Candidates demonstrate knowledge, skills, and dispositions to plan, organize, coordinate, and supervise instructional technology by applying principles of (theories and research related to) project, resource, delivery system, and information management.
"Management involves controlling Instructional Technology through planning, organizing, coordinating, and supervising" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 49). The domain of management includes four subdomains of theory and practice: Project Management, Resource Management, Delivery System Management, andInformation Management. Within each of these subdomains there is a common set of tasks to be accomplished: organization must be assured, personnel hired and supervised, funds planned and accounted for, facilities developed and maintained, and short- and long-term goals established. A manager is a leader who motivates, directs, coaches, supports, monitors performance, delegates, and communicates.
Being a “manager” is not necessarily a title I’ve held, but in order to be a successful teacher, I must manage my classroom. I also have to manage my time during the day to ensure that all of my work (both for teaching and for graduate school) is completed. When you add family/friends into the mix, managing my personal life on top of the rest can be quite a task. Thankfully, the ITMA program has given me a skillset to be able to manage all of these activities. The filebox that is used by Virginia Tech is helpful with keeping me organized while working on assignments. The ability to work at my own pace has been helpful, as some nights I have very little time to fit in school work. Since the instructional design process started out being very daunting, it was important to be able to manage all of these aspects of my work. I feel that I have gained a lot through the ITMA program in being able to better manage every part of my life, as it has forced me to stay organized and keep a daily schedule.
"Project management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling instructional design and development projects" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 50). Project managers negotiate, budget, install information monitoring systems, and evaluate progress and improvement.
"Resource management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling resource support systems and services" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes documentation of cost effectiveness and justification of effectiveness or efficiency for learning as well as the resources of personnel, budget, supplies, time, facilities, and instructional resources.
"Delivery system management involves planning, monitoring and controlling 'the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized' . . . [It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). This includes attention to hardware and software requirements, technical support for the users and developers, and process issues such as guidelines for designers, instructors, and ECIT support personnel.
“Information management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling the storage, transfer, or processing of information in order to provide resources for learning” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). Information is available in many formats and candidates must be able to access and utilize a variety of information sources for their professional benefit and the benefit of their future learners.
