The development of an education management information system from a sensemaking perspective and the application of quantitative methods to analyse education data sets

[摘要] Information is a necessary resource, produced by information systems and is a key buildingblock to the management and decision-making in any organisation. The National Departmentof Education's guidelines to establish Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) inprovincial departments is a recognition that proper management, planning and evaluation arecontingent on quality data, data that is complete, relevant, accurate, timely and accessible. Thelack of quality data and the lack of integration with other information systems hamstring theeffective use of EMIS. This study addresses these limitations in three basic objectives: a)developing an information systems development model, b) applying the model in a real-lifecontext of the development of the Western Cape EMIS, and c) applying quantitative methodson integrated data sets derived from the EMIS in the Western Cape and other informationsystems.The study culminates in the development of a four-phase process model for developing andusing EMIS in an integrative manner that would provide a more comprehensive picture forpolicy and decision-making. It outlines the establishment of an information systemsdevelopment (ISD) model that integrates innovative emerging trends, such as improvisation,bricolage and sensemaking, in designing and implementing information systems. Theseapproaches postulate that beyond the numbers and quantifiable world there is a complexreality that traditional approaches do not always capture. These include, amongst other things,the atmosphere, culture and structure of an organization, together with the behaviour,emotions, knowledge and experiences of all the people who in one way or another interactwith the information system.The research presents an empirical application of this developed ISD model in educationmanagement information system (EMIS) and underscores the role of information systems ineveryday practice. This work practice (Practice-in-Action) approach is used to describe howthe day-to-day actions and practical experiences of role players contribute to the design,development, implementation, testing, maintenance and improvement of the EMIS and is usedas a lens for understanding ISD.The study further uses quantitative methods, namely education production function and learnerflow-through models, to illustrate how the process of knowledge discovery in large data sets inEMIS could be facilitated. The education production function aims to identify those variablesthat could have a significant influence on the achievement of students in the matriculationexamination. The learner flow-through models attempt to measure the effect of learnerdropout and repetition on internal efficiency of the education system. Data analysis wasfacilitated through integration of data sets from various sources, and in turn illustrates theimportant role of bricolage in ISD. Through this analysis, the role of information systems ofthis nature to make sense of reality was highlighted. Policy making then can build on thefindings from such data analyses to investigate in greater depth any trends or emergingproblems, going beyond only the quantitative and macro level analysis by studies at thequalitative and micro levels.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University