ICT APPLICATIONS IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND RECORD KEEPING: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

1. ICT APPLICATIONS IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND RECORD KEEPING: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES K.O.Oloruntegbe (Ph D, FSTAN) Science and Technical Education, AdekunleAjasin University, Akungba-Akoko

2. Working Objectives At the end of this discussion participant would be able to: • Explain the various viewpoints on school management; • Discuss the different modes of technology in management and services, state the usefulness of virtual services over physical services. • Explain the use of internet, e-mails, chat rooms, web sites and mobile technologies in management; • Explain the creation, the management, and the characteristics of good records, storage, retention and disposal. • Discuss safety of records and state the requirements of the 1998 Data Protection Act in relation to usage of personal data; • Discuss the prospect and challenges of adopting new technology in service

3. THEORIES ON MANAGEMENT - CATEGORIZATION As a starting point the various categorization of the subject field need be considered. The following categories are sourced from literature. • Educational change (here we can discuss the reasons for educational change, and the effects and impacts resulting, particularly at an individual teacher or manager level). • Management of change (this is concerned with the conception of management of change principles, approaches and methods adopted in order to bring about change, and to consider attitudes to change).

4. Management approaches (this category covers specifically the types of management approach that lend themselves to particular purpose or outcomes, and the implications). • Organizational impacts (this category covers the impacts of change upon organizations, both from an institutional and a systems viewpoint). • ICT management (this tells how ICT is managed within organizations, and the concerns and issues that face managers and others in respect of ICT).

5. Strategic and tactical approaches (these concern the types of approach that are involved when change and ICT use is introduced into organizations and systems, and the impacts that this has upon support and personnel particularly). • Personnel management (how the introduction of ICT is shifting the needs for personnel within organizations and institutions, and the future implications that there might be in these respects). • Resource and resource development management (this is concerned with how resources that are ICT-based can both be developed in a range of ways and by a variety of groups, and how their uses are managed within educational situations).

6. Financial and procurement management (this is concerned with aspects of finance and procurement that managers in educational situations now need to consider). • Planning and project management (this category covers the approaches and needs for planning and project management when different ICT uses are being introduced into educational situations). • Managing sustainability (this category is concerned with the ways in which managers in educational situations are now considering maintainability and sustainability, and the implications that arise for the future). • Monitoring and evaluation processes in management (this category covers the methods and approaches which can be used within educational situations to monitor, evaluate and reflect upon outcomes of ICT uses for the variety of purposes originally intended).

7. EMERGING GROUPS The areas which are general non-ICT specific: • Educational change. • Management of change. • Management approaches. • Organizational impacts. The areas which are general and ICT-specific: • ICT management. • Strategic and tactical approaches.

8. The areas where more ICT-specific coverage is needed are: • Personnel management. • Resource use and resource development management. • Financial and procurement management. • Planning and project management. • Managing sustainability. • Monitoring and evaluation processes in management

9. Technology in Management and Service Encounter Advances in communications and information technology are having profound effect on ways we do services in industry, in schools and other important sectors. Online services have replaced the trivial face-to-face interaction of service providers and customers. Five modes of technology in service encounter is shown below:

10. The A mode is called technology-free service encounter, where the customer is in physical proximity to and interacts with a human service provider. This mode represents the traditional high-touch service that we experience at a screening service that the SUPEB and TESCOM engage their teachers in most times. This is a very old 19th century fashion where technology does not play a direct role. Unfortunately, this is type we still engage in leading to time lose and risk of lives on the death traps we call roads. Most personal care services fall into this category, along with some professional services such as law, consulting, and psychiatry.

11. The B mode is called technology-assisted service encounter, because only the service provider has access to the technology to facilitate the delivery of face-to-face service. Many health care procedures fall in this category such as an eye exam during the office visit to an optometrist. Traditionally, airline representatives used a computer terminal to check in passengers are encouraged to use check-in kiosks represented by mode E. This is the type used in biometric data capture and analysis.

12. The C mode is called technology-facilitated service encounter, because both the customer and service provider have access to the same technology. For example, a financial planner in consultation with a client can refer to a financial model on a personal computer to illustrate projected returns for different risk profiles.

