Assessing Educational Change - Essay Example

? ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE Purpose of the project The purpose of this paper is to explain an educational change that was introduced into a school. It clearly explains how the change was implemented and gives a description on why the change was desired in the school. It also mentions the measures that were anticipated to go well and the thing that might have been ineffective in the implementation of the change. Introduction Education is the key to countless avenues in life. Change, on the other hand, is uncontrollable and happens whenever and wherever. Depending on the impact and the worthiness of the change, it is easy to determine whether the change is worth embracing or not. Education has had a tremendous effect in many people’s lives, and the impact is hard to explain, but of course is positive and appreciable. Thus, any change that has positive influence on education is always worth adopting and trying out. Change in schools occurs in different ways and the modes in which the change gets introduced to schools vary from school to school. However, it is important to weigh the benefits and costs that accrue from adopting a particular change and in doing so; it is also crucial to know that change is a process and requires to be introduced in an instructed way. Change need not be introduced carelessly but should be introduced in a step by step mode so that all that needs to be done in its introduction becomes definite (Rowley, & Sherman, 2001). Analysis of the change and the change process The change that is discussed in this paper is the introduction of computers to some school witnessed. The era that the current generation operates becoming computerized day in day out. With the invention of the computer, the world has always seemed to evolve in seconds. Every minute has registered an invention that relates to the computer. This has brought numerous changes in the world, and the community at large is grateful for it. This has caused many to embrace the change, since if one is not keen to adopt it, then they lag behind on anything to do with the current affairs especially internationally. Computer knowledge has a lot of advantages and if used well, it introduces students to things in life that they are not privy to. Introduction of computers to learning in schools is not a thing that any head of school ought to think twice about. However, it’s crucial that the heads of schools consider with a lot of concerns the way in which the change is introduced to the school. It may look rather cheap to introduce computers into a school, but contrary to that, it is rather a complicated matter since certain instructions need to be followed to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness in its use and impact in the school (Rowley, & Sherman, 2001). According to chapter 8 of the book, there are stages that are to be followed in the introduction of a change into a system. The stages include analysis of a change in all spheres, design of the change, development of the change, implementation and evaluation of the change. All these stages ought to be put into consideration when introducing the change to ensure that the change introduced is not in vain. Analyzing the change is all about covering up the introduction process (Green, 2013). I happened to have been among the committee that spear headed the introduction of the computers to some school in my district. Having handled computer studies in college, I was so thrilled when I heard the head of the school talk about introducing computer into the curriculum of the school as a form of change from the previous running of the education in the school. Clever enough, the head was not fast to rush into the purchase of the computers. However, he did ask for a group to be selected to look into the whole process of introducing the change; analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. Analysis of the change Analysis is all about disintegrating a process into fragments so as to look at the whole process bit by bit in order to have a clear thought about the whole process. In this case, the change of introducing computers into the school was broken into parts, and each part was assigned to a given individual to look into it. The analysis process was majorly carried out to determine whether the computer program was worth introducing into the school. This process is normally the first step when it comes to introduction of change. It is majorly done to determine the viability and feasibility of a change. In analyzing the change, survey was taken in some schools that had already introduced the computers, and also in schools that had not taken a step of introducing the computers into the curriculum. Some students were also taken from the school desiring to take up computer introduction and introduced into the computers. At the end of it all, through the comparison of the two scenarios of a school having access to computers and that of no access to the computer, it was noted that the one with computers was performing well compared to the one without. Students and the teachers were seen to be so advanced in that almost everything, including teaching itself by the teachers was computerized. When given a quiz on the current affairs worldwide, it appeared that the students in the school with computers had knowledge of it and the students on the other end with no computers seemed to be lagging behind with the current affairs (Glickman, Gordon, & Gordon, 2004). The schools with computers were seen to be much ahead of the school without in almost everything. Research was also done on the benefits of computers in schools, which included improved and wide research method for both the teachers and the students, improved learning through use of projectors in class, instilled skills to students they required to use in life and creates an alternative to adult learners. From the analysis, it was clear to the head of the school that the change of introducing computers into the school was a viable one. It was also feasible since the results of it were already seen and could not be traded with any other change. Though it seemed expensive, the benefits that accrued from implementing it were far much