Motivation

In the early 1990s many independent schools were building computer networks. At that time the software needed to do this, such as Novell NetWare, was delivered in a box that contained paper manuals and software on floppy diskettes. The printed manuals had to be read during installation and subsequently when configuring and troubleshooting. 

The server room and office for the School's 2 staff at SCEGGS Darlinghurst 1992 - a well thumbed Novell manual can bee seen on the right.

Knowledge sharing

It wasn’t long before reading the lengthy and, often, unhelpful manuals proved to be of little value. Consequently the individuals who found themselves in the then emerging role of school IT Manager began to share their knowledge and supporting each other.

Common goals

Phone calls to fellow IT Managers for assistance soon became visits to each others' schools and an informal support network grew from that. Our propensity to help each other sprang from a shared understanding that we were all working towards the common goal of providing our schools with the best available and most reliable technology that could enhance teaching, learning and administration.

Face to face

IT Managers began to hold formal meetings where knowledge and expertise was freely shared. Our schools’ leadership, understanding that these events benefited all schools, were supportive, providing venues and catering.

Sharing knowledge at Rostrevor College, Adelaide in 2018

Commercial members

By the mid 1990s companies providing technical, procurement and project related services for schools began to appear. These companies flourished as the scale and complexity of schools’ networks grew and schools' IT teams needed high level expertise to implement and manage emerging technologies. 

Essential partnerships

As a result commercial organisations became part of our community, attending and sponsored MITIE’s events. Supporting productive and open partnerships between commercial organisations and school based IT teams remains one of MITIE’s strengths.

MITIE conferences are supported by commercial sponsorship. Members form commercial organisations are important members of the MITIE community

Our forum

Our members always believed in taking advantage of technological opportunities to enhance communication while acknowledging the value of face to face interaction. To this end, since July 1999, we have had an active online forum on various platforms. Our forum is still a core component of the services offered. See this page for more details on the history of MITIE’s forum.

Is "MITIE" an acronym

There have been a number of interpretations of this acronym but the one that comes closest to our current identity is Managing ICT In Education. The name MITIE was adopted from the cartoon character Mighty Mouse whose slightly altered image was used as an icon on the eGroup/Yahoo Group forums.

A multi-day conference

The idea of organising and running a multi-day conference was often raised at MITIE meetings in the early 2000s. The stumbling block was that at the time MITIE only existed as an informal entity. This meant that any event requiring significant financial commitments could only happen if individuals offered to take on those debts - a big ask even for enthusiastic MITIE supporters. So we enlisted the services of AISNSW who took up the challenge and have been running the very successful AISNSW ICT Management and Leadership conference since 2005. 

Between 2005 and 2015, a pattern emerged where the chair of the AISNSW conference organising committee, was also the nominal leader of MITIE. 

MITIE becomes MITIE Inc.

In April 2014 Ian Ralph and Frank Brooks discussed formalising MITIE. The benefits they saw included: a more stable and defined leadership structure, the ability to run events where speakers and venues and other services could be paid for, being able to accept financial support and to provide superior services that required ongoing financial commitment.

Consistent with our community based approach, a committee of volunteers worked together to decide whether formalising MITIE was worthwhile and, if so, what a more formal MITIE might look like. Those founding volunteers are listed here.

Myles Carrick and Maurice Cummins, were members of the group of ICT leaders who assisted in formalising MITIE - here at work during a committee meeting in 2016

These founding volunteers represented the views of fellow members and resolved to make MITIE an association incorporated in NSW. A requirement for incorporation was that MITIE have a constitution. This was developed over many months and incorporation was granted on the 1st may 2015. Following incorporation an interim steering committee was formed. Our constitution allowed this interim steering committee to manage MITIE’s affairs for a year with a requirement to hold an Annual General Meeting with an election of committee members starting in May 2016. 

Term Conferences

One day conferences - called Term Conferences - have been held for almost 30 years. These are popular with members as they allow unhurried, face to face, interaction with peers and provide opportunities to be exposed to and investigate new technologies and ideas. The first term conference following incorporation was held in September 2015 at St Joseph’s college Hunters Hill NSW. 

At the first term conference held after incorporation at St Joseph's College Hunters Hill in September 2015

Beyond NSW

A tangible benefit of incorporation is that term conferences are now being held in regional areas and in other states including South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. This page has more information on the when, where and why of Term Conferences.

St Michaels College Adelaide in October 2017. A venue and a coffee van, essential ingredients for any MITIE term conference

Term conferences are held when a school offers to host an event. When hosted by a school the ICT leader at that school has an opportunity to shape the agenda and encourage commercial partners of that school to participate as sponsors. The MITIE steering committee assists with crafting the agenda, managing registrations and sponsors and paying for caterers as required. Delegates usually pay a small amount to cover the cost of catering.

On a number of occasions Term conferences have been hosted by commercial members including Microsoft, Apple and Google.

Travel Scholarships

Recognising that travel to a MITIE term conference from a regional area can be costly, MITIE offers travel scholarships that cover the cost of travel and accommodation for one or more staff members from a regional school. 

Financial

Running any incorporated association has significant and on-going costs. For MITIE these include: maintaining its incorporated status, managing financial affairs, maintaining a membership management platform, offering a forum platform, registering domain names, engaging speakers, paying travel scholarships and covering incidental costs of term conferences. 

Membership of MITIE for school-based and commercial members is free, so MITIE has to raise funds to cover costs. The current methods of raising revenue include strategic partnerships and by offering commercial members sponsorship opportunities for Term Conferences.

As at May 2024, Microsoft is a valuable strategic partner.

Sponsorship has also been offered in kind. An example of this has been live streaming of Term Conferences facilitated by Clickview and CPS.