Faculty of Information Technology,

Monash University

Teaching ICT

The ICT- Ed Project

The report on learning outcomes and curriculum

development in major university disciplines in
Information and Communication Technology

Re f e r e n c e G r o u p
John Hurst (Chair), Angela Carbone, Malcolm Eley, Ainslie Ellis,
Dianne Hagan, Selby Markham, Judithe Sheard, Juhani Tuovinen

C o m m i ssi o n e d Re se a r c h e r s
Julianne Lynch, Francesca Collins

Computing Education Research G roup

Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University

00/
December 2001

Higher Education Division

Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
 © Commonwealth of Australia 2001
ISBN 0-9580945-0-0
ISBN 0-9580945-0-0 (Internet copy)
DETYA N o. XXX

This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or

training purposes subject to the inclusion of the source and no commercial
usage or sale. Reproduction for purposes other than those indicated above,
require the written permission from the Commonwealth available through
AusInfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be
addressed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo, G PO Box 1920,
Canberra ACT 2601.
This report is funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Programme of
the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, through the
Australian Universities Teaching Committee. Support from the Monash
Faculty of Information Technology and School of Computer Science and
Software Engineering is also acknowledged.
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

N ational Library of Australia Cataloguing -in-Publication data

Teaching ICT : the ICT-ed project : the report on learning

outcomes and curriculum development in major university
disciplines in information and communication technology.

Includes index.
ISBN 0 9580945 0 0.

1. Curriculum planning - Australia. 2. Information

technology - Study and teaching (Higher) - Australia. 3.
Universities and colleges - Australia - Curricula. I.
Hurst, A. J. (Angas John). II. Lynch, Julianne. III.
Collins, Francesca. IV. Monash University. Faculty of
Information Technology. V. Australia. Dept. of Education,
Training and Youth Affairs. Higher Education Division.

004.071194
Contents

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................................i
Tables ..................................................................................................................................................................... iii
Abbreviations and acronyms................................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................................vii
Executive Summary..................................................................................................................................................ix
Conclusions............................................................................................................................................................. x
Recommendations .............................................................................................................................................. xiii
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background and project specifications ................................................................................................1
1.2 Setting the scene: University ICT education .......................................................................................4
1.3 Structure of the report.............................................................................................................................6
2 Employers’ views of ICT graduates ..............................................................................................................7
2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Research on needs and satisfaction of employers...............................................................................8
2.3 The market context of employer expectations .....................................................................................9
2.4 Employer Data Collection......................................................................................................................11
2.5 University responses to stated needs from industry.........................................................................26
2.6 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................27
2.7 Recommendations arising from this section.....................................................................................28
3 Graduates in the workforce...........................................................................................................................29
3.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................29
3.2 Graduate interviews ................................................................................................................................31
3.3 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................41
3.4 Recommendations arising from this section.....................................................................................41
4 ICT Educators’ views on innovation ..........................................................................................................43
4.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................43
4.2 Context of university teaching in Australia.......................................................................................43
4.3 Methods .....................................................................................................................................................45
4.4 Findings: Factors driving innovation in ICT education ...................................................................47
4.5 Needs of students and employers .........................................................................................................59
4.6 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................61
4.7 Recommendations arising from this section.....................................................................................61
5 Teaching and learning initiatives ...............................................................................................................63
5.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................63
5.2 Teaching and learning initiatives ........................................................................................................63
i
 5.3 Innovation and best practice ................................................................................................................. 74
5.4 Conclusions............................................................................................................................................. 85
5.5 Recommendations arising from this section .................................................................................... 87
6 ICT educators’ views on dissemination of innovation........................................................................... 89
6.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 89
6.2 Methods .................................................................................................................................................... 89
6.3 Findings – dissemination of innovation.............................................................................................. 90
6.4 Conclusions............................................................................................................................................. 98
6.5 Recommendation arising from this section ...................................................................................... 99
7 Educational evaluation ..............................................................................................................................101
7.1 Contextual factors ................................................................................................................................101
7.2 Criticism of dominant student feedback approaches .....................................................................105
7.3 Alternative approaches: Using student feedback to model student behaviour ..........................108
7.4 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................................110
7.5 Recommendation arising from this section ....................................................................................111
8 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................113
8.1 Reception of project.............................................................................................................................113
8.2 Summary of finding .............................................................................................................................115
8.3 Challenges for the future ...................................................................................................................120
References...............................................................................................................................................................123
APPENDIX A. Reference group membership .................................................................................................131
APPENDIX B. Mini-conference participants .................................................................................................133
APPENDIX C. Intensive workshop participants............................................................................................137
APPENDIX D. Methodology – Mini-conference program...........................................................................139
APPENDIX E. Mini-conference workbook.....................................................................................................151
APPENDIX F. Statistical tables for industry survey data............................................................................167
APPENDIX G. Methodology – Graduate interviews.....................................................................................185
APPENDIX H. Broad context of university teaching in Australia.............................................................189
APPENDIX I. Movements in university teaching and learning ..................................................................195
APPENDIX J. Teaching and learning initiatives – brief accounts ............................................................205
APPENDIX K. Industry questionnaire .............................................................................................................231
APPENDIX L. Graduate cases ...........................................................................................................................239

ii
Tables

Table 1. Project aims and outcomes........................................................................................................................2

Table 2. Counts by course employed ....................................................................................................................13
Table 3. Contact with Universities (Q.1.7) (Percentages) ...............................................................................14
Table 4. Descriptives for satisfaction measures..................................................................................................15
Table 5. Meets needs ratings..................................................................................................................................15
Table 6. Descriptives for 'gap' between Importance and Meet needs.............................................................17
Table 7. Correlations between outcome variables ............................................................................................19
Table 8 Anticipated future recruitment of graduates - Do Not Currently employ .......................................25
Table 9. Summary of interviewees by graduate destination and graduate type combinations.................33
Table 10. Initiatives identified as innovation and/or best practice ...............................................................77
Table 11. Channels identified by participants for the dissemination of teaching and learning
innovations................................................................................................................................................................95
Table F1. Respondents’ business size................................................................................................................ 167
Table F2. Respondents’ industry type ............................................................................................................... 167
Table F3. Respondents’ state ............................................................................................................................. 168
Table F4. Respondents’ region........................................................................................................................... 168
Table F5. Respondents’ level of education...................................................................................................... 168
Table F6. Organisation’s contact with universities through industrial experience ................................ 168
Table F7. Organisation’s contact with universities through Committees.................................................. 169
Table F8. Organisation’s contact with universities through Research & Development......................... 169
Table F9. Organisation’s contact with universities through Consulting .................................................. 169
Table F10. Importance of skills in ICT graduates........................................................................................... 170
Table F11. Extent to which recent ICT graduates meet organisation’s needs.......................................... 171
Table F12. Satisfaction with graduates ............................................................................................................ 171
Table F13. Outcome variables............................................................................................................................ 172
Table F14. Other variables.................................................................................................................................. 172
Table F15. Important Skills - Difference from assumed mean 3.0 ............................................................... 173
Table F16. Meet company’s needs - Difference from assumed mean 3.0 ..................................................... 174
Table F17. Satisfaction - Difference from assumed mean 3.0 ....................................................................... 174
Table F18. Outcome measures - Difference from assumed mean 3.0 ............................................................ 175
Table F19. Other variables - Difference from assumed mean 3.0 ................................................................ 175
Table F20. SATISFACTION and NEEDS Coefficients.................................................................................... 176
Table F21. Skills in particular computer languages ..................................................................................... 177
Table F22. Skills in particular software applications................................................................................... 177
Table F23. Foundation in theoretical principles ........................................................................................... 178
Table F24. Ability to communicate with clients............................................................................................. 178
Table F25. Written communication skills......................................................................................................... 178
Table F26. Ability to work in teams................................................................................................................... 179
Table F27. Project management skills .............................................................................................................. 179
Table F28. Problem solving skills...................................................................................................................... 179
Table F29. Understanding of business processes............................................................................................ 180
Table F30. Preparedness for quick entry into job tasks ............................................................................... 180
Table F31. Respondent’s business size............................................................................................................. 180
Table F32. Respondent’s industry type ............................................................................................................. 181
Table F33. Respondent’s state........................................................................................................................... 181
Table F34. Respondent’s region......................................................................................................................... 181
Table F35. Respondent’s level of education .................................................................................................... 182
Table F36. Respondent’s contact with universities through Industrial Experience................................ 182
Table F37. Respondent’s contact with universities through Committees .................................................. 182
Table F38. Respondent’s contact with universities through Research & Development ......................... 182
Table F39. Respondent’s contact with universities through Consulting ................................................... 183
Table F40. Anticipated future employment of ICT graduates....................................................................... 183
Table G1. Summary of interviewees by graduate destination and graduate type combinations........... 186
iii
Abbreviations and acronyms
ACS Australian Computer Society
AIIA Australian Information Industry Association
AIMIA Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association
ALIA Australian Library and Information Association
ASP active server page
AUTC Australian Universities Teaching Committee
CAUT Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching
CE Q Course E xperience Questionnaire
CE RG Computing E ducation Research Group
CSCW computer supported collaborative work
CSSE computer science and software engineering
DE TYA Department of E ducation, Training and Youth Affairs
FIT Faculty of Information Technology
GCCA Graduate Careers Council of Australia.
GDQ Graduate Destinations Questionnaire
ICT information and communication technology
IE industry experience
IE E E Institute of E lectrical and E lectronics E ngineers
IM information management
IP intellectual property
IS information systems
IT&T information and technology and telecommunications
LOTE language other than E nglish
NOIE National Office for the Information E conomy
QA quality assurance
SE T student evaluation of teaching
SOS student opinion survey
TAFE Technical and Further E ducation
UKQAA UK Quality Assurance Agency
UNS Unified National System
VE T Vocational E ducation and Training

v
Acknowledgments
This document reports the findings of an Australian Universities Teaching
Committee (AUTC) research project on the major discipline area of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT). The research project, known as the ICT-
E d Project, was undertaken by the Computing E ducation Research Group (CE RG)
in the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. It was funded by
the Department of E ducation, Training and Youth Affairs (DE TYA), through the
AUTC. Support from the Monash Faculty of Information Technology and School
of Computer Science and Software E ngineering is also acknowledged.
A research team, comprising Julianne Lynch, Francesca Collins and Selby
Markham, under the direction of a reference group, conducted the research. The
reference group was chaired by John Hurst. Reference group members were
Angela Carbone, Malcolm E ley, Ainslie E llis, Dianne Hagan, Selby Markham,
Judithe Sheard and Juhani Tuovinen. Administrative support was provided by
Pauline Bond.
The bulk of this report was written by Julianne Lynch, Francesca Collins and
Selby Markham. All members of the reference group contributed to the revision
and preparation of the final draft.

vii
Executive Summary
This national study was undertaken as the result of a tendering process and grant
from the Department of E ducation, Training and Youth Affairs, through the
Australian Universities Teaching Committee (AUTC). A review process was
undertaken with the aim of investigating the ways that teaching and learning are
being approached in the major discipline of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) in Australia’s universities.
A variety of methods were used to review research and, where necessary, to
collect data, from and about stakeholder groups in ICT education.
• A combination of a literature survey and the administration of a largely
quantitative questionnaire was used to investigate employers’ views on their
needs in, and satisfaction with, university ICT graduates.
• Interviews were used to investigate ICT graduates’ views on their courses.
• A literature survey provided information about methods for assessing
students’ satisfaction with their courses and for the evaluation of teaching.
This information was complemented by the reported experiences of ICT
educators.
• Consultative methods were used to collect qualitative data on ICT educators’
views of educational innovation and the dissemination of good practice, and
on current teaching and learning initiatives.
Conclusions can be made about
• employers’ views of the preparedness of ICT graduates for the workforce
• future research needed to assess ICT graduates’ views on the value of their
courses
• methods for assessing student satisfaction and for evaluating educational
innovations and ICT educators’ skills in these evaluation methods
• ICT educators’ views on innovation in ICT education and the dissemination
and diffusion of innovation.
• the types of teaching and learning initiatives currently being undertaken by ICT
educators and the issues they respond to
Recommendations are made for the improvement of interactions between ICT
departments and the outside world (specifically employers and graduates), the
promotion, dissemination and diffusion of educational innovation, and the
promotion of the evaluation of educational innovations. The major conclusions
are outlined below, and then recommendations are listed.

ix
 Conclusions

Employers’ views
E mployers were found to be generally satisfied with their ICT graduates. Industry
sees graduates as having a number of obvious deficiencies but these are irritants,
or squeak y wheels, rather than being significant decision-making factors. These
irritants have been reported in different papers over a 10-year period and are not
isolated to graduates from ICT disciplines.
A review of the literature and data collected in this project suggest that ICT skills
shortages are not uniform. More labour market analysis is needed if ICT
departments are to have a clear understanding of the career environment of their
graduates. There is a need for further research to develop a clearer picture of the
structure of the ICT industry, of what is critical to the graduate needs of
employers, and of employers' commitment to career structures for ICT
professionals. Due to the changing nature of the ICT industry, continuing research
is required to provide up-to-date information to educators for the purpose of
curriculum development.
The results from the analysis of the employer questionnaire, combined with
suggested shortcomings of previous satisfaction studies, point to the importance
of building research models that are sufficiently sophisticated to analyse employer
behaviour in terms of graduate recruitment and satisfaction.
In terms of curriculum development, the ICT sector is subject to the vagaries of
changing technologies, ideas and, to some extent, fashions. ICT departments
should have depth in their degree structures, which will allow them to readily shift
direction as new waves pass through. Focusing on skills training would lead to
medium term staffing problems. It would also lead to broad human resource
problems as changing technology makes redundant those who have not been
educated for adaptation and change.

G raduates’ views
The primary conclusion to be drawn from the review of literature on graduate
satisfaction and graduate behaviour is that very little is known about ICT
graduates and their attitudes towards their courses. Universities routinely monitor
initial graduate destinations, but this exercise is not intended to inform curriculum
development and educational innovation.
Our preliminary exploration of graduates’ career stories identified a number of
themes that possibly characterise a particular type of ICT graduate, that is, the
type who are exposed to, and develop an interest in, computing technology during
their childhoods, are motivated to pursue the intrinsic rewards of using computing
technology, and teach themselves how to program before entering any formal ICT
education. This type predominated in our small sample, but may not be typical
due to the methods used to recruit graduates to the study.
Differences were observed between male and female interviewees. Unlike the
male graduates who had long pursued interests in computer technology and saw
their university degrees as a natural continuation of this pursuit, the two female
graduates were more pragmatic in their views about the value of their degrees and
x
had made conscious decisions as young adults to pursue a career in ICT. Due to
the small number of graduates interviewed, observed gender differences cannot be
generalised. However, this does raise questions about the needs, attitudes and
behaviours of graduates with different backgrounds and interests and should be
addressed if students who do not fit popular stereotypes are to be attracted to ICT
degrees.
Interviewees’ attitudes towards the non-programming subjects in university ICT
degrees raise questions about their expectations of their courses and their
expectations of the work of ICT professionals. Many of the graduates interviewed
had done very little research into the nature of careers in the industry prior to
enrolling in their degrees.
The themes and issues identified in the analysis of these exploratory interviews
warrant further inquiry. Further research would have implications for the
recruitment of students to ICT degrees, the promotion of ICT degrees and the ICT
professions to students, the provision of career counselling to ICT students, and
the development of programs to better prepare graduates for work as ICT
professionals.

Student satisfaction and educational evaluation

Methods currently used in university departments to assess students’ satisfaction
with their courses are inadequate for the purpose of continuous improvement.
On the whole, ICT educators are unfamiliar with the principles and techniques of
educational research and evaluation methods. This restricts their ability to
conduct formative evaluations that provide useful information for the
improvement of their teaching. It also inhibits their ability to conduct the
summative evaluations that would support the dissemination of educational
innovations. A related problem is their lack of skills to assess the innovations of
others as reported in the wider educational literature. A lack of resources and a
lack of reward for the pursuit of educational evaluations further compound these
problems. E valuation and dissemination activities are seen to be a very low
priority in ICT departments. Consequently, ICT educators and their departments
have difficulty demonstrating that their teaching activities are innovative and
have real effects on student learning outcomes.

ICT educators’ views

Consultation with ICT educators revealed that the learning needs of students are
the primary driving force in innovation in ICT education. Innovative teaching
staff are motivated by a desire to be better teachers. ICT educators perceive
extrinsic motivation and reward for educational innovations to be minimal. In
fact, many associate being an innovative teacher with personal and professional
risks. Institutional agendas and reward systems were seen by some to discourage
educationally motivated innovation.
ICT educators reported a tension between some of the demands of students (for
particular skills and knowledge) and the skills and knowledge they believe are
necessary for students to be ICT professionals and life-long learners. They report
that students often have misconceptions about their future working roles and

xi
 careers. This perception is supported by observations made during the graduate
interview phase of the research.
Students were generally seen as conservative in terms of the types of teaching and
learning activities they expected and desired in their courses, with ICT educators
reporting that students were often resistant to innovative, non-traditional
teaching.
A range of factors was identified as inhibiting ICT educators’ ability to generate
and disseminate educational innovations. These included the relatively lowly
status of teaching when compared with research, ICT educators’ general lack of
training in educational evaluation, a lack of resources and a lack of recognition
and reward for innovative teaching.

Teaching and learning initiatives

The impetus for, and aims of, the majority of the teaching and learning initiatives
presented to the Project are student-focused, with many responding to needs or
problems encountered by students and a desire to improve the teaching of ICT.
Other initiatives were motivated by the changing context of university teaching
such as reduced resources, increased student numbers and more diverse student
population, or the changing needs of employers.
Most initiatives had been formally evaluated, however, for a large proportion of
these initiatives, standard student feedback questionnaires were the only source of
evaluation. Participants recognised the limitations of relying solely on student
feedback questionnaires for the evaluation of teaching and learning initiatives.
However, given the lack of encouragement of, and reward for, evaluation
activities, and their lack of skills, many ICT educators chose not to pursue formal
evaluations beyond the standard student evaluation of teaching questionnaires
required by their departments.
It was also observed that many ICT educators do not recognise the significance of
their teaching practice as innovative, so they use informal means to evaluate and
improve their teaching, rather than pursuing evaluation methods that better
qualify their work for publication as educational research. This tendency also
inhibits their ability to demonstrate the scholarship in their teaching for the
purpose of promotion.
Forty-one of the initiatives presented to the project team at the mini-conferences
specifically targeted ICT education. E leven of these were identified by members
of the Monash Computing E ducation Research Group (CE RG) as being
innovative, where innovation is taken to involve something that is new or not
practised by the majority, that adds value to learner-based outcomes, that has
been implemented, that is practicable in educational and infrastructure terms and
that has been evaluated. Areas addressed by those initiatives identified as
innovative included student retention and student engagement, enhancing learning,
catering for groups of students with diverse skills, accommodating large class
sizes, curriculum integration and teaching skills associated with professional
practice.
Fifteen of the forty-one initiatives were specifically identified by CE RG as being
best practice, where best practice is taken to involve something that has been
formally evaluated in terms of educational outcomes or teaching outcomes, and
that is integrated into a wider educational program. Areas addressed by those
xii
initiatives identified as best practice included student retention, attracting and
retaining female students, enhancing learning, catering with groups of students
with diverse skills, accommodating large class sizes, the teaching of skills
associated with professional practice and the teaching of learning skills.

Recommendations

Improving interactions with the outside world

• Recommendation 1 That universities’ ICT departments be given support in
establishing links with industry. This will enable them to explore real-world
options on how the university-industry interface can be made permeable
enough to help meet industry needs without compromising the broader
educational needs of graduates. In conjunction with this, that exploration be
carried out on the development of post-graduate, skills-based courses which
reflect changes in technology and the industry.

• Recommendation 2 That universities be given support in implementing

graduate follow-up and employer satisfaction studies which focus on local
issues and local needs, and which use a diagnostic approach. This data would
complement that routinely collected by the Graduate Careers Council of
Australia.

• Recommendation 3 That the research and development currently being

undertaken by CE RG members on student satisfaction form the basis of
broader work on the development of user-oriented tools and methods for
interpreting and diagnosing graduate and employer satisfaction.

• Recommendation 4 That research funds be allocated to longitudinal and/or

retrospective studies of graduates to obtain an understanding of the career
paths through the ICT industries, both within Australia and overseas.

• Recommendation 5 That university ICT departments, in collaboration with

industry, devise programs for the better management of students’ expectations
of professional life.

• Recommendation 6 That further ongoing research be initiated, within the

context of labour market models, to determine the structural differences
between those organisations who are likely to employ ICT graduates and those
who are unlikely to employ them. This research would ideally be based on
collaboration between universities, government and industry and aim to
provide up-to-date information to university curriculum developers about
industry needs. In conjunction with this, research is needed into the influence
of company size and the consequences of this for the size of the market and
the skills and knowledge needed.

xiii
 Educational innovation and dissemination
• Recommendation 7 That the management of university ICT departments
value teaching by
§ developing acceptable and practicable systems for the assessment and
reward of educational innovation and good practice
§ supporting and encouraging the pursuit of educational research and
publication in appropriate journals and conference proceedings
§ formally supporting, recognising and rewarding scholarship in teaching in
the ICT disciplines. Examples of scholarship in teaching include the
development of new tools, techniques and materials, and related
evaluation activities.
§ encouraging staff to undertake educationally focussed professional
development activities
§ allocating resources to these activities

• Recommendation 8 That the management of ICT departments support the

development of innovative solutions to the challenges posed by the changing
context of ICT education, such as increasing class sizes, increasingly diverse
student populations and the increasing incidence of plagiarism.

• Recommendation 9 That universities continue to give ICT educators the

freedom to choose the particular teaching tools that they use, including the
development of their own tools. While it is expected that each university will
provide support for a limited range of courseware platforms, care should be
taken to ensure that further innovation is not stifled by the promotion and
support of specific tools.

• Recommendation 10 That effective means be developed for the

dissemination and diffusion of educational innovations to the ICT education
community. Diffusion efforts should
§ acknowledge and accommodate ICT educators’ need to ‘make
innovations their own’
§ facilitate two-way interaction between those who generate the innovation
and those who plan to adopt it
§ allow for the dissemination of work-in-progress and the exchange of
peer feedback
§ take advantage of existing relationships between individuals and between
institutions
§ take advantage of discipline-based loyalties and shared concerns to
promote inter-university collaboration and dissemination across the
disciplines
§ acknowledge issues such as inter-university competition and intellectual
property

xiv
Educational evaluation
• Recommendation 11 That management encourage ICT educators to evaluate
their teaching and learning initiatives through
§ the use of evaluations, both formative and summative, that focus on
investigating links between the particular objectives of initiatives and
educational outcomes.
§ the provision of professional development and support programs that
focus on educational evaluation as well as on teaching tools and
methodologies. Programs should be developed in consultation with
available experts, for example, educators from university Education
departments and academic development units.
§ the user-based evaluation of the services and programs described above
to ensure that they meet the needs of ICT educators.
§ the allocation of resources to support these activities

• Recommendation 12 That continuous improvement approaches be adopted

in ICT departments so that ICT educators can more rapidly respond to change
and input from professional, organisational and industry sources.

xv
1 Introduction
This national study was undertaken as a result of a grant from the Department of
E ducation, Training and Youth Affairs, through the Australian University
Teaching Committee (AUTC). The aim was to investigate the ways that teaching
and learning are being approached in the major discipline of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) in Australian universities. The purpose of the
project was to provide information to the AUTC that would assist the Committee
in its promotion and support of excellence in university teaching.
The study was designed in response to a Project Brief. A Research Team,
comprising a senior research fellow, a research assistant and an administrative
assistant, was commissioned to administer and manage the implementation of the
research. A Reference Group (see Appendix A for membership), comprising
members of the Monash University Computing E ducation Research Group, was
formed to oversee and manage the overall project. A National Steering
Committee, comprising representatives from the funding body, was appointed to
provide general advice and support for the project and to ensure that the project
meets its aims within the proposed timeline and budget, in accordance with the
brief and requirements of the grant agreement.
The Project aimed to maximise the cooperative input from ICT departments and
faculties across Australia as well as involving employers and graduates in a
constructive way. E ighty-three ICT educators from 29 universities contributed to
the data collected by the Project (see Appendix B for participant list). Ten senior
ICT academics and one international ICT educator (see Appendix C for
participant list) contributed to the Project outcomes by reviewing the
recommendations made and identifying implementation issues. This high level of
consultation and collaboration with those with interests in the ICT discipline has
resulted in research outcomes and recommendations that are both relevant and
credible.
The background to this report, the project specifications and the structure of the
report are described below.

1.1 Background and project specifications

1.1.1 Australian University Teaching Committee

In January 2000, the minister for E ducation, Training and Youth Affairs
established the Australian University Teaching Committee, a national body aimed
at improving Australian university teaching and learning. During 2000 the AUTC
commissioned a small number of projects to focus on issues of teaching and
learning within major disciplinary areas, with a view to learning more about the
ways in which teaching and learning have been approached.

1
 This report is the final product of Stage 1 of a research project focusing on the
major interdisciplinary area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
education. As described below, Stage 1 of the project comprises a review whose
purpose is to identify the extent to which innovations in teaching and learning and
processes of curriculum development and review have been deployed in response
to the needs of students and employers.

1.1.2 Research specifications

The Brief for this project (Australian University Teaching Committee 2000) is
wide-ranging and, while its focus is on issues of teaching and learning, the role of
graduate and employer satisfaction, academic staff shortages and professional
development, the assessment of quality teaching and the dissemination of
innovation are also important elements. Crouch and McColl (2001) noted that in
commissioned studies involving a high level of collaboration among diverse
stakeholders, with multiple policy and practice expectations, it is useful to
“distinguish between the aims of the broader project, in which the research [sits]
and for which particular audiences could be identified, and the specific aims and
objectives of the research itself” (p.3). The tender document (Computing
E ducation Research Group 2000) for the project specified research activities that
would be used to meet various elements of the Brief. These activities, including
the specific aims of each activity, are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Project aims and outcomes

Aim s Ou t com e s

Est ablishing • To m ak e con t act w it h
param et ers I CT depar t m en t s in
Aust r alian univ er sit ies
• To d ev elop a Web sit e
for dissem inat ing
infor m at ion and
collect ing dat a
• To r ev iew lit er at u r e
t hat w ould infor m
su b seq u en t p h ases
• Dat abase con t ain in g con t act
det ails f or all depar t m en t h eads
• Wr it t en com m unicat ion w it h all
depar t m en t h eads, an n ou n cin g
pr oj ect
• Wr it t en com m unicat ion w it h all
depar t m en t h eads, in v it in g
par t icipat ion in t h e con su lt at ion
p h ase.
• Web sit e d ev elop ed at
ht t p: / / cer g. infot ech. m onash. edu.
au/ ict ed including gener al pr oj ect
infor m at ion, cont act infor m at ion
and an inquir y for m
• Web sit e d ev elop m en t
cont inued ov er life of pr oj e ct
• Lit er at u r e r ev iew ed on
• Edu cat ion al in n ov at ion an d
good pr act ice in I CT edu cat ion
• I n du st r y n eeds an d em ploy er
sat isfact ion
• Gr ad u at e b eh av iou r an d
gr adu at e sat isf act ion

2
 Aim s
Consult at ion w it h • To in v est igat e cu r r en t
I CT educat ors innov at ions in I CT
edu cat ion
• To in v est igat e I CT
ed u cat or s’ v iew s on
d e velopm en t s in
t each in g an d lear n in g
an d t h e dissem in at ion of
in n ov at ion
• To cr eat e a posit iv e
feel for t h e pr oj ect
am on g I CT edu cat or s
Survey of em ployers • To inv est igat e
em ploy er s’ at t it u des
t ow ar d s I CT ed u cat ion
Graduat e sat isfact ion • To gain an ov er v iew of
gr adu at e ou t com es in
I CT edu cat ion
• To in v est igat e
gr adu at es’ sat isf act ion
w it h t h eir cou r ses
• To in v est igat e v iew s on
t h e r ole t h eir cou r ses
play ed in t heir car e er s
p at h s
I nt ernat ional t rends • To ident ify t he
p ar am et er s b ein g u sed
t o def in e in n ov at ion an d
good pr act ice in I CT
edu cat ion in ot h er
cou n t r ies
Follow-up int erviews • To clarify an d v alidat e
in for m at ion gat h er ed in
p r ev iou s p h ases
I nt ensive w orkshop • To gain in pu t an d
suppor t fr om senior I CT
edu cat or s f or
r ecom m en dat ion s
Ou t com e s
• Mini-con f er en ces h eld in each
capit al cit y
• Dat a collect ed v ia m ini-
con f er en ce p r esen t at ion s
pr ov ided an ov er v iew of I CT
educat or s’ innov at iv e act iv it ies
• Dat a collect ed v ia m ini-
con f er en ce op en d iscu ssion s
pr ov ided a pict ur e of I CT
ed u cat or s’ v iew s ab ou t t h e
dir ect ion s of in n ov at ion an d t h e
dissem in at ion of in n ov at ion
• Mini-confer ences inv olv ed qualit y
en g ag em en t w it h I CT ed u cat or s
an d r eceiv ed posit iv e feedback . A
br oad r an ge of academ ic lev els
at t en ded, fr om a lar ge n u m ber of
d ep ar t m en t s.
Qu est ion n air e adm in ist er ed t o
em ploy er gr ou ps pr ov ided a
pict ur e of em ploy er s’ needs, t heir
sat isf act ion w it h g r ad u at es an d
t h eir at t it u de t ow ar ds I CT
edu cat ion
• Rev iew of lit er at u r e on gr adu at e
ou t com es, in clu din g gr adu at e
b eh av iou r an d g r ad u at e
sat isfact ion
• Gr adu at e in t er v iew s f ocu sin g on
gr adu at e em ploy m en t beh av iou r
an d g r ad u at es’ at t it u d es t ow ar d s
I CT edu cat ion
• Con t act m ade w it h in n ov at iv e
I CT edu cat or s in ot h er cou n t r ies
t hr ough CERGI
• Dev elopm en t of a Web for m for
su bm ission of in for m at ion abou t
t each in g an d lear n in g in it iat iv es
in ot her count r ies; lit t le
infor m at ion w as for t hcom ing
• Follow -u p in t er v iew s con du ced
w it h select ion gr adu at e in t er v iew
an d in du st r y su r v ey par t icipan t s
• Ten senior Aust r alian I CT
academ ics an d on e I n t er n at ion al
ex per t par t icipat ed in a day-lon g
w or k sh op. Par t icipan t s r ev iew ed
r ecom m endat ions. Their
su ggest ion s t h en in f or m ed t h e
r ev ision of t h e r epor t .
3
1.2 Setting the scene: University ICT education
Information and Communications Technology covers a very diverse range of
courses and areas within the University education environment. This study would
not be complete without setting the scene regarding the structure and location of
the various aspects of ICT within the university sector.
While there are a plethora of degrees and subjects related to this area, the ICT
field can be divided up into six broad categories:
• Communications technology
• Computing technology at the electronic and circuitry development level
• Computer science and software engineering
• Information systems within business commercial computing
• Multimedia and Multimedia Systems
• Information management

1.2.1 Communications Technology

This category involves the exploration of telecommunications areas. This category
focuses on such areas as digital logic, signal processing and transmission, TV and
radio telecommunications, satellite systems and ATM and ISDN networks. This
category is firmly situated with E ngineering departments, schools or faculties.
Courses are often labelled Telecommunications E ngineering or Communications
E ngineering.

