The history of computing is characterised
by the movement of computing from the realm of the technician to the domain of
the ordinary person. Consequently, technical knowledge is ultimately not as
important as other kinds of knowledge and skills for managing ICT. This is not
to say that technical knowledge becomes unimportant, but that it is the total
combination of skills and knowledge that counts.
However, there is no single history of
computing, because the technology is changing all the time. What tends to
happen is that there is a technical development of some kind or another, and
people who might be called "innovators" start to explore its possibilities. A
minority of people adopts the technology in its early stages, but the majority
waits until it is (a) easy to use and (b) a convincing case has been made for
its usefulness.
At the time of writing, we can see this
process at work in the realms of blogging and podcasting. Blogging is the
keeping of an online journal, defined very broadly: it could, for example, be
an electronic newsletter, in effect; podcasting is producing audio files,
typically in mp3 format, which can be subscribed to, downloaded to a portable
mp3 player and listened to "on the move". It is now fairly easy to produce a
podcast, or write a blog, but you still have to have some technical know-how to
get the most out of them. Tools and websites are starting to appear which make
it possible for people who are not technically minded to create blogs and
podcasts, and to share them with the world. However, in the world of education,
the scene is dominated by a relatively few people who appear to spend every
spare moment at a computer and who never seem to need any sleep!
Nevertheless, to be a successful manager of
ICT, you don't so much need the technical skills to make new technologies work,
but an ability to see the possibilities that they hold for e-learning and ICT.
So perhaps in this context patience is a virtue, because you may have to wait
for a while for someone to develop the
tools that will make it easy for you to start to realise your vision!
The basic premise remains the same, though:
to be a successful manager of ICT, you do not need to be highly technically
skilled, although in certain circumstances some technical knowledge, or not
being afraid of the technology or of experimentation, can be helpful.
Next: what you need to know about hardware and infrastructure.
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