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IFN615 information Management: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT strategy report
Karen Eyre n9758887
OCTOBER 29, 2017I am aware of the University rule that a student must not act in a manner which constitutes
academic misconduct as explained in the QUT’s Manual of Policies and Procedures (C/5.3 Academic Integrity). I confirm that this work represents my effort and does not contain plagiarised material.
Executive summary
Information management in schools is often neglected, particularly in relation to the flow of
information to classroom teachers. Classroom teachers are time poor, and in the absence of easy to
find information, often give up using data to inform practise. This is to the detriment of
organisational efficiency and success in achieving organisational goals, which in this context is to
improve student outcomes.
An information audit of Southside College has uncovered areas within the school’s information
infrastructure that inhibit information accessibility and use, as well as a culture of mistrust,
information hiding and hoarding by middle management. Recommendations have been made to
address the capacity of the school’s information management system (TASS) to be more user-
friendly and to work on improving the organisational culture in relation to information sharing, in
order for staff at all levels of the organisation to work towards providing better outcomes for
individual student’s academic and pastoral needs whilst at school.
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ContentsExecutive summary................................................................................................................................. i
PART A: OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATION................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Key terms:..........................................................................................................................................2
Limitations:........................................................................................................................................2
PART B: INFORMATION AUDIT..............................................................................................................3
Objectives:.........................................................................................................................................4
Scope and resources:.........................................................................................................................4
Methodology:....................................................................................................................................4
Communication strategy:..................................................................................................................5
Management support:.......................................................................................................................5
Findings:............................................................................................................................................5
PART C: INFORMATION STRATEGY........................................................................................................8
Discussion..............................................................................................................................................9
Possible solutions................................................................................................................................11
Recommendation................................................................................................................................12
References...........................................................................................................................................14
PART A: OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATION
Introduction
Schools should be organisations where learning takes place, which is the primary organisational goal of
a school: to improve student outcomes. However, information management in schools is often
neglected (Chu, 2016), particularly in relation to the flow of information to classroom teachers.
Obstacles in information flow impacts on teachers’ ability to use information which the school already
has stored to strategically cater for the academic and pastoral needs of their individual students. This
is to the detriment of organisational efficiency and success in achieving organisational goals.
As an organisation, a school has data which can be used to determine operational factors like staffing
requirements, predict academic results and track student behavioural issues. Data collection about an
individual student begins from the moment of enrolment and collates over time. School
administration uses collected information to gauge student results; the success or failure of certain
programs or subjects; and to track the organisation’s success. Hess & Fullerton (2009) point out that
schools are rich in gathered information, but without good information flow, that data and
information are not transforming into knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
At Southside College, an independent Prep – Year 12 school of approximately 1,600 students, there is
a plethora of gathered information. In its mission statement, the college “aims to nurture and
encourage enthusiasm for and commitment to the pursuit of lifelong learning. The College is
committed to providing holistic, integrated educational programs” (Southside College, 2016).
Classroom teachers are time poor, and in the absence of easy to find information, often give up using
data to inform practise. They are the integral link between learning and their students, and need to be
positioned in the best way possible to assist students in reaching their potential.
Due to problems with the information flow, classroom teachers at Southside College are not being
provided with easily accessible, comprehensible and user-friendly information which would assist
them in creating strategic and targeted lessons for the individual students in their classes.
Cacciatore, Meng, & Berger (2017) note that it is not unreasonable for professionals in contemporary
work environments to expect management to “come up with appropriate solutions and responsive
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strategies for dealing with stakeholders who are increasingly expecting real-time and on-demand
information” (p.293). As such, the information flow to classroom teachers at Southside College
requires an information audit to investigate the problems in information flow and recommend
possible solutions.
Key terms:Information audit: Henczel, (2001) describes an information audit as “an effective way of identifying
organizational information needs, charting internal and external information flows, improving
communication between information professionals and employees…within the organization. The
information audit process is promoted as one that can be adapted according to the resources available
and the organization's objectives” (p.14).
TASS: The acronym of the information management system ‘The Alpha School System’ used at
Southside College, available through the school intranet. The online portal, Teacher Kiosk, aims to
provide “teachers with the most up-to-date student and school-wide information, tools to complete
essential daily tasks and an integrated learning management and continuous reporting platform” (The
Alpha School System, 2017).
Administration: The top-tier level of management at the school, including the Headmaster, Deputy
Headmaster, Business Manager and the Board of Directors.