1.2.2 Computing technology at the electronic and circuitry

development level
This involves the exploration, design and development of microchip technology
and the building of computing circuitry. It also includes the control and the
development of electronic systems using computer technology to control
mechanical processes and establish process control systems.
Some courses place the emphasis on the electronics discipline and tend to be
situated in E ngineering departments, schools or faculties, while other place the
emphasis on the computing discipline and the process control aspects and tend to
be situated within Information Technology departments, schools or faculties.
Courses in these areas are often labelled as Computronics, E lectronic Computing,
E lectrical and Computer Systems, Mechatronics or Digital Systems.

4
1.2.3 Computer Science and Software Engineering
This category concentrates on information technology at the computer design
level and its application in the software engineering discipline. It covers such
areas as operating systems, systems architecture and software management and
the development.
In the early establishment of separate computing departments within the
university sector, the first information technology department was often a
Department of Computer Science established within the Science Faculty of a
University. This is still the case, although these departments often incorporate far
more computing courses than just those that concentrate on Computer Sciences.
Computer Science is now also part of Information Technology departments,
schools or faculties. Software E ngineering will be situated in E ngineering and / or
Information Technology faculties.
Courses in these areas are usually labelled Computer Science, Software
E ngineering, or computing or engineering with a defining tag (e.g. Bachelor of
Computing (Computer Science), Bachelor of E ngineering (Software E ngineering)).

1.2.4 Information Systems within Business Commercial Computing

This category of Information Technology includes the design and development of
computing application systems for the commercial environment. It covers a wide
range of areas that involve the development of information systems and the
management of information systems within the commercial area. Since the
extensive development of the Internet, more specialised areas, particularly in
relation to electronic commerce and network systems, are emerging.
Courses in this area, particularly those that concentrate on information systems or
business management will often be located within a Business department or
school which resides either within a Business Faculty or an Information
Technology Faculty. Those that concentrate on commercial computing or
networking will usually be located in a Computing department, school or faculty,
although some reside within Science faculties.
Courses in this category are often labelled Computing, Information Technology,
Networking or Network Systems, Information Systems, Management Information
Systems, Business Systems and E lectronic Commerce.

1.2.5 Multimedia and Multimedia Systems

With the rapid expansion of the use of the World Wide Web and the increasing
use of computer technology within the arts and entertainment environment, there
have been a growing number of courses developing within information technology
under the heading of multimedia. This category includes the exploration of
varying forms of media for advertising, information dissemination and interactive
environments using computer technology.
Courses in this category often reside within, or have links with, departments,
schools or faculties of Graphic Art or Art and Design.
Courses in this category are often labelled Multimedia, Multimedia Technology
and Multimedia Systems.
5
1.2.6 Information Management
With most libraries placing a strong emphasis on electronic resources and services,
information management courses focus on knowledge and skills essential to the
management of information content. These may be in intranet environments or
within the broader context of global networks. Information Management courses
focuses on principles, processes and tools for the creation, organisation,
categorisation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of a range of information types
to meet user requirements in a variety of different organisational and social
contexts.

1.3 Structure of the report

The research findings for the various phases of the report are presented in five
sections:
• Section 2 presents findings relating to the views of employers. Conclusions are
based on findings of a literature review and an industry survey.
• Section 3 presents findings relating to the views of graduates. Conclusions are
based on findings of a literature review and exploratory graduate interviews.
• Sections 4, 5 and 6 present findings relating to the views and activities of ICT
educators. Conclusions are based on findings of the mini-conference program.
Section 7 draws on findings from Sections 4, 5 and 6, to discuss the role of
evaluation in the improvement of ICT education. Finally, conclusions made in
each section are presented and discussed in Section 8.
The body of the report contains summaries of the methods used. These can be
found in each respective section. Detailed descriptions of methods are given as
appendices.

6
2 Employers’ views of ICT graduates
One factor that just came up to my mind, the fact that the students are going to
be life long learners. I mean they’re not going to finish their schooling here,
they’re going to go into industry, five years from now
whatever … It’s much more important to learn how to learn than to actually
learn a particular language which we are teaching now which is going to be
obsolete anyway. (Mini-conference Participant)

2.1 Introduction
The interaction between employers and universities is a key component in any
attempt to understand the way in which university courses are responding to the
wider needs of ICT education. E lements within the interface between universities
and industry which will be dealt with in this section of the report include:
• Research into employers’ expectations of graduates
• The relationship between expectations and satisfaction and the implications
for educational programs
• E ffective means of measuring employer satisfaction with graduates
• The perceived response of universities to industry needs

2.1.1 Rationale for approach taken

There are varying levels of information about the interface between universities
and industry. Within this there are myths about what is wanted and what is
needed, and these myths are generated by both the university sector and the
industry sectors. Unfortunately, many of these myths permeate down to the
school level and become a part of the informal information system on careers. For
example, one of the pervasive myths in the ICT sector is that graduates earn a
great deal of money. Since the e-bubble was burst, this is an even more mythical
entity. Another set of myths has been the skills and leading-edge myth.
Computing has been seen as an area where everyone is doing leading-edge work
applying the highest level of cognitive skill. The reality is that many computing
graduates do what most other graduates do - fairly routine work which has a
modicum of challenge.
By first building a picture of what we know from local and overseas research and
practice, and then looking at local data on the university-industry interface, it was
assumed that the project would be able to isolate important issues in the push-pull
debates about university and industry in the ICT sector. Further, the project
would be able to provide data that would clarify significance of the innovation
and best practice information Section 5. Finally, the data on employers’ views

7
 would also provide cross-comparisons with data collected from graduates in the
workforce (see Section 3).

2.1.2 The components to be considered

The project brief asks about the way in which universities have responded to
industry needs and looks towards the exploration of means of measuring industry
satisfaction with ICT graduates.
The obvious component to be dealt with is the ways in which satisfaction might
be measured and how this could relate to curriculum planning and development in
universities.
The second component, which has taxed the TAFE sector for some years and is
effecting higher education overseas, is the definition of skills and competencies
which are needed for effective development of undergraduates.
Within this is the question of the effect that these issues have upon university
educators, particularly through quality management thinking and the
vocationalisation of education.

2.2 Research on needs and satisfaction of employers

2.2.1 Skills and competencies perceptions

Perhaps the most important issue when researching employer response to
graduates (and any group of employees coming out of education) is the employers’
expectations. The Vocational E ducation and Training (VE T) sector has focussed
upon identifying competencies and skills that allow for a close analysis of what a
VE T graduate can be expected to bring to a job. The university sector in Australia
has not embraced this approach although there is some current pressure to do so.
Individual employers have their own views of what a graduate should be able to
do. These range from students coming in with good problem solving skills through
to students being able to do specific, practical tasks.
The problem of defining the relative balance between practical skills and
academic knowledge is by no means new. E ducational researchers in the United
Kingdom debated, during the 1960’s and 70’s, the question of the differences
between what were then called Sandwich Courses against standard courses.
Research that was carried out at Brunel University during the late 1960’s
indicated that students from practical Sandwich Courses quickly fitted into
organisations, but it was the students from the standard academic course who
were of most value in the long term when research and development activities
were needed. Nothing in the subsequent years has contradicted these basic
findings.
Consequently, any attempt to research employer satisfaction with graduates has to
be approached with caution.

8
2.2.2 Recent research on employer satisfaction
This caution is reinforced by the relative paucity of published research on
graduates entering employment, particularly in the ICT sector. The interim report
on DE TYA’s employer satisfaction project (ACNielsen Research Services 1998)
has only 13 references. A search of education bibliographic databases suggests
that little work has been published in the E nglish-speaking world on employer
satisfaction with university graduates. None were found on ICT graduates.
The most recent Australian report into employer satisfaction with graduates was
commissioned by DE TYA and carried out by ACNeilsen (2000). The
methodology used generated a very general picture of graduates entering the
workforce. This picture is of limited use to universities in their attempts to
explore ways of better preparing students and it offers nothing to guide ICT
course leaders.
The key data collection for the report was based on the employers rating the
importance of certain characteristics and their satisfaction with graduates for each
of these characteristics. Using a gap analysis approach, the difference between
importance and satisfaction is analysed by looking at mean trends.
Most of the graphs in the report show similar patterns across most areas of study.
The data as presented in the ACNeilsen report does not allow us to determine the
relative importance of any given components. There are, for example, no outcome
measures such as overall satisfaction with performance or an indication of the
future likelihood to employ graduates of this type or from the same institution.
Without this type of data it is difficult for the universities to make sense of the
consequences of the reported deficiencies.

2.3 The market context of employer expectations

Various studies point to skills shortages in the ICT industry and forecast a
continuation of these shortages (Poole 1997; Australian Information Industry
Association 1996; Australian Information Industry Association 1999; Denning
1999; IT&T Skills Task Force 2000; National Office for the Information
E conomy 1998). The question of skills shortages in the ICT industry has been
partially aligned to the role of Universities in preparing students for entry into the
workforce. There is a clear pragmatic and pedagogical gap between what market
place projections say about given job environments and what is being done in
educational environments. Currently there is no educational policy that says that
the university sector should respond in a way similar to that taken by the VE T
sector, that is to focus upon a skills/competencies approach.

2.3.1 ICT G raduate Skills and The Employer

2.3.1.1 History

There have been a series of reviews that, beginning in the late 1980’s and early
1990’s, look at the skills and attributes needed by the computing industry. The
future of discipline assessments (Higher E ducation Council 1991) prompted the
Commonwealth Government to commission a number of Discipline Reviews to
9
 assess the nature and extent of current provision of education in major disciplines
in Australian including Computing Studies and Information Sciences E ducation.
The review of computing studies (Department of E mployment E ducation and
Training, Department of Industry Technology and Commerce & Information
Industries E ducation and Training Foundation 1992) identified a number of
employers’ preferences, and a number of weaknesses, in terms of graduates’ skills
and attributes. E mployers were found to prefer graduates who, further to subject
competence, had transferable skills and graduates who had completed an
industrial placement. There was also a noted deficit in communication skills. As
we shall see, the title of the subject area may have changed along with the
technology, but the employer perceptions have remained quite constant.

2.3.1.2 Current perspectives

The IT&T Skills Taskforce survey (2000) identified broad business skills as one
of the two most commonly cited deficiencies in ICT recruits, the other being
insufficient experience. According to the 2000 E mployer Satisfaction with
Graduate Skills report (ACNeilsen Research Services 2000), ICT graduates have
been described by employers as being deficient in three key areas: communication
skills, team work and general business skills. However, this problem is not
confined to the ICT industry, nor is it clear against what standards deficiency is
being assessed. In the 2000 E mployer Satisfaction with Graduate Skills report
(ACNeilsen Research Services 2000), the most common skill deficiencies across
all professions in terms of importance to employers were in the area of creativity
and flair, oral business communications, and problem solving skills. So, the
complaints made against ICT graduates seem to be the complaints made against
graduates in general. While this survey provides a breakdown of major disciplines,
it does not treat ICT graduates as a group.
Overseas studies into employer expectations of ICT graduates generally confirm
the picture generated by those in this country (Dawson & Newsham 1997).
According to The good universities guide to universities, TA FE and private colleges in
2000 “by 1998, despite a lot of hype ever since about the industry crying out for
staff, around one in seven new [ICT] graduates who look for a full time job fail to
find one” (Ashenden & Milligan 1999, p. 270). That is, 14.3 % of graduates are
unable to secure employment. The National Office for the Information E conomy
(NOIE ) reports that in 1997, the unemployment rates for new Computer Science
and E lectronic/Computer E ngineering graduates were 16.9% and 18.2%
respectively. In contrast, in late 1998, the unemployment rate for the ICT
profession as a whole (new graduates plus experienced ICT professionals) was
2.7% (National Office for the Information E conomy 1999, January). These
findings offer no simple interpretation. On the one hand they have to be related to
other industry unemployment figures while, on the other, they could be suggesting
that either ICT courses have not provided graduates with the required skills or the
jobs just are not there for new graduates.
The graduate employment numbers are further complicated by the findings from
the IT&T Skills Taskforce (2000) survey where employers anticipated demand for
ICT professionals with between one and three years experience (more than three
years for software engineers), rather than for newly graduated recruits. In a survey
of ICT recruits who had graduated from ICT courses at the University of New
South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney, the Australian
10
 Information Industry Association (1999) found that industry experience in the
course of their degrees was rated highly among recruits as satisfactory preparation
for their careers.
In the 10 years from the review of computing studies to the IT&T Skills
Taskforce and DE TYA studies, communication skills continue to be an issue.
What this means is not resolved because, as noted above, graduates from most
disciplines appear to suffer from this weakness. The employer may be expecting
something which cannot be added to the skills base of the graduate if that
graduate is to have the skills needed to function as computer professionals rather
than as general business professionals with some computer skills. An important
paragraph in the IT&T Skills Taskforce report (IT&T Skills Task Force 2000, p.4
para 1) points to the need for IT&T employees to have advanced level skills in
the following areas:
• Technical knowledge
• Commercial understanding
• Developing or commercially applying technology
The report then points to a level of intermediate skills where the list is probably
even harder to attain.
The expectations referred to in the IT&T Skills Taskforce report raise significant
questions for the universities. A basic degree course covers three years and most
ICT degrees are seen to be on the edge of being overloaded through the range of
options which are being added to meet varying needs. In what way can the
universities look to add commercial skills, plus the other skills identified in the
E mployer Satisfaction study from DE TYA, and still provide graduates who meet
the broad needs of the ICT industry, as well as providing the people who can
provide research teaching and applied research and development?

2.3.2 The project and employer expectations

The paucity of information on employer satisfaction with ICT graduates pointed
to the need to implement a data collection strategy and the size of the task
suggested that a quantitative survey would be a realistic starting point.
There was little point in repeating the type of data collection carried out for
E mployer Satisfaction with Graduate Sk ills (ACNeilsen Research Services 2000). As
noted above, this report gives a set of response percentages. E ven if some form of
analysis is carried out between what is important to employers and the things they
are satisfied with, we are unable to obtain an understanding of the impact these
things have upon likely hiring practices and upon the likely communication
needed between industry and universities. Consequently, an approach to exploring
satisfaction and potential hiring was adopted which mirrors the regression-based
modelling used in wider satisfaction studies.

2.4 Employer Data Collection

The content of the survey ranged over most of the issues identified in the
literature review. A major challenge was to keep the survey as short as possible,

11
 knowing that long surveys reduce response rates. The final version was a
compromise between content and size. The survey can be found in Appendix K.
The format of the content was designed to maximise the possibility of extracting
structure from the responses. As was noted in Section 2.2, simple frequency
counts have failed to produce data that would influence educational decision-
making. The format of the survey used here assumed that links could be made
between employers’ reported experiences and their anticipated future actions.
Sections of the ICT industry are complex and potentially unstable and it is
important to obtain, not just a picture of what those who are currently employing
ICT graduates say, but also we need to get information from those who do not
currently employ graduates. The survey form was, therefore, designed to collect
base data on all respondents and then specific data for employers and for non-
employers. In this way, it was a modular survey form that was effectively two
surveys – one targeting those businesses that currently employ recent ICT
graduates and the other targeting those that do not – with a common section
asking for demographical information.
While the survey was primarily quantitative, both sections of the survey asked for
a limited amount of qualitative data. Respondents were also asked to indicate if
they were willing to take part in follow up interviews. This data is reported in
Section 2.4.6.

2.4.1 Survey respondents

The task of a nation wide sampling of industries that employ ICT graduates was
quite difficult. On the one hand, we could assume that a general mailing list
would cover a reasonable percentage of graduates because most larger
organisations appear to employ graduates from the computing courses for their IT
sections. But, on the other hand, this would exclude many specialist IT
organisations, not to mention Libraries and Multimedia companies who definitely
employ graduates from the broader ICT area.
Two quite different strategies were adopted:
• Membership mailing lists were used, particularly from the Australia Computer
Society, the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association and the
Australian Library and Information Association.
• The Australia-wide Yellow Pages database was searched under various
keywords and a list of companies and addresses was created. The keywords
were:
§ Business Systems Consultants
§ Multimedia Services
§ Internet Access Providers
§ Internet Web Services
§ Computers--Technical Support
§ Computer Systems Consultants
§ Tele-communications Consultants
§ Management Information Services

12
 Through the combined approaches, 3673 surveys were distributed to valid
addresses. The overall number of useable responses was 523, giving a response
rate of 14%. This is below the anticipated level of around 25% but current
experience on other survey-based projects suggests that a response rate of around
15% is what can be expected with an unsolicited survey that has no payoff (eg. a
survey response prize).
A small percentage (8%) of the data collection came back via e-mail - both survey
forms were made available on the project Web site. It is interesting that ICT staff
seemed to be more comfortable filling out and returning via snail-mail than going
to a Web site and posting an electronic return. This supports a general impression
from other research projects that Web-based surveys are yet to be seen as the
preferred response mode.

2.4.1.1 G raduates employed

Many of the organisations that responded to the survey currently employed recent
graduates from a number of sub-disciplines within the major discipline of ICT.
Table 2 shows the potential complexity of this breakdown. Consequently, most of
the analysis uses the overall ICT discipline as its base for describing graduates.

Table 2. Counts by course employed

Gr a du a t e t ype e m ploye d* N um be r of r e sponde nt s
e m ployin g
on ly on e e a ch
gr a du a t e gr a du a t e
t ype t ype
CSSE 29 148
DS 0 29
BIS 17 125
Multim edia 5 55
LI S 18 48
*CSSE = Computer Science and Software E ngineering; DS = Distributed Systems; BIS = Business
Information Systems, LIS = Library and Information Systems

2.4.2 Analysis and results

In the following sub-sections, the analysis of the data will be reported as non-
technically as is possible. The data was subjected to extensive analyses; Appendix
F contains tabular output covering most of the items on the survey as well as
inter-correlations, analyses of variance and other appropriate analyses.
For the sake of simplicity, we will call the group that employs recent graduates Do
E mploy (N= 213) and the other Don’t employ (N= 308).

2.4.2.1 Demographics

2.4.2.1.1 Do Employ

13
 The respondents who do employ recent graduates can be characterised in the
following way
• Half were from organisation with 100 or more employees but only eight
percent were from micro organisations (6 or less employees)
• One third classified their business in the Other industry category which, from
the written in specification, generally meant they were in ICT. E ducation and
Government each had about half of the remaining two-thirds, while the rest
were spread across major industry categories.
• 85% of respondents had a degree or higher degree.
• Their geographic spread was fairly consistent with Australian demographics
with 83% in capital cities.

2.4.2.1.2 Don’t Employ

The characteristics for this group were:

• Just over half were micro-organisations with a further quarter in the 6-20 staff
category
• Very similar to the Do E mploy respondents on industry type
• Only 62% had a degree but a higher proportion had Certificate/diploma level
qualifications
• Their geographic distribution was reasonably good although there was a
disproportionate number from Western Australia and the regional areas were
probably over-represented.

2.4.2.2 Hiring Practices

The Don’t E mploy group is much less likely to hire any graduates from any type of
training.
To clarify this pattern we removed all of the micro-business from the Don’t E mploy
analysis. The results showed that the larger organisation Don’t employ group is still
unlikely to hire from TAFE and Private Providers but has a pattern more like the
Do employ for employing University graduates. This effect is more pronounced
when we look at the two largest organisation sizes for the Don’t employ.

2.4.2.3 Contact with University Departments

Table 3. Contact with Universities (Q.1.7) (Percentages)

Pu r pose of con t a ct
Do Do not
e m ploy e m ploy
I ndust rial Experience 51 8
Com m it t ees 25 6
R&D 25 7
Consult ing 28 10

14
 The data in Table 3 shows that the Do E mploy group has a markedly higher level
of contact with universities than does the Do N ot E mploy group. The meaning
relative level of the Do E mploy contact is hard to determine, as there is no
comparative data from other discipline areas.

2.4.3 Comment on Do and Don’t

The information in section 2.4.2.2 raises an interesting point in relation to
questions about the employment market for ICT graduates. Australian industry is
dominated by small business and there is no reason to doubt that this is true in the
ICT area, including Information Management. The availability of jobs in this
environment will be restricted and very susceptible to economic and market
fluctuations. This makes it difficult to make adequate projections of job
vacancies.

2.4.4 The Do Employ Data

The general satisfaction with graduates (see Appendix K Q2.4) was above the
mid-point on the five-point scale, and this difference from the mid-point was
statistically significant. E mployers are satisfied with their ICT graduates.

Table 4. Descriptives for satisfaction measures

Sa t isfa ct ion m e a sur e
N Mean SD
Over all Sat isfact ion 196 3.87 .80
Com pared Sat isfact ion 100 3.68 .96

If we look at the block of tasks and skills in Q2.3 (each rated in terms of meeting
organisations needs), we see that only Understanding of business processes and L OTE
(Skills in Language other than E nglish) are not significantly different from the
mid-point on the scale. The important deviation from the general trend is that
Project management sk ills has a statistically significant difference below the mid-point
indicating that the mean trend for the sample is to say that graduates do not meet
their needs in this skill area.

Table 5. Meets needs ratings

Skill/ know ledge
N Mean SD t
Skills in part icular com put er languages 171 3.71 .84 10.9*
Skills in part icular soft ware applicat ions 179 3.55 .91 8.0*
Foundat ion in t heoret ical principles 160 3.73 .85 10.8*
Abilit y t o com m unicat e w it h client s 192 3.42 .95 6.1*
Writ t en com m unicat ion skills 194 3.28 .95 4.1*
15
 Skill/ know ledge
N Mean SD t
Abilit y t o work in t eam s 194 3.75 .88 11.8*
Proj ect m anagem ent skills 182 2.86 .97 - 2.0*
Problem solving skills 195 3.70 .85 11.4*
Underst anding of business processes 182 2.90 .94 - 1. 4
Preparedness for quick ent ry int o j ob t asks 190 3.41 1.03 5.4*
Skills in languages ot her t han English 96 3.22 1.35 1. 6
Note: The one sample t-test is measured against the mid-scale value of 3. * p<=0.05

This, quite clearly, gives a very limited view of the nature of the industry response
to this set of skills. The mean pattern is that most are above the centre point of
the scale or at the centre point. Only two are below.
Is Project management skills the sole source of sk ill deficit from ICT courses?
To answer this we looked at regression modelling using both satisfaction and the
outcome variables as dependent variables.

2.4.4.1 Satisfaction and Meets Needs

The regression of the 11 skills on Overall Satisfaction produced quite a clear

result with an R2 of 0.56 and an overall fit, which was statistically significant.
There were four skills with statistically significant Beta Coefficients:
• Skills in particular software applications
• Ability to communicate with clients
• Problem solving skills
• Preparedness for quick entry into job tasks
It is interesting to note that Project management sk ills did not produce a significant
impact on satisfaction even though it appeared to stand out in the mean trends
(Table 5). If we were interpreting the descriptive statistics in Table 5, we would
be inclined to say that Project management sk ills and Understanding of business processes
would be clear deficiencies in the graduates being recruited. The regression
modelling says that, if these are deficiencies then they have no relationship to the
perceived satisfaction with the performance of graduates.
If we also look at the relationship between the needs being met skills and Continue to
recruit, we find that there is no statistically acceptable relationship between the
low rating skills and the outcome variable (Continue to recruit). That is, the ratings
of the skills in terms of needs being met do not have any impact on the rating of
the likelihood of continuing to recruit graduates.
It is informative to note that 64% of the respondents said that it is highly likely
that they will continue to recruit graduates.

2.4.4.2 Satisfaction and Importance versus Needs met

As was pointed out in the initial discussion about previous research, studies on
satisfaction often utilise a measure of the gap between the importance of a skill or
16
attribute and the extent to which that skills or attribute is satisfactorily performed.
This information is seen to be important because it tells us what is inadequate
when the gap is large. The data collected here allowed for this type of analysis.
In order to carry out the analysis the Meets Need Rating was subtracted from the
Importance rating. If the result was negative (an unimportant skill was meeting
organisational needs) it was coded as zero. Consequently, the data ranged from
zero (no gap) through to four (maximum gap).
From Table 6 it can be seen that the proportion of cases where there was a gap
varied considerable over items, with A bility to communicate with clients, Written
communication sk ills and Problem solving sk ills having the highest proportion.

Table 6. Descriptives for 'gap' between Importance and Meet needs

Skill/ know ledge
N Min Max Mean SD
Ga p
Skills in part icular com put er languages 69 1 3 1.34 0.60
Skills in part icular soft ware 63 1 3 1.38 0.63
applicat ions
Foundat ion in t heoret ical principles 68 1 3 1.36 0.54
Abilit y t o com m unicat e w it h client s 141 1 3 1.68 0.74
Writ t en com m unicat ion skills 134 1 3 1.69 0.77
Abilit y t o work in t eam s 120 1 3 1.40 0.64
Proj ect m anagem ent skills 108 1 3 1.57 0.70
Problem solving skills 135 1 3 1.47 0.66
Underst anding of business processes 108 1 3 1.66 0.70
Preparedness for quick ent ry int o j ob 93 1 3 1.48 0.70
t asks
Skills in languages ot her t han English 10 1 2 1.10 0.32

The gap data was not consistent across items within individual respondents.
Consequently, continued analysis of the data was difficult but it was decided that
there was value in trying to establish relationships between the gap data and the
outcome variables. When the items with the largest gap proportions (A bility to
communicate with clients down to Preparedness for quick entry into job task s) in Table 6
were regressed on Overall satisfaction and Continue to Recruit a viable regression
model was not produced.
The means in Table 6 suggest that the two communication skills questions’
proportions (A bility to communicate with clients and Written communication sk ills)
produce clear gap. If we focus on those gaps we would have to say that
Universities are failing to provide students with effective communication skills
and this is important to industry. Within human resource thinking, satisfaction
with employee performance is at the core of future employment thinking and, in
this case, satisfaction has no relationship to the communications questions.

