It's been some time since I recorded a '2 minute tip', so I was quite pleased when Anthony Evans asked me to record a few thoughts on what new ICT (Ed Tech) Co-ordinators should do when they start their job.

I've embedded the video below, but before you watch it I'd like to say a few extra things:

Firstly, I think the advice applies as much to established' ICT Co-ordinators as newly-appointed ones.

Secondly, I believe that one of the worst mistakes a new appointee can make is to go in like a bull in a china shop making sweeping changes. If certain things have not been done, there may be a quite legitimate reason for that. So another tip I wouild add is to make small changes that make a big difference, rather than big changes that confuse and upset people. (That can always come later!)

For example, I once established myself as a 'good post-holder', and raised the attractiveness of using the computer suites, by the simple expedient of buying a few really cheap printers and setting them up in each computer lab. Until then, everyone had to print to a central printer -- and were unable to collect their work until the ICT leader was around to let them into the closed room in which the printer was kept. There were understandable reasons for that state of affairs: the printer was in the same room as the network server, and the server cost a small fortune. But in practical and pragmatic terms, it made it difficult to use the equipment to its full potential.

Anyway, I hope you find the video useful. Subscribers to Computers in Classrooms have already been given the link. If you want to be the first to know next time, sign up to this free ezine now!If you'd like to suggest further topics to cover in these videos, please go to the wiki I've set up for that purpose. To view previous ones, please go to my page on Seesmic.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.