Middle management: The mid-tier level of management at the school, including the Head of Senior
School, Deputy Head of Senior School, Head of Middle School, Deputy Head of Middle School, Heads
of Department (responsible for academic subjects) and Year level coordinators (responsible for
pastoral care).
Limitations: For privacy reasons, the school’s identity has been concealed. Further, due to time restraints and word
limits, only one department (English) within the high school has been focussed on for this report.
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PART B: INFORMATION AUDITOrna (2004), determines that there is no one correct way to approach an information audit, but of
primary importance is to first identify the organisation’s goals and objectives, then set about
determining what information is required to meet them. From there, it is then possible to conduct an
information audit to determine if that information currently exists within the organisation and how it
is being used and make recommendations thereafter based on fact, rather than assumptions.
Using Orna’s (2004) “key questions as the starting point” (p.51) for this information audit, the
following has been determined for Southside College:
As an organisation, what are we trying to achieve?
Improve student outcomes and “value-add” as they progress through each year level
Nurture enthusiasm and commitment to learning
What do we need to know in order to do it?
Who our students are What they know What they need to know How they learn How to engage them in learning Any factors impeding a student’s ability to progress
Who needs to know it? Students Parents/caregivers Teachers Middle management Administration
What information do we need to support the knowledge?
Student academic results Student work ethic and behavioural patterns Background information which may impact student engagement
and/or learning
What do we need to do with information to achieve what we are trying to do?
Analyse student’s past results, including externally collected data such as NAPLAN results to ascertain:
1. Prior learning2. Gaps in learning3. Ability level
Analyse student’s past work ethic and behavioural records to ascertain engagement level
Who needs to do it and how? Classroom teachers, by having access to information as they plan their work program and learning experiences for each new class
Administration and middle management, to ascertain operational matters such as staffing and class sizes
Students and their parents to best strategise personal learning paths
Table 1: Starting point questions for Southside College Information Audit
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Henczel, (2001) recommends a “five step planning process for conducting an information audit” p.24),
which will be set out below for the Southside College information audit:
1. Set clear objectives
2. Determine scope and resource allocation
3. Choose a methodology
4. Develop a communication strategy (before, during and after)
5. Enlist management support
Objectives:The following objectives have been set for this information audit:
1. To investigate how student information is provided to classroom teachers;
2. To map the information flow within the organisation to look for gaps, weaknesses and
opportunities for improvement.
Scope and resources:The scope of this report will focus on the English Department of Southside College, which includes 10
staff members who teach secondary school (Years 7 to 12). This is due to accessibility to those staff
members and the author’s experience within that department. Resources will include investigation of
the school’s information management system TASS, as well as Microsoft Office 365 SharePoint which
is also used to record and store student results.
Methodology:A variety of methods can be used in information auditing. Orna (2004) includes:
“study and analysis of documents, and of databases used in conveying information;
observation of how people carry out information tasks;
structured interviews;
informal meetings of work groups to identify key problems;
questionnaires; mapping and other forms of visual representation; and
Soft Systems Analysis” (p.55).
For the purpose of this report, Henczel’s (2001) ascribed most common methods used for the
collection of data will be used: survey methods including questionnaires and interviews with teaching
staff, staff in the IT department who oversee TASS, and middle management; as well as personal
observations and experiences of using TASS and other information provided by the school.
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Communication strategy:Verbal investigation and survey will be conducted before and during the audit. The written report will
be provided as a more formal record and recommendation following the audit and analysis.
Management support:The findings of this report will be presented to middle management and the head of ICT services with
discussion and recommendations.
Findings: The following survey and interview questions were put to the English department staff:
1. How many students do you teach each year?
2. At the beginning of a school year, how well do you know the:
a. ability level of your students?
b. engagement level of your students?
3. What do you do to find out information about your students?
4. As the year progresses, where do you record student results?
5. As the year progresses, where do you record student behavioural infractions?
6. What information do you need about your students?
7. How would you like to access information about your students?
Orna (2004) provides “follow-up questions” (p.58) we can answer from the interview and survey
results recorded during the information audit:
ACADEMIC PASTORAL
(WORK ETHIC & BEHAVIOUR)
What do we actually know?
Past results, recorded on TASS and
stored in SharePoint excel document
Infringements which are recorded in
individual student diaries
Who actually knows it? People who access individual student
records or whole cohort excel
document
People who look in the diary
What information do we actually have?
Individual subject results
NAPLAN data
Aptitude testing results
OP projections (Year 12 only)
Categorised infractions as to lateness,
organisation, attitude, behaviour
management interventions
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What are we actually doing with it?