13. D mode, called technology-mediated service encounter, the customer and human service provider are not physically co-located and thus the service encounter no longer is the traditional “face-to-face” contact. Communication is usually enabled by a voice telephone call to access services such as making a restaurant or hostel reservation or getting technical help from a distant call center. Consider, also, how General Motors has bundled a remote monitoring service in its automobiles called “OnStar” that use GPS (global positioning satellite) to reassure stranded motorists that assistance is just a call away.

14. In mode E, called technology-generated service encounter, the human service provider is replaced entirely with technology that allows the customer to self-serve (i.e outsourcing the job to their customers). This mode is becoming more common as firms attempt to reduce the cost of providing service. Examples are ubiquitous –bank ATMS, check-out scanning, airport check-in-kiosks, online reservations, and interactive voice response (IVR) technology in call centers. This is the type I used to secure appointment (sabbatical) as a Visiting Senior Lecturer to University of Malaysia. The table below serves to illustrate a few of the above.

15. VIRTUAL VERSUS PHYSICAL SERVICES A comparison of virtual (electronic) and physical services is shown in Table 2. The features represent general characteristics that vividly differentiate the alternative delivery system. Table 3 displays the advantages and disadvantages of online and traditional grocery shopping, an activity in which almost everyone participates. • Table 2. Comparison of Virtual and Physical Services

16. INTERNET AS A SERVICE ENABLER IN MANAGEMENT The internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmits data using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a “network of networks” that consists of millions of smaller academic (.edu), business (.com), non-profit (.org), and government (.gov) networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, streaming media, voice-over-IP (VoIP), and access to the World Wide Web (www).

17. Email Email can be a useful tool in the development of communication skills and extending the learning process. Students of foreign languages use email to correspond with native speakers abroad, for example, or to send and receive weather data across the world and pupils with special needs find email a valuable tool where letter writing or using the telephone would be impossible. However, there are a number of management implications of implementing email in school, and acceptable use of email by staff and pupils. Should all staff and pupils have their own mailbox, should staff email addresses be available to everyone, pupils and parents alike? Should pupils be able to send homework by email? Schools should have a policy in place that specifically addresses these, and related, issues.

18. Chat rooms Chat is a way of communicating with others in real time over the internet in virtual meeting places called ‘chat rooms’. Although mainly regarded as a leisure activity, chat rooms can also provide educational benefits. Pupils are able to chat with peers anywhere in the world, sharing experiences, comparing lifestyles or working collaboratively. Within school, pupils should only be given access to educational chat rooms. They should be moderated to ensure that discussions are kept on topic and that there is no bad language or inappropriate behaviour. Good chat rooms should have clear policies and privacy statements setting out acceptable behaviour, and these should be upheld and enforced. Guidelines for using chat in school should be included in an acceptable use policy.

19. School websites Many schools now have their own website, providing excellent opportunities for showing the range and breadth of work the school does, providing a source of information to parents, and developing links with the wider community. There are, however, certain safety issues that need to be considered: A school website should take care to protect the identity of pupils: where a child’s image appears, the name should not, and vice versa

20. Mobile technologies The developments of mobile technologies such as phones (including camera phones) and PDAs have many benefits for the individual and to education. In addition to the standard services of voice calls and text messaging, the more advanced networks such as 2.5G and 3G provide: • video messaging • mobile access to the internet • entertainment services (e.g. video streaming of sporting events) • Information-based services. Increasingly, schools need to include these devices in acceptable use policies.

21. RECORD KEEPING Records creation The prime objective of records creation is to ensure that only records needed by the system are created and enter the system. The implication of this is that not only might unnecessary records be created, but that some important activities could be overlooked in the creation of records. The generation of records needs to be managed because this is where the records enter the records system

22. Management of Records The management of the records after their creation is just as important as ensuring that the right records are captured. The basic premise of records management, which is to 'manage organizational information so that it is timely, accurate, complete, cost-effective, accessible and usable' (Robeket al. 1995:7) must be adhered to

23. Characteristics of good record keeping. From the submission of Robek et al, 1995 above the following characteristics of good record keeping must be upheld. These are: it must be (i). Timely, (ii). Accurate, (iii). Complete, (iv). Cost effective, (v).. Accessible and (vi). Usable.

