Complexity of Managing Educational Resource Centres in Higher Institutions of Learning

Abstract

The idea of managing resources of a group started ever since human beings started coming together and working in groups. This is essential so that the objectives of the group can be attained through proper linking of the various activities being performed by the group members. As organizations, particularly formal organizations like businesses, ministries, schools, including universities become large, the task of the manager starts getting bigger and more complex. In all these, the aim of the manager is to promote excellence. The emergent of educational technology as a discipline having much to do with how to improve the quality of educational practice come with it some new innovations of which educational resource center is one. There have been several notions and views about what should be an appropriate meaning of the “term educational resource centers” and how to effectively manage it to yield required educational target. Any problem that has a ready solution is no longer a problem. However, the solutions that are available will not become effective on the problem situation until steps are taken to implement them. Now that the problems are still very much with educational resource centers, could it be that the solution are not yet discovered or there are no initiators to set the motion. Prevention, people say, is better and even cheaper than cure. This is the reason why the maintenance culture should be imbibed by all teachers and managers of Educational Resource Centers. It has been documented in literature that instructional materials have the ability to enhance learning either by concretizing abstract concepts, by making the class lively while learners are actively involved, by making illustration of points easy for the teachers or by encouraging individualized learning. The next problem one would raise is how to get the instructional materials for use. This is the major focus of the establishment of Educational Resource Centers in the schools. Educational Resource Centers have a lot of prospects if and when established in the schools. There is some evidence of managerial take-up of ‘complexity’ as a framework for informing organizational practice of educational resource centers of Nigerian High institutions. This is still at an early stage, and take-up may or may not lead to take-off. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a discussion on the chaos and complexity of managing educational resource centers its validity and significance for the management of organizations.