17
 2.4.4.3 Satisfaction and outcome variables

If we are looking at the way in which the current state of university courses
impact upon industry then we have to assume that if industry is not happy it will
look elsewhere. The five variables that can give us some indicators about this are:
Overall satisfaction
Recommend that people seeking a career in ICT do an ICT degree
Recommend your ICT graduates to other employers
The likelihood that your organisation will continue to employ ICT graduates
Responsiveness of Universities
The intercorrelations between these variables are given in Table 6. It can be seen
that all are statistically significantly intercorrelated, although the value of the
Recommend Uni by Overall Sat is too small to be of practical significance.

18
 Table 7. Correlations between outcome variables
Ou t com e va r ia ble s
Con t . Re c. Re c. Ov e r a l Re sp.
using Gr a ds Uni l Sa t
Cont inue using 1.00
Recom m end Grads .379* 1.00
Recom m end Uni .457* .432* 1.00
Overall Sat .409* .431* .153* 1.00
Responsiveness .285* .319* .318* .453* 1.00

Of interest is the Relatively low level of relationship between Continuing to employ

and Overall sat. Intuitively, these should be more strongly related because if you
are satisfied then you would be expected to continue recruiting graduates. The
reality will be that market forces are determining the rating given for lik elihood to be
continuing to recruit, whereas Satisfaction has no such contaminating effect.
Responsiveness has a reasonably strong relationship with Overall Satisfaction. This is
not unexpected and it is of interest to note the level of participation with
universities as shown in Table 3.

2.4.5 Results from G raduate Uptake G roupings

The survey asked the respondents to indicate which types of graduates they had
recently recruited. This question allowed multiple responses.
What is of importance is that most organisations were taking graduates from more
than one area. The range of graduates being employed was such that it was not
possible to unambiguously analyse industry by type of graduate uptake.
The larger organisations, the organisations that appear to be taking ICT graduates,
clearly have a range of needs that ICT graduates can satisfy. The medium sized
organisations that responded are in a similar position. This suggests that, if ICT
faculties, schools and departments are to understand the scope of organisational
needs for graduates more data is needed.

2.4.6 The open-ended questions

2.4.6.1 ‘ Why doesn’t your organisation currently employ ICT graduates?

Respondents whose businesses do not currently employ recent ICT graduates

were asked to explain why. The majority of respondents (305 out of the 313 that
did not employ) provided an explanation. Reasons for not currently employing
ICT graduates were coded into seven broad categories:
• Not required
• Prefer employees with other qualifications

19
 • Business too small
• Need experienced people
• Outsource ICT work
• Cannot afford university graduates
• Cannot access ICT graduates
These response categories are described below.

2.4.6.1.1 N ot required

One hundred and seven respondents (35% of those who commented) who do not
currently employ ICT graduates wrote that it was because they did not require
them. Many of the responses in this category simply said there was “No need.”
This is not the primary reason why respondents’ businesses do not employ
graduates, with such responses indicate other reasons why they do not require
graduates. Some respondents gave more detailed responses that explained why
they did not require graduates. Two common explanations were that they had not
had recent vacancies, or that they had no need for ICT staff with the skill level
provided by a university degree.
There was significant overlap between this and other categories. For example,
many said their businesses did not require ICT graduates because they were small
companies or because they preferred employees with other qualifications that
were more suited to the skill base required.

2.4.6.1.2 Prefer other qualifications

E ighteen respondents (6% of those who commented) said they do not currently
employ university ICT graduates because they prefer people with other types of
qualifications. This appeared to relate to their need for particular skills and for
employees with ready-to-apply skills.
Comments were also made about skills learnt at university becoming quickly
outdated. This again indicates that there is a segment of the ICT industry that is
interested in up-to-the-minute skills rather than the broad grounding and
professional skills that universities seek to provide their students with.
University ICT educators’ views are discussed in Section 4 and indicate that
universities would respond to these types of comments by saying that they ‘miss
the point’, and that universities are not targeting the types of vacancies that
require specific up-to-the-minute technical skills.

2.4.6.1.3 Business too small

Just over half of the respondents who do not currently employ ICT graduates were
from micro organisations (fewer than 6 employees). Seventy-six respondents (25%
of those who commented) who do not currently employ ICT graduates wrote that
it was because their businesses were too small. Again, the common response of
“Too small” is not a reason for not employing graduates, but points to reasons
related to being small. Those respondents who gave more detailed answers
explained that, due to the size of their businesses, they only employed experienced
staff, they outsourced their ICT work, they could not afford to pay for a university

20
graduate, or they simply were not planning for growth. E xamples of these types of
responses are given below under the appropriate category.

2.4.6.1.4 Need experienced people

Forty-four respondents (14% of those who commented) who do not currently

employ ICT graduates wrote that it was because they needed or preferred to
employ people with experience. This was often related to the size of the business.
Micro businesses do not have the resources to train graduates, they do not have
the ability to provide a new graduate with a career path and they are often not
willing to take on the risk associated with an inexperienced employee.

2.4.6.1.5 O ther categories

Twenty-three respondents (8% of those who commented) said they do not

currently employ ICT graduates because they outsource their ICT work either to
consulting or service businesses or, in the case of large businesses, to other
departments or divisions.
Twenty-two respondents (7% of those who commented) said that their businesses
did not employ ICT graduates because they could not afford them. In some cases, this
related to the size of the business: as mentioned above, respondents from micro
businesses indicated that they were not able to meet the time and resource
investment required to support a graduate. Other comments referred to an
inability to pay the salaries required by university ICT graduates.
A small group of respondents (4% of those who commented) said their businesses
did not currently employ ICT graduates because they could not access or attract them.
Respondents from rural or remote areas saw their location as a barrier to attracting
graduates.

2.4.6.2 ‘ What do you think Australian universities could do to improve the preparation of graduates
for work in your industry?’

Respondents whose businesses currently employ ICT graduates were asked what
universities could do to improve the preparation of graduates for work in their
industry. The majority of respondents (147 out of the 213 that employed ICT
graduates) provided a suggestion or a number of suggestions. The analysis of these
suggestions is presented in two sections. First, common themes in the advice
given are described. Then, two issues around which a diverse range of responses
were focused are described.

2.4.6.2.1 Advice to ICT departments

Suggestions were coded into six broad categories:

• Work experience
• Industry consultation
• Industry awareness
• Generic skills
• Business skills/knowledge

21
 • Technical skills
E ach category is described below.

2.4.6.2.1.1 Work experience

Forty-four respondents (30% of those who commented) who employ ICT
graduates said that universities should provide their ICT graduates with more
work experience. Comments included:
“Work experience is the best training.”
“More double degrees, more sandwich courses, more industry

“Placed (managed) work experience of at least 1 semester allows

the student to contribute to the organisation and gives the student
more than just a superficial insight into the industry.”
Related to experience in real workplaces is experience of authentic projects:
“Continue efforts for work place placements & ‘real world’

“E nsure that students do at least 1 in-depth real world study which

goes from start to finish.”
“Real life projects. Broad non-computing electives.”

2.4.6.2.1.2 Industry consultation

Twenty-five respondents (17% of those who commented) who employ ICT
graduates recommended university ICT departments consult more with
employers. They suggested that communication channels be established so that
employers can communicate their needs, that partnerships be developed for the
provision of work experience and project work to students, that lecturers become
more familiar with what is going on in industry, that industry play a greater role in
informing course structure and curriculum and that universities use industry
lecturers. Typical comments included:
“More consultation with industry. Better knowledge of

“Greater involvement of industry in university courses and

curriculum committees.”

2.4.6.2.1.3 Industry awareness

Twenty-one respondents (14% of those who commented) suggested that
universities focus on developing students’ understanding and expectations of the
ICT industry. Many implied that students have misconceptions about the nature
of entry-level graduate work and the career opportunities available.
Section 3 reports the career paths of graduates and their views on their courses.
The comments made by employers about graduates’ expectations of the industry
are consistent with observations made in this section.

2.4.6.2.1.4 G eneric skills

Twenty-one respondents (14% of those who commented) in this group suggested
that universities pay more attention to the development of generic skills in
graduates. Skills mentioned included interpersonal communication, team work,

22
customer skills, verbal and written communication and problem solving.
Comments included:
“Give a stronger emphasis to key competencies, such as
interpersonal communication & teamwork, etc.”
“Communication skills – being able to articulate & also listen.
Customer skills – how to deal with difficult customers & keep them
informed and happy.”
“A greater emphasis on generic skills such as problem solving and

“Train them in people skills and ensure they have a good grounding

This category is reflected in the response pattern in the quantitative section where
communications were seen as an area of deficit in graduates. As was pointed out,
this does not actually impact on satisfaction with performance, raising questions
about its actual importance in the workplace. But more than this, we are still
faced with the problem of what the ICT curriculum should contain and how far
universities can expand course content to meet needs being expressed by industry.

2.4.6.2.1.5 Business knowledge/ skills

E ighteen respondents (7% of those who commented wrote that ICT graduates
need to be better versed in business processes.
“One cannot stress too highly the importance of understanding
business processes and the requirement for excellent communication
skills.”
The comments made on the previous category also apply here.

2.4.6.2.1.6 Technical skills

Thirteen respondents (9% of those who commented) who currently employ ICT
graduates suggested that ICT courses give more emphasis to technical skills, with
some naming particular skill areas.

2.4.6.2.2 Issues

2.4.6.2.2.1 Theory vs. application vs. principles

Sixteen respondents who currently employ ICT graduates mentioned the relative
value of theory versus applications versus principles. A range of different views
was evident. Some suggested that university ICT courses contain too much
theory:
“Let them know that theory doesn’t equal reality.”
“Less theory; its people that count not technology.”
“Less theory: more pragmatic.”
Others stressed the importance of “the basics” and of theoretical principles:
“Don’t neglect the basics. A surprising number of graduates
interviewed weren’t familiar with the systems development life

23
 “Understand the fundamentals that can be applied to any language
& not just learn how to code in a particular language.”
Still others suggested that course content be more practical:
“Focus on practicalities – Groundings in computer theory are good
from a historical context but doesn’t help me if they can’t configure

“More practical.”
“Courses can sometimes be too theoretical & not concentrate on the

Many comments alluded to an appropriate mix of theory and its practical

application. As suggested in earlier sections, this difference of opinion may be
directly linked to the different needs of different types of businesses.

2.4.6.2.2.2 O ld vs. new vs. emerging technologies

A similar difference of opinion was observed among comments concerning the
types of languages and applications that should be taught or used to teach
principles. Fourteen respondents variously advocated the teaching of old
established technologies, current technologies or new emerging technologies.
Comments included:
“There tends to be a negative attitude towards COBOL and Legacy
systems. The fact is we still depend on these. COBOL will be
around for a long time yet.”
“Train graduates for existing platforms, not future platforms.
Although html and java are exciting & interesting, the majority of
enterprise systems and business are in SAP or similar products.”
“Train them in the latest programming languages & software.”
One respondent more philosophically commented:
“This will always be difficult – find the right balance between
current practical skills, and future methods and thinking.”

2.4.7 Research Conclusions

The relatively small sample size from across such a diverse industry area could
create some difficulties in generalising from the results. In fact, the response
patterns are reasonably tight (see the standard deviations in Table 5), allowing us
to assume that we have some consistency in the response sample and to be able to
suggest directions.

2.4.7.1 Job Market and Job Skills

The differences between the Do employ and Don't employ groups raises interesting
questions about the state of the job market in ICT. The preponderance of small to
micro businesses in the sector may be a key issue in questions about the over-
supply-under-supply saga evident in the literature. These businesses are least
likely to employ graduates. Projecting the job market in ICT would require an
understanding of factors such as the job life span of staff in such organisations as
well as the likely expansion rates in job numbers.
24
In addition, it is worthwhile noting that the current Do N ot employ group do not
show a promising pattern (Table 8) of responses to the question on future
likelihood to employ. The pattern is towards uncertainty.

Table 8 Anticipated future recruitment of graduates - Do Not Currently

employ
Ant icipa t e d fut ur e
r e cr uit m e nt
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Definit ely will not 44 14.4 15.6
2 53 17.4 34.4
3 83 27.2 63.8
4 48 15.7 80.9
Definit ely will 22 7. 2 88.7
DK 32 10.5 100.0
Tot al 282 92.5
Missing 23 7. 5

There appears to be good reason for more labour market analysis if Universities,
and TAFE , are to have a clearer understanding of the career environment they are
feeding into.

2.4.7.2 Are we dealing with an inevitable outcome?

We have noted that, underlying all the analysis and interpretation, there is the
basic fact that 64% of Do employ respondents said it was highly likely that they
would continue to employ graduates.
There seems to be an inevitable market for ICT graduates, which is partially
independent of what industry thinks Universities should be doing to produce
graduates. E xactly how many graduates will be employed in the future is another
question.

2.4.7.3 Squeaky Wheels and significant issues

A conclusion that is clearly demonstrated by the data presented here is that

employers are generally satisfied with the graduates they recruit. They see
graduates as having a number of obvious deficiencies but that these are irritants,
or Squeak y Wheels, rather than being significant decision-making factors. And these
irritants have been reported in different papers over the last 10-years.
An apparently key issue, lack of communication sk ills, does not appear to impact
upon satisfaction or outcome variables. It has one of the largest discrepancy
scores between Importance of skills and N eeds being Met, but it did not appear as a
significant contributor to satisfaction under these circumstances.
General customer satisfaction research has shown the importance of
distinguishing between what is important, either to be maintained and to be
changed, versus what is talked about and is an easy topic to grumble about.
We have isolated some possible significant skill-based factors which influence the
perception industry has of the university sector's capacity to produce job-ready
graduates.
25
 2.4.7.4 Data Collection issues

The results from the comparison of the regression modelling and the mean trends
for the skill data, combined with the suggested shortcomings of the DE TYA
employer satisfaction study (ACNeilsen Research Services 2000), point to the
importance of building research models which are sufficiently sophisticated to
allow analyses of the structure of behaviour. If the industry data had been based
upon interviews or focus groups, it is unlikely we would have been able to see the
distinct ways in which the skills interact, or to make a distinction between those
that are important (in satisfaction terms) and those that are not.

2.4.7.5 Flexible careers versus job-ready

The ICT sector is subject to the vagaries of changing technologies, ideas and, to
some extent, fashion. The speed at which the e-bubble was inflated and then
deflated strongly suggests that university ICT departments should have depth in
their degree structures, which will allow them to readily shift direction as new
waves pass through. Focusing on skills training would lead to medium term
staffing problems for industry. It would also lead to broad human resource
problems as changing technology makes redundant those who have not been
educated for adaptation and change.

2.5 University responses to stated needs from industry

There are various examples of how the higher education systems in other
countries have tried to respond to stated needs from industry.
The most extensive example is the development of core competencies for
computing within the Quality Assurance system in the United Kingdom. From the
lack of published reports both in the professional literature and from the Quality
Assurance Agency for Higher E ducation, little appears to have been done with
the ICT component of this system to date.
Using skills and competencies thinking, the University of Luton developed a set
of transferable skills that all graduates could be assumed to have achieved by the
end of their course (Atlay & Harris 2000). The project was begun in 1996 and
students have graduated from the program but no substantial conclusions have yet
been drawn.
The reported activities in the US have tended to be about post-university training
programs such as the University of Oregon Masters of Software E ngineering
(Faulk 2000) that was designed in close consultation with industry in that state.
Carnegie Mellon University offers a one-year Master of Software E ngineering
program focusing on broad-based problem solving skills and the development of
leadership potential (Garlan, Gluch & Tomayko 1997).
Successful corporate-style collaborations have been reported by Beckman and her
colleagues (Beckman et al. 2000; Beckman et al. 1997) who surveyed 14
collaborating universities and their industry partners. When asked to identify the
most important reason for collaborating, half of the industry partners cited
fulfilment of their organisation’s education mission.

26
 Skinner and Cartwright stated that the most successful collaborations between
higher education and the ICT industry “tend to be sustained, multiple-year
programs of cooperation, not short-term projects” (Skinner & Cartwright 1998,
p.55).
Much of what has been found in the literature appears to assume that university
degrees should be responding to what industry says it needs rather than there
being a realistic, future-oriented approach to developing the university-industry
interface.
At some level we seem to have lost some of the understanding of the issues
surrounding lifelong learning and career change. During the last two decades of
the 20 th century, emphasis was placed on the need to prepare people for change.
The content and structure of careers was seen to be changing at such a rapid rate
that the average white-collar employee would have at least five significant career
changes or shifts in his/her lifetime.
The VE T sector, in most states, is driving various initiatives to support lifelong
learning and socially relevant learning environments, and this is supported by
industry groups. The University sector can argue that this has been the underlying
motivation for university education for centuries. The continuing pressure to
narrow the focus of higher education seems an inappropriate pressure within an
commercial and industrial environment where flexibility and adaptation are key
issues.

2.6 Conclusions
The relationship between ICT schools and the ICT industry is not defined by
clear, general parameters. Universities have their view of what they are doing and
believe that they are quite responsive to the changes in knowledge and
technology. Industry believes that students are not well prepared for jobs and that
universities are not giving students the essential skills to fit them for rapid job
entry.
It almost seems reasonable to argue that while there is a debate going on between
industry and the universities then there will be awareness of the essential
questions about preparing and training students versus giving them a broader than
needed education to make them, in the longer term, more adaptable.
Some aspects of this discussion are made more difficult by the apparent confusion
over the state of the ICT job market, particularly on the computing/multimedia
side rather than Information Systems. The common wisdom is that there is a
shortage of graduates, yet about 14% of graduates are not getting jobs.
Various surveys on first year undergraduates in the Computer Science and
Software E ngineering courses at Monash included a question on the reasons the
students entered the course. The responses indicated a lack of career direction.
This is not unusual in many degree programs but it does add an additional
motivational question to the others we have generated.
If there is a clearly definable skills deficiency and if this impacts upon graduate
employability, then there is a clear need for some a dialogue between industry,
universities and the TAFE sector to determine an appropriate model for the
career development of ICT professionals. The IT&T Skills Hub is assumed to be
working on this but it is becoming difficult to find out what is happening due to a
27
 combination of a closed Web site and expensive reports1. The need is not for
more surveys of so-called industry needs, rather it is for:
• a clearer picture of the nature of the ICT industry structure
• an understanding of what is critical to industries' graduate needs
• an understanding of industries' commitment to career structures for ICT
professionals
• and the willingness of industry to support post-graduate specialist training
which will reflect the changing nature of the industry and its technology

2.7 Recommendations arising from this section

• Recommendation 1 That universities’ ICT departments be given support in

establishing links with industry. This will enable them to explore real-world
options on how the university-industry interface can be made permeable
enough to help meet industry needs without compromising the broader
educational needs of graduates. In conjunction with this, that exploration be
carried out on the development of post-graduate, skills-based courses which
reflect changes in technology and the industry.
• Recommendation 3 That the research and development currently being
undertaken by CE RG members on student satisfaction form the basis of
broader work on the development of user-oriented tools and methods for
interpreting and diagnosing graduate and employer satisfaction.
• Recommendation 5 That university ICT departments, in collaboration with
industry, devise programs for the better management of students’ expectations
of professional life.

• Recommendation 6 That further ongoing research be initiated, within the

context of labour market models, to determine the structural differences
between those organisations who are likely to employ ICT graduates and those
who are unlikely to employ them. This research would ideally be based on
collaboration between universities, government and industry and aim to
provide up-to-date information to university curriculum developers about
industry needs. In conjunction with this, research is needed into the influence
of company size and the consequences of this for the size of the market and
the skills and knowledge needed.

1
The project does thank the IT&T Skills Hub for forwarding, gratis, a copy of the Executive Summary
and major data tables.

28
3 Graduates in the workforce
But it’s even more fundamental than that because a lot of the students don’t
appreciate that some of the fundamentals are essential to the fluffy things that
they want to do, lik e databases – “Who wants to study data modelling?” You
k now. “I just want to learn how to write a web page”. Well I’ve got news for
you pal, tak e a job at the A ge, work on their break ing news site, which is run
by one of our ex honours students, and you wont write a bit of HTML , it’s all
done by back end database and A SP and things lik e that. … a lot of them
wanting to get up the you beaut latest and brightest stuff don’t k now what they
mean. (Mini-conference participant)

3.1 Introduction
This section takes an alternative look at the way in which university ICT courses
prepare students for the workforce with special reference to the question of
entrepreneurial behaviour. The impetus for this part of the project came from
members of the National Steering Committee who pointed to the promotion of
entrepreneurial behaviour as a continuing concern in many courses. The
Committee also suggested that graduate outcomes might most usefully be studied
through an in-depth investigation into a small number of ICT graduates. The
Reference Group recognised that these two aspects of graduate behaviour –
entrepreneurial behaviour and graduate outcomes – could be combined in an
investigation of graduates’ perceptions of the influence of their courses on their
work and career paths. Interviews were conducted, targeting graduates working in
specific types of graduate destinations, was used to investigate the complex of
factors surrounding graduate behaviour.

3.1.1 Literature on G raduate evaluation of course

There is a paucity of material in the educational and management literature on
graduate evaluation of the course against their occupational outcomes. A search
of the relevant databases produced only marginal references.
The Australian system has produced the Course E xperience Questionnaire (CE Q)
that has generated local information. The CE Q is discussed below.

3.1.2 Student evaluation of university education: Subjects, teaching and

courses.
As the key consumers or, depending on your view, products of the Australian
university system, students provide perhaps an important source of information
on the evaluation of institutional performance. Retrospective evaluations by

29
 graduates have been initiated through the Course E xperience Questionnaire
(CE Q).
A large body of literature exists regarding the development and use of the Course
E xperience Questionnaire (CE Q; see McInnis et al. 2001). A brief overview of
issues pertaining to the present project will be presented here.
Delivered in conjunction with the Graduate Destinations Questionnaire (GDQ),
the CE Q is an annual survey administered, under the auspices of the Graduate
Careers Council of Australia, to all graduates of Australian university programs. It
represents “a national performance indicator of the quality of teaching and is the
major source of comparative data on student satisfaction with the overall course
experience” (McInnis et al. 2001, p. 4).
The original purpose of the instrument was to provide individual institutions with
information concerning those areas in which their teaching and learning could be
improved, at the course level, based up recent graduates’ responses to a 25-item
survey. The questionnaire focuses on aspects of teaching and learning that are
common across a wide variety of courses and areas of study. Necessarily it
excludes important factors that will impact upon graduate perceptions of and
satisfaction with their course, most notably, those factors specific to particular
fields of study. For example, factors associated with the completion of practical
and industry experience periods which are core components of specialist programs
such as medicine, nursing, engineering, tourism and hospitality and social work
and optional in a wide range of degree programs including law and ICT. To some
extent, the CE Q taps areas such as the availability of teaching and learning
support services but does not inquire about the delivery and the quality of
pastoral care. Furthermore, the CE Q does not take into account differences that
may impact upon the experience of tertiary education, for example, reasons for
participating in higher education, disability, ethnicity and cultural factors. These
factors may also influence whether and how graduates respond to the instrument.
The CE Q makes no claims of being a definitive measure of student course
experiences nor does it claim to be a perfect instrument. However, the data
collected via this questionnaire is often used as if it were. This indicates that the
CE Q is being overused and being extended upon the behavioural boundaries for
which it was intended.
Within the context of graduate satisfaction, a survey instrument that is
administered within 6 months of graduation must be interpreted with caution. For
example, within this period graduates can be roughly categorised into three
groups:
• I got the job I wanted
• I got a job
• I haven't got a job
Career destination is not determined by being in the first category within the first
6 months of leaving university. Career counselling and placement practice tells us
that graduates may require more time than this to get the job they want and that
during the period they are trying they can become very frustrated and dissatisfied.

30
 The issue here has nothing to do with graduate satisfaction as a viable indicator2.
Rather it is about finding ways of assessing satisfaction that are realistic and
practicable. Clearly, the CE Q may have significant problems in doing this.

3.1.3 Alternative approaches to evaluation

E lliot and Hughes (1999) utilised an ‘integrated’ approach to student satisfaction
in their work with the AIIA Career Tracking Research project. The authors
measured graduates’ satisfaction with their ICT courses in terms of how well they
prepared them for industry. Individuals who graduated from Bachelor of IT
courses at two universities in the years 1992-1997 were asked whether, in relation
to their first industry position, they thought that their degree was relevant
preparation. The majority of these individuals rated their degree as mostly or
completely relevant. This approach makes sense because satisfaction with a
product cannot be gauged until the product (in this case, a tertiary degree) has
been used. Unlike the CE Q, which takes a purely retrospective approach to
student satisfaction with university education, this study went some way toward
linking, or integrating, course experience with post-university life and employment
preparedness.
A more highly integrated approach is suggested by Malley (1998) in his model for
investigating student satisfaction in the Australian vocational education and
training (VE T) sector. Malley sees student satisfaction as an analogue of
customer satisfaction. He proposes a model of satisfaction comprising three
domains: the antecedent domain, the transactional domain and the outcomes domain. The
antecedent domain includes the needs, wants expectations and prior experience
that the student brings with them to the education experience. The transactional
domain encompasses factors related to the transactional relationship between the
student and their education experience including the match (or mismatch)
between the student needs and expectations and the ‘product’ delivered by the
institution. Finally, the outcomes domain represents the integration of factors
from the antecedent and transactional domains with the post-university ‘out-side’
world. The value of this and other approaches to educational evaluation is
discussed in Section 7.

3.2 G raduate interviews

As discussed above, there is a dearth of research into ICT graduate outcomes. The
data routinely collected in Australia on graduate destinations is limited and is not
designed to investigate issues of particular interest ICT departments. As a first
step to remedying this gap, interviews were used to identify issues salient to
recent ICT graduates. These interviews could be targeted by further research. The
methods used are summarised below and the main themes arising from the
analysis are described. Accounts of each graduate’s story as relayed in interviews
can be found in Appendix L.

2
In looking at the CEQ, we have to distinguish between those like Koder who believe that satisfaction
measures are intrinsically worthless (in Hand & Trembath 1999, p. 12) and the failure of the
instrument to do what it is supposed to do. It is very poor logic to suggest that a bad measurement
tool eliminates a behavioural approach.
31
3.2.1 Methods
The approach taken here was intended to identify those factors that ICT
graduates view as having affected their ability to find employment and their
preparedness for work. Semi-structured conversational interviews (Patton 1990)
were used to collect graduates’ accounts of their career histories. Open-ended
prompts were used to elicit participants’ stories about background factors, such as
family, schooling, university education and work history, and to encourage them
to reflect on the role that these factors played in their careers. Prompts included
instructions such as, “So you are a Software Developer in a small business, tell me
the story of how you got to this point”. Follow-up telephone calls or emails were
used to clarify details or to fill in any gaps where necessary. The methods used in
this section of the research are described in more detail in Appendix G.

3.2.1.1 Participants

Graduates were identified using the Project team’s own networks. E fforts were
made to maximise variation among graduates: the criteria for variation were
graduate destination and graduate type. Graduate destination varied according to the
size of the business for which the graduate worked, ranging from micro businesses
(with six or fewer employees, including sole traders) to large businesses (with one-
hundred or more people employees). Graduate status varied according to
discipline of study (computer science and software engineering, information
systems, or electrical engineering). Comparative data were also collected from a
small number of non-graduates and a small number of graduates from non-ICT
disciplines. These individuals were employed in the graduate destinations
identified above.

G raduate type
Participants were eleven men and two women aged between 21 and 28 who work
in the ICT industry. Of the thirteen, eight had studied Computer Science and/or
Software E ngineering (CSSE ), two had studied Information Systems (IS), one had
studied E lectrical E ngineering, one had studied Biological Science and one had no
tertiary qualification. Four of the male participants had commenced, but not
completed their degrees in Software E ngineering, Information Systems and
E lectrical E ngineering. Three of these participants do not intend completing their
degrees in the near future. Of the CSSE graduates, four had commenced degrees
in other disciplines, for example, engineering and digital systems, before
transferring to computing degrees.

G raduate Destination
Seven of the participants are employed by large organisations (100+ employees)
as analysts, sales professionals, programmers and systems engineers. One works
as in a small business as a software developer. The remaining three work for micro
organisations (< 5 employers) or as sole-traders contracting to larger companies.
Table 9 maps those graduates interviewed according to graduate destination and
graduate type.
While the participants represent a convenience sample, their training covers a
broad range of levels and specialisations. For example, levels of training
32
 represented include: no formal training, industry certificates, diplomas, pass
degrees and honours degrees. Areas of specialisation represented include: software
testing and quality assurance, programming, payroll systems administration, web
development, software development, pre-sales engineering, database
administration and financial/business analyst. Although Monash networks were
used to identify graduates, interviewees had studied ICT-based degrees in five
Melbourne-based universities representing a range of university types.