24. It is a sad thing to always find no reliable data or no data in front of our country Nigeria in record kept by international agencies like the World Bank, UNESCO, and World Statistics or even in African. It is either the record is foolishly and dangerously inflated that little children are not convinced. Examples are education expenditure per GDP, education expenditure per child in primary schools, per student in secondary schools (Oloruntegbe, 2012). It is a common knowledge that primary school teachers are forced to inflate primary school enrolment for heaven knows what reason. This is clear contradiction to quality of good records being accurate, complete and usable.

25. Records storage Records storage is largely concerned with the storage of records that are no longer constantly referred to but are occasionally needed for business. These are semi-active and inactive records. These records often safeguard 'crucial organizational interests hence the need to keep them for as long as they may be needed' (Penn et al. 1994:208). Keeping these records implies identifying them so that they can be separated from active records and then storing them away from expensive office space

26. Records storage Records storage is largely concerned with the storage of records that are no longer constantly referred to but are occasionally needed for business. These are semi-active and inactive records. These records often safeguard 'crucial organizational interests hence the need to keep them for as long as they may be needed' (Penn et al. 1994:208). Keeping these records implies identifying them so that they can be separated from active records and then storing them away from expensive office space

27. Records retention and disposition A records retention and disposal programme is crucial to the management of the records of the organization. The benefits of a retention and disposition programme are aptly summarized by Ricks et al. (1992:75–76) as follows: 'A records retention programme provides a timetable and consistent procedures for maintaining the organization’s records, moving the records to inactive storage when appropriate and destroying records when they are no longer valuable to the organization.' The absence of record retention schedules will mean that some of the records that are no longer needed by the system might still be kept, and those that are still needed by the system may be destroyed. Another implication is that an institution may lose valuable evidence and vital memory as records disposition had not been developed systematically

28. Management of electronic records • There is no doubt that record keeping is increasingly becoming digital (Edith Cowan University 2002). The presence of personal computers in every office and a local area network shows that the institutions (must make use) are increasingly making use of digital records; they are continually being generated in electronic format and may exist only in that format. • Research revealed that the application of ICT in record keeping in Nigeria is near zero (Aduwa-Ogiegbaen & Iyanmu, 2005) and the management of electronic records was unsatisfactory. The same can be said of many institutions in Africa (Ngulube 2004b).

29. KEEPING PERSONAL DATA SECURE All personal data needs to be kept safe and made available only to those who are authorized to access it, and this raises a number of issues: • The first is compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) which requires annual registration by schools and LEAs regarding the data they collect and keep and how they use it. • Secondly, information is passed to third parties who are contracted to provide services for schools. The DPA requires those who own the data and pass it to others to ensure that measures are in place for its safety and integrity and that it is not used for any purpose other than that for which it was collected, as well as how it will be destroyed when it is no longer required. • What information should be passed on, what information should be held by whom and where it will be held so that individual pupils are not identified is the one of the goals of DPA.

30. Safe disposal • An aspect of data security that can be overlooked relates to the disposal of computing equipment. Schools have legal responsibilities for the personal data which will be on hard disks (including things like email and passwords). Just deleting files or even formatting the disk is not sufficient since widely available software programs can recover some or all of the information. • Schools are advised to check that the organization to which any equipment may be given will provide a warranty that they also securely erase all disks. It is advisable to consult your local technical support for advice in these areas. • If the disks contain particularly sensitive information, then the industry recommendation is that they should be physically destroyed by fire or smashing them.

31. GLOBALIZATION, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND VISIONS (2020) • You cannot run away from your shadow was a sub topic in my lecture presentation to school administrators in this state last year (Oloruntegbe, 2011). The time has come that we cannot do but join the whole world (globalization) and do things the right way it should be done without cutting corners. We are known to always cut corners and day dream. By now we should be well grounded in accurate information generation and dissemination – knowledge economy – making use and sharing information with other nations.

32. PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES. So much have been mentioned about the prospects of ICT in school management and record keeping. It is an under statement to state that it makes • work faster, • more efficient, • more effective, • more accurate, • more rewarding, • more secured using surveillance cameras in hot spots like banks

33. It helps managers to make more efficient decision from up-to-date information (Demir, 2006). It is the in thing in the whole world; e-administration, e-finance, e- government, e-assessment, e-attendance, e-food, e-everything, as the world moves on in this 21st century (Oloruntegbe, 2011). We not do things as if we are still in the 20th C

34. CHALLENGES, For the challenges, it must be said that any innovation is a destroyer of tradition: thus, it requires careful planning to ensure success. By necessity, the productivity benefits of new technology will change the nature of work. Any introduction of new technology should include employee familiarization to prepare workers for new tasks and to provide input into the technology interface design (e.g., will typing skills be required, or will employees just point and click?). There are no longer typing position in offices in most nations of the world where workers are computer literate and internet compliant. See table 4 for our position in computer availability and usage among selected African nations.

35. Typing position will go. Not to worry the money expended on wages can be used to provide employment in another sector. • All managers and administrators have to prepared and to be computer literate and internet compliant in line with global standard.. • Office operations will be less of print media but more of electronic thereby greening the environment also along global standard. Memos, minutes of meetings, announcement etc can go from sender to destination through e-mail, management portal on website etc. • The configuration of the office will change in conformity with the current standard; more computers, internet facilities, even recreation will be in compliant.

36. Most transactions will be done online, the purchase of virtually everything starting from the smallest sim card, recharged cards to bigger office equipment. This will block channels of wastage and of siphoning fund. • Staff will need to update knowledge regularly sharing and comparing notes, with international bodies, learning and getting to knowhow things are done with better results elsewhere. • The big picture is that you can afford to be obsolete, monotonous and static workers of the 19th century but innovative, initiative and dynamic worker of he 21st century. Information leads to better knowledge acquisition, knowledge is wealth. This is to corroborate the France Prime minister’s (2007) position that source of wealth is no longer natural resources but science and technology, knowledge economy.

37. For services, the impact of new technology might not be limited to the back office. It could require a change in the role that managers and clients play in the service delivery process. Customer reaction to the new technology, determined through focus groups or interviews, also provide input into the design to avoid future problems of acceptance (e.g., consider the need for surveillance cameras at automated teller machines).

38. Table 4. Computer and internet usage in selected African nations Source: World Bank Working Paper No 101 – Developing Science, mathematics and ICT Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

39. For us in this part of the globe we need to ask how many are computer literate. How many are internet compliant? How many are prepared to accept the innovations that come with ICT as a big innovation? What about the problems posed by inadequate power supply, inadequate funding and the absence of political will in pulling the bull by the horn? It seems we have not started the journey to relevance. Until we imbibe the right attitudes to doing things we may never be on the mark to start the race but remain spectators in the global relevance and economic development. May God help us.

40. WHAT TO DO The computer in your school and office is not for decoration. Learn and get to use them. Encourage yourself and staff to take computer literacy quite seriously. Order for more to complement or go over all intending users. Get assistance to train your staff and students from government and other agencies. There are several non-governmental organizations, UNESCO, UNICEF willing to help if you seek assistance. To do all these by the way you need to be computer literate and internet compliant.

41. BIBLIOGRAPHY • Aduwa-Ogiegbaen, S.E. & Iyanmu, E.O.S. (2005). Using Information and communications technology in secondary Schools in Nigeria: Problems and Prospeects. Educational Technology and Society, 8, 1, 104-112 • Demir, K. (2006). School management information systems in primary schools. The Turkish online Journal of Educational Technology, 5, 2, Article 6. • Fitzsimmons, J.A. & Fitzsimmons, M.j. (2011). Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology. New York; McGRaw-Hill Companies, Seventh Edition. • Oloruntegbe, K.O. (2012). Quality and Inequality in Education and Government Expenditure among Nations: Where do Developing Nations Stand? A Paper presented at the 6th Annual Conference on Canada International Conference on Education held in Ontario, June 2012. • Oloruntegbe, K.O. (2011). Information management in Secondary School Administration. A Paper presented at a Seminar 2011 for Principals and Vice-Principals on Management Strategies in the Re-articulated Secondary Schools in Ondo State, Nigeria held in Akungba in September, 2011.