Recording and storing:
individual teacher markbooks
(hard copy – as class record)
TASS (electronic - as individual
student records)
SharePoint (electronic - as whole
cohort data sets)
Sometimes seeking it out – usually on
the basis of a ‘suspicion’ that a
particular student may be struggling
Providing it to students and parents in
quarterly report cards
Nothing unless a student becomes a
‘visible’ problem – passing on to middle
management once 3 infractions (subject
specific) have been recorded in diary
Who is doing it? How? Teachers update their own markbook
then enter data electronically into TASS
then also into the whole cohort excel
document for that year on SharePoint.
As such, it is easy to see how a teacher’s
class has progressed through that
particular year, but very hard to see
how students have progressed from
previous years, as there is no option to
generate a report that updates new
class lists.
Form class teacher responsibility to
check each student diary once per
week, then record on a sheet of paper
and sent to middle management for
processing, who then send an electronic
pdf list of students who have 3
infringements that week.
Table 2: Follow up questions with answers for Southside College Information Audit
ACADEMIC INFORMATION:
Staff teach on average five academic classes + 1 form class, which is an average of 150 students per
year. At the beginning of the school year, staff are provided with a class list and whilst some teachers
do make an effort to access previous results for their students, they find it tedious and time
consuming, due to the fact that TASS does not allow them to generate class set reports. As such, to
find previous results, teachers have to complete the following process for each student:
1. Enter student name
2. Click on correct student
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3. Click on “academic results and comments”
4. Click on “academic reports”
5. Click on a specific report, e.g. “Term 4”
6. Scroll through to find a specific subject, e.g. “English”
7. Record the result
Teachers are time poor and repeating this process 150 times is a source of frustration. A faster method
is to peruse the online excel document “Master Markbook” which is on Sharepoint; however, the
problem with this document is, once again, reports cannot be generated to show a new class list. To
find previous results, teachers have to follow this process:
1. Log in to Sharepoint
2. Click on “English department documents”
3. Click on “Master Markbook”
4. Click on the selected year, e.g. “2016”
5. Click on each class, e.g. “11.1”
6. Read through each class list to find the names of students now in a new class
7. Record results for students in new class
8. Click on next class, e.g. “11.2”
9. Read through to find correct students, etc.
This is faster, but still an inefficient use of teacher time. It also only shows an academic grade, not
further required information such as a breakdown of criteria or any pastoral information. As such, a lot
of teachers choose alternate methods to assess student ability and engagement, such as getting each
student to write a letter at the beginning of the school year and using informal observations to make
judgements as to how to plan learning experiences which will enhance student ability and
engagement.
All teachers expressed they liked the student letters but that it was a shame that the organisation had
information available but it was hard to use. They felt that with some better accessibility, they could
paint a more thorough picture of their students which would help them make a more targeted
approach earlier in the school year.
Some teachers also used their colleagues’ knowledge base – at the beginning of the school year they
would sit down with other staff in the department and do a quick debrief over class lists, swapping
information such as who taught a particular student the previous year: who was a “struggler”, who
might need a special seating plan, combinations of students who do/do not work well together, etc.
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Given that the staff are not all in a central location, not all department members were able (or willing)
to participate in this style of information sharing.
External data, such as NAPLAN results were provided to middle management, but often not shared
with classroom teachers.
PASTORAL INFORMATION:
In relation to work ethic and behavioural issues, staff expressed frustration and confusion about the
system of recording infractions in the student diary. Students are known to “lose” their diary when
infractions mount up and staff felt that “in this day and age” not having an electronic recording
method was illogical.
The method of reporting these infractions was also a source of confusion for staff: after “3 strikes” it
would be reported to either a Head of Department (for work ethic) or a Year Level Coordinator or
Deputy Head of School (for behaviour). Each week a pdf list gets sent as an email attachment to
teachers to see who is on “3 strikes” or more. The problem with this system is the ability to see
patterns of behaviour over time – unless a teacher has a particularly good memory of which names are
on the list each week. Further, unless a teacher is actively checking each student diary (which again is
a time problem) they may not recognise emerging problems for a student across multiple subjects.
More sensitive information which may impede student engagement and progress, for example, a
mental health issue or a death in the family, is often verbally communicated to a member of middle
management but not passed on to classroom teachers. This is a source of frustration to all teaching
staff, who feel that they are not trusted by middle management. By being “kept out of the loop” they
feel at risk of (and have in the past) “putting their foot in it” by inadvertently broaching a sensitive
topic, or chastising a child more harshly than they would have if they knew there were extenuating
circumstances for that individual.