Table 9. Summary of interviewees by graduate destination and graduate

type combinations
Gr a du a t e t ype
M icro ( < 6 ) Sm a ll- La r ge
M e dium ( 100+ )
( 6- 20 /
21- 99)
CS/ SE 2 1 5
I S/ BS - - 2
Elec Eng 1 - -
Non- I CT grad 1 - -
Non grad 1 - -
CS/SE = Computer Science and/or Software E ngineering; IS/BS = Information Systems/Business
Systems; E lect E ng = E lectrical or E lectronic E ngineering; Non-ICT grad = a degree from a non-ICT
discipline; Non grad = no formal tertiary qualification

3.2.1.2 Analysis

Narrative accounts of each participant’s career history were constructed. These

accounts were then returned to participants to be approved. Participants were free
to made corrections and to add or delete sections. Common themes were
identified across graduates’ stories using the constant comparative method
(Silverman 2000; Strauss & Corbin 1997). The themes that emerged are described
below.

3.2.2 Findings
Common themes that emerged across graduates’ stories included
• E arly exposure to computers
• Pursuit of intrinsic rewards
• Self-teaching
• E ntering industry prior to completion of degree
• Finding employment
• Life-style preferences

33
 When asked to reflect on the value of university ICT degrees, four main topics
were covered:
• Value of non-programming subjects
• Value of industry experience
• What I got out of uni
• Advice for ICT departments

3.2.2.1 Themes

3.2.2.1.1 Early exposure to computers

Most of the males interviewed reported early exposure to computers, through

home computers (particularly computer games), through their parents and through
friends. Many interviewees recounted manipulating configuration files and
learning DOS in their pre-teen years, so they could get computer games running.
Neither of the female interviewees had exposure to computers prior to secondary
school. The most common route for being introduced to computers was via a
home computer introduced to the family by the interviewees’ fathers. In some
cases, interviewees’ fathers actively encouraged their sons to become interested in
computing. Five interviewees have fathers who work in computing or related
fields. In other cases, interviewees are the only computing-minded members of
their families.
For example, Grant, now working for a Web-development business, first learned a
programming language from his father at age eleven. Similarly, Brendan, now a
programmer for his old university, was first exposed to electronic technology
through his father’s work. When he was seven, his family bought their first home
computer and Brendan taught himself to program. Tim, who now works for a
large telecommunications firm, has been around computers since he was eight
because his father owned a computing business. He first began experimenting
with programming at age twelve.
Some interviewees described a social side to their early computing interest, talking
about “computer friends” with whom they played games and about the social side
of E lectronic Bulletin Boards. For example, as a teenager, Jarrod, now a games
programmer, wrote ‘primitive games’ with his friends on weekends. Others stated
that their interest in computers was a means of escaping from family problems
and/or avoiding interactions with others.

3.2.2.1.2 Intrinsic rewards

Most of those interviewed reported intrinsic rewards, such as “fun” and sense of
achievement, as the motivation behind their interests in computers, both in the
early years of their exposure and later in their pursuit of ICT-related degrees and
careers. For example, Ben, who now runs his own Web-development business,
said that he enjoyed his successes when he “conquered the machine
was motivated by the challenges and the “fun”. Dave, a Business Analyst for a
large consulting firm, explained how his choice of career is motivated by the
challenge it poses. And Steve, a Software Developer in a small business, described
the satisfaction derived from devising elegant solutions and sharing solutions with
peers who can understand and appreciate good work. The pursuit of intrinsic
34
rewards is a theme that continued through to interviewees’ careers aspirations and
life-style choices.

3.2.2.1.3 Self-teaching

Most of those interviewed reported having taught themselves how to program or

how to build or configure computers many years prior to their university courses.
The most common motivation for this self-teaching was to play games, with some
seeing the computer itself as a puzzle to be solved or a challenge to be conquered.
Common areas of learning included using DOS commands, manipulating himem
and experimenting with autoexec.bat and config.sys files. Others reported learning
about the hardware so they could repair, upgrade and configure their own
machines and those of their friends. James, a database administrator/IT
consultant for a large consulting firm, said that by Year 10 he was repairing,
-developer for a
micro business, said that as a child he would dismantle his toys and other
household gadgets and then reassemble them. Similarly, Tim recalls always having
a curiosity for technology and, as a child, pulling things apart to see how they
worked.
Many of the interviewees discussed the relative value of self-teaching versus
formal education in terms of preparation for work. Most believed formal
university education was not necessary for a successful career in ICT. ICT
professionals with different backgrounds were seen to bring different strengths
and weaknesses to their work.
A common view was that much of the technical content covered in university ICT
courses is obsolete by the time graduates enter the workforce. For this reason,
self-teaching was seen as important, both for graduates and non-graduates. Some
interviewees saw a university ICT course as laying the foundation for ongoing
training and self-teaching. James, who completed a double degree in Business and
Computing and now works for a large consulting firm, said that, although he was
trained on the job, he realises that you cannot be trained in new skills if you do
not know the fundamentals. He now realises how much theory he has learnt and
retained from his Computing degree and has seen other new recruits, who do not
possess the same knowledge, struggle during company training. Grant, a
Computing graduate who now works for a micro business, believes he possesses
more and better abstract knowledge than his non-graduate peers but thinks that
this is not always considered valuable by employers, especially non-technical
management who are more interested in speed and cost of delivery. Tim, who did
not complete the final year of his Information Systems degree and now works in a
large telecommunications company, sees university as teaching you how to
acquire new knowledge. He sees university degrees as helpful but not as
important as hard work and networking. He also believes that courses provided by
software and hardware vendors are more up-to-date and more highly valued by
some employers than a university degree.
Steve, a software developer in a small business, has only one year left of his five-
year software engineering degree and does not think he will complete it. He thinks
that by studying at home, he will pick up more useful skills and then be able to
put them into practice at work. Steve said that only one of the programmers at his
work is formally trained. He believes that self-taught people make better
programmers because they naturally enjoy programming, but that they are limited

35
 within a team environment because they have not learnt standard programming
styles, documentation and how to work with other people.
Learning on-the-job was seen as an important part of becoming an ICT
professional. Two interviewees expressly argued that preparation for work is not
the role of university education. Others recognised that universities are limited in
their ability to prepare students for specific workplaces. Rita explained that while
you need a basic understanding of theory, employers have their own practices and
standards. Similarly, Steve believes that the best place to develop the skills
required for employment is the workplace itself, with university education
providing a framework on which to build further skills.

3.2.2.1.4 Entering industry prior to completion of degree

Many of those interviewed reported taking up ICT-related employment prior to

completing their degrees. In fact, in some cases, obtaining employment in the
computing industry reduced their motivation for completing their degrees. Two
interviewees have “deferred” their studies with no intention of returning to
complete their degrees, despite being in the final stages of their courses. Particular
note should be taken of the case of Steve whose pursuit of a formal education in
software engineering is intrinsically motivated. Steve is highly motivated to learn
for learning’s sake, yet he accepted work as a programmer in the fourth year of his
five-year course because he was no longer enjoying his studies. The temptation to
exit courses and work in the industry must be even more tempting for those
students whose motivation for studying is to get a job.

3.2.2.1.5 Finding employment

The majority of interviewees attained their first positions in industry through their
family and social networks. The most common means of being “put forward” for a
job was via the recommendations of friends and family. Others were
recommended by their lecturers, or made their own contacts with firms and
recruitment agencies through student societies.
Two interviewees had been involved in discipline-based student societies while at
universities. Both felt strongly about the positive influence that this involvement
had on their career planning and networking. James believes that if he had earned
straight HDs but had not socialised and become involved in his university’s
Accounting and Computing Society, he would not have been successful in
securing his current position. James believes that course administrators should do
more for students in terms of career planning and advice. Similarly, Rita believes
that her involvement in her universities Information Systems Society, and
subsequent contact with ‘big five’ sponsors, improved her employment prospects
in two ways: Her involvement in the Society exposed herself to recruitment
practices and it also demonstrated her leadership potential. She believes that
socialising with like-minded peers helped her crystallise her career goals.

3.2.2.1.6 Life-style preferences

Two of the interviewees are involved in what might be called entrepreneurial

behaviour. Ben, a non-graduate, has been running his own business since 1997. He
worked as a “one-man show” until 2000, when he brought a friend into the

36
business. As an employee in previous positions, Ben was always unhappy with the
management and thought he could do better.
Tim, who has been working for the same telecommunications company since Year
12, is currently creating a “side business” which he expects to be up and running
within months and possibly supporting him and his two business partners within
12 months. Tim is inspired in his entrepreneurial pursuits by three men: his father
who founded his own company, a businessman who he worked for while
holidaying in the United States and the manager who offered him his current
position.
Another interviewee, Mark, aspires to have his own company, but does not have
any concrete plans yet. His motivation is his dissatisfaction with his current
employer.
A number of interviewees said they were not interested in starting their own
businesses. Reasons included the stress that would be involved and the financial
risk. A significant number of interviewees stressed that they aspired to a quality
life-style rather than financial gain. For example, Brendan said that when he was
younger, he had aspired to be “rich and powerful”, but he has “mellowed with
age” and now aspires to be happy and to have an easier and more relaxed life than
he had earlier imagined he would want. Similarly, Dave said that he identifies with
“Generation X ers” in that he does not care what he does for a living; he just
wants to be happy and have nice people around. Grant explained how he has seen
his parents work very long hours and does not relish that lifestyle: “I would rather
not have heart disease at 50.” These types of comments were repeated by most of
those interviewees who do not aspire to run their own businesses.

3.2.2.2 Issues

When asked to reflect on the value of university ICT degrees, two main areas
were discussed: the value of non-programming subjects and the value of industry
experience. Some interviewees also identified what it was that they saw they “got
out of” their degrees. Others made specific suggestions as to how university ICT

3.2.2.2.1 Value of non-programming subjects

Most interviewees who had studied for ICT degrees reported not enjoying subjects
on project management and documentation. Steve reported that, after two years
of working diligently in his software engineering course, he began to lose interest.
He explained that the course was moving away from programming and towards
project management and “paperwork.” He said that the non-programming
components were “too much like E nglish and Humanities and things I don’t want
to touch.” This sentiment was common among the graduates interviewed.
The commonly reported preference for the programming subjects involved in
Computing and Software E ngineering degrees over those focussing on
documentation was seen as a source of problems for students working on group
projects. As Steve explained, “everyone wants to do the programming and no one
wants to do the documentation.” James recounted an industrial experience subject
that he completed in the final year of his Computing degree. He recalls being
unmotivated from the start, particularly because he was allotted the
administrative and documentation tasks rather than the “hands-on work”.

37
 Some graduates, despite their dislike for the non-programming elements of their
degrees, realise their importance. Rita, a Computing graduate who works for a big
five consulting firm, recorded only one fail in her degree. She failed an
accounting-oriented project management subject, which she now realises was the
most relevant of all her subjects to her current work. Brendan, who now works as
a programmer for his old university, also failed a project management subject.
Although he is not interested in this area of computing, he realises that it involves
important knowledge and skills. He sees documentation and testing as “necessary
evils”, appreciating why they are necessary, but finding them boring.
Steve says, despite seeing the importance of documentation, he avoids it in his
work. He has not fully documented the work he has done in his current job. He
sees lack of documentation skills as one of the weaknesses of self-taught
programmers.

3.2.2.2.2 Value of industry experience

A number of interviewees had completed extended project-based industrial

experience subjects in the final year of their degrees, involving working in groups
with an industry-based advisor to solve particular problems for real clients.
Responses to these subjects were varied. A number of graduates reported
problems due to the group work involved. Those that had positive experiences
saw the group work as an essential part of their learning.
Brendan, who was the project leader for his group, said he learnt about the
importance of group dynamics and conflict management. Rita regards the
industrial experience subject she completed to be one of the more valuable things
about her degree because it involved dealing with an actual client. However, she
thinks a block industry placement would be more valuable. Similarly, Grant, who
believes that his industrial experience group was poorly organised, poorly guided
and produced what he considers to be a worthless solution, also believes that an
industry placement would be more valuable than a few hours a week while
continuing other studies.
Only one of the interviewees, Matt, had completed an extended industry
placement as part of his degree. Matt selected his degree (Bachelor of
Business/Information Systems) because it offered a ‘co-op’ or ‘sandwich’ industry
year at third year. Matt now works on a permanent basis as a Systems E ngineer
with the business that he had his industry placement with. When asked what
universities could be doing to better prepare students for graduate employment,
Matt stated that there should be a greater emphasis placed on industry
placements: “work experience is the only way of knowing what it’s all about.”

3.2.2.2.3 “ What I got out of uni”

Many of the interviewees found it difficult to articulate what they had “got out
of” their ICT degrees. However, three things were repeatedly identified.
University ICT degrees provided
• an overview of ICT disciplines and the ICT industry
• learning skills
• networking opportunities

38
Brendan said he appreciated the exposure to different sides of computing. He
already knew most of the programming through his own self-teaching, but he says
that the course gave him a formal structure to “bind his knowledge together”,
giving him an overall view of how different parts of computing relate to each
other. Similarly, Michael believes his university education gave him a broader
perspective on the ICT industry.
Tim sees university as teaching you how to acquire new knowledge. Similarly,
Michael said he acquired the knowledge required to stay in tune with this rapidly
changing industry as well as learning that there is more than one way to solve a
problem and that even incorrect solutions are a source of learning and progress.
Jarrod saw the analytical skills he gained as the main benefit of his university
degree.
The skills content covered by university degrees was taken for assumed by many
of the interviewees, with very few remarking on it. Many had already taught
themselves much of the programming. Some saw the content covered as not
relevant to work in the ICT industry or as redundant before or soon after they
completed their degrees, but this was seen as unavoidable.

3.2.2.2.4 Advice for ICT departments

Few complaints were made against interviewees’ university degrees or

departments. Three sources of complaint were that
• some content covered is out-of-date or not relevant to industry
• degrees lack integration across subjects
• departments do not provide adequate career advice
Shona believes that some of the content of her degree lacked industry relevance
because it is emerging and not yet applicable in industry. Furthermore, she
believes that some content, which is fundamental and highly applicable in
industry, was taught too late in her degree. Jarrod also thought that some of the
content covered in later years, for example programming in C, should have been
introduced earlier because of its relevance to industry. These types of comments
raise the question of the purpose of university education, a question raised in the
mini-conferences with ICT educator. As described below in Section 4, ICT
educators perceived a tension between the expectations of students and their own
understandings about what a university education should provide. For example,
while students demand particular languages that they see as needed by employers,
ICT educators are generally of the opinion that the particular language learnt is of
little consequence. ICT educators are more concerned that students learn the
principle involved in programming, along with skills to continue to learn new
languages as they are developed and go in and out of fashion.
Shona also thought there was a lot of duplication in her degree due to individual
lecturers and departments not communicating with one another: “it’s like the
departments don’t talk”. She feels subjects are poorly integrated and recalls being
taught similar material at each year level. Jarrod also made comments about
course structure, suggesting that students be given more power to choose subjects
and build up degrees that are more tailored to their interests. Course design and
curriculum integration is an ongoing concern in all disciplines. Problems of
duplication most likely vary between departments and courses. Curriculum
integration was the subject of three of the teaching and learning initiatives
39
 reported by ICT educators (see section 5). Specifically, the integration of the
teaching of professional skills or graduate attributes has motivated some
departments to rethink the design of courses and the integration of content.
James believes his degree has made him highly employable but feels that course
administrators should do more for students in terms of career planning and advice:
“no-one gives you a kick up the bum”. The amount and quality of career
counselling that is provided to ICT students would vary between departments and
between universities. A lack of direction was observed in the majority of
graduates interviewed. Many were not pursuing university educations primarily for
career-oriented reasons. If graduates outcomes such as employment and
satisfaction with employment are to be seen as measures of quality of university
education, then perhaps more concerted efforts need to be made at the
departmental level.

3.2.2.3 Entrepreneurial behaviour

3.2.2.3.1 Sampling issues

The intention in carrying out this exercise was to obtain a sample of recent (past 2
or 3 years) graduates and to take a fairly open-ended approach to exploring what
their occupational and career behaviour looked like. At the background was the
intention to try to understand the way in which entrepreneurial behaviour in the
ICT industry might relate to the content of university courses.
The main problem we faced was that it was difficult to find recent ICT graduates
who were working in, or were running small to micro businesses. E xtensive use of
staff and student networks, mainly within Monash University, produced a limited
number of possibilities and only a small proportion of these were accessible or
were willing to participate.
This raises some questions about the nature of small and micro businesses in the
ICT sector. The data from the industry survey shows that those who do not
employ graduates are much more likely to be in the small to micro group - 78% of
respondents versus 29% of the respondents who did employ graduates. Those
who did not employ graduates and who were in small to micro business were
much less likely to have a degree than the similar sub-group of respondents who
did employ graduates.
We do not know what proportion of these industries would fit within the
entrepreneurial rubric.

3.2.2.3.2 Vocational behaviour, course and career

The thirteen individuals interviewees can also be looked at in terms of vocational

behaviour and its expression in terms of course choice and career choice. None of
the cases would fit into a conventional picture of the individual who makes a
clear choice of career and then works in a fairly linear way to achieve career goals.
Many of them would be seen by a careers counsellor as being quite confused in
their career orientation.
There is little definitive work which tries to understand the behavioural domain of
the entrepreneurial individual in relationship to overall career behaviour. We do
not know what distinguishes entrepreneurial individuals from their non-
40
 entrepreneurial fellows in the way they make careers decisions. Basically, we find
it difficult to decide whether the entrepreneurial person makes a career of being
an entrepreneur or simply works in an entrepreneurial way.
It is very difficult to determine how a university course can provide support to
this type of individual when there is a problem defining the type and the
associated behaviour.

3.3 Conclusions
The primary conclusion to be drawn from the review of literature on graduate
satisfaction and graduate behaviour is that very little is known about ICT
graduates and their attitudes towards their courses. This is an international
phenomenon - little published research was found anywhere in the E nglish-
speaking countries.
Our preliminary exploration of graduates’ career stories identified a number of
themes that possibly characterise a particular type of ICT graduate, that is, the
type who have exposure to and develop an interest in computing technology
during their childhoods, are motivated to pursue the intrinsic rewards of using
computing technology, and teach themselves how to program before entering any
formal ICT education.
Interviewees’ attitudes towards the non-programming subjects in university ICT
degrees raise questions about their expectations of their courses and their
expectations of the work of ICT professionals.
The themes and issues identified here warrant further inquiry. Further research
would have implications for the recruitment of students to ICT degrees, the
promotion of ICT degrees and the ICT professions to prospective students and to
current students, and the development of programs to better prepare graduates for
work as ICT professionals.
Differences were observed between male and female interviewees. Unlike the
male graduates who had long pursued interests in computer technology and saw
their university degrees as a natural continuation of this pursuit, the two female
graduates were more pragmatic in their views about the value of their degrees.
Due to the small numbers of graduates interviewed, observed gender differences
cannot be generalised. However, this does raise questions about the different
needs, attitudes and behaviours of male and female graduates generally, and
warrants further investigation.

3.4 Recommendations arising from this section

• Recommendation 2 That universities be given support in implementing
graduate follow-up and employer satisfaction studies which focus on local
issues and local needs, and which use a diagnostic approach. This data would
complement that routinely collected by the Graduate Careers Council of
Australia.

41
 • Recommendation 4 That research funds be allocated to longitudinal and/or
retrospective studies of graduates to obtain an understanding of the career
paths through the ICT industries, both within Australia and overseas.

42
4 ICT Educators’ views on innovation

4.1 Introduction
This section focuses on the identification of factors to which innovation in ICT
education respond, taking an open, qualitative approach to the stated overall
purpose of the research project: “to identify the extent to which innovations in
teaching and learning and processes of curriculum development and review have
been deployed in response to the needs of students and employers” (Australian
University Teaching Committee 2000).
First, background factors in the broad context of university teaching in Australia
are outlined. Then a summary of the methods used in this part of the research is
given. These methods correspond to the phase identified in section 1 as
Consultation with ICT educators (see Table 1). Finally, the research findings for this
part of the research are presented and links are made between these findings and
the Project Brief.

4.2 Context of university teaching in Australia

Australian universities have undergone significant change over the past fifteen
years. The impact on university teaching is unprecedented in this country. Much
of this change has been in response to government policy and governments’
repositioning of the role of universities. To respond to policy changes and
subsequent changes to the environments within universities, institutions have
sought to take advantage of new and developing computer- and network-based
technologies. In teaching and learning in particular, significant and controversial
changes have been proposed and continue to be implemented. Before presenting
the findings for this section, the key changes that have taken place are identified,
so as to paint a picture of the broad context of university teaching. It is important
to consider these contextual factors when interpreting the data collected on
academics’ views. However, it is perhaps more important when formulating
recommendations to be implemented within this context, both those that are
based on the findings reported in this section and those made in other sections.
This section on the context of university teaching has two main parts. First, the
major changes impacting on university teaching are outlined. Second, significant
movements in university teaching are described.

4.2.1 Broad changes to the university environment

Over the last fifteen years, Australia’s universities have been subject to extensive
and multi-facetted change. These changes parallel those experienced by the
university sectors in most developed countries around the world. They include
43
 • Increasing mass education and increasing government focus on vocational
education
• Changing policy environment for the funding and governance of higher
education
• Internationalisation and the advance of information and communication
technologies
The pressures leading to these changes in Australia are evidenced in and
acknowledged by a series of Government reviews and reports (eg. Dawkins 1988;
Dawkins 1989; Hoare 1995; Vanstone 1996; West 1998). They have been widely
described and discussed in academic literature, the popular press and government
reports. They are described in detail in Appendix H.

Information and Communication Technology-based university departments and

faculties in part owe their growth to the massification and the vocationalisation of
university education and the advance of information and communication
technologies. With the diffusion of computer-based technologies across society,
graduates skilled in ICT are required for growth in the economy. Skill shortages in
this area continue to be reported and forecast (see discussion in Section 2). This
opportunity is also one for employment growth. With the rapid expansion of the
number of students taking ICT-based courses, ICT has developed from a specialty
area located in Science and E ngineering faculties to a discipline in its own right.
The implications of these factors for ICT education are described and discussed in
the findings section below.
As new technologies are integrated into workplaces, the skills and knowledge
required by graduates change and the number of graduates requiring skills in ICT
increases. In ICT departments, developments in technology usually translate into
curriculum changes, particularly in terms of content. And skill shortages that are
answered by a growth in the number of students mean not only a larger student
body, but also a more diverse student body. Both of these implications, specific to
ICT education, are described and discussed in the findings section below.

4.2.2 Movements in university teaching and learning

The broader contextual factors listed above and described in Appendix H are now
largely taken for granted and seen as part of the environment in which universities
and university teaching staff have to operate. Further to these broad contextual
factors, university teachers are subject to pressures fro a number of movements
that specifically target university teaching. These movements include:
• that towards flexible delivery, which in some manifestations includes a move
towards student-centredness
• that towards quality assurance of higher education and the particular role of
student evaluation of teaching questionnaires
• that towards the promotion of a scholarship of teaching and evaluation of
educational innovations, such as practitioner-run and targeted forms of
evaluation
These movements are widely debated and their outcomes are still largely
uncertain. They are described in detail in Appendix I.

44
4.3 Methods

4.3.1 Rationale for approach taken

A mini-conference format was developed to collect two three types of data:
• ICT educators’ reported perceptions about factors to which educational
innovations respond
• ICT educators’ reported perceptions about the dissemination of innovation
• ICT educators’ reported accounts of specific teaching and learning initiatives
in which they are involved
This section focuses on the first type. Data on dissemination is reported in
Section 6, while specific teaching and learning initiatives are described and
discussed in Section 5.
Mini-conferences were held in each capital city. Two mini-conferences were held
in Melbourne and in Sydney. One mini-conference was held in each of Hobart,
Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra. A video-link was used to conduct an
abridged version of the mini-conference with educators in the Northern Territory.
An open approach to collecting data on ICT educators’ views was used to
increase the salience of factors identified. A qualitative approach ensured that the
data collected on complex and interrelated factors and issues were rich, enabling
detailed descriptions and ensuring a degree of transferability of conclusions. Data
collection for this phase was highly participative, increasing the quality of
engagement with, and the credibility of conclusions about, one of the key
stakeholder groups (ICT educators) in ICT education. The methods used to
collect, analyse and report data from the mini-conference open discussions are
described in detail in Appendix D, along with limitations. Below, the mini-
conference format and participant information is summarised, as is the method of
analysis.

4.3.2 Mini-conference format

The mini-conferences ran from 10am to 4pm on designated days in each capital
city. Between four and fourteen people participated in each mini-conference.
These small numbers allowed for unstructured discussions. A workbook was used
to structure the proceedings of each mini-conference. Two researchers directed
the proceedings.

4.3.2.1 The workbooks

Workbooks were provided to each participant on their arrival at a mini-

conference. The workbooks served a number of purposes, providing
• a structure for the mini-conferences
• somewhere for participants to make notes in preparation for their
contributions to the mini-conferences and about the contributions of others
• participants with a record for participants of their participation and of notes
taken
45
 • the researchers with a record for the researchers of notes made by participants
• researchers with outline information for the researchers about the teaching
and learning initiatives reported
The workbooks contained a description of the study, an informed consent form,
spaces for participants to make notes and five stimuli items:
• What are the factors driving educational initiatives in ICT education?
• What are the factors inhibiting educational initiatives in ICT education?
• Please describe a teaching and learning initiative in which you or your
department are currently involved. (included sub-prompts)
• Deciding whether your teaching initiative is effective. (included sub-prompts)
• What issues would be involved in disseminating your initiative to other ICT
educators?
A sample of a workbook is provided in Appendix E .
Questions 1, 2 and 5 were used to stimulate discussion among participants. For
each question, participants were given five minutes to think about and make
notes about the question before they were prompted to discuss the issues
involved. As issues were raised and discussed, one of the researchers recorded the
issues on a whiteboard. This often involved negotiation between participants. At
times, the researchers asked for issues to be clarified. Questions 3 and 4, along
with accompanying sub-prompts, were used to stimulate participants to prepare
for presentations to the group. For each of these questions, participants were
given short periods of time to prepare by making notes in their workbooks. After
each presentation, questions were taken from the group.
Feedback from participants regarding the format and conduct of the mini-
conferences was generally positive and constructive. Two participants offered
unsolicited written feedback. A participant at the first Sydney mini-conference
wrote:
• I felt the time was well spent
• Well run and facilitated
• fun/ enjoyable/ challenging
• Met interesting colleagues
• Felt that I learnt more than I gave
Boosted my enthusiasm and encouraged me to keep on innovating.
Similarly, an Adelaide participant wrote:
• Well organised/ well run
• Open/frank exchange of views
• Free flowing format
• Useful to hear others’ views/ experience
Participants at the Hobart and Darwin mini-conferences regretted not being able
to interact with participant from other universities. Similar comments were made
by some participants of the Adelaide mini-conference, where the majority of
participants were from the one institution.

46
4.3.3 Participants
To recruit ICT educators to the mini-conference program, invitations were sent to
all heads of Australian university departments, schools and divisions where ICT-
related courses are offered. These included departments of information systems,
software engineering and computer science, for example. Invitations described the
target group as staff teaching in ICT-related areas who are involved in teaching
and learning initiatives that aim to improve ICT education. Department heads
were encouraged to circulate invitations to relevant staff members.
In total 83 ICT educators from 51 administrative units (46 departments/schools,
1 faculty, 4 university level education units) in 29 universities (27 public, 2
private) participated in the mini-conference program. Participants included staff
members from a range of academic levels, including all levels of lecturer,
department heads, professors, associate and faculty deans, one pro-vice chancellor
and a small number of instructional designers. A full list of mini-conference
participants is given in Appendix B.

4.3.4 Analysis
A coding process, using NUD*IST V IV O (Qualitative Solutions & Research
1999), was used to reduce the data collected. The aim the coding process was to
reduce the data, so an intelligible account of what is a very large body of
qualitative data could be produced (Dey 1993). For questions 1, 2 and 5, notes
made in participants' workbooks and whiteboard records of discussions were
coded into a large number of descriptive categories. These categories were then
grouped, reducing the data further. They were then tested against transcriptions of
audio-recordings of discussions, using the constant comparative method
(Silverman 2000; Strauss & Corbin 1997). As data were compared categories were
merged and revised. The resulting small number of categories allowed for the
complexity of particular issues/factors to be captured in each category and
examined. Particularly rich excerpts were coded into multiple categories. To
increase the reliability of this coding process, a co-researcher inspected reports of
each code for consistency. The limitations of this method of analysis are described
in Appendix D.

4.4 Findings: Factors driving innovation in ICT education

Findings of the analysis of the open discussions stimulated by Questions 1 and 2
are presented here. Factors described by participants to be driving and inhibiting
innovation in ICT education are identified and related to the purpose of the
project as stated in the Project Brief.
Analysis of the mini-conference open discussions on factors driving and inhibiting
innovation in ICT education resulted in nine interrelated categories. These
categories are
• personal initiative
• changing scale of teaching
• changing student population

47
 • push for flexible delivery
• development of new content
• availability of new tools
• support from management
• limited academic freedom
• student demand
These categories are described in detail below, with reference to illustrative
quotes. This section paints a picture of the complex web of pressures under which
ICT educators find themselves.

