Information Technology
Evolving role of school
IT departments amidst the changing face of education Not long ago, school IT departments were merely seen as a branch of school operations that provided support and maintenance for hardware and software. However, with over 1.2 billion children globally1 affected by school closures during Covid-19, school IT departments took on a pivotal role to ensure the continuation of education through technology. By ASUS
Seeing technology as a mere utility to enable remote learning during a crisis would be missing the point. The remote-learning experience over the past year has taught us that the use of personal devices, online collaboration platforms, and e-learning resources can be effective2. This experience has also given us a glimpse into the future of education where teaching and learning could be hybrid. Students can learn anytime and anywhere and can embrace more engaging learning models by using technologies such as virtual reality (VR). Teachers, too, can capitalise on both existing and emerging digital solutions, with instructional design, multimedia production and data analytics becoming increasingly vital. As schools around the world pursue the education of tomorrow, the role of school IT departments must evolve from a support function to a strategic role in exploring new technologies that can be integrated with the school curriculum. This also means that school IT will need to build a solid IT foundation that can enable them to be more hands-off in regular IT support and maintenance, so their time and resources can be better used where the value is. For this to happen, there are three key areas school IT departments need to build into their IT foundation.
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