important than the costliness of the program (Cullingford, & Haq 2009). Design process and development 0f the change. After reaching a decision into adopting the change, it was time to look into the design of the change. Designing process is all about having a plan for the introduction and implementation of the change. It involved knowing when, where and how to introduce the change. All this design process is solvable through the availability of capital. From the look of things, money was not a problem; however, how to introduce the change was the problem. It was decided that the change would be introduced by ordering for novel computers from a trusted supplier. It then occurred to the management that there was no venue to hold the computer lessons. It was decided that the computers labs would be constructed, where a computer lesson was introduced into every class’s timetable but at different timings, ensuring that all students had access to the computers at least once weekly, as the laboratories were increased with time to accommodate private times, when students would go use computers on their own. Projectors were also introduced to enable teachers teach the students and to help make it more involving through the view of images and pictures that facilitated fast and easy understanding of concepts by the students. The design process also involved hiring computer teachers to assist in implementing the change. Upon designing the change, it was time to develop the change. Development of the change involved addition of anything that would improve the change. It was done through the help of an expert who helped in upgrading the computers so that they worked with the current mode in the curriculum (Rowley, & Sherman, 2001). Implementation of the change Implementation of the change is what came after the change development. Implementation process involves the activities that make a change introduced happen or take effect. Implementing the change involved buying the computers and installing them in computer labs, the library and having few in class to be used by the teachers and by students who need quick access to some information. Another way of implementing it was through the employment of enough tutors of computer knowledge. Furthermore, implementation involved creating lesson plans that were so interactive such that students were in a position of assimilating the use of the computers into their day to day operations. This was facilitated by the installation of more than enough computers in the computer laboratories, libraries and in class. Another implementation program was guiding students on how to apply word processing techniques in addition to diverse software that were of importance during the whole period of being a student and even later in life. Most of these programs were used in performing a variety of tasks such as essay and research writings. Furthermore, the change could be implemented by assimilating the day to day lectures with the PowerPoint presentation through projection. This would be applied along with the lectures. Another implementation method was assigning group work that was only doable through the use of computers. This would enable the students share the skills they have among themselves (Glickman, Gordon, & Gordon, 2004). Evaluation of the change The last process was evaluation, which is a continuous process that ensures that new change programs that are introduced are of benefit and are giving results as deemed. The process was particulary used to determine the worthiness of the change introduced. It was found out that the change of computer introduction was fruitful and the pupils and the teachers were happy about it. Exams on computer lessons were given to assess whether the students completely understood all they were taught and also for the purpose of determining the areas that needed to be stressed on. The educational change was desired in the schools because of the importance that comes with computer literacy. It was also desired so as to accommodate the large and rising population of the schools. To avoid building more classes, it was more efficient introducing the computers so that it became easy passing knowledge through the e-learning processes and through the use of projectors, reaching out to the large population would be a little much easier (Cullingford, & Haq, 2009). All measures of implementing the change were effective except the process of installing the computers in class rooms. We realize that there many social sites that people meet and interact online. Thus, installation of computers in class would seriously interfere with the process of learning as students would be lured into using the computers to interact, and the attention of studying and being into books might be corrupted. Furthermore, it is not possible to install computers that accommodate all students in class. Thus, the installation of fewer computers would cause animosity among the students as they will often fight over the use of the minimal number of computers available in class. Thus, it would be efficient and wise to only have a laptop for use by the teacher and then install computers in libraries and computer labs where all would have access to (Glickman, Gordon, & Gordon, 2004). Conclusion In conclusion, these processes are more efficient in implementing the change desirable in an institution. Through the process of change introduction, development, all through to implementation and evaluation, it is possible to determine whether the change is worth implementing of whether it suits the place. Sticking to the above explained processes, it is much efficient than just implementing a change without carrying out serious analysis on it. References Cullingford, C., & Haq, N. (2009). Computers, schools and students the effects of technology. Farnham, England: Ashgate Pub. Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Gordon, J. M. (2004). Supervision and instructional leadership: a developmental approach (6th Ed.). Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon. Green, R. L. (2013). Instructional Leadership and Change. New York: Sage. Rowley, D. J., & Sherman, H. (2001). From strategy to change implementing the plan in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More