4.4.1 Individual initiative

Individual initiative refers to factors that, although linked to broad contextual
factors, were described by participants as originating within individual ICT
educators themselves. This category includes references to individual educators’
desire to be better teachers and their desire to be seen to be at the forefront in
their fields. One participant said, “There’s also enthusiasm and a desire to be a
better teacher and help your students to learn better” (mini-conference (M-C)
transcript). This comment is typical of those comments referring to the initiative
of individual ICT educators.
The desire to be a better teacher was described as driving responses to observed
problems. Some problems discussed in this context were first year transition
problems, student dis/satisfaction, plagiarism, equity and access issues and
unsatisfactory learning outcomes. Unsatisfactory learning outcomes included the
failure of students’ skills to meet the needs of industry. Both student
dissatisfaction and first year transition problems were discussed in terms of the
changing student population and the changing scale of teaching. As one
participant explained,
… there’s a sort of positive and negative reasons for [teaching and
learning initiatives], so you know, you get enthusiasm in an
individual saying, ‘alright I want to do this because it’s a good idea
and it will promote better teaching blah, blah, blah’, versus ‘well
here’s a way of coping with this appalling problem we’ve got, let’s
-C transcript)
The individual initiative category also includes contributions about individual ICT
educators’ decisions not to pursue an innovation due to the professional and
personal risks involved in trying something new. Discussions about these risks
included references to lack of support from management, and lack of reward and
recognitions for efforts. Concerns about intellectual property were also discussed
as potentially contributing to an individual educator’s decision not to pursue an
educational initiative. The following mini-conference excerpts illustrate the types
of concerns that participants had when describing individual initiative as an
inhibiting factor:
Participant: Another factor is the amount of risk that an individual
might be prepared to take, I think to show initiative you have to be a
risk taker and I think a lot of academics might not be risk takers and
there might be a few reasons for that one, they're just, that's not the
48
 type of individual they are and a measure of performance I was told
to be promoted just based on teaching can't just be a good teacher
you have to be an outstanding teacher, I don't see those
requirements placed on the research emphasis, so you know, if you
want to put under risk, you have to be a risk taker and not all
academics are risk takers. [Moderator:] So riskiness is an inhibiting
factor. The riskiness of actually trying something new when it just
may not be valued?
Participant: Yeah that's right.
[Moderator:] You're trying something that hasn't been?
Participant: And it will affect your reputation for life so if it goes
badly you have got this black star against your name and nobody will
want to do anything with you but [if] it goes well, well you could be
an international superstar, who knows. (M-C transcript excerpt)
Participant: I think one inhibiting factor is uncertainty about the
educational efficacy of this stuff and a lack of research findings so
people say ...
Participant two: Saying it works.
Participant one: Well you can’t prove it works so I’d rather you
-C transcript excerpt)
Participants generally agreed that, despite often being in an environment that was
not supportive of innovation, individual educators continued to develop teaching
and learning initiatives both as mechanisms for surviving changing conditions and
as a means to satisfy their own desires to “be a better teacher”.

4.4.2 Changing scale of teaching

Participants consistently cited changes in the scale of teaching both as a driving
and an inhibiting factor, referring to increasingly larger class sizes and fewer
contact hours. Larger scale teaching was described as causing particular problems,
thus driving particular innovations, while the teaching and learning environment
of larger scale teaching was described as inhibiting some types of teaching and
learning activities. The following excerpt describes the changing scale of teaching
in negative terms, as a problem that needs to be survived:
I think number one is the size of our student body and how are we
going to survive with, you know, we used to have classes of one
hundred, big ones were two hundred and now our big ones are a
thousand and we don’t seem to have any more money, we don’t
have teaching assistants for PhD students ‘cause nobody does a PhD
in Computing any more and so we have unskilled tutors and we just
need strategies to survive. (M-C transcript)
Changes in the scale of teaching were linked to Government and university level
policies and pushes to save money. They were discussed in relation to increasing
staff workloads, first year transition problems and problems arising from the
increasing diversity of students. Although, generally critical of pushes for flexible
delivery through the use of Internet-based technologies, new modes of delivery
were acknowledged as the most obvious way to deal with the larger student
numbers. However, many participants had reservations about more flexible modes

49
 because, although they are an obvious response to larger student numbers, they
did not see them as solutions to problems caused by these large numbers.

4.4.3 Changing student population

Changes noted in the student population include the more diverse language and
educational background of students, the more diverse experience and skills of
students and more diverse student circumstances. The increase in diversity of
language and educational background of students was linked to the growing
number of International Students and to Government and university level policies
on enterprise funding and fee paying. Increased diversity in the range of students’
experience and skills was linked to an increase in the number of enrolments and
discussed in terms of Government policies for more vocational education and for
greater access to higher education. That is, the greater diversity in students was
seen as a result of greater student numbers. The following mini-conference
excerpts illustrate the types of concerns that participants have about the diverse
range of educational backgrounds, skills and experience of students.
Participant: I think linked to that is a more diverse student
population than the universities have had in the past.
< general agreement> …
Participant: Yes and accommodating a wider range of abilities in the
one class. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Participant: Yeah we’ll get secondary school students doing tertiary
level units.
Participant two: Yeah. Yeah.
Participant one: But you still get people coming into computing
degrees who haven’t used computers.
Participant two: That’s right.
Participant three: Yeah that’s right.
Participant one: You’ve got someone who’s [a] Cisco qualified
engineer and the person who’s never used a computer in the same
class.
Participant two: That’s right.
Participant one: And you have to --
Participant two: Yeah first year is a nightmare, there’s no two ways
about it.
Participant one: And you have to keep them happy. (M-C
transcription excerpt)
The fact that computers are so ubiquitous now means that some of
our first year students have been doing computer programming for
ten years and they’re good at it indeed, whereas others don’t know
where the enter key is and that’s, that is a real problem. How do we
amuse the experts or give them, add some value to their education in
first year? (M-C transcription excerpt)
While increasing student numbers is a feature of other discipline areas,
participants argued that it was a particularly acute problem in ICT education
because of both the increasing demand for ICT graduates and the increasing
demand from employers for ICT literate graduates and the resulting growth in the
need for graduates from a wide range of disciplines to have some ICT education.

50
 Students were also described as having more diverse circumstances in terms of
time fraction, workforce commitments, family commitments and faculty of
enrolment. For example, in the following excerpt, a participant explains that the
amount of time students spend in paid work has increased.
Participant: One thing we’ve really noticed with our students is the
need for them to work more, so they spend a lot more time working
as supposedly part time and trying to do a full load and therefore we
have to be more flexible in letting them pick what subjects will fit in.
Moderator: You mean work for money not academic work?
Participant: Yes, yes absolutely.
Second participant: Yes.
First participant: And that’s really changed over the last ten or
fifteen years. (M-C transcript)
Participants then described the implications of the diversity among students’
circumstances. In particular they referred to these students “wanting to operate in
that flexible manner” and a growing demand for “time/place independent
-C transcript excerpt).
As with the scale of teaching, the growing diversity of the student population was
noted both to inhibit and to drive innovation, particularly diversity in ability and
skills at first year.

4.4.4 Push for flexible delivery

Participants reported being under pressure to move towards more flexible delivery
of courses. This factor was linked to other factors in complex ways. It was
discussed in relation to the increasing scale of teaching, money saving, the
availability of new tools, the “Internationalisation” of higher education, growing
competition between universities, student needs/demands and fashion. In the
following excerpt, a participant describes the relationship between increasing
diversity in students’ circumstances, student demand and flexible delivery of
education.
I think another thing is, with regard to the student base, I can’t
remember the exact numbers but I know [my university’s] intake of
students that are sort of part-time or are working is getting higher
and higher
< general agreement>
And the students do want to operate in that flexible manner and that
is sort of pushing the university to go for this flexible learning
avenue, so we’re having, you’ve got to pull out the figures but I
don’t think our classroom numbers are going down, but our numbers
where students want to study in their own time and their own place
at their own convenience is going up and that might include yeah,
new mothers, it might include people who are working part-time,
working full-time and want to do the courses outside of hours and so
I think there’s that you know population mix has changed. (Mini-
conference transcript, Melbourne 1)
Participants were aware of both Government and university level encouragement
of the flexible delivery of programs. Despite recognising potential advantages of
flexible modes, participants were generally critical and even cynical when
51
 discussing the policy environment surrounding pushes for flexible delivery. This
cynicism seems to arise from participants’ perceptions of poorly justified
university level initiatives, particularly when initiatives are seen to be motivated
by money saving and revenue raising, rather than by educational aims.
Participants also described misunderstandings at the university administration
level about the educational advantages and disadvantages of flexible delivery and
about effects on teaching staff members’ workload and work practices. Comments
containing implicit criticism of university level pushes for flexible delivery
include:
… our university would see something that’s effective as something
that fits into their teaching and learning plan which is ‘lets make
learning flexible’. ‘Oh look, this makes learning flexible: that’s
effective. (M-C transcript excerpt)
Participant: What was the one that came after changing student
populations?
Participant two: Larger classes and --
Participant three: Workloads.
Participant one: Yeah higher workloads.
Participant three: That inhibits it doesn’t it?
Participant one: Well both.
Participant four: No that’s why I say, “Oh we’ll just put it all on the
web,” and you don’t have a class. (M-C transcript excerpt)
You got to admit, I mean half the people in management they just,
you know, every, “You can do anything on the web now.” “We must
-C transcript excerpt)
Participant: Now separately but aligned with this question about not
understanding what is possible this almost totally entrenched belief
in some people that you can do absolutely anything on the world
wide web if there’s a problem all you have to do is put it on the web
and it will be solved.
Participant two: Internet boosting.
Participant one: Yeah Internet hype. (M-C transcription excerpt)
At the high levels I think their beliefs are not necessarily founded
[in] research about costs and about learning and about the quality of
learning. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Participants also discussed risks related to flexible delivery. They expressed
concerns about lack of evaluation or pedagogical framework, the increased
likelihood of problems such as plagiarism, investing time in initiatives that are
“faddish” or that suit marketing purposes rather than educational purposes, about
student access and reliance on inadequate or unreliable technology.

4.4.5 Development of new content

Participants described a constant need to develop new course material.
Participants supposed that this need is more acute in ICT education than in many
other disciplines because of the rapid development of information and
communication technologies. They discussed this need in terms of demands from
students to learn about the latest technologies and the changing needs of

52
employers and of students as future employees. The following excerpts illustrate
participants’ perceptions of the role of employer needs in content development.
I think the work place and corporation determine to a large extent
what sort of student population we have to strive to produce. (M-C
transcription excerpt)
Participant: I think [employers’ needs have] a bigger impact on our
area than it might have on Philosophy or History or any of those
areas
Participant two: Yeah a five-year old text book is pretty useless. (M-
C transcription excerpt)
Participant: One of our drivers is the fact that we have a one year
Grad Dip Program and those people come in with no background in
computing whatsoever, perhaps no mathematics, and they’re going
to be employed a year later and we haven’t got time. We’re very
much industry driven.
Participant two: I think we have to resist --
Participant one: Well they’re our customers and our clients and
that’s the service we’re providing, a crash education, crash training.
(M-C transcription excerpt)
One factor that just came up to my mind, the fact that the students
are going to be life long learners. I mean they’re not going to finish
their schooling here, they’re going to go into industry, five years
from now they’re going to retrain or whatever … It’s much more
important to learn how to learn than to actually learn a particular
language which we are teaching now which is going to be obsolete
anyway. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Participants described some employer and student demands for content as a
demand for the latest fad. They also discussed a conflict between their own desire
to teach general “the fundamentals” and students’ desires to learn the latest
programming languages, describing students’ misconception about what degrees in
ICT are all about. Specific skill requirements in newspaper job advertisements,
such as requirements that applicants have experience in particular versions of
particular programming languages, were seen to add to these misconceptions.
There’s a bit of a conflict between teaching basic principles and
teaching the latest stuff and the latest skills, and this is to do with
student motivation and employer demands, and it’s do to with a
certain degree of ignorance about what’s important, and I think there
are real issues here and I, as I say, I don’t know whether they belong
in [question] one or two but it sort of applies to a lot of what we’re
saying. Would the students be better off if they had less of learning
the latest skills of the, that are very specific, that are going to change
next year, and learning more general principles or are there no
general principles any more? Are things changing so fundamentally? I
think this is a problem some people have and it distracts them a bit
from building up wonderful ways of teaching cause they’re still
thinking what the hell should I be teaching. (M-C transcription
excerpt)
There was not consensus among participants about the role of university
education and the relative importance of the latest skills versus general principles.
53
 Many preferred to differentiate between education and training, seeing up-to-the-
minute training as the role of the Vocational E ducation and Training sector or of
employers themselves, and arguing that university education was about the
production of “IT professionals”.
Linked to discussions of content and debates about current skills vs. general
principles was discussions of graduate attributes, such as effective communication
skills. An increasing focus at the university level on graduate attributes was seen
as a response to employers’ needs for more well-rounded graduates.
One of them is the one you’ve just mentioned about the diversity of
students. Another one is, in particular in the software industry, it is
the fact that in the software industry people are working in teams
and talking about software development. The days in which
somebody was sitting down, down in the garage and developing
something is really over, and I think these two are actually pushing
us to teach in teams because teaching in teams, or learning in teams
actually is one way of solving, partially at least, the diversity. …
[moderator:] Okay so that’s put into the category of the needs of
industry? The changing needs of industry?
Both industry and of students. … And allied to that as well is the
kind of area that we’re in there’s a predominant push for the sort of
the vocational side of education rather than what I would call the
academic side.” (M-C transcription excerpt)
Graduate attributes were described as a new area of content and were also seen as
encouraging new ways of teaching. For example, it was seen as appropriate to use
team-based learning to teach skills in team work.
The need to develop new content was generally seen as driven by a combination
of changing industry needs and the development of new technology. The
development of new content was characterised by the tension between the short-
term and long-term needs of students. Discussions about this tension often raised
questions about the role of universities and the purpose of university education.

4.4.6 Availability of new tools

As with the development of new content, the availability of new tools was linked
to the rapid development of new technologies, particularly the Internet and
related tools. These tools were described as “enabling technology” and many
participants described how the increasing accessibility of electronic information
and communication technologies has allowed them to develop more interactive
and more responsive learning environments.
However, not all discussions of these new technologies were positive.
E ducational fashions, commercial suppliers of tools and university policies were
also described as driving educators up-take of new tools. In particular,
participants discussed the role of commercial courseware, such as WebCT ™ , and
university level decisions to promote and support particular courseware products.
In discussions, these forces were often described as distracting from the
development of effective teaching practices and learning materials. These
discussions echoed and often overlapped those specifically dealing with “the push
for flexible delivery”, with this push being seen as a particular instance of
education’s infatuation with the latest educational tools. The following excerpt is an
54
 example of participants’ concern about universities’ responses to the development
of new tools.
I think technology also has a lot to do with education initiatives and
quite often when a new technology arises it’s grabbed by the
university as being an educational innovation without any
considered thought as to the genuine educational value of the
technology, so that often the technology itself becomes a marvellous
PR exercise for government, for universities and actually has little to
do with genuine education. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Participants were also concerned about students’ access to technology and about
the risks involved in using unreliable or inadequate technologies. The following
excerpts illustrate participants’ frustration due to the rapid development of new
tools.
Participant: On the technology side I’d say the Internet bandwidth is
still an issue … Internet bandwidth, it’s not so much what in theory
is there, it’s what’s in practice.
Participant two: Yeah.
Participant one: It’s about trying to down load videos on it.
Participant three: And access too. (M-C transcription excerpt)
E ven more basic than that is when you have electronic submission
of assignments and you get some kid who’s still got Microsoft Works
on their computer and you look at this thing and say what am I going
to do with it.
Or the ones who send in the ones that are even more advanced than
what you’ve got.
Yes. < laughter>
Yes and you’re using the university’s computers. (M-C transcription
excerpt)
Participant: I mean all of us are computer-conferencing, I teach an
MBA unit and I never see any of the students, um not at all, it’s all
done by e-mail, there’s no lectures, there’s two assignments and

Moderator: You never see the students?

Participant: No.
Participant two: So who are you teaching? Don’t know? Who gets
the qualification at the end? They guy with the name or the guy who
paid him to do it?

4.4.7 Support from management

Support from management was described as enabling or driving innovation. Lack
of support from management was seen to inhibit innovation. Support was
described in terms of resources (funding, time, human resources), reward and
recognition for efforts and the presence of senior champions. The following
excerpts are representative of the comments participants made about how they
experienced lack of support from management.
You really need to have management support, I mean as an educator
you would like to see that there is a plan at the university, at a high
level, with some goals and some strategy or whatever and some
55
 really, some public recognition. … you would like to know that in
the promotion process … education, or whatever, is equivalent to
any other avenues that you have for promotion forces, and I know
everybody’s smiling because sometimes you have this in writing, or
even in, but it doesn’t work. (M-C transcription excerpt)
They have to put some kind of support, what I mean by support for
example, is a lab to experiment or with time, that is if I would like to
explore some kind of new technique in teaching I would like to
teach less for that particular semester because I want to have time to
do that, that’s management support. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Participant: No bloody money.
Participant two: Reduced funding.
Participant three: Not enough funds.
Participant ?: Mm.
Participant ?: Along with no support to learn all these new
technologies, you’ve got to do it all yourself.
Participant ?: Yes that’s, that was resourcing.
Participant ?:But the resources are equipment and sort of
development time aren’t they?
Participant ?: Resources, yeah there’s no need and time for training.
(M-C transcription excerpt)
Lack of champions of change too, put it under uni attitudes,
champions cause you need those, this sort of stuff, you need
someone that’s going to stick their neck out and say no it will take a
few years to sort it out. (M-C transcription excerpt)
ICT educators’ lack of pedagogical knowledge was also described as evidence of
lack of support from university management. The pursuit of educational training
was generally not seen to be encouraged and participants’ workloads did not allow
for professional development in this area. Participants consistently described
management as not valuing teaching as highly as research. Participants
complained that, although management said that excellence in teaching would be
rewarded, this was not the case.
Participant: Traditional university attitudes to teaching, I mean this
is, we’ve merged from a CAE with a traditional university … and it’s
like there are several people, lots of people they’re not sort of from
[the original university campus] who I mean, teaching you know, you
get up you give your lecture and then you go and that’s it.
Participant two: Teaching is not seen as important.
Participant three: Well that’s sort of belongs with conservatism
really.
Participant two: Funding and promotion for research but not for
teaching. (M-C transcription excerpt)
This perceived promotion of the value of research over that of teaching must be
understood in the context of the nature of the participants who were attracted to
the mini-conference program. As noted earlier, the majority of participants are
employed by universities or on campuses that, prior to 1988, were teaching-only
institutions. These institutions merged with universities with a traditional focus
on the value of research and that have only begun to consider explicitly the
quality of teaching in recent years. It is arguable that lecturers who worked in the

56
 pre-Dawkins universities may be in a better position to perceive a growing valuing
of teaching, than those who previously worked in teaching-only institutions.
While a small number of participants argued that “things are changing” and that
teaching is becoming more valued and better rewarded, all agreed that excellence
in teaching is not rewarded as greatly as excellence in research, and that to
advance their careers, time would be better spent on research and publications. It
was also noted that research into teaching and learning was perceived as a lowly
pursuit compared to research and development in ICT-related areas.

4.4.8 Limited academic freedom

Limited academic freedom includes comments about controls or guidelines for
production of materials, decisions about particular platforms or courseware tools
and issues about intellectual property. Many participants observed that they have
less flexibility in and less control over the subjects they teach in terms of how and
when they are taught. They described an increasingly centralised organisation of
teaching, such as timetabling:
Another inhibiting factor that I've found is that we have centralised
timetabling now that's things are locked in a year ahead, what the
number of contact hours and what kind of classroom you've got for
your subject and for example, I didn't want two hour blocks, but I'm
stuck with it for second semester this year.
I'll swap, I'd like two hour blocks.
I wanted single one-hour blocks. Replicated six times.
But that is important because we very rarely get to have the choice
of what kind of blocks we want and that's typical as well. (M-C
transcript excerpt)
This centralised organisation was seen as less flexible and less able to quickly
respond to the needs of teachers and, therefore, as inhibiting innovation.
Increasingly bureaucratic systems were also seen as inhibiting innovation. In
particular, participants described the development of online or flexible materials
to be more highly scrutinised than other types of materials and modes of delivery.
I thought we might have touched on the … over regulation. [What]
I’m getting at is this um notion that you can employ a lecturer, you
can give them some ideas of what you want in the course and they’ll
go into a classroom and teach. If you want to do the same thing
online, you’ve got to go through umpteen committees, approval
from the, you know where and all sorts of other -- over regulations
from outside interests before you get even onto the web site. You
know that sort of thing has changed and not many people are aware
that it’s shifting [in] that direction. Centralised, corporatised teaching
-C transcription excerpt)
This increased scrutiny of materials was seen as a result of university marketing
and branding. It was also seen as part of a movement to standardise educational
products and services that are delivered via different modes to different types of
student. Many participants described the development, in their universities, of
multimedia development units who “packaged” content so that it had the
professional and consistent “look” that the university marketers were aiming for.
This trend was seen more as a marketing ploy than as motivated by educational

57
 aims. Many participants discussed the growing push for educators to provide
content as a challenge to their academic freedom and to their personal approaches
to teaching:
Participant: I've got one more inhibiting factor, in terms of the
university policy towards initiatives, in many cases there's a removal
of control from the academics like at [my university] we have [a
resource unit], which, from the university perspective are responsible
for the flexible delivery, but what happens is that academics end up
working for them rather, rather than them working for us, so that
we're the providers
Moderator: You're the content provider?
Participant: Yeah.
Moderator: And they wrap it up?
Participant: And they wrap it up and in many cases they wrap it up
in a non-innovative way.
Moderator: So how would you …
Participant: Well I think I would just describe it as a removal of
control if you like.
Moderator: Of your material?
Participant: Of any form of initiative in some cases. (M-C
transcription excerpt)
Another source of loss of control that was described was Universities’ purchase
and support of particular courseware programs. Participants generally agreed that
this would be enabling for many educators, but they supposed that for ICT
educators it was more of an imposition because of their own knowledge of
software development and skills in web site production and HTML.

4.4.9 Student demand

Student demand includes comments about students’ demands for particular
content and for particular modes and also to student resistance to the teaching of
“the fundamentals” and to innovative teaching methods.
Student resistance was expressed in terms of students’ expectations and resistance
to new ways of teaching and learning. Participants describe conservatism in
students who expected traditional modes of delivery. They described students
who “just want the answers” and who resent being asked to participate in
innovative activities, such as group work or problem solving.
Participants described students’ responses and demands as being increasingly
important because of the increasing client-focus of education. This was discussed
in terms of increasing fees and in an increasing focus on student evaluation of
teaching.
I think our fee paying overseas students in particular are being much
more vocal and demanding more quality and that’s certainly a
driving factor. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Well they’re our customers and our clients and that’s the service
we’re providing, a crash education, crash training. (M-C transcription
excerpt)

58
 The positioning of students as clients was seen as problematic by many
participants who argued that the satisfaction of students’ short-term goals was
sometimes at odds with their long-term outlooks. Students were generally
described as not being good judges of what was good for themselves; they were
seen as misinformed and to have misconceptions about what their courses were
all about.
But it’s even more fundamental than that because a lot of the
students don’t appreciate that some of the fundamentals are
essential to the fluffy things that they want to do, like data bases –
“Who wants to study data modelling?” You know. “I just want to
learn how to write a web page”. Well I’ve got news for you pal, take
a job at the A ge, work on their breaking news site, which is run by
one of our ex honours students, and you wont write a bit of HTML,
it’s all done by back end database and ASP and things like that. … a
lot of them wanting to get up the you beaut latest and brightest stuff
don’t know what they mean. (M-C transcription excerpt)
Factors influencing student demand included their perceptions of employers’
needs and their perceptions about what was valuable in ICT education.
Preferences for traditional modes of teaching and learning was discussed in terms
of what the students were used to, that is, their expectations, and also to students’
changing circumstances and their lack of time for approaches that foster a deeper
understanding of content.

4.5 Needs of students and employers

The project brief requests specifically that the extent to which innovations in
teaching and learning have been deployed in response to the needs of students
and employers be identified. The categories described above represent those
driving and inhibiting factors that are most salient to ICT educators. The following
discusses the extent that the needs of students and employers featured in these
categories.

4.5.1.1 Innovation and the needs of students

Students' needs were of primary concern to ICT educators and central to

innovations. Innovations were most often deployed in direct response to the
needs of students (motivations behind particular teaching and learning initiatives
are described in Section 5). Students' needs were discussed in relation to the
following factors: individual initiative, the changing scale of teaching, the
changing nature of the student population, the push for flexible delivery, the
development of new content, the availability of new tools and student demand.
When ICT educators described individual initiative as a factor driving educational
innovation, referring to "trying to do the best job" and the "desire to be a better
teachers", they almost always linked improvement to student needs. Common
motivations were to improve pass rates, to motivate students, to improve
learning, and to increase the participation and engagement of students. Often
individual initiative was described in terms of teachers' iterative responses to
observed problems associated with the scale of teaching and the diversity of the
student population. However, the goals of individual teachers were couched in

59
 the context of other institutional goals that sometimes ran parallel and at other
times ran counter to the motivation behind individuals' aims to improve their
teaching. One participant noted, "I identified a number of levels to that: there's
your own personal goals in terms of quality, but there's also faculty goals,
institutional goals, government goals and so on".
Both the changing scale of teaching and the changing nature of the student
population were seen by ICT educators to influence the needs of students and the
ways in which these needs can be met. Large-scale teaching drives initiatives that
aim meet students' needs for interactivity and feedback. The increasing diversity
in students' educational backgrounds, academic abilities, preferred learning styles
and circumstances drive teachers to develop ways to accommodate this diversity.
For example, students' diverse circumstances drive teachers to develop more
flexible modes of delivering subjects. As with other trends, the move towards
flexible modes was seen as being driven by a network of interrelated factors of
which students' needs was only one.
The development of new content and the availability of new tools are often
connected in ICT education because the tools often comprise part of the content.
Participants described both of these driving forces in terms of students' need for
employability and life-long learning. Teachers were aware of the need to develop
new content so that graduates could meet employers' expectations in terms of
skills, knowledge and attributes. However, they also described students as being
misinformed and as having misconceptions about the type of skills and knowledge
that was required. In this way, teachers were mindful of the need to resist
students' demands to learn in faddish areas, and instead, to attend to what they
saw as the skills, knowledge and attributes that would not only help graduates to
find employment, but that would help them to perform well in work environments
and develop careers as ICT professionals. The types of skills, knowledge and
attributes that participants identified as needed by industry reflected those
described in the literature (see Section 2) and in the popular press, including for
example problem solving skills, communication skills and team work skills. Many
also stressed that a foundation in theoretical principles was crucial for students to
continue to meet the changing needs of employers.
Student demand was seen to play three main roles in educational innovations:
First, student demand for flexible access to materials drove educational
innovations. Second, students' misconceptions about the syllabus, about learning
methods and about the workplace led to tensions that both drove and inhibited
educational innovations. Finally, teachers reported that student were conservative
and resisted educational innovations. In particular, student evaluation of teaching
(feedback questionnaires) and the need for teachers to perform well on these
evaluations were seen as inhibiting educational innovation. Participants’ views on
dominant methods for student evaluation of teaching are described briefly below.
This issue is taken up in more detail in Section 5.

4.5.1.2 Innovation and the needs of employers

While participants did not report that the needs of employers applied direct
pressure on them to innovate, these needs did drive educational innovation in that
they were mediated through the availability of new tools, the development of new
content and student demand.

60
 The development of ICT has provided teachers with a wide range of new tools
that can be put to use in the delivery of higher education. In ICT education, the
development of new technologies results in the development of new content, as
knowledge about and skills in the latest ICT becomes part of the ICT curriculum.
Participants were mindful of the changing needs of employers in terms of the
knowledge and skills of ICT graduates. Many reported that students demanded to
use the latest applications and to learn the latest languages. Reported sources of
students' knowledge about the latest ICT developments included the Internet and
advertisements in the employment sections of newspapers. Participants were
aware of the fashions in ICT, as promoted through the popular media, but they
were also aware of literature on graduate attributes and the needs of employers.
Many spoke of a tension between satisfying the short-term desires of students to
pursue current fashions and satisfying the long-term needs of industry for
graduates with a foundation in theoretical principles and attributes required to
participate in the workplace. Universities graduate attribute profiles were a
reference point for many participants who hoped to produce graduates with long-
term career prospects as ICT professionals.