PART C: INFORMATION STRATEGY
Hess & Fullerton (2009) note that “successful organizations monitor their operations extensively and
intensively… [schools] need reliable measures that illuminate performance... Tracking the appropriate
indicators can enable leaders to revolutionize how schools work, how they support educators, and
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how they spend dollars” (p665). Presently at Southside, classroom teachers feel unsupported, with
middle management and administration operating in information ‘silos’, rather than having a broader
organisational information strategy in place which would encourage better information flow.
Collecting, connecting and communicating information would allow all staff to perform more
efficiently, and approach individual student learning more holistically, having gained the wisdom from
knowing what will best suit a student. Figure 1 shows a best-practise information flow model.
Figure 1: Best-practise information flow – turning data into wisdom (Ervick, 2012)
DiscussionHenczel, (2001) notes that organisational culture “influences how an organization values information,
how information flows and how it is used, and so will condition the resources that it is prepared to
devote to developing information policy and strategy and affect the success of such endeavours”
(p.33). By having a culture of departments acting independently rather than interdependently, there is
a culture of mistrust between staff and a sense of ownership over particular information (Serenko &
Bontis, 2016).
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Presently at Southside, information is stuck in the ‘gathering’ stage. Staff at all levels need to
communicate to transform information into knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Three broad
problems have emerged:
Problems Identified: Possible solutions: Issues:
Failure to provide teachers
with practical knowledge
by making past academic
results easily accessible
A well-defined and organised knowledge repository
should be designed and used for storing knowledge;
create a systematic set of classifications to enable later
search and retrieval (Chu, 2016). This may require
working with TASS to refine the existing information
management system.
Infrastructure
Failure to provide teachers
with adequate time to
share information and
knowledge physically and
digitally
Information-sharing activities should be introduced to
engage staff attention and facilitate knowledge sharing
within the school (Chu, 2016).
People
Information hiding and
hoarding, especially in
relation to pastoral issues
School management should have a clear vision and
strong leadership (Chu, 2016) regarding sharing of
information to ensure that classroom teachers have all
applicable information required to best cater for their
individual students’ academic and pastoral needs.
People
Table 3: Problems and issues in information flow at Southside College
Saunders, Mann & Smith (2008) recommend management approach information strategy
implementation through the process of setting objectives, allocating resources, and motivating
employees. They emphasise that “successful implementation depends on people changing their
behaviour. This involves changing the assumptions and routines of people in the organisation,
including managers” (p.1097) and they reiterate the importance of communication, removing
perceptions of hierarchy, revisiting organisational goals and establishing trust in order to successfully
integrate new initiatives.
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Possible solutions
All organisations face a common challenge when implementing a new strategic initiative: how to
successfully manage the changes (Saunders, Mann & Smith, 2008). Southside College classroom
teachers have identified that the school is in possession of information which would help inform their
professional practise and assist in improving efficiency and success of operational goals, but that
infrastructure and human obstacles are impeding the information flowing to them.
If information is easily accessible and retrievable when needed, particularly at the beginning of the
school year when teachers begin planning units of work, they will be operating more efficiently and
strategically to align with the organisation’s primary goal: to improve student outcomes. Chu (2016)
also points out the need to “establish an environment to foster organizational members to create,
share, learn and use knowledge together for the organization’s advantage” (p365).
By managing more effectively the sharing, transfer, storage and retrieval of information, teachers will
be able to “accomplish their work with a high level of personal expertise and independent judgement”
(p.366) by being able to identify prior learning, gaps in learning and impediments to learning.
At present, TASS does not allow teachers to generate reports which show class lists with past results;
despite this being stored in the system. This software also has the capacity for recording behavioural
infringements, but again, teachers lack the authority to access that information.
Knowledge hoarding and hiding is frequently observed in the ‘people’ of contemporary organisations.
Serenko & Bontis (2016) warn of the following consequences:
1. Interruption of information flow results inefficiencies - employees spending countless hours
acquiring knowledge already in the possession of other employees;
2. Employees feel “left out of the loop” and reduce their level of organisational commitment;
3. When important knowledge remains with individuals instead of being embedded in
organisational processes, the quality of organisational output may not achieve an optimal
level;
4. The impediment of internal knowledge flows may reduce the level of organisational
competitiveness, innovativeness and profitability. This is especially problematic, given the
competitive nature of independent private schools who must vie for clientele;
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5. When employees resign or retire, their knowledge vanishes unless it was previously shared
with others.
