Session 1 Nebula

Requirement: How best would you describe how your organizational learnt?

I am Shen Ying (Nebula), and this is my second semester of master course of ITE in HKU. I completed my bachelor degree in Mainland China, which is much more different with Hong Kong university. Taking into consideration the five principles that are crucial for schoolsto become learning organizations given by Senge et al. (2000), my college can be categorized below average in ICT implementation in education and school organization management.

Ø Personal mastery:

Personal vision and participation is emphasizedin priority in organization management. An awareness of the important relationship among members, leaders and organization promotes the development of personal arrangement when encounter with opportunities or risks inindividual evolution.

Chinese colleges are often weak incultivating individual ability in creative learning and expanding vision, which cause students become rigid for lack offlexibility and lose their independence in thinking and their real ability in judging the value.

Ø Mental models:

Senge et al. (2000) cited that people have mental models, which are often tacit lead to the limitation of people’s ability to change. We sometimes call it inertia thinking, due to the special characterof model. Unlike the common sense, mental model is conscious assumption without strong evidences to support.

In school organization, mental models canbe viewed as the authority from older experts because of a good university enrollment rate or historical background with a solid culture atmosphere. Infact, these models often establish huge barriers to ICT implementation through innovative pedagogy.

Ø Shared vision:

As the mental models exist in school organization, shared vision seems necessary when leadership try to build a legitimate commitment to organization. Communication, sharing and collection give participators one more a chance to rethink their ideas, which make the determination more sustainable.

In my college, such vision sharing is fewto see in organization management. Students are the followers because the decisions are always made totally by school leadership. Bottom-up questioning opportunities are so limited that make students feel scared to put forward suspicion under the power dominion.

Ø Team learning:

Teamwork or group work has already been accepted by the public. So the key point is the degree of acceptance from top leadership when make a decision. Innovative pedagogy often views team learning as the critical criteria when evaluate the innovative progress of one school organization.

In Chinese college, team learning sometimes still stops in the teaching and learning practice, but has no advance in organizational management. Few schools have a sense of democratization, which results in a bottom-up response.

Ø System thinking:

Senge highlighted the combination of components of large structures as a discipline when look at problems and goals.This principal can be classified as organization management with sustainability and transferability.

In my school, problem solving is considered systematically in most time. According to the every five-year plan from the department of education, it gives school a brief instruction in school organization programming.

In summary, using this five disciplines to evaluate my college as a representative of Chinese school, most schools are found below the average of the principals. I am eager to learn more organizational learning in this course in order to get a realization of innovative organization management, which can encourage the ICT implementation in Mainland schools.