Summary
In conclusion, consider that the best directors, the most successful ones, the most powerful ones, do not direct; they orchestrate and conduct. The most common gestures in conducting are circular. A symphony conductor works on a piece of music written by someone else, but the richness comes from the interpretation. Knowing the music is not enough. A conductor must exact the best performance from each player and each instrument. In a symphony, there is no center, no autonomy, no competing forces, only a seamless whole.
How can you conduct your work to make your media center one player in the larger orchestra of your institution? How can you harmonize your role within the mission and needs of the university with the support of your clients and supervisors, create beautiful sounds together, get a solo once in a while, and hear a lot of applause?
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Plante, P.R. and Caret, R.L. (1990).Myths and Realities of Academic Administration. New York: American Council on Education and Macmillan.
Albright, M. (1991). “A profile of the profession as we enter the last decade of the century.” Paper presented at the Spring conference of the Consortium of College and University Media Centers, Philadelphia, PA.
Konomos, P. (1991). “Media centers: Concerns and priorities.”Leader: Newsletter of the Consortium of College and University Media Centers, 30(1), 11–12.
Dodge, S. (1991, December 4). “Slashed budgets force students to delay graduation and change majors.”Chronicle of Higher Education, Al, A48.
Birnbaum, R. (1988).How Colleges Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Konomos, op. cit.
Birnbaum, op. cit.
Wilkerson, L. (1984). “Starting a faculty development program: Strategies and approaches.”To Improve the Academy, 3:25–43.
Bensimon, E.M. (1991). “How college presidents use their administrative groups: Real and illusory teams.”Journal of Higher Education Management, 7(1), 35–51.
Reich, R. (1987). “Entrepreneurship reconsidered: The team as hero.”Harvard Business Review, 65(3), 77–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This article is adapted from a keynote address at the Fall conference of the Consortium of College and University Media Centers, Honolulu, HI, October 1991.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wunsch, M.A. Killing the old myths: Positioning an instructional technology center for a new era in higher education. TECHTRENDS TECH TRENDS 37, 17–21 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02771319
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02771319