4.6 Conclusions

• educational aims are the primary driving force in innovation in ICT

education, particularly those answering the learning needs of students.
Innovative teaching staff are motivated by a desire to be better teachers.
E xtrinsic motivation and reward for educational innovations are perceived by
ICT educators as minimal. In fact, many associate being an innovative
teacher with personal and professional risks. Institutional agendas and reward
systems were seen by some to discourage educationally motivated innovation
• ICT educators perceive a tension between some of the demands of students
(for particular skills and knowledge) and the skills and knowledge they
believe are necessary for students to be ICT professionals and life-long
learners. They report that students are often misinformed or have
misconceptions about their future working roles and careers.
• ICT educators perceived students as generally conservative in terms of the
types of teaching and learning activities they expected and desired in their
courses. They reported that students were often resistant to innovative, non-
traditional teaching.
• ICT educators perceive a tension between the short-term needs of employers
and the skills and knowledge that they believe are necessary for students to
become ICT professionals and life-long learners.

4.7 Recommendations arising from this section

• Recommendation 7 That the management of university ICT departments
value teaching by
§ developing acceptable and practicable systems for the assessment and
reward of educational innovation and good practice
61
 § supporting and encouraging the pursuit of educational research and
publication in educational journals and conference proceedings
§ formally supporting, recognising and rewarding scholarship in teaching in
the ICT disciplines. Examples of scholarship in teaching include the
development of new tools, techniques and materials, and related
evaluation activities.
§ encouraging staff to undertake educationally focussed professional
development activities
§ allocating resources to these activities
• Recommendation 8 That the management of ICT departments support the
development of innovative solutions to the challenges posed by the changing
context of ICT education, such as increasing class sizes, increasingly diverse
student populations and the increasing incidence of plagiarism.
Recommendation 9 That universities continue to give ICT educators the
freedom to choose the particular teaching tools that they use, including the
development of their own tools. While it is expected that each university will
provide support for a limited range of courseware platforms, care should be
taken to ensure that further innovation is not stifled by the promotion and
support of specific tools.

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5 Teaching and learning initiatives

5.1 Introduction
This section responds to sections of the brief referring to innovations and national
developments in ICT education. The data reported here was collected during the
Consultation with ICT educators phase of the research (see Table 1 in Section 1). It
provides an overview of the type of teaching and learning initiatives that are
currently being undertaken by Australian ICT educators in terms of the
motivation behind the initiatives and their aims or foci. It also discusses what was
identified as a source of major weakness in many of the initiatives reported:
evaluation.

5.2 Teaching and learning initiatives

5.2.1 Methods
The data reported in this section was collected during the mini-conference
program described in Section 4 and in Appendix D. The participants in this
section of the research are the same as those described in Section 4 and listed in
Appendix B. The section of the mini-conference proceedings that are relevant
here are described briefly below, as is the approach taken to analysing the data
collected on teaching and learning initiatives. The participants, data collection
methods and analysis are described in more detail in Appendix D.

5.2.1.1 Data collection

At the mini-conferences, participants were asked to prepare short presentations

on teaching and learning initiatives in which they were involved. Items 3 and 4
from the workbooks (see Appendix E ) were used as stimuli for participants’
preparation of presentations. These prompts encouraged participants to describe
the background, goals and lifecycle of the initiatives, the strengths and
weaknesses of their initiatives and any planned, current or completed evaluation.
As with other sessions in the mini-conferences, participants first made notes in
their workbooks, then they presented to the group. Participants were given fifteen
minutes3 to prepare responses to item 3, then ten minutes to present to the group.
They were given ten minutes to prepare responses to item 4, then five minutes to
present this section to the group. Data collected included notes made in
participants’ workbooks and audio-recordings of presentations.

3
Times given here are approximate and varied depending on the size of the group and the total time
available.
63
 5.2.1.2 Analysis

The review process undertaken focussed on identifying and describing types and
trends, rather than the tailored evaluation of specific innovations.
As a first response to the data collected at the mini-conference on particular
teaching and learning initiatives, brief descriptive accounts were developed for
each initiative. These accounts were then emailed to respective participants for
approval. This approval process increased the validity of accounts, enabling
clarification of details and the collection of additional information. It also enabled
the acknowledgement of participants’ contributions and the appropriate
attribution of initiatives. Approved accounts of teaching and learning initiatives
were posted on the Project’s Web-site
(http://cerg.infotech.monash.edu.au/icted/) and appear in Appendix J. In total,
seventy-nine initiatives were described by the eighty-three ICT educators who
participated in the mini-conference program. Of these, the accounts of fifty were
later expressly approved. No accounts were expressly not approved.
Initiatives (both those that were approved and those that were not) were then
categorised according to the reported motivation behind the initiative and the
reported aim or focus of the initiative. Then the evaluation of the initiative, and
any reported scholarship involved in the initiative, was reviewed. Initiatives were
categorised according to the reported presence or absence of a formal evaluation,
and the type of evaluation methods reported. It was also noted whether academic
papers had been produced on the initiatives and whether the initiative was subject
to an investigation linked to formal study, such as doctoral research.

5.2.2 Findings – Teaching and learning initiatives

The findings of this part of the research are presented in two sections. First, the
motivations and aims behind the teaching and learning initiatives are described.
Many of the initiatives were multi-focal and intended to meet more than one
purpose and, therefore, appear in more than one category.
Second, the evaluation of these initiatives, including evaluation methods, is
summarised. Limitations of the reported evaluations are then discussed with
reference to relevant literature.

5.2.2.1 Motivation and foci of initiatives

Both the motivation behind, and the foci of, the teaching and learning initiatives
varied widely. This section provides an overview of these motivations and foci.
The aim is not to highlight any one initiative, but to provide an overview of the
types of initiatives that are being implemented. Initiatives given as examples have
been numbered (see square brackets). Descriptions of many of these initiatives,
along with the names and institutions of the innovators, can be found in Appendix
J.

5.2.2.1.1 M otivation

The motivation behind the initiatives were grouped into four broad categories:
• Student needs

64
 • Student employability
• Pedagogical Concerns
• Resources
E ach category is described below.

5.2.2.1.1.1 Student needs

Specific student demands provided the impetus for a number of initiatives.
Demands responded to by presenters included access to lecture materials prior to
lectures [7] and industry certification courses [19, 71, 73]. Student feedback
regarding satisfaction with course structure has also been responded to [79]. Other
initiatives focussing on student needs related to problems attributed to large class
sizes and diverse student skill levels, and to problems with student engagement
and retention.
Student numbers
Recognition of the problems associated with increasing student numbers drove
the implementation of many initiatives. Problems identified included the
diminished quality of learning and of the 'university experience' in crowded
classrooms [68, 72, 70] and the logistical difficulties associated with running
subjects where student numbers exceeded 600 [41, 59]. While some initiatives
have as their goal the management of increasing student numbers, others were
undertaken to increase the number of students participating in ICT education [44].
Skill diversity
With increasing numbers of students comes increased diversity in student skill
levels. A number of presenters were keen to ensure that the highly skilled students
were challenged while middle to low-end students remained engaged in their
subjects. Initiatives included the use of tailored, adaptable course materials and
assessment processes [76, 35, 2, 26].
Student engagement and retention
Student engagement was the goal of a number of initiatives. Presenters recognised
the link between engagement and performance. Difficulties with engagement were
seen to be most prevalent in very large first year subjects, a number of initiatives
targeting this area [36, 8]. Another area where engagement was seen as important
was in online subjects where there is little opportunity for student interaction.
One initiative was motivated by the need to engage students enrolled in online
subjects [31]. E ngagement problems in more senior students were reported in
relation to complex course content [45].
A problem related to engagement was student retention. The problem of
identifying those students at risk of failing or leaving their course is being
addressed via well-monitored assessment tasks [34] and 'early warning systems'
[77]. Increased opportunities for peer interaction were seen by some presenters as
playing a pivotal role in student retention and was the focus of initiatives that
made use of online interaction [58], mentoring/support frameworks [24] and peer
assisted learning [70].

5.2.2.1.1.2 Student employability

Maximising the employability of graduates was the goal of many of initiatives
involving both ICT and non-ICT students. A range of undergraduate activities
were viewed as increasing ICT students' employability including industry
65
 experience via placements and group project work with 'real' clients, exposure to
professional standards and practices and certification in areas such as networking
and information system administration. Generic skills identified as increasing
employability included problem solving, group work, communication and life-long
learning skills.
In some cases, initiatives involving these skills were driven by institutional
'graduate attributes' policies [82] and the institutional implementation of systems
whereby students track their achievement of these attributes [67]. IT literacy was
seen as increasing the employability of non-ICT students [35, 36, 41 80].

5.2.2.1.1.3 Pedagogical Concerns

A desire to improve the teaching of ICT motivated many presenters in their
initiatives. Factors related to teaching improvement included curriculum
integration, efficient assessment processes and the adoption of student-centred
approaches.
Curriculum integration
Curriculum integration was seen as a method for optimising student learning
opportunities and is being addressed at the program level through the application
of professional standards and practices to coursework [11,15], the use of common
teaching and learning tools across subjects within a degree [62] and the
establishment of studio based learning environments [18, 30, 21, 6]. At the
subject level, reviews of individual subject content are being conducted to
maximise student learning opportunities by eliminating duplication of content
across subjects [78, 69, 16].
Assessment
The objectivity and efficiency of assessment processes are being addressed
through the application of professional standards to the assessment process [81].
The problem of plagiarism is being addressed through an investigation of students'
understanding of cheating and the factors influencing plagiarism [29, 72] while the
efficiency of assessment is being improved through the development of automated
assessment systems [3]. Non-traditional assessment, for example journaling [27], is
being used to increase student engagement and participation.
Student-centred learning
The goal of a number of initiatives is the introduction of student-centred learning
principles to ICT teaching [32, 21, 6, 18, 30]. Others were driven by a desire to
understand the effect of student learning style on learning outcomes [25, 38, 5].
Issues of ‘deep’ versus ‘surface’ learning were the impetus for a number of
initiatives [45, 75,78] as was the desire to promote student responsibility for
learning [17, 70].

5.2.2.1.1.4 Resources
Diminishing resources were often cited as the motivation for innovation. The
cost-effective use of existing resources was seen as important for some [3, 4, 62]
while the development of novel, cost efficient technologies that maximise
flexibility, and consequently student numbers, was important to others [18, 28,
41, 44, 49, 66, 83].

5.2.2.1.2 Foci

66
The foci of initiatives were grouped into ten categories:
• Skills
• Student-centred teaching
• Group work
• Assessment
Certification
• Delivery modes
• Teaching tools
• Computer-mediated communication
• Collaboration
• Investigation
E ach category is described below.

5.2.2.1.2.1 Skills
Teaching and learning initiatives focusing on developing students' skills [6, 8, 12,
14, 15, 18, 21, 25, 50] were of three main types: those focusing on problem
solving and critical thinking, professional standards and practices, and learning
skills.
Problem solving and critical thinking
A number of initiatives address the development of problem-solving skills. These
cover general areas as well as discipline specific areas such as solving information
system design or project management dilemmas. Initiatives focussing on problem
solving skills are being implemented at both the subject and course level.
At the subject level, problem solving is addressed by a variety of means, including
problem-based learning approaches [14], group work and real-life simulation [18].
Critical thinking skills have also been targeted through problem-solving activities,
with students required to analyse their own and others' work in the completion of
assignments [11, 15].
At the course level, problem solving and critical thinking are being encouraged in
students through 'studio' learning environments. Based upon a social
constructivist conception of learning, studio environments are intended to
simulate the professional workplace and facilitate teamwork [6, 18, 21, 30].
Related to problem-solving skills is creativity. Creativity skills are being
investigated and developed among engineering students, many who have preferred
learning styles that do not lend themself to creativity and innovation. These
students may also perceive creativity as 'being different', and not valued in the
engineering world [25]. Creativity is also being developed in information systems
students through the construction and solving of lateral thinking puzzles [8].
Professional standards and practices
Traditionally, students have been exposed to professional standards and practices
through industry experience subjects and capstone projects. Newer approaches
involve designing projects that simulate problems found in the real world [20].
Other initiatives have focused on teaching practices designed to instil students
with a sense of personal responsibility for their actions and to develop students'
67
 self-awareness in addition to their IT skills [78]. Still others, having identified
professional challenges specific to female ICT graduates, have increased emphasis
in their courses on interpersonal, communication and team-work skills [24].
Initiatives aimed at building professional skills included work done with software
engineering students where students are required to conduct a year-long project
within the professional framework described in the IE E E Software E ngineering
Standards document [81]. In doing this, students are exposed to the practical
application of the professional standards and develop a shared professional
language.
Another approach to exposing students to professional standards involves having
fourth year students apply software engineering standards to the work of third
year students as part of an assessable exercise [15]. Here, again, the students learn
how to apply professional standards, not only to their own work, but also to the
work of others and to identify areas of strength and weakness.
Real-life simulation in coursework has been extended from traditional group
project work to include professional activity simulations such as student
conferences (complete with paper submission processes, peer-reviewing and
presentations) [45].
Professional practice subjects have been designed to introduce students to social,
ethical and legal issues as they relate to the computing profession and to develop
students' communication and teamwork skills via presentations and debates [47].
Learning skills
Initiatives aimed at developing learning skills are varied, with programs being
developed to promote deep learning [45, 75], peer learning [73], effective study
habits [70], self-paced/directed learning [73] and to introduce first year students
to university-style learning (as contrasted with highly-directed secondary-school
learning) [16]. Learning-focused initiatives include the implementation of
experiential learning approaches, peer assisted study schemes and industry
certification programs. Other initiatives have involved investigations into the
preferred learning styles of ICT students with a view to developing more effective
learning and teaching practices [25, 38].

5.2.2.1.2.2 Student-centred learning

Many of the initiatives presented reflect a shift from teacher- to student-centred
learning with the teacher taking a facilitation role of the 'guide on the side' as
opposed to the ‘sage on the stage’ deliverer of information.
An important aspect of university student-centred learning is student choice
regarding educational goals, level and mode of participation. Furthermore,
students are required to take responsibility and control of their own learning,
attributes expected in the modern graduate.
Student-centred learning initiatives include an introductory computing subject in
which compulsory practical classes are replaced by optional 'help sessions' where
an instructor is present to answer questions relating to any computing topics - not
just those specific to a particular subject [17]. A similar initiative involves a peer-
assisted study where weekly lab-based sessions are conducted by paid
undergraduate students of high academic standard [70]. Rather than focusing on
subject specific material, these voluntary sessions focus on how to study for
success in a subject.

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Student choice is the focus of an initiative where the number of lectures is halved
and problem-based learning opportunities increased [59]. In this initiative, lectures
are delivered in the first half of semester, with students able to sit a pass-only
exam at the end of this period. Students wishing to gain higher marks can choose
to participate in problem-based learning for the remainder of the semester.

5.2.2.1.2.3 G roup work

Group work activities, while a traditional feature of most ICT courses, have been
extended to incorporate 'real-life' project group processes and the establishment of
online work groups.
'Real-life' processes have been introduced in a software engineering initiative
where students self-select into various project group roles according to job
specifications, and, as a group, make formalised bids for projects offered by
external and staff clients [20]. Studio-based initiatives also encourage professional
group work practices by providing a physical environment that facilitates
teamwork and simulates the professional work place [6, 18, 21, 30]. Peer oriented
processes have been introduced into a computer design subject where project
groups attend weekly project seminars and meetings at which they present their
work in progress, share problems and receive feedback from their peers [10].
Computer supported collaborative work
A number of initiatives take a computer supported collaborative work (CSCW)
approach to communication among project group members and among students in
general. CSCW involves the formation of online work groups or learning
communities, the members of which can engage in synchronous (asynchronous?)
discussion, virtual conferences and secure meetings. CSCW initiatives make use
of a range of online communication tools including instant messaging services,
chat rooms, Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and groupware. In addition to
facilitating communication, CSCW introduces students to professional work group
practices [22, 37].

5.2.2.1.2.4 Assessment
Initiatives focussing on assessment issues include innovative assessment tasks and
practices.
Innovative assessment tasks have been designed to aid in the identification of
students at risk of falling behind. This is of particular importance where classes
are large and students are from a range of educational backgrounds and of diverse
skill level. In a cross-discipline information resource subject offered to both
under- and post-graduate students, students are required to keep a journal which
is submitted weekly allowing teachers to monitor each individual student’s
understanding of the materials and progress through the course materials [36].
The time it takes a student to complete an individual laboratory-based software
engineering task has been found to be related to the student's likelihood of
successfully completing the whole subject. An initiative is underway to identify
students at risk by way of Teacher Learner Collaborascope (TLC) technology
developed by the University of Glasgow [77]. Using this technology, teachers can
track the length of time it takes individual students to complete lab-based tasks
and allocate teaching resources accordingly.
Initiatives are also underway to automate the process for assessing programming
assignments [3, 79]. Systems are being developed for the online submission and
marking of students' programs where students upload their programs to a
69
 UNIX /PE RL host. The system automatically generates marks reflecting the
success of the program and emails feedback directly to the student.
Related to assessment is the problem of plagiarism among ICT students. A
research initiative is currently exploring students' understanding of plagiarism and
factors that may lead students to plagiarise [29].

5.2.2.1.2.5 Certification
Student and industry demand for specific industry certification has led some
universities to incorporate certification courses into their undergraduate degree
programs [19, 71, 73]. Certification courses are an optional component of these
undergraduate courses, are delivered online and are offered as full-fee paying
programs. Certification is offered in information systems and networking.

5.2.2.1.2.6 Delivery modes

Many of the initiatives reported reflect a move from the traditional lecture-tutorial
mode of course delivery to modes that utilise the latest in ICT, in particular, the
Internet, electronic media and video-conferencing. Cutting edge technology, such
as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs),
is also being utilised in the flexible delivery of courses.
A number of courses across the spectrum of ICT are now being offered partially or
totally online [4, 5, 13, 23, 46, 49, 55, 64, 66, 68,74]. Online delivery aims for
equitable access to students whether they are local, distance or off-shore as it is
time and place independent. Using commercial web-based courseware, online
delivery allows for the presentation of subject material, assignment submission,
student-staff and student-student communication, and subject management and
monitoring. Other features of online subjects include video-streaming, instant-
messaging and course-related chat rooms.
Other media employed in the flexible delivery of courses include CD-ROMs
containing all course materials and digital video recordings of live lectures [41].
Video-conferencing technology is also being employed for synchronous delivery of
lectures to students across campuses [61].
Many initiatives involve the delivery of courses by multiple- or mixed- modes [26,
32, 39, 42,44, 57] in an effort to maximise accessibility and student choice. This
may include the presentation of a course in more than one form (eg., on-campus
and online) or as a combination of face-to-face lectures and tutorials, web-based
delivery and synchronous and asynchronous electronic interaction.

5.2.2.1.2.7 Teaching tools

A range of teaching tools have been developed to facilitate the teaching of
complex material and maintain the interest of students [1, 8, 28, 33, 34, 35, 38,
62, 63, 65, 69 76].
Integrative teaching tools are being introduced across subjects as a means of
simplifying manual tasks [69] and providing a consistent learning environment,
thus integrating learning so that students can focus on the content of their
subjects rather than on mastering a number of different tools [28, 62]. Teaching
tools employed across subjects and courses include embedded system learning
environments, network protocol simulators and process-oriented educational tools
that allow teachers to build educational packages.
Other tools aim at maintaining student interest by presenting material in non-
traditional forms [76]. For example, puzzles are being used in knowledge-based
70
information systems lectures to increase student participation and to encourage
lateral thinking and problem solving [8], while in networking subjects students
work with open-source software and assess each others' work [34].

5.2.2.1.2.8 Computer-mediated communication

Methods of communication that are both time and place independent have
flourished along with the movement toward flexible delivery. The use of both
synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC)
methods feature in many of the initiatives reported. CMC is employed to enable
interaction among geographically dispersed workgroups [22, 37, 53] and to
encourage communication among isolated, distance and off-shore students and
their teachers [1, 58]. At a more local level, regular cross-campus interactive chat
sessions and subject bulletin-boards can be used to discuss course content and
post questions [46].

5.2.2.1.2.9 Collaboration
E ducational collaborations included those between teachers and those between
the university and industry.
Teacher-teacher collaborations included team teaching initiatives where teachers
share the administrative and teaching responsibility for a given subject [40, 60].
Other teacher-teacher collaborations included the establishment of faculty wide
teaching interest groups with the purpose of sharing and developing teaching
innovations [54].
A university-industry collaboration which is in the planning stage involves the
development of a professional speech and language technology course [51] and
the establishment of a commercial company where industry partners will benefit
from access to the expertise of university staff, university staff will benefit from
access to industry resources and opportunities and students will gain experience of
working on authentic projects [52].

5.2.2.1.2.10 Investigation
For some ICT educators, their initiative formed part of a formal investigation into
a particular teaching and learning innovation and for others, their initiative formed
part of their higher degree research program. Initiatives involving formal
investigative procedures included:
• an investigation of the impact of class project meetings and class project
seminars on student learning and product design quality [10].
• an investigation of students' understanding of plagiarism and the factors
influencing cheating behaviour [29].
• an investigation of students' preferred learning style and how this impacts
upon their navigation of complex software packages [38].
• an evaluation of the effectiveness of a problem-based learning approach to
first-year programming [43].
• an exploration of how the culture surrounding IT capstone subjects can be
changed to promote peer learning and 'learning organisation' modes [56].
• an investigation of the educative effects of making lecture material available
to students prior to lectures [7].

71
 • an evaluation of the effectiveness of an 'early warning system' to aid in the
identification of students at risk of failing or falling behind academically [77].
• an exploration of methods for structuring effective co-operation between
online learners [9].
• an evaluation of electronic delivery modes for urban, rural and remote north
Australia [48]

5.2.2.2 Evaluation

This section summarises the approaches taken by ICT educators to the evaluation
of their teaching and learning initiatives. The evaluation of initiatives was
identified as a major source of weakness in many of the initiatives described. This
limitation is discussed with reference to the literature on evaluation of teaching.

5.2.2.2.1 Evaluations reported at the mini-conferences

Of the seventy-nine initiatives described, seventy-one were reported to be the

subject of planned, current or completed evaluations. Fifty of these evaluations
involved the use of standard student evaluation of teaching (SE T) questionnaires.
Of these fifty evaluations, forty-two relied on SE T questionnaires alone. Thirty-
seven reported the involvement of other evaluation methods, including the
content analysis of online communications, experimental design, focus group
research, interviews, questionnaires targeting the objectives of the initiative, peer
review, the analysis of statistics (eg. enrolment, completion), monitoring student
exams and student journals. Twenty-seven of the eighty-three participants
reported having published or presented academic papers on their initiatives. Seven
were currently enrolled or planned to enrol in an award course (PhD or Graduate
Diploma in Higher E ducation) in which the initiative would be the subject of an
investigation. In total, nine participants explicitly identified their initiatives as the
subject of a formal investigation4.

5.2.2.2.1.1 Dependence on SET type questionnaires

While the dependence of the evaluation of many of the reported initiatives relying
on SE T questionnaires alone is not surprising, as this reflects the findings of other
reviews, it is cause for some concern. It was evident in the discussions that took
place at the mini-conferences that many participants equated evaluation with this
type of student feedback exercise. One participant wrote, in response the question
about planned, current or completed evaluations: "There can be problems with
too much evaluation, students can get fed up with them (e.g. questionnaires on
every subject) and therefore results may be of little use" (Workbook excerpt).
Similarly, another participant wrote, "[Our university] has a standard program for
this - the SE T/SE U scheme" (Workbook excerpt).
While SE T type questionnaires are a valuable source of feedback for teachers and
are recognised in the literature to be a valid indication of student learning (Moses
& Trigwell 1993), the limitations of student feedback in terms of the evaluation
of teaching and learning initiatives are well recognized (see discussion in
Appendix I on Movements in university teaching and learning), and the reliance on
student feedback alone has been widely criticized. In their review of CAUT

4
The figures given here are not representative of ICT educators in general but are based on a group of
self-selected ICT educators with a particular interest in educational innovation.
72
funded ICT-based projects, Alexander and McKenzie concluded that "the
inadequacy of evaluation methods appears to have resulted in project leaders
being unable to report on the outcomes of projects other than those related to
student reactions to projects" (Alexander & McKenzie 1998, p.253). The trends
observed in the evaluation of initiatives reported during the mini-conference
program are consistent with those observed by Alexander and McKenzie in that
many evaluations were not designed to determine whether the initiatives had
produced their intended outcomes. Similarly, Cosser was critical of the role
student evaluations of teaching has played in what he calls "the disjunction of
formative and summative evaluation", observing that "student evaluation of
teaching has come almost to preclude other forms of assessment" (Cosser 1998,
p.143).
The limitations of SE T type questionnaires were discussed by mini-conference
participants, with one participant concluding, "I don't think it is a tool that
gathers impressions of what's going on in your classroom. I don't think it is
enough" (MC Transcript excerpt). Another participant reflected,
It's really sad. We've really had 10 years of pretty regular class
surveys now in Australia. It's become a fairly standard thing and
we've stopped there. If we get a minimal level of satisfaction, we
think 'phew, that's good' and we stopped there. We need to do more
than that. (MC transcript)
Criticisms made by mini-conference participants of SE T type questionnaires were
consistent with those found in academic commentary on the subject. In particular,
participants recognised that, as Koder put it at the 1998 Course E xperience
Questionnaire Symposium, "satisfaction and mediocrity are comfortable
companions [and] those who accept that 'challenge' is part of the learning
environment are less comfortable with satisfaction" (Koder 1999, Online
document). Mini-conference participants repeatedly described the "conservatism"
of students who were resistant to non-traditional teaching methods. Student
resistance to more challenging teaching and learning activities was identified as
one of the factors that drive/inhibit innovation in ICT education (see Section 4).
Comments made included the following:
If the innovation is genuinely pedagogically challenging and the
students don't appear to like it, then the institutional reaction is to
revert to delivery because that's safe. So you don't necessarily get
proper institutional support for innovation I don't think. Because the
students are often conservative. ... I mean of course you can do
some little innovation if it's like put your material on the web say.
That's not very threatening, because students love that because it's
all about the delivery rather than the teaching and learning, but [not]
if you do something that's a bit way out, even if though it's
pedagogically really well known and understood. (MC excerpt)
Well sometimes if you want to do something but it's very radical,
there'll be such an outcry either from the heavies who think that the
students are all going to yell and scream or there's students who
don't want to be part of this radicalism. (MC excerpt)
Participants generally recognised the need to evaluate their initiatives, for
formative evaluation of the initiative, the evaluation in terms of the learning
outcomes and for dissemination purposes, and they recognised the limitations of

73
 relying solely on SE T type questionnaires. However, this type of evaluation still
predominated. Possible explanations for this predominance, such as lack of
training, lack of reward and lack of resources for the conduct of more tailored
evaluations, are discussed in the next section on the dissemination of innovation.

5.3 Innovation and best practice

Seventy-nine teaching and learning initiatives were presented at the min-
conferences. No evaluation has been made of their possible level of innovation or
their role in defining best educational practice. Rogers (1983) points out that
judgements about whether a particular idea is innovative are subjective.
Definitions of innovation usually require the idea to be new but “it matters little, so
far as human behavior is concerned, whether or not an idea is 'objectively' new …
If the idea seems new to an individual, it is an innovation” (Rogers 1983, p.11). It
is more feasible, however, to determine whether an idea is seen as innovative
within a particular community because individuals within a community have a
degree of shared interests, shared experiences and familiarity with activities within
that community.
On the suggestion of Dianne Hagan, a small sub-project was initiated to identify
which of the teaching and learning initiatives would be viewed by ICT educators
as innovative and/or as best practice. Mini-conference participants reported initiatives
that reflected developments in their departments. The sub-project aimed to obtain
the view of a group of ICT educators on the degree to which they believed the
initiatives were examples of innovation and best practice. The methods used are
outlined below.

5.3.1 Methods
First, ICT educators were consulted as to the criteria that they would use to
define innovation and best practice. All members of Monash’s Computing E ducation
Research Group (CE RG) were emailed with the following request:

We are asking you, as a teacher and educator in Information Technology, to give your ideas on all or
some of the following 3 areas:

1. What criteria you might use to define innovative

educational activities?
2. What criteria you might use to define best educational
practice?

