Managing Educational Resources: Optimizing Fiscal, Facility & Human Resources 

Education Resource Management (EDEM 628) is a  Department of Integrated Studies in Education graduate course given in the  Faculty of Education at McGill University.  The course starts on Tuesday, September 2nd at from 5:35 to 8:25

Calendar Description: 

"An exploration of the concepts and skills necessary to manage the human and financial resources of small organizations (schools, NGOs, departments). Among the areas to be explored are labour contracts, supervision, grantsmanship, use of volunteers, managing site-based budgets."

There is an ever increasing demand for accountability in the management of educational resources:

• Educators will be required to do more with less.

• Accountability has been addressed by school improvement initiatives, alternative schools, shared and decentralized decision making and the creation of professional learning communities. 

• With fewer resources school will still be expected to further increase the number of students successfully completing their high school studies, prepared to either further their education or enter the workforce as productive citizens. 

• This course will explore the many ways school administrators can manage the resources at their disposal to successfully accomplish their task.

Goals & Objectives:

• This course will allow for a cohort of newly appointed administrators and teachers aspiring to positions of increased responsibility: 

  • to review the various functions expected of a school administrator, 

  • the resources available to carry out the different functions and the many other strategies and techniques that can help schools accomplish their daunting task. 

  • Existing school policies will be reviewed as will innovative ideas and successful strategies that have been discovered to be effective.

Learning Outcomes:

This course is intended to provide administrators and teachers the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to identify and effective/efficiently use various resources to achieve personal and organizational goals. 

The course is interactive and a variety of instructional strategies (lecture, plenary/small group discussion, peer teaching, exercises, videos, case studies, and guest speakers) will be used to achieve its learning outcomes. As a result of taking this course, your should be able to:

1. Distinguish between educational resource management/leadership.

2. Develop an understanding of various approaches to resource leadership/management; and

3. Apply your learning in various in-class activities and assignments that reflect higher-order thinking (application, analysis, synthesis).

4. Demonstrate critical thinking through the group discussions and by keeping a personal journal (blog).

5. Develop/improve your leadership/management skills to lead the human and financial resources of your school board effectively and efficiently.

6. Develop an appreciation for the concepts and issues related to education resource management.

7. Consider leading the management of resources in your local setting, if the opportunity arises.

8. It is important to note that, for each of broad themes outlined by week, issues related to the day- to-day running of a school will be incorporated into the course. 

The 'BIG' Ideas & questions that might emerge:

• • What is it?

    • What is education resource management?

    • What is the link to leadership and accountability?

  • Why is it like that?

    • How does one's approach/philosophy/understanding/style influence the management of resources?

  • How else can it be?

    • What should it “look and feel like” in my local setting… should that differ from other settings?

    • How can I influence the leadership/management of education resources?

Hope you join me on this great adventure. While we will use a lot of technology throughout the course; as that is a resource, you will expected to use as an administrator.

Sam Bruzzese

Bluesky: @sbruzzese.org Email: sam.bruzzese@mcgill.ca Website: http://sbruzzese.org

If you have any questions please contact me via email or Bluesky: @sbruzzese.org 

Ideally make sure this is done before the first class:

1. Find out your school's accounting system. Is it INFINI or something else (for smaller boards)? 

2. Find out where your school and/or school board keeps procedures and/or policies. Is it on the board website?

3. The course includes readings from articles & from the following required texts. 

   • Once registered for the course you will be able to access the course readings by clicking on the Perusall link on My Courses

   • Please use the following student help files if you have difficulties with Perusall.

Typical Weekly Class Breakdown:

1. • • 1. Welcome & review (45 to 60 minutes)

          • BREAKOUT 1: small group discussion on readings & previous class topics, the 'big' ideas, etc.

            • Your weekly small group role: facilitator (  ) scribe: (  ) presenter: (  ) timekeeper: (  )

            • Large group sharing (presenter)

       2. Weekly topic and/or group presentation (45 to 60 minutes)

          • BREAKOUT 2: activity based on weekly topic

          • Large group sharing (presenter)

       3. Wrap-Up & 'exit' ticket (15 to 30 minutes)

          • what worked, what didn't, etc.

          • Questions & comments