5.2.3 Human Resources
The issue of human resources has been treated as if it simply depended upon the
fiscal ability to hire capable people who have the appropriate background,
knowledge and time to perform the required tasks. However, a closer examination
in fact revealed that the issue of human resources was a great deal more complex.
One of the central dilemmas of developing courseware in an academic institution
appeared to be the nature of the organizations involved and the availability of
human resources that those organizational structures afford. The following
statement from a past staff member of Athena sums up accurately the problem
of trying to develop software and courseware in academic settings:
Understanding the business we are in is essential. The faculty
are in the business of research and education, not programming per se.
Students are in the business of getting an education through formal instruction
and exposure to research, not programming per se. Software professionals are in
the business of creating programs to accomplish a desired set of functions which
are maintainable. Linking the right skills together results in a usable product.
Less than that is amateurism... Writing innovative educational software is hard work,
not a task to be undertaken as a side activity. Assuring the results will have a
future is even more difficult, requiring programming practices that permit the
generation of maintainable code, a consistent eye to products in the pipeline
and those that are slated for replacement. (Stewart, 1989, p. 301)