Cards on the table: I don’t think so.
Fiona Miller in the Guardian this week says it better than I could.
I’ve worked in a large telecoms organisation with a very well run IT services team. The hoops that I had to jump through to justify the procurement and installation of something fairly standard (Macromedia Flash) were numerous and fiddly (fiddly hoops?).
Picture a teacher. She has just found an IT resource that will transform a difficult lesson but she’s only found it at the last minute. A school-based IT team is more likely to be negotiated into getting it installed at 24 hours notice than a outside provider with a central call centre working to a 2 week service level.
Make IT more complicated and less people will use it as a tool. Teaching’s hard enough as it is.
2 Comments until now
How wrong your assumptions are. You are just as likely to meet with the same amount of fiddly hoops if you ask you in house team. At least if you have a managed network, you can refuse to pay/look for another if they don’t do what you ask for. An in house tecchie type is useful for maintenance/backup, etc, but a backup contractor to assist is also a good idea.
And you scenario sums up the problems with “a little knowledge” ,i.e. it’s very dangerous. What criteria has been used to gauge whether the software the teacher has located is fit for purpose? Probably none. Much cash has been wasted by ill informed enthusiasts (at every level) purchasing the wrong kit, because they’ve not done their homework – so to speak.
And if as a BSF school you are tied in to said managed IT service for 5 years without any option to refuse it, what do you do then Kevin?
Add your Comment!