A Training on Educational Management Information System
Any institute that is remiss in keeping abreast with modern technological trends could but turn a lame duck. Continuous training for a center of higher learning is a matter of to be or not to be!
Director of ECSU's Center for Academic and Professional Development Ato Aynabeba Andualem so remarked opening training on Educational Management Information System (EMIS) the Institute of Planning and Development (IPA) organized on 11 May 2012 for over 50 participants drawn from academic, administrative and support units.
He said,
"the training is geared towards laying the informational basis in ECSU for educational development. Unless such a basis is established and well managed an institutes' ambitions and endeavors could hardly come anywhere near success."
It is to build a vibrant communication system in ECSU trainees are made to comprise representatives from academic and administrative wings that serve as information and data hubs, he noted.
He further said as per the decision of Ministry of Education, ECSU has taken the initiative to establish EMIS team to cater for the informational needs of the university. He went on to say, sought for information has to be complete, updated, well integrated with the appropriate software and readily accessible for evaluation and decision making.
Management Information System expert Ato Yitebarek Ibrahim noted Management Information System (MIS) unit is established under IPA office to solve ECSU's informational system problem. The unit he said identifies the informational requirement and gaps of the university, prepare instruments, collects data from the different sectors of the university, then process, analyze and communicate it to the management and others sections of the university. There has to be baseline information for monitoring and evaluation, he stressed.
Presenting a paper, he noted creating awareness about the importance of EMIS, solving support and academic units' information management drawbacks as well as strengthening the university's data collection, processing, analyzing and reporting activities lie in the objective of the training.
He said
" EMIS is a system designed to systematically organize information related to the Management of Educational Development and added it is responsible for the promotion and use of information for policy planning, implementation, decision making, monitoring and evaluation of educational system. "
Using software for data collection, storage and utilization, EMIS caters for the educational needs of all stakeholders, he added.
As activity one, after split into groups and discussed challenges and opportunities they faced pertaining to data handling in their respective sections, trainees pointed out failure of fully gathering, properly classifying, timely updating and elegantly summarizing data for report as the major bottlenecks to the university's routine transaction of information. Lack of competence even in basic computer skills, commitment, miscommunication in informational exchange as well as procrastinating work were also mentioned by group members as factors creating sluggishness in the smooth informational flow.
As a second activity, given exercise group members tried ways of organizing, classifying, handling data to generate a user friendly and informative report. After group members presented their respective approaches Ato Yitebarek and the facilitators ATo Tewedros Gizachew Education Quality Assurance head and also Ato Wondiye Kebede an expert from the same office commented on the art of organizing, classifying, tabulating data to make it easily readable.
They said formats prepared by the office are dispatched to pertinent offices for scrutiny and feedback reasons so as to avoid misinterpretation of data.
After they deliberated on various topics, participants at last agreed on the necessity of informing pertinent offices when curriculums are revised or data is updated, giving training on basic computer skills including troubleshooting, having backups both in hardware and software, handing over data up on leaving offices and briefing new recruits that takes over as well as summarizing report for the central information unit. Keeping ever in touch using information exchange networks such as Outlook, Lan and others was also mentioned crucial.
Giving a concluding remark Ato Aynabeba expressed hope the training had enabled trainees internalize the importance of properly handling data and commenting on the format designed by MIS to the required effect.
As ECSU members we could say we have acquired something from the training if it manages to bring about tangible changes in our functioning, he concluded.It was learnt the training will be conducted on a regular basis.