Responses were collected via email. Twelve of the twenty active members of
CE RG replied. The set of criteria that was extracted from the responses are given
below:
Popular criteria for the definition of an innovation were
3. Has not been done before
4. - or has not been done by majority
5. Valuable/important to helping learner-based outcomes
74
 6. Has been developed to a point where it is not simply an
idea. There have been participants who have experienced
the initiative
7. Is practicable in educational and infrastructure terms – it
can be done without having vast/specific resources beyond
the norm
8. E valuation may have been carried
Other criteria, which were mentioned by respondents, were
• Innovative relative to its educational context
• E ngenders comment and discussion
• Publishable
• Reaching to new markets

Popular criteria for the definition of best practice were

1. Has been formally evaluated in terms of educational
outcomes and teaching outcomes.
2. Program’s relevance to the student/learner population
- ability to involve them
- oriented to student-based learning
3. E ducational quality of the initiative, including integration
into a wider educational program

Other criteria, which were mentioned by respondents, were

• Positive impact on student performance and pass rates
• Best teaching practice, including that it can be implemented on time and fully
prepared
• Aligned to external needs, including industry
• E nhances equity and access issues

5.3.1.1 Selecting Initiatives

Forty-one of the seventy-nine initiatives were then presented to CE RG members.

Initiatives were omitted from this process if they were
• not specifically targeting ICT education
• were still in the planning stage
• had been discontinued
Initiatives that were retained included:
• 3 implemented in electronic engineering contexts
• 15 in information systems contexts
• 23 in computer science and software engineering contexts

75
 The thirty-eight initiatives not included in this process included
• those initiatives being run at the university level, for example, a program
targeting graduate skills [67]
• many initiatives that were still under development, for example, the planned
restructuring of a database subject [59]
• initiatives that had been discontinued, for example, mixed-mode teaching that
was discontinued based on an evaluation [44].

5.3.1.2 Staff Ratings

CE RG members from the appropriate disciplines were sent up to six of the forty-
one initiatives and asked to indicate whether they saw each initiative as an
innovation or as best practice. Ratings were
For innovation:
• Is an innovation
• Not sure/Maybe/Indifferent
• Is not an innovation
For best practice:
Is best practice
Not sure/Maybe/Indifferent
Is not best practice
Initiatives that were categorised by a majority of staff members as innovation or as
best practice are described below.

5.3.2 Findings – Innovation and best practice

5.3.2.1 Initiatives identified as innovation and/ or best practice

E leven of the initiatives were identified by ICT educators as innovation. Fifteen

were identified as best practice. Five of these initiatives were identified as both
innovation and best practice.
Areas addressed by those initiatives identified as innovations included student
retention and student engagement, enhancing learning, catering for groups of
students with diverse skills, accommodating large class sizes, curriculum
integration and teaching skills associated with professional practice.
Areas addressed by those initiatives identified as best practice included student
retention, attracting and retaining female students, enhancing learning, catering
with groups of students with diverse skills, accommodating large class sizes,
teaching skills associated with professional practice and teaching learning skills.
Many of the foci of these initiatives reflect those factors reported by ICT
educators as driving innovation, such as increasing class sizes and the increasing
diversity of students (see Section 4).
The initiatives identified are described briefly in Table 10. They are grouped
according to the ratings they received: Innovation, Innovation and best practice, and
best practice.
76
Table 10. Initiatives identified as innovation and/or best practice
Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Teaching Tools - Lear n in g St y les
an d best
Descript ion: I n an ef f or t t o in cr ease u n der st an din g
pract ice
of st u den t lear n in g st y les an d t o im pr ov e t each in g
pr act ices, st udent lear ning of lar ge, com plex
sof t w ar e pack ages is bein g in v est igat ed. Th e in it ial
r esear ch u ses Rat ion al Rose® , a pr of ession al
Sof t w ar e En g in eer ing CASE t ool. As par t of t he fir st
y ear fou n dat ion u n it , lear n in g st y le in v en t or ies ar e
adm in ist r at ed t o all st u den t s, w h o t h en iden t if y t h eir
self-r epor t ed lear n in g st y les. An on lin e t r ack in g t ool
h as b een d ev elop ed t o m on it or u sag e an d
m ov em en t t h r ou gh t h e CASE t ool sof t w ar e. Th e goal
of t his init iat iv e is t o ex am ine t he r elat ionship
b et w een lear n in g st y les an d t h e act u al m et h od s of
u sag e of t h e sof t w ar e b y st u d en t s, as r ev ealed b y
t h e t r ack in g pr ocess. I n t h is w ay , it is h oped t h at a
lear n in g m et h odolog y can b e d ev elop ed b y w h ich
b ot h st u d en t s an d lect u r er s b ecom e aw ar e of t h e
im pact of lear n in g st y les on t h e lear n in g pr ocess.
Evaluat ion:
• qu an t it at iv e r esear ch f ocu ssed qu est ion n air es
• st at ist ical r ecor ds
• p eer r ev iew d u r in g w or k sh op s

Publicat ions: Yes

I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Teaching Tools - Sim ulat ions

an d best
Descript ion: A n et w or k pr ot ocol sim u lat or h as been
pract ice
dev eloped f or u se in u n der gr adu at e com pu t er
n et w or k in g cou r ses. I n dev elopm en t sin ce 1 9 9 2 ,
t h is t ool com pr ises sim u lat ion t ools t h at allow
st u den t s t o ex per im en t w it h v ar iou s aspect s of
n et w or k in g w it h in a labor at or y en v ir on m en t . I t can
cur r ent ly be r un on UNI X and Linux plat for m s.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
• p eer r ev iew
Publicat ions: Yes

77
 Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Assessm en t - St u den t Ret en t ion
an d best
Descript ion: Resear ch f in d in g s su g g est t h at t h e
pract ice
t im e it t ak es a fir st -y ear st u den t t o com plet e a lab-
b ased sof t w ar e en g in eer in g t ask is r elat ed t o t h eir
lik elihood of successfully com plet ing t he w hole
su bj ect . To t est t h is h y pot h esis, an ' ear ly w ar n in g
sy st em ' h as been dev eloped. Wit h t h is sy st em , t h e
len gt h of t im e it t ak es in div idu al st u den t s t o
com plet e lab-based t ask s can be t r ack ed. I t is
ant icipat ed t hat t his infor m at ion w ill aid in t he
iden t ificat ion of t h ose st u den t s at r isk of failin g t h e
su bj ect an d t h e allocat ion of t each in g r esou r ces t o
t h ose st u d en t s m ost in n eed .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t q u est ion n air e
• p eer r ev iew
Publicat ions: Yes

I nnovat ion I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: Flex ible Deliv er y - Self-Paced Lear n in g

an d best
Descript ion: I n an effor t t o ov er com e t h e pr oblem s
pract ice
of v ar iable st udent sk ill lev el and lear ning st y le, self-
paced lear n in g m at er ials h av e been in t r odu ced in t o
an int r oduct or y com put ing subj ect . St udent s' t ak e
con t r ol of t h eir ow n lear n in g an d, in st ead of
at t en din g r egu lar w eek ly pr act ical classes, m ay
at t en d op t ion al ' h elp session s' w h er e an in st r u ct or
is p r esen t t o an sw er q u est ion s r elat in g t o an y
com put ing t opics. Replacing r egular pr act ical classes
w it h h elp session s also r ed u ces t h e cost s of h old in g
classes t h at m ay be poor ly at t en ded an d elim in at es
t h e pr oblem of st u den t s w h o m iss classes, m issin g
im por t ant m at er ial.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
Publica t ions: Ye s

I nnovat ion I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: Pr ob lem-b ased Lear n in g - Assessm en t

an d best
Descript ion: A lar ge ( appr ox 6 0 0 st u den t s)
pract ice
d at ab ase su b j ect h as b een r ed esig n ed . Th e su b j ect
is cur r ent ly t aught in a t r adit ional
lect u r e/ t u t or ial/ assign m en t m ode an d dr aw s h eav ily
on t h e Depar t m en t ' s r esou r ces. Th e r e d esig n
inv olv es r educing t he num ber of lect ur er s by half
an d in cor por at in g st u den t -cen t r ed, pr oblem-b a sed
lear ning. Lect ur es w ill be deliv er ed in t he fir st half of
sem est er , w it h st u d en t s ab le t o sit a p ass-only
ex am at t h e en d of t h is per iod. St u den t s w ish in g t o
gain h igh er m ar k s w ill par t icipat e in pr oblem-b a sed
lear n in g for t h e r em ain der of t h e sem est er .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
• st u d en t in t er v iew s
Publicat ions: No
78
Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Cou r se m at er ials - Teach in g t ools
Descript ion: I n an ef f or t t o in cr ease st u den t
en g ag em en t w it h t h eir cou r ses, a r an g e of
in t er act iv e t ech n iqu es h av e been in t egr at ed in t o t h e
t each in g of a n et w or k in g su bj ect . Th e su bj ect ' s
w ebsit e is in cor por at ed in t o lect u r es by br ow sin g
t h e r elev an t pages ' liv e' du r in g lect u r es. St u den t s
ar e en cou r ag ed an d r ew ar d ed f or ask in g q u est ion s
in t h e lect u r es. Qu izzes ar e con du ct ed du r in g
lect u r es w h er e st u den t s m ar k each ot h er ' s w or k . I n
lab or at or y classes, op en sou r ce sof t w ar e is u sed so
st u den t s com plet e a ssign m en t s based on ' r eal'
cod e. All sof t w ar e u sed t o t each lab s is also
av ailable t o st u den t s at h om e v ia t h e su bj ect ' s
p assw or d p r ot ect ed w eb sit e.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
Publicat ions: No

I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Com m unicat ion sk ills - Ex per ient ial
lear n in g
Descript ion: A fir st y ear cor e subj ect on
p r of ession al com p u t in g h as b een d ev elop ed t o m eet
in du st r y ' s dem an d f or gr adu at es w it h w ell
dev eloped pr ofession al an d com m u n icat ion sk ills.
St u den t s t ak in g t h is su bj ect ex am in e social, et hical
an d leg al issu es as t h ey r elat e t o t h e com p u t in g
pr of ession an d dev elop com m u n icat ion an d
t eam w or k sk ills v ia pr esen t at ion s an d debat es. I n
addit ion , st u den t s ar e r equ ir ed t o dism an t le an d
r eassem ble a com pu t er u n der su per v ision an d ar e
ex p osed t o a r an g e of p r og r am m in g lan g u ag es as a
w ay of in t r odu cin g t h em t o t h e r ealit y of t h e
pr of ession .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
Publicat ions: Yes

79
 Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
I nnovat ion CSSE Ke yw or ds: Teaching Tools - Cur r iculum I nt egr at ion
Descript ion: I n t h e past , t h er e h as b een
in con sist en cy in t h e t y pe of dev elopm en t t ools
em ploy ed acr oss a sof t w ar e en gin eer in g pr ogr am .
As a r esu lt , st u den t s' t im e w as t ak en u p w it h
m ast er in g t h e v ar iou s t ools w h en it cou ld h av e been
bet t er spen t con cen t r at in g on su bj ect con t en t .
Th r ee y ear s ag o, t h e d ev elop m en t of an em b ed d ed
sy st em lear n in g en v ir on m en t began . Th e aim w as t o
dev elop an en v ir on m en t t h at cou ld be u sed
effect iv ely acr oss t h e w h ole en gin eer in g pr ogr am . A
com m on t ool h as n ow been im plem en t ed acr oss t h e
pr ogr am for bot h o n - an d of f -sh or e st u d en t s.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
• p eer r ev iew
Publicat ions: No

I nnovat ion I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: Com p u t er-m ediat ed Com m unicat ion -

Teaching Tools
Descript ion: A com pu t er su ppor t ed collabor at iv e
w or k ( CSCW) ap p r oach h as b een ad op t ed f or
t each in g OO pr ogr am m in g con cept s an d v ir t u al
w or ld building. The goal of t he init iat iv e is t o t r ain
st u den t s in pr of ession al w or k gr ou p pr act ices. Usin g
as it s in fr ast r u ct u r e, LC_ MOO, an obj ect or ien t ed
MUD lear ning com m unit y , st udent s for m o nline
w or k gr ou p com m u n it ies w h er e t h ey can en gage in
sy n ch r on ou s discu ssion , v ir t u al con f er en ces an d
secu r e m eet in gs.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
• p eer r ev iew of r esou r ces
Publicat ions: Yes

I nnovat ion I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: Ex per ien t ial Lear n in g - Sm all Group

Teaching
Descript ion: Dissat isfied w it h t he lect ur e/ t ut or ial
t each in g for m at , a sm all gr ou p t each in g appr oach
h as b een ad op t ed f or t each in g a secon d y ear
infor m at ion sy st em s subj ect . The aim of t he
ap p r oach is t o en cou r ag e st u d en t s t o t ake a d e e p
appr oach t o t h eir lear n in g an d pr om ot e con cept u al
u n der st an din g t h r ou gh lear n in g act iv it ies design ed
t o t each bot h su bj ect -specif ic con t en t an d gen er al
lear n in g sk ills. St u den t s at t en d w or k sh ops an d
t u t or ials in w h ich t h ey u n der t ak e ex per ien t ial
lear n in g t ask s, w or k in g in gr ou ps of 3 or 4 .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es, w it h b ot h
qu an t it at iv e an d qu alit at iv e it em s
Publicat ions: Yes

80
Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
I nnovat ion ElecEng Ke yw or ds: Peer Lear n in g - Assessm en t
Descript ion: I t w as ob ser v ed t h at st u d en t s t en d ed
t o be passiv e in lear n in g sit u at ion s in a con cept u ally
difficult t hird -y ear su bj ect on elect r o -m ot ion. St udent
Con f er en ces ar e n ow u sed as a m ean s t o d ev elop
st u den t s' in it iat iv e an d t o en cou r age deep lear n in g
in t he subj ect . Ear ly in t he sem est er , a " call for
p ap er s" is p u t ou t an d st u d en t s ar e p r ov id ed w it h a
list of possible t opics. Th e st u den t s' t ask is t o w r it e
a lit er at u r e r ev iew on e of t h e t opics. Th ey su bm it
ab st r act s, h av e t h eir p ap er s p eer r ev iew ed an d
p r esen t t h eir p ap er s at t h e St u d en t Confer ence.
Pap er s ar e t h en p u b lish ed in t h e con f er en ce
pr oceedin gs. Th e st u den t s r u n t h e edit or ial an d
r ev iew p r ocesses an d or g an ise t h e con f er en ce.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
• p eer r ev iew
Publicat ions: Yes

Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: Cap st on e Su b j ect s - Ex per ient ial
Lear n in g
Descript ion: To pr epar e f in al-y ear st u d en t s f or t h e
r ealit y of t h e I T w or k place, a capst on e su bj ect h as
b een d ev elop ed in w h ich st u d en t s w or k in g r ou p s of
1 0 or m or e on a sof t w ar e dev elopm en t pr oj ect .
Pr o j ect gr ou ps ar e self -select ed t o m eet t h e j ob
specificat ions for v ar ious r oles, and m ak e for m alised
bids f or t h e pr oj ect s of f er ed by ex t er n al an d st af f
clien t s. Gr ou p m em ber s appoin t a pr oj ect m an ager
w h o is r esp on sib le f or assig n in g t ask s an d t h e
ov er all r u n n in g of t h e gr ou p. Pr of ession al
com m u n icat ion sk ills ar e dev eloped t h r ou gh w eek ly
for m al pr oj ect m eet in gs an d en d of pr oj ect
pr esen t at ion s an d pr odu ct display s.
Evaluat ion: Not y et ev alu at ed
Publicat ions: No

81
 Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: Teach in g Tools - Mat h s Edu cat ion
Descript ion: I t h as b een ob ser v ed t h at st u d en t
int er est and sk ill lev el in com pulsor y subj ect s on
discr et e m at h em at ics an d st at ist ics v ar y
con sid er ab ly . To en su r e t h at t h e t op st u d en t s ar e
ch allen ged an d t h e m iddle t o low -en d st u d en t s
r em ain en g ag ed in t h e su b j ect , sp r ead sh eet
sof t w ar e is u sed t o t each t opics su ch as calcu lu s,
com binat or ics, induct ion, and r ecur r ences. Concept s
can be u sef u lly dem on st r at ed u sin g t ables, gr aph s,
pat t er n s an d colou r s. An in v est igat iv e appr oach is
en cou r ag ed, an d it is possible t o illu st r at e a w ide
r ange of fundam ent al m at h pr inciples w it h m inim al
algebr a.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
Publicat ions: Yes

Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: Academ ic skills - St u d en t n eed s

Descript ion: I n r espon se t o t h e v ar iabilit y of
academ ic sk ill lev els obser v ed in st u den t s, t h e
t each in g of w r it in g sk ills h as been in cor por at ed in t o
a secon d y ear su bj ect as par t of an in f or m at ion
t ech n ology degr ee. Th e su bj ect f ocu ses on
dev eloping st udent s' sk ills in t hink ing, r e sear ch an d
r epor t an d essay w r it in g. I t dr aw s on ex per t ise f r om
ot her div isions in t he Univ er sit y , including t he libr ar y
an d t h e lear n in g su ppor t u n it s.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
Publicat ions: Yes

Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: Cur r iculum I nt egr at ion - Peer Lear n in g
Descript ion: Accr edit ion of sof t w ar e en gin eer in g
cou r ses by t h e I n st it u t e of En gin eer s r equ ir es t h at
gr adu at es be f am iliar w it h t h e m aj or par t s of t h e
soft w ar e dev elopm en t life -cy cle. To t his end, t hir d
y ear st u d en t s ar e r eq u ir ed, indiv idually and in
gr ou ps, t o an aly se, design an d im plem en t a
sof t w ar e sy st em . Fou r t h -y ear st u d en t s t h en in sp ect
t h e t h ir d y ear st u den t s' w or k . I n t h is w ay , st u den t s
gain ex per ien ce in bot h t h e dev elopm en t of pr oj ect
specif icat ion s an d t h e qu alit y assu r an ce issu es.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
• in du st r y feedback
Publicat ions: No

82
Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: I n du st r y ex per ien ce - Men t or in g
Descript ion: St u den t s' lear n in g du r in g a sem est er
len gt h in du st r y ex per ien ce pr ogr am is m on it or ed in
r egu lar m eet in gs bet w een each st u den t , h is/ h er
m ent or ( t eacher ) and a m em ber of t he indust r y
or gan isat ion . Th e pr ogr am allow s m en t or s, st u den t s
an d or g an isat ion s t o t ailor each st u d en t ' s
ex per ien ce accor din g t o t h e possible oppor t u n it ies
in t h e or gan isat ion .
Evaluat ion:
• for m at iv e v ia st udent -m en t or-indust r y
con su lt at ion
Publicat ions: No

Best pract ice CSSE Ke yw or ds: Fir st Year St u den t s - Teaching Tools
Descript ion: A fir st y ear pr ogr am m ing subj ect has
b een r ed esig n ed in r esp on se t o low st u d en t
sa t isfact ion and per for m ance. The pr ogr am m ing
lan gu age t au gh t h as ch an ged f r om C t o VB,
r esu lt in g in st u den t s pr odu cin g h igh er qu alit y
pr ogr am s an d t ak in g a gr eat er in t er est in
con cept u al issu es r at h er t h an pr ocedu r al pr oblem s.
Con cu r r en t w it h t h e ch an g e in lan g u ag e w as a sh if t
t o a m or e pr act ical t each in g appr oach ; in addit ion t o
au t om at ed m ar k in g an d t h e on lin e deliv er y of
su bj ect m at er ials, collabor at iv e lear n in g am on gst
st u d en t s h as b een en cou r ag ed t h r ou g h t h e u se of
on lin e discu ssion an d ch at s an d in -cla ss d e sk-
check ing.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air e
• ex am r esu lt s r ecor ds
Publicat ions: No

Best pract ice I S/ I M Ke y w or ds: Ex per ien t ial Lear n in g - Pr ob lem-Based

Lear n in g
Descript ion: I t w as ob ser v ed t h at f in al y ear
st u d en t s d id n ot h av e g ood p r oj ect m an ag em en t
sk ills and t he abilit y t o apply / int egr at e pr ior
k n ow ledge in u n der t ak in g a r eal pr oj ect . I n
r esp on se, a p r ob lem-b ased lear n in g ap p r oach w as
dev eloped in an in t r odu ct or y I S an aly sis an d design
subj ect . This subj ect is deliv er ed pr im ar ily t h r ou gh
st u d en t s' g r ou p w or k as t h ey d ev elop solu t ion s t o
giv en pr oblem s. Pr oblem s ar e design ed t o sim u lat e
t h ose f ou n d in t h e pr of ession al w or ld, each t ak in g
f r om on e t o f iv e w eek s t o com plet e.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t in t er v iew s
Publicat ions: Yes

83
 Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
Best pract ice I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: Access an d Equ it y - Fem ales in
Com pu t in g
Descript ion: A n u m ber of in it iat iv es h av e been
im plem en t ed t o in cr ease t h e en r olm en t s an d
r et ent ion of fem ales in com put ing cour ses. They
include Gir ls int o Com put ing day s, t he dev elopm ent
of pr om ot ion al v ideos an d a m en t or in g/ su ppor t
sch em e. To bet t er pr epar e fem ale com pu t in g
st u den t s f or pr of ession al lif e cou r ses con t ain an
in cr eased em ph asis on in t er per son al,
com m unicat ion and t eam-w or k sk ills.
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t in t er v iew s
• st at ist ical r ecor ds
Publicat ions: Yes

Best pract ice I S/ I M Ke yw or ds: St u den t Jou r n als - Gr adu at e At t r ibu t es

Descript ion: Wit h in an in for m at ion r esou r ces
su bj ect , a lear n in g en v ir on m en t h as been dev eloped
t o h elp st u d en t s b r oad en t h eir k n ow led g e b ase,
an d y et allow a cer t ain flex ibilit y t o dev elop t h eir
ow n in depen den t in t er est s in t h e f ield of I T. I n t h e
u n it , diar ies an d t eam pr oj ect s ar e u sed t o f ost er
infor m at ion lit er acy , par t icular ly t he dev elopm ent of
com m unicat ion and pr act ical pr oblem solv ing sk ills.
St u den t s lear n t o iden t if y , r et r iev e an d ev alu at e
pr in t an d elect r on ic bu sin ess in for m at ion r esou r ces
t h at ar e r elev an t t o a v ar iet y of pr oblem s. Th e aim
of t h is su b j ect is t o en cou r ag e st u d en t s t o b ecom e
infor m at ion lit er at e, I nt er net lit er at e and r esou r ces
lit er at e, t o dev elop good com m unicat ion sk ills, t he
abilit y t o w or k in t eam s an d sk ills in t h e select ion
and ev aluat ion of infor m at ion. The pr im ar y m et hod
u sed t o h elp st u d en t s t o d ev elop t h ese sk ills is a
r ef lect iv e j ou r n al t h at u n der pin s t h e st u den t s' w or k
t h r ou gh ou t t h e sem est er .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
• st u den t j ou r n als
Publicat ions: Yes

84
 Rat ing Discipline Br ie f de scr ipt ion of init ia t ive
con t e x t
Best pract ice I S/ I M Ke y w or ds: Com m unicat ion sk ills - Com p u t er-
Mediat ed Com m unicat ion
Descript ion: A t eam-w or k ap p r oach h as b een t ak e n
t o a t h ir d y ear pr oj ect m an agem en t u n it . St u den t s
w or k in t eam s of appr ox im at ely t en t o m an age
au t h en t ic pr oj ect s. Th e t eam s u se com pu t er-
m ediat ed com m unicat ion ( v ia Fir st Class® ) t o
m anage t heir w or k , conduct ing v ir t ual m eet ings. This
appr oach is design ed t o em ph asise t h e im por t an ce
of com m unicat ion in pr oj ect m anagem ent . I t t ak es
t h e em ph asis aw ay f r om t h e pr odu ct , pu t t in g it on
t he pr oj ect m anagem ent pr ocess, com m unicat ion
bet w een t eam m em ber s an d com m u n icat ion w it h
t h e clien t .
Evaluat ion:
• st u d en t f eed b ack q u est ion n air es
Publicat ions: Yes

5.3.2.2 Discussion

The process that was implemented here was aimed at creating some level of
external, practitioner evaluation of the status of initiatives presented as the mini-
conferences. The task was limited by the amount of data that the evaluators had
available to them. This issue was raised by the evaluators:
“One would need to see the materials to determine how student-
centred they were to determine if this was best practice.”
The significance of the task is the identification of the type and focus of
initiatives that they viewed as innovative or as best practice. In this way, the task
says more about the views of ICT educators than about the initiatives.
E valuators’ comments indicated that they were focussed upon the
teaching/learning value of initiatives:
“This sounds like just putting stuff on the Web. No focus upon
teaching/learning outcomes.”
Others made wider pedagogical judgments, given their background and
knowledge:
It shouldn’t be innovative – it should be standard practice to
improve quality.
The conclusion that can be drawn from this process is that it has helped gain a
better picture of the wider context of what might be seen as innovation and best
practice. That is, local educators may be instituting innovation and best practice
within their particular environments but that this may not reflect the perspectives
of practitioners in other institutions with different needs and local educational
contexts.

5.4 Conclusions
85
 • The impetus for, and aims of, the majority of the teaching and learning
initiatives reported are student-focused, with many responding to needs or
problems encountered by students and a desire to improve the teaching of
ICT.
• Other initiatives were motivated from the changing context of university
teaching that reduced resources available, increased student numbers and
required support of a more diverse student population, or changing needs of
employers.
• Most initiatives were formally evaluated, however, for a large proportion of
these initiatives, standard student feedback questionnaires were the only
source of evaluation
• Participants recognised the limitations of relying on student feedback
questionnaires alone for the evaluation of teaching and learning initiatives
• Given the lack of reward and the lack of skills, many ICT educators chose not
to pursue formal evaluations further than the standard SE T type
questionnaires required by their departments
• Many ICT educators underestimate the significance of their teaching practice
as innovation and they use informal means to evaluate and improve their
teaching, rather than pursuing evaluation methods that better qualify their
work for publication as educational research and better demonstrate the
scholarship in their teaching

86
5.5 Recommendations arising from this section
• Recommendation 11 That management encourage ICT educators to evaluate
their teaching and learning initiatives through
§ the use of evaluations, both formative and summative, that focus on
investigating links between the particular objectives of initiatives and
educational outcomes.
§ the provision of professional development and support programs that
focus on educational evaluation as well as on teaching tools and
methodologies. Programs should be developed in consultation with
available experts, for example, educators from university Education
departments and academic development units.
§ the user-based evaluation of the services and programs described above
to ensure that they meet the needs of ICT educators.
§ the allocation of resources to support these activities

87
6 ICT educators’ views on dissemination of
innovation

6.1 Introduction
This section presents further data collected as part of the phase of the research
referred to in the Project Specifications as Consultation with ICT educators (see Table
1, Section 1). It responds to sections of the Brief requiring that recommendations
be made for the effective dissemination and take-up of educational innovations.
The data described in this section were collected via the mini-conference program
(described in Appendix D) during open discussions on the dissemination of
innovation. Before the data is described the methods used are outlined.

6.2 Methods
The data reported in this section was collected during the mini-conference
program described in Section 3 and in Appendix D. The participants in this
section of the research are the same as those described in Section 3 and listed in
Appendix B. The section of the mini-conference proceedings that are relevant
here are described briefly below, as is the approach taken to analysing the data
collected ICT educators’ views of the dissemination of educational innovations.

6.2.1 Data collection

As with that reported in Section 3, the data reported here was collected in the
context of open discussions between ICT educators who participated in the mini-
conference program. The stimulus for these discussions was Item 5: “What issues
would be involved in disseminating your initiative to other ICT educators?”
Participants were prompted to consider both issues involved in the dissemination
of particular initiatives that they had earlier presented and of educational
innovations generally. They were given five minutes to think about the issues and
to make notes in their workbooks. The topic was then opened for discussion.
Data sources included the audio-recordings of discussions, whiteboard records of
discussions and participants’ workbook entries.

6.2.2 Analysis
The analysis method used for the data on dissemination was the same described
for the analysis of other open-discussion data. It involved the forming of
categories from whiteboard records and workbook entries, then the testing of
these categories against transcriptions of the audio-recordings using a constant
89
 comparative method to refine categories. This process is described in more detail
in Appendix D.

6.3 Findings – dissemination of innovation

The mini-conference participants reported a range of issues thought to impact on
the dissemination of educational innovation among ICT educators. They are
presented below in two sections: The first section describes those characteristics
of ICT education seen to impact on dissemination. The second section concerns
effective channels of dissemination and qualities identified by ICT educators as
contributing to effective dissemination.

