Report 19

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education

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DoE has a vision for ICT in schools but achievement is unclear

In 2014, DoE established its vision for ICT in public schools of providing better equity and access to learning resources while empowering schools’ decision-making. DoE does not yet have an implementation plan for achieving or measures for assessing achievement against its Information and Communications Technology in the Western Australian Public School System: Vision Statement and Priorities 2014-2016 (ICT Vision) and schools are unclear about the direction being taken.

Implementation of a SOE across all schools is a critical step toward achieving the ICT Vision as it allows schools to leverage off base ICT infrastructure provided by DoE. However, rollout of the SOE has been slow.

The ICT Vision is not supported by implementation strategies or plans

DoE’s ICT Vision aims to provide a standardised ICT network environment to all schools whilst also providing them with the independence and freedom to make decisions about how they implement ICT. However, DoE has not developed an implementation plan or strategy to guide the many individual projects it needs to achieve this.

The DoE ICT Vision identified 14 individual projects and initiatives that are contributing to its achievement. Responsibility for delivery rests with numerous parts of DoE. The projects range in size and importance from its rollout of the SOE to development of a records keeping plan. With this many projects underway, it is important to have an implementation plan that provides coordinated and timely delivery.

Appropriate communication with key stakeholders is a natural component of an implementation plan. We found 60% of respondents to our survey thought DoE did not clearly communicate with schools about future obligations and requirements for ICT. We observed, and a DoE commissioned independent review identified, that DoE provide a significant amount of information on their intranet. However, the information is overly technical and schools do not necessarily have the expertise to understand it. DoE needs to provide schools with improved guidance material on how to plan and manage their ICT.

DoE knows that schools lack a clear understanding of the Departments’ strategic direction and are working with DoE project staff to improve engagement. DoE is using customer relationship managers to meet with school staff to improve engagement during roll out of the SOE. DoE has also delivered workshops to regional areas to address ICT leadership in schools.

The SOE is a critical component of the vision

DoE describes the SOE as a ‘common digital network’. Work on the SOE started in 2003 but it is only in the most recent version 4.5 (v4.5) that schools have reported considerable improvements and reliability in the system.

The SOE provides critical services to schools such as internet, network access, operating system, security, and school administration software such as attendance and student information.

The SOE is limited to a carefully defined range of equipment, software and configurations to achieve benefits like low cost support and need for staff training, and a high level of availability. In addition, the SOE removes the need for individual schools to manage and maintain a network. Essentially, the SOE provides all ICT infrastructure needed ‘up to the wall’. Schools are responsible for how they leverage off it – refer Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 - The standard operating environment

Benefits of the SOE are significant but rollout has been slow

SOE rollout commenced in 2003, with 97% of public schools on a version of the SOE at July 2016 (435 on v4.5 and 319 on v4.1 or 4.2). However, 56% of those schools only gained access in the last 2 years. The full benefits of the SOE will only be realised when all schools are operating on similar versions as this will allow DoE to focus on supporting one environment, and provide users with a consistent experience across all schools.

Rollout of the SOE has been slow – see Figure 2. Real progress was not made until 2008 when Commonwealth funding from the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund (NSSCF) saw the SOE implemented in all secondary schools, except for 8 schools that opted out. The reasons why 8 secondary schools opted out is explained in Figure 3.

Five hundred and seven of 521 primary schools are now on a version of the SOE. However, 191 of those only gained access from December 2015 onwards with funding for SOE implementation focused on providing ICT to primary schools. Key stakeholders and staff at our site visits made it clear that primary schools are major beneficiaries of the SOE as they receive support for network infrastructure and key services from DoE.

Figure 2 - Roll out of the SOE has been slow and largely limited to 4 years

Figure 3 - Not all schools are on the SOE

Version 4.5 of the SOE has provided significant improvements

DoE had minimal success with early versions of its SOE, with ongoing issues around authentication and limiting school choices around what kind of devices they could use. Significant progress occurred with the release of version 4.0 in 2008. This upgrade combined student and administration domains, provided centralised backup, improved support services and shifted focus towards mobile internet connectivity. It also provided schools with the ability to manage some components locally, such as internet controls.

Version 4.5 provided even more improvements including centralised management of wireless access and cloud ready. Five of the 12 schools we visited during this audit had already been upgraded to the newest version of the SOE and all commented favourably on improvements in user experiences. By September 2016, when rollout is complete, 449 schools will be on version 4.5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Page last updated: August 17, 2016

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