At 10:19 AM 10/24/97 +0000, Andre Wiese wrote:
>
>One of the reasons for my subscription to this list is that I am
>preparing for a 90 minute talk/workshop on "Management of an IT
>Resource at a School". In fact, the original request was that I
>speak on School Management, but I felt that this was too wide a topic
>and I have narrowed it down.
>
>I am looking for material, specifically on what the responsibilities
>of senior management in this regard should be. Anyone help?
Greetings Andre -
Not fully knowing who the audience will be or how they are linked to the
substance of your talk/workshop, I'd suggest that you interview selected
members of your audience in advance. I would do so in their space and in a
relatively informal way. Take the information you get and, in your talk,
synthesize for them some of the ways you (or whoever is responsible for this
function) will provide real value using the school's IT resource.
I think this approach will give you an opportunity to be knowledgeable about
the specific needs of the group. It will also give you the substance you
need to demonstrate how to integrate technology into their unique
environment in a way that uses technology as the tool it is meant to be.
You preserve rather than threaten individual areas of expertise or
disciplines and actually illustrate how to enhance and enrich what they are
already doing.
I think that your coverage of the topic - you did say this would be a
workshop - can include an invitation to the group to form a council (team or
committee, whichever works best in your milieu; once their role becomes
clearer, have them name themselves!) that will collaborate on additional
ways to apply IT to their needs, i.e., the ongoing management of the IT
Resource. Group input tends to lead to enhanced group commitment.
The facilitator in me sees 'workshop' and my mind starts to race with
thoughts about participative activities you could do. But in the interest of
list protocol (and the "real work" I hope to get to this fine Fall Friday
morning), I'll stop here for now. I hope you'll report back on how the talk
went...
Even though I wasn't very responsive to your request for material, I hope my
$ .02 helps.
Cheers!
John
_________________________________________________
Prins Associates planning group process facilitation
prins.assoc@worldnet.att.net electronic meetings
Advanced Technology for More Productive Work Groups