To minimize the threats of incomplete or inaccurate understanding of the work done by others, effective IT decision-making in schools requires the collaboration of individuals who approach them from very different perspectives, and it is unusual to find single individuals who have expertise in more than one of these perspectives. When designing and redesigning IT systems for schools, it is important systems be appropriately designing, properly configured, and reasonably supported.
In his 1999 book Rock of Ages, the late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, who was well-known for his humanist views, suggested science and religion are fundamentally different types of human thought. He used the term non-overlap magesteria (NOMA) to capture the differing nature of the two types thought. According to Gould, science and religion can influence each other, one cannot determine what is appropriate for the other to do. While NOMA has been criticized for many reasons, it can provide a useful model for IT decision-making in schools.
Teachers and other educators make decisions about the nature of the technology they and their students need. IT professionals make decisions about what is installed and how it operates. School leaders make decisions about what can be done. These groups do not make decisions in isolation, and they make better decisions when they communicate and integrate the needs of others into their decisions. At the end of the day, however, teachers teach, IT manages IT, and leaders oversee the entire endeavor.