In today's ICT Steering Group meeting - the first I have chaired - we had a go at devising a creed. The idea being that this would provide direction and purpose to the group when buffeted by inevitable competing demands for changes to our systems.
I gave members of the committee two minutes to write on post-it notes things that they considered to be immutable principles, whilst following these rules:
- Do not mention products or brand names
- Think about immutable principles/lines in the sand - future proof, independent of space and time...
- At least two; no more than four
Once they had done this we stuck the notes to a board and discussed them briefly. After the meeting I knocked together their responses into this creed:
We believe in working openly and collegiately. For us, technology is a servant not a master.
We believe in consensus built around evidence. We hold dear thorough, consistent and on-going training. We want everyone in our community empowered to wring every ounce of value from our systems. Unless excellence is constrained, we believe that simplicity trumps complexity, that less is usually more.
We believe in the power of technology to enhance collaboration and to make our community stronger. Teaching and learning lies at the heart of all our decisions about ICT. We reject the notion that digital systems are merely a substitute for analogue ones. We aspire to use ICT to transform – even redefine – the work that we do in our school. We aspire to use technology in ways that let the human spirit soar.
These beliefs define all that we do with technology in our school; they define us. We hold them to be immutable – transcending time, place and technology.
Amen.
Not a bad starting point, I reckon, for beginning to tackle ICT systems in any school.