| Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State
University |
formerly Journal of Research on
Computing in Education
JRTE, Volume 32, Number 1, Fall 1999
Evaluation of the Use
of Computer-Assisted
Management Information Systems in Dutch Schools
Adrie J. Visscher and P. P. M. Bloemen
University of Twente
Abstract
Empirical data on the implementation and effects
of computer-assisted
school information systems (SISs) is scarce. In
the Netherlands
SISs have been developed and used since the 1970s.
In this
research project the extent of SIS use, factors
promoting
successful SIS implementation, and the effects of
SIS use
have been studied in Dutch secondary schools. The
research
findings indicate that SIS use is not of the same
intensity
for all SIS modules and is not equally distributed
across
all types of respondents. Although many users in
general
are satisfied with most aspects of the quality of
the SISs,
a considerable number complain about their
management-supporting
capacity. Training and user support has been
limited, making
it difficult to sort out SIS problems. According
to users,
SIS use has led to both positive and negative
effects. Variance
analysis of direct SIS users and nonusers pointed
to interesting
differences between both groups concerning the
perceived
SIS quality, features of the implementation
process, and
of the schools into which the SISs have been
introduced.
Regression analysis showed three implementation
process
features that explain considerable variance in the
extent
to which SISs are being used.
Contributors
Adrie J. Visscher received his PhD at the
University of
Twente in The Netherlands on the basis of his
dissertation
titled Design and Evaluation of a
Computer-Assisted
Management Information System for Secondary
Schools.
He has worked at the same university in the
Faculty of Educational
Science and Technology since 1983. In
collaboration with
others, he designed an integrated school
information system
(SIS) for Dutch secondary schools and evaluated
its influence
over a period of three years. In 1991 he was the
editor
of JRCE 24(1), a special issue on
computerised
school management systems, and he has published
numerous
other articles on this topic. He is interested in
the conditions
for the impact of computer-assisted SISs in
educational
organizations. Paul Bloemen received his
master’s diploma
in educational science and technology in 1998. His
final
thesis reports a study on the factors promoting
the use
of computer-assisted information systems for
school management
activities. (Address: Dr. Adrie J. Visscher,
University
of Twente, Faculty of Educational Science and
Technology,
PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands; visscher@edte.utwente.nl.)
A PDF file of the full article is available. Contact: jrte@iste.org. Please specifiy Volume
and Issue
number.
Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for
Technology in Education). All rights reserved.
| computer-assisted
school information systems, evaluation,
implementation,
school management. |
|
