Abstract

The paper examines a number of ICT in education initiatives and comments on their success, concluding that the introduction of ICT in schools must be seem as a change management process as well as a procurement. After a discussion about different kinds of change and the importance of building local capacity to deliver, the paper outlines a procurement model based on four steps: (i) define the purpose of the procurement; (ii) create a functional specification; (iii) plan the change management; and (iv) the final step, draw up a technical specification.

While this paper will be of interest to schools and other educational establishments, it will be most applicable to local governments, national agencies and Ministries of Education where large procurement projects have rarely resulted in optimum outcomes. However, practitioners who need to persuade policy-makers that technology is more than just another line on the budget will also find it useful.

Throughout the paper there is reference to different considerations that should be taken into account to ensure effective use of technology, these being: the full cost of ownership, speed and access, staff development, software interactivity and curricular relevance.

READ the paper HERE