It is in the organisation’s best interest to facilitate opportunities for staff to engage in information
sharing behaviour. Information is core to all decision making (Hoadley & Lamos, 2012) and the ability
to engage in intra-organisational knowledge sharing is dramatically increased when employees have
access a good information management system (Serenko & Bontis, 2016). As such, management
should liaise with TASS to enable report generation so that classroom teachers can choose the
information they access about their students in the way they see fit, not the way that middle
management decide to divulge or not divulge on a “need to know” basis. Hoadley & Lamos (2012)
note that “knowledge stems from the integration of information from the operational level and the
vision of the strategic level” (p.87) and Southside College need to focus on the integration of
information rather than the storing of information to ensure that they do not lose focus of their
primary organisational goal.
RecommendationOrna, (2004) recommends that the presentation of audit results should flow without interruption into
decisions, and decisions into action, with an action plan, which should aim for:
Essential changes to avoid any immediate threats
Quick benefits in key areas, to keep up the momentum and maintain commitment to change
Maintaining the communications links established in the audit
A definitive statement of the organisation’s information policy
A start on developing an organizational information strategy to ensure that the business
strategy benefits from an ‘organizational knowledge base’ which is kept constantly up to date
Establishing appropriate criteria for monitoring and evaluating changes as they are
implemented
Making the information audit into a regular monitoring and evaluation exercise
Regular reporting on information developments at the top level as a feed into business
strategy development
Starting to assess the cost-effectiveness of information use and its contribution to the value of
the organisation’s assets.
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The action plan for Southside College should entail:
1. Administration to liaise with TASS as soon as possible to provide the capacity for teacher’s to
generate reports that quickly show student names and past results;
2. Administration, middle management and classroom teachers to meet by the end of Term 4 to
communicate about negotiating a policy regarding more open disclosure of student pastoral
information (giving due consideration to privacy concerns);
3. Work ethic and behaviour infringements to begin being recorded in TASS (effective
immediately), not the student diary;
4. Classroom teachers being given time in the planning week at the beginning of each school year
to access information and meet with other staff if necessary;
5. Use of TASS be regularly monitored and evaluated;
6. Classroom teachers be given professional development each year as to how to use TASS and
best apply the information at their disposal;
7. Observe information use over time to ascertain impact.
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References
Cacciatore, M. A., Meng, J., & Berger, B. K. (2017). Information flow and communication practice
challenges: A global study on effective responsive strategies. Corporate Communications, 22(3),
292. Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1108/CCIJ-09-2016-0063
Chu, K. (2016). Beginning a journey of knowledge management in a secondary school. Journal of
Knowledge Management, 20(2), 364-385. Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1108/JKM-04-2015-0155
Ervick, M. (2012). DIKW Perspective [Image] Retrieved from
http://www.systemswiki.org/images/8/8a/Wisdom.png
Henczel, S. (2001) The Information Audit: A Practical Guide, De Gruyter. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Retrieved from
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=3043763&ppg=25
Hess, F.M. & Fullerton, J. (2009). The Numbers We Need: Bringing Balanced Scorecards to Education
Data. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(9), 665-669. Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
vid=2&sid=9a6b9d17-591c-4473-b49f-471b4c555c5d%40sessionmgr4008
Hoadley, E., & Lamos, J. (2012). Change management: An information flow approach. International
Journal of Management & Information Systems (Online), 16(1), 83. Retrieved from
http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1418458242?accountid=13380
Orna, E. (2004). Chapter 3: Information auditing – from initial analysis to doing the audit, Information
strategy in practice, pp.45-72. London: Routledge.
http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/view/10.4324/9781315252261
Orna, E. (2004). Chapter 4: Information auditing – interpreting and presenting the findings,
Information strategy in practice, pp.73-82. London: Routledge. Retrieved from
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http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/view/10.4324/9781315252261
Saunders, M., Mann, R., & Smith, R. (2008). Implementing strategic initiatives: A framework of leading
practices. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 28(11), 1095-1123.
Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/
10.1108/01443570810910908
Serenko, A., & Bontis, N. (2016). Understanding counterproductive knowledge behaviour: Antecedents
and consequences of intra-organizational knowledge hiding. Journal of Knowledge
Management, 20(6), 1199-1224. Retrieved from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/full/10.1108/JKM-05-2016-0203
The Alpha School System (TASS). (2017). Teacher Kiosk for Teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.tassweb.com.au/?timestamp={ts%20%272017-10-13%2011:56:22%27}
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