thoughts-about-the-need-for-ict-co-ordinators/

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, David, and sorry for the delay in responding. I'm fine with the idea of someone co-ordinating good practice for the reasons yu suggest, but am not convinced it needs to be an "ICT co-ordinator". Why not a "good practice co-ordinator"? :-p

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, Doug, very inteesing article. I think I need to respond to the challenges you put to me, as well as give further consideration to the excellent points that David (above) and others have raised. "Watch this space"!