6.3.1 Contextual issues impacting on the dissemination of educational

innovation
Issues identified by ICT educators as influencing the dissemination of innovation
among university educators included:
• ICT educators’ level of training in educational evaluation
• the status of teaching compared with research
• intellectual property issues
• inter-university competition
• professional risks
• resources

6.3.1.1 Training in evaluation, learning theory and educational terminology

Many mini-conference participants reported not possessing adequate training in

research design and educational evaluation methods. This was seen as inhibiting
their ability to communicate the value of an innovation and to identify the
effective innovations of others.
Daniels et al. (1998) point out that, in the dissemination of educational
innovations, it is “especially important to distinguish truth from assumption, to
have practice that is well-founded. E volving teaching practice is normal to good
teaching, but evaluation reliant on anecdote is not good enough” (p.204).
While most mini-conference participants have, or were, engaged in some form of
educational initiative, many were unsure about how they should go about
evaluating their initiative. This problem is not isolated to ICT education, but
appears to be a wide-spread problem in the reporting of educational innovation in
the university sector. Particularly when innovations incorporate the use of new
technologies, there is a tendency to report description rather than evaluation. In
addition, there is trend toward the reporting of innovations that are ‘good’, that
‘worked’ or that the ‘students seemed to like’, with no account of educational
outcomes. Participants understood this problem as being due to university
educators’ general lack of training in learning theory and educational evaluation.
Although a number of participants were originally trained as secondary school
teachers or had completed graduate certificates in higher education teaching,
90
many felt that they lacked the research skills to adequately evaluate their own
innovations and to critically assess the reporting of others. As one participant
stated, ICT educators should be “reporting rigour, not rosiness”.
Weaknesses in the evaluation and reporting of educational innovation are
discussed in more detail in Section 6.
Participants also discussed the ‘discipline-bound’ language used in ICT education;
the language is often technical. This phenomenon is true for most disciplines
which, over time, have developed their own style of discourse and accompanying
technical terms. The translation of ideas from a discipline-bound language to one
that can be understood across disciplines and institutions was seen by participants
as a challenge for innovative ICT educators. Issues of educational jargon were
also raised in relation to the identification of innovations originating outside of
ICT education. In particular, educational journals were seen to contain much
language that was not accessible to ICT educators without formal training in
educational theory. This inhibited both the accessibility of ideas reported in these
forums and the dissemination of innovation, generated by ICT educators, through
these channels to the wider educational community.
A related issue is that of naivety. Ignorance was brought up a number of times
during the mini-conference program. Many participants stated that their
engagement in dissemination activities was inhibited by their not recognising
themselves as innovative. This is supported by research that identifies ignorance
as a key barrier to knowledge transfer. Szulanski (1994) found that, for effective
dissemination to occur, individuals need to recognise that they possess knowledge
that would be of interest or use to others. Related to this is the issue of
recognising your audience. Participants reported that identifying yourself as
innovative was tied in with belonging to a community in which your initiatives
would be seen as innovative; the idea of dissemination is meaningless where there
is no identified audience or interested community. The identification of an idea as
an innovation is subjective, depending on the perspective of the community: what
is innovative for one community may not be so for another.

6.3.1.2 Teaching vs. research

The most pervasive factor reported by mini-conference participants as influencing

the dissemination of educational innovation is the lowly status of teaching,
compared to research, in most university ICT departments. On the whole,
participants saw innovative teaching as not being highly valued in a higher
education environment where a) research is seen as attracting funding and
teaching is seen as not attracting funding, even though the majority of the funding
received by universities relates to their teaching rather than to their research, and
b) promotion is based, for the most part, on an individual’s research publication
record. It was generally agreed by participants that such an environment
discouraged, rather than promoted, the dissemination of teaching and learning
innovations. In this context, activities involved in the generation, adoption or
dissemination of educational innovations take up precious time that could be
more profitably spent engaged in better rewarded activities, such as research. The
following quote encapsulates many participants’ perceptions of the value placed
on the dissemination of teaching innovations in Australia’s universities.
How many faculty members [do you] actually see going to an
educational conference or … reading an educational journal as a
91
 high priority? We’re getting back to this cultural thing in universities
that the research is important and I’ll go and read 75 journals … and
I won’t open one on education because teaching’s only what I do so
that I can do research. (M-C transcript)
There is a second layer to this problem. Mini-conference participants saw
research into technical, discipline-specific issues as being valued over research
into teaching and learning. That is, they perceived research into educational
innovations and pedagogical issues as not being seen as ‘important’, or attracting
the same level of recognition and reward as research into technological
innovations. Without reward for the generation or adoption of educational
innovations, only those driven by intrinsic motivations are likely to pursue the
improvement of teaching and learning. Dissemination is less likely to occur where
the individual sees no professional reason for sharing their ideas (Szulanski 1994).

6.3.1.3 Intellectual property

Issues surrounding intellectual property (IP) are complex. IP issues were

consistently reported as restricting dissemination. The constraints of IP policies
were most often described in the context of the production of online teaching
materials.
Recent years have seen an increase in the amount of course content delivered
online. Online material often includes lecture notes, tutorial activities and
administrative material such as subject guides and information regarding
assessment, university policies and contact information. Where courses are
developed for off-shore delivery, it is becoming more common for students to
access all course material online and to use electronic media as their sole means of
contact with teaching staff and other students.
Participants expressed concern about the lack of intellectual ownership of course
materials that they have developed and which have then been packaged by their
university into electronic form. The impact this has on dissemination is two-fold.
First, the material becomes the outright property of the developer’s university
whereas, when the material is delivered ‘live’, the developer is relatively free to
alter the content or its delivery to suit the needs of students. Second, the
developers of the material lose control of the distribution and use and potential
misuse of their materials when delivered online. This is especially so where
access to their material is not restricted to students taking the course.
However, password protected access to online course materials may present other
problems for dissemination. If access to online course material is restricted to
students and teaching staff, it becomes difficult to obtain feedback on the
material from peers outside of the course or institution.
Of particular concern to participants was the question of who owns the IP rights
of an educational innovation. With the reduction in government funding for
higher education, universities are increasingly required to seek funding from
commercial organisations. ICT teaching tools and online course content are
increasingly being developed in collaboration with commercial information
technology organisations who may provide support financially or in terms of
equipment. One mini-conference participant stated the problem as follows:
There’s an increasing amount of corporate sponsorship of online
[content] … and with it goes either explicit or implicit the

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 requirement that part of the material is theirs (the sponsor’s) and
only theirs, not for general use. So you end up having a light and a
heavy version of what ever subject matter you’re distributing and
you can’t talk about it until after the heavy version, the corporate
version, is well and truly out in the marketplace, so it prevents the
usual research ethos from allowing us to contribute freely. … It’s
like waiting for a patent. You wait for the patent and then you can
talk … it’s changed the way we do it. (M-C transcript)
While industry sponsorship is much sought after by information technology
departments, the spirit of discipline-based inter-university collegiality may be
threatened by the reliance of universities on industry collaboration.

6.3.1.4 Inter-university competition

Related to the issue of IP is that of the corporatisation of Australian higher

education.
We’re no longer an academic community as seen and funded by the
Federal government; we are a collection of universities competing
for market share, which is a load of bullshit. (M-C transcript)
As the above, somewhat disgruntled, mini-conference participant sees it,
Australian universities are no longer centres for academia so much as corporate
entities. If this is so, the natural consequence is that the role of the university
educator is now that of producer of products and deliverer of services. Inter-
university competition was seen by participants as directly restricting the
dissemination of innovations because innovations are the ‘products’ that give a
university the ‘market edge’. For the entrepreneurial or media savvy researcher,
this does not pose such a problem. For the university staff member whose talents
and interests lie chiefly in the domain of teaching and the development of course
content, corporatisation can be frustrating. Where educators perceive the
discussion of ‘products in development’ as being prohibited, they can feel isolated
and miss out on valuable feedback from peers.
A further problem arising from inter-university competitiveness is duplication. A
number of participants noted that re-invention of the wheel is a common
phenomenon within a corporatised higher education environment; where inter-
university collaboration is prohibited, duplication is bound to occur. And
duplication is not restricted to good ideas; limited collaboration across institutions
is also likely to result in the re-invention of the square wheel.
It cannot be said definitively whether the reporting of ICT innovations in the
mini-conference program was inhibited by IP and competition considerations.
However, on the whole, participants reported that they felt free to speak about
their initiatives and appreciated the opportunity to discuss their opinions and
teaching practices within the collegial atmosphere generated by participants of the
mini-conferences.

6.3.1.5 Professional risks

ICT educators associated dissemination activities with a degree of professional

risk. Specifically, participants felt that sharing work in progress with peers from
other institutions may be seen by their own institutions as a conflict of interest,

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 that their ideas might be ‘pinched’, consequently weakening their institution’s
competitive edge. One participant said,
The tricky thing is [the problem of dissemination] operates on an
institutional level and . . . also a personal level . . . I mean, your
institution has an interest in what you do but also we’ve got to
ch more competitive between academics now and if
you say the great stuff you’re doing when you haven’t actually yet
had your article published in a famous journal, then that’s really
tricky. (M-C transcript)
Many felt that prioritising teaching (both practice and research) ahead of
mainstream or technological research would be a backwards step in terms of their
careers because of the relatively lowly status of teaching and educational research
compared with discipline specific research. Almost all felt that sharing successful
innovations may be viewed by peers as confronting or ‘being told what to do’ as
one participant noted, “no-one likes a smarty-pants” (M-C transcript).

6.3.1.6 Resources

The availability of resources was also seen as affecting ICT educators’ ability to
disseminate innovations. Although a number of resource constraints were
identified by participants as inhibiting the dissemination processes, the most
frequently cited was time. The term “time poverty” was put forward by one
participant to describe her perception that a standard academic workload leaves
little time during working hours for anything other than what is strictly necessary.
In regard to dissemination activities, time is required to develop ideas, to put
them into a form that can be understood and utilised by others, to access and
absorb the ideas of others and to incorporate new ideas into teaching practice.
In addition to having little time available for dissemination activities, these
activities were seen by participants as, at times, being more trouble than they are
worth.
If we want to talk about [our innovations] with other people, it
needs to be in some kind of forum. If it’s a seminar, other people
are teaching at that time, you’ve got to get to a campus, you don’t
have the audience because everybody’s too busy. If you take it to a
conference then it’s got to be a fully refereed paper … , it’s got to be
a high standing conference, they’ve got to have proceedings …
otherwise, you won’t get funding. (M-C transcript)
In short, participants perceived dissemination activities as being curtailed by
workload, information overload and the likelihood that such activities will “create
extra work . . . without the extra resources”. (M-C transcript excerpt). Inadequate
resources have been identified by diffusion research as one of the key barriers to
the transfer and implementation of new ideas. Szulanski (1994) found that
individuals need to be capable of communicating and making use of ideas and
that their capacity to do so may be limited by lack of money, time or management
support. E ach of these was described by ICT educators as lacking in their
situations.
The six issues described above are interrelated. They act together to contribute to
an atmosphere where dissemination activities are viewed as limited and often
ineffective. Issues surrounding IP and inter-university competition merely

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 compound a situation where the pursuit of educational innovation is seen as
professionally risky and unrewarded. These issues do not bode well for the
generation or effective dissemination of educational innovations in ICT
education, particularly, when research on the diffusion of innovation suggests that
successful knowledge sharing is dependent upon an organisational culture that
promotes communication (Nahapiet & Ghoshal 1998).

6.3.2 Effective communication channels

In spite of the inhibiting factors described above, mini-conference participants
unfailingly reported a desire to share their ideas and optimise opportunities for
their dissemination. The reason most frequently given by ICT educators for
participating in a mini-conference was “to find out what other people are doing”.
Mini-conference participants identified a range of dissemination channels that
were considered to vary in their effectiveness. Table 11 shows the communication
channels identified.

Table 11. Channels identified by participants for the dissemination of

teaching and learning innovations
Online I nt e r na l Ex t e r n a l

• w eb si t es • t our s of univ er sit y • pr of ession al

• em ail
• list ser v er s
• d iscu ssion b oar d s
• m ailing list s
• n et w or k in g
• on lin e pr of ession al
dev elopm en t cou r ses
d ep ar t m en t s associat ion s
• t each in g in t er est • con f er en ces
g r ou p s
• j our nals
• st affr oom discu ssion s
• w or k sh op s
• cr oss facult y sem inar s
• t each in g an d lear n in g
• j our nal clubs sy m posia
• pr of ession al • pro f ession al
dev elopm ent act iv it ies dev elopm ent act iv it ies
• br inging ideas fr om • infor m al gat her ings
con f er en ces back t o
• r o ad sh o w s
y our depar t m ent /
sch ool • collabor at iv e t each in g
• w or k in g paper s
• in st it u t ion al edu cat ion
u n it s
• Gr aduat e Cer t ificat e in
High er Edu cat ion

collabor at iv e t each in g

In discussions of dissemination, ICT educators identified qualities that add to the

effectiveness of communication channels and to diffusion efforts. The more
effective channels were seen to be those that were interactive and informal. In
terms of diffusion efforts, mini-conference participants believed they were more
likely to be effective if they allowed adopters to personalise the innovation, if the
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 attempt to diffuse an innovation was seen as educationally motivated. E ach of
these factors is described briefly below.

6.3.2.1 Interactive channels

Participants generally agreed that more interactive communication channels are

more likely to lead to the diffusion of innovation. This is consistent with the
findings of diffusion studies. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) argued that passive
activities are useful for delivering large amounts of material to large numbers of
people, but they are less likely than interactive activities to change the behaviour
of recipients. Similarly, Rogers (1983) stressed that interpersonal communication
channels that facilitate the two-way exchange of information are more likely to
influence strongly held attitudes and lead to a decision to adopt an innovation.
Interactive dissemination activities reported by participants included collaborative
teaching, special interest groups, professional development activities and informal
activities such as staffroom discussions.

6.3.2.2 Informal forums

Mini-conference participants also perceived informal forums to be more useful

than formal forums. There was general agreement that there was more opportunity
to learn, and more likelihood of resultant change, when communicating with
people with whom they have a prior relationship or with whom they have
common interests. The staffroom in particular, was seen as a rich source of
information and a useful forum for exploring new ideas. A number of participants
observed that forums like the mini-conferences, where participants have an
opportunity to connect with their peers in both informal and semi-structured
settings over an extended period, were often most effective as a source of new
ideas that can be tried out in their teaching.
Rogers (1983) emphasised the importance of interpersonal communication in the
persuasion stage of the innovation-decision process. In particular, he highlighted
the role of face-to-face communication between peers of subjective innovation-
evaluation information:
The heart of the diffusion process is the modeling and imitation by
potential adopters of their near-peers who have previously adopted a
new idea. In deciding whether or not to adopt an innovation, we all
depend mainly on the communicated experience of others much like
ourselves who have already adopted. These subjective evaluations
of an innovation mainly flow through interpersonal networks.
(Rogers 1983, p.293)
Similarly, Szulanski (1994) identified relationships as one of the four key factors
in effective dissemination, stressing that individuals are more likely to take up the
ideas of those they know and trust over ideas coming from anonymous or distant
sources.

6.3.2.3 “ Making it your own”

Mini-conference participants repeatedly discussed the importance of customising

an innovation. They generally agreed that, for an innovation to be adopted by
another educator, it needs to be possible to personalise it, so that adopters have a
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sense of ownership and can integrate the innovation into their own personal
teaching styles and established work practices. As one mini-conference participant
said, “academics like to think things through themselves and are reluctant to take
other models off the shelf without a lot of personal input” (M-C transcript). This
comment highlights participants’ desire to absorb new material, adapt it to their
own needs and ‘make it their own’. This reinvention is more likely to occur using
interactive channels of communication. Participants also recognised that the
personal style of the person who generated the innovation is often integral to its
success. As one participant wrote in his workbook: “Teaching methods are very
dependent on personality of the teacher – what works for one may be a disaster
for others.”
Participants described what they saw as an increasing trend towards the
“disintegration” of teaching, that is, particularly the de-integration of the
production of subject materials and the delivery of subjects. Participants
considered that there was more to teaching than the sum of its parts, expressing
concern about the future of their roles as teachers if educational innovation
continued to head in this direction. Linked to this concern were perceived threats
to academic freedom and other issues related to a pack aging approach to subjects.
Participants were generally uncomfortable with the idea of producing materials
that others would deliver. One participant explained with some disbelief that, “At
one point it looked like I was going to be lecturer-in-charge without teaching it at
all.” Conversely, similar discomfort was expressed at the idea of teaching with
materials produced by someone else. Participants found it difficult to articulate
why this was undesirable, with many referring broadly to teaching as a personal
activity.
Teaching is a very personalised activity and it’s highly individualistic
… I just think it’s a very personalised activity well it is at the
moment; I take [another participant’s] point about the de-layering or
the disintegration of teaching that’s occurring but traditional
teaching is in the sense that the academic both creates the
curriculum, researches it, creates the learning materials and teaches
it, and it’s seen as an integrated whole. And it’s only when, for
example, you’re given other peoples’ lecture notes to try to teach
from, I just can’t do it. It is amazingly hard, you know, when
occasionally you’ve been asked to teach a course and “it’s all there”,
you haven’t worked your way through it. I really am
not quite sure why, but I would find it impossible to teach that way.
Having said that, increasingly it’s a model that is being used in
higher education, where people – private providers in the US are
given material. Not only do they have to teach it, but they’re not
allowed to change it. They have to teach it as given. I could not
teach that way. (M-C transcript excerpt)
Resistance to packaging approaches to teaching have been observed by Koppi et
al who explained this resistance in terms of academic culture:
Tertiary teachers are generally creative individuals and experts in a
particular field. They are generally also critical thinkers and maintain
an objective distance from the work of their peers. This combination
inclines the teacher to design unique courses commensurate with
personal experience and knowledge. … An academic will not

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 normally adopt another academic's course without personalising it.
(K oppi et al. 1998, p.425)
Similarly, Taylor et al. found that,
academics feel threatened and are reluctant to teach from packages
because this requires that they teach other people’s work – ‘a very
unrewarding teaching experience’. (Taylor, Lopez & Quadrelli 1996,
p.56).
Participants were concerned that trends towards the packaging of subjects would
lead to loss of ownership of material and loss of control over its delivery. They
saw the delivery as integral to the aims they had for their material.

6.3.2.4 Motives behind diffusion efforts

Mini-conference participants describe the suspicion of non-educational

motivations behind diffusion attempts as a main source of criticism of and
resistance to the adoption of innovations. The management-driven push for Web-
based delivery of subjects is an example that was repeatedly given as a diffusion
attempt that served non-educational agendas. Non-educational agendas were a
source of cynicism and resistance even when innovations were seen to have
educational potential; that is, ICT educators resisted the diffusion attempt rather
than the innovation itself. There was a general perception that teaching staff
would resist diffusion attempts that were not primarily motivated by educational
goals.

6.4 Conclusions

6.4.1 Contextual factors affecting dissemination of educational research

• Inadequate training in research design and educational evaluation methods
was seen as a major inhibitor of dissemination of educational innovations,
both in terms of promoting one’s own work and making assessments about
that of others.
• The relatively lowly status of teaching compared with research was viewed as
a major inhibitor of dissemination activities that focus on educational
innovation. Many ICT educators believed that putting significant time and
effort into the improvement and evaluation of teaching would not be
rewarded in their departments or recognised as valuable by the larger ICT
community
• Some ICT departments are seen as only playing lip service to the value of
teaching. The links between scholarship in teaching and staff reward and
promotion structures that exist in these institutions are not credible in the
eyes of ICT educators
• Issues surrounding intellectual property and inter-university competition were
viewed by many participants as potentially restricting the dissemination of
their teaching and learning innovations and their freedom to discuss and share
their ‘products in development’

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 • Dissemination activities that focused on teaching were generally viewed as
unrewarded in terms of career progression
• While a range of factors at government, institutional and individual levels was
reported as threatening collegiality in Australia’s universities, participants
were able to identify these threats and are, at an individual level, actively
seeking ways around them.

6.4.2 Effective dissemination channels

• While many channels for dissemination exist, most are seen as ineffective.
Those channels that allow interaction with the innovators are seen as the
most effective.
• Diffusion attempts that accommodate ICT educators’ need to personalise
innovations and tailor them to meet their own needs and existing work
practices are more likely to succeed.
• Diffusion attempts that focus on the educational value of innovations are
more likely to elicit positive responses from ICT educators than those that are
promoted primarily for non-educational agendas.

6.5 Recommendation arising from this section

• Recommendation 10 That effective means be developed for the
dissemination and diffusion of educational innovations to the ICT education
community. Diffusion efforts should
§ acknowledge and accommodate ICT educators’ need to ‘make
innovations their own’
§ facilitate two-way interaction between those who generate the innovation
and those who plan to adopt it
§ allow for the dissemination of work-in-progress and the exchange of
peer feedback
§ take advantage of existing relationships between individuals and between
institutions
§ take advantage of discipline loyalties and shared concerns to promote
inter-university collaboration and dissemination across the disciplines
§ acknowledge issues such as inter-university competition and intellectual
property

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7 Educational evaluation
Sometimes if you get journals written by people from education, I’ve got a PhD
and I’m well read, but I cannot understand a word that they are saying and …
well I don’t k now if other people find this but I find it in some so called
education publication … I just did not have a clue what they were talk ing
about, not a clue. (Mini-conference Participant)

This chapter draws together conclusions made across the various phases of the
Project, highlighting the importance of educational evaluation in the
dissemination of innovation and good practice in ICT education. First pertinent
contextual factors are identified, including the policy environment of educational
evaluation in the university sector, the organisational milieu in ICT departments
and the teaching and learning environment being evaluated. The use of standard
student feedback questionnaires and criticism of this approach to educational
evaluation are discussed. Alternative methods of evaluation that use student
feedback to model student behaviour are then described.

7.1 Contextual factors

There are three main layers to the context of educational evaluation in ICT
education: the wider policy environment, the organisational milieu of ICT
departments and the characteristics of particular learning environments. E ach is
outlined briefly below. A factor in the evaluation of ICT education that was
identified in previous sections (particularly Section 5 and Section 6) is ICT
educators’ skills in, and knowledge about, educational evaluation. The three
contextual layers described all have implications for this important factor.

7.1.1 Policy environment – Q uality Assurance and evaluation of

teaching
Brennan observed that, “the growth of external assessment of higher education
quality has been one of the most marked international trends in higher education
in recent years” (Brennan 1997, p.23). Quality became an issue in Australian
universities in response to the Dawkins’ reforms of the late 1980s. Massaro (1997)
-chancellors and other commentators began to express concern that
the reforms and the reductions in funding had led to a reduction in quality” (p.53).
In 1991, Peter Baldwin, the Minister for Higher E ducation and E mployment
Services, issued a policy statement, Higher E ducation: Quality and Diversity in the
1990’s (Baldwin 1991), announcing that it was necessary to assure the community
that the quality of higher education was of a high standard and that $70m would
be allocated to those institutions which could demonstrate better than adequate
quality. In 1992, an independent Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher

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 E ducation was established to undertake quality assessments of higher education
institutions.
The evaluation of university course content and delivery has become an important
task in an environment of inter-institutional competition characterised by pressure
from government and other stakeholders to demonstrate the quality of teaching
and learning activities (Trembath, 1999). As the key consumers of the Australian
university system, students are seen as an important source of information on the
evaluation of institutional performance.
However, the difficulty for higher education is that there are no educational
models for quality assurance. There are derivative models that raise credibility
issues. Quality Assurance originally developed out of engineering practice and the
manufacturing industry. The focus of manufacturing quality assurance was on
maximising the efficiency of processes through the use of approaches such as just
in time (eg. rather than maintaining a large parts inventory, having an ordering
system which operates at a critical inventory level). Quality standards that have
been developed from this production- or product-orientation are about the process
of getting a job done. They fail to take into account the consumer or customer and
this has, in part, led to the interest in customer satisfaction and reuse and
repurchase approaches. Any model that represents higher education students in
production terms, or as products, fails to reflect the real world of higher
education.
A skills and competencies approach was taken by the Quality Assurance Agency
for Higher E ducation in the UK. The student outcomes specified are very broad.
A further limitation of a skills and competencies approach is that there is no
simple and economical mechanism for updating the student outcomes, so, in areas
such as Computing, the framework quickly becomes outdated.
The educational research literature contains very little on the application of
quality assurance systems and the evaluation of the impact of these systems;
although, Billing (1998) gives a useful summary of theories and possibilities. A
paper by O’Neil, Bensimon, Diamond and Moore (1999) is one of the few found
in professional journals that work through how a department explored the options,
chose an approach and is in the process of assessing how it is working. They used
the Balanced Score Card approach (Kaplan & Norton 1996), which has the
advantage of focussing on continuous improvement rather than simple
benchmarking. It also has the advantage that, with a little creative thinking, it can
be customised to fit educational environments.
The educational literature has emphasised the division between formative and
summative approaches to evaluation of programs where summative evaluation is
primarily conducted for the purpose of accountability, while formative evaluation
focuses on evaluation for improvement. The educational literature tends to place
more importance on formative evaluation. There is a wider literature on education
and training evaluation that does not use this type of terminology but has its own
models of how evaluation can be carried out (see Phillips 1997). It is widely
recognised that quality assurance has two main purposes: accountability and
improvement. However, in Brennan’s (1997) international review, he concluded
that almost all quality assessment bodies emphasise value for money and greater
accountability for the use of public funds over improvement in their statements of
purpose.

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 An approach that is not prescriptive against standards, skills or artificial
production models, is the continuous improvement approach. In this approach
staff use evaluation and feedback methods that can demonstrate that teaching and
academic content are being reviewed and restructured to make them more
effective in the teaching-learning environment.

7.1.2 O rganisational milieu

As identified in Chapters 5 and 6, ICT educators report that current organisational
structures and value systems discourage the implementation of effective
improvement-oriented evaluation procedures. ICT educators perceive both a lack
of reward and a lack of resources. In fact, many see pursuing research in ICT
education as a career inhibitor rather than a career developer. It is not surprising
that, in terms of educational evaluation, the organisational level reflects the larger
policy environment, with a narrow emphasis on accountability rather than on
improvement. Not only do ICT educators have little time for developing their
teaching, after their research and administration duties had been met, but
educational evaluation is seen as a low priority because of the lack of reward for
this type of evaluation. This phenomenon is not isolated to ICT departments, but
has been generally observed across the university sector. Taylor has commented
on the situation in Australia: “where academic career advancement is strongly
linked to achievement in both teaching and research, much has been written about
the need to recognise and reward teaching, but little progress made - research
rules!" (Taylor 1999, Online document). Only the most dedicated ICT educators
will prioritise, and put time into, improving and evaluating their teaching practice
in an organisational milieu where teaching is not seen to be highly valued. Many
commentators recognize the need for change at the level of organizational culture
and the status teaching if innovation and good practice in teaching is to be
promoted.
Brennan wrote that, “quality judgements which lack legitimacy in the eyes of
those on the receiving end of them are not likely to be acted upon if action can be
avoided” (Brennan 1997, p.13). In regard to recognition, Cosser observed that
rewards for good teaching are grossly inadequate”, concluding that “unless
teaching is seen to be valued in and by the institution, all attempts to introduce
new systems for evaluation its effectiveness will fail” (1998, p.159). Authors such
as Boyer (1990) and Rice (1991) introduced the idea of the scholarship of
teaching as a means for elevating the status of university teaching. A considerable
literature has developed, discussing what the scholarship of teaching might look
like, and how it might be encouraged and demonstrated. In Australia, those
interested in the scholarly use of new electronic technologies to improve learning
have done the most recent work on the role of educational evaluation in the
demonstration of scholarship. Alexander wrote,
E valuation … must become as much a part of professional practice
as project development. Academics have a professional
responsibility to design, develop, implement and evaluate
[information and communication technology] for learning in a
scholarly way, as would be expected in their research and in all other
aspects of their academic lives. (Alexander 1999, pp.181-2)
Taylor and Richardson, in their report on a national scheme for external peer
review of ICT-based teaching, make the distinction between what they call
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 scholarship-about-teaching and scholarship-in-teaching, where scholarship-in-teaching
focuses on the design process and accounting for outcomes, rather than on
understanding the teaching and learning process:
Our sense is that most examples of scholarship of teaching are really
discussions about teaching and learning processes, mostly in the
form of conference and journal papers. We refer to this publication-
focused aspect of the scholarship of teaching as 'scholarship-about-
teaching'. Our interest in this work is with those aspects of the
scholarship of teaching that directly inform the decisions teachers
make. That is, we are interested in those aspects of the scholarship
of teaching that both inform the design of pedagogical practices and
are evident in teaching itself. We refer to these aspects as
'scholarship-in-teaching'. (Taylor & Richardson 2001, p.32)
In this way, the processes of design, implementation and evaluation are seen as
sources of scholarship. This is consistent with Alexander’s (1999)
recommendation that evaluation be undertaken at all stages of development. The
goal of this type of recommendation is not only to advance knowledge about
teaching and learning, but also to recognize and reward quality teaching and to
elevate the status of teaching in university departments.
E lton (1993) argued that the promotion of quality in university teaching requires
the following changes:
• a rapid increase towards the professionalization of university teaching
• the establishment of TQM practices at all levels of each university
• increasing recognition and resourcing of teaching and rewards for excellence in
it (p.145)

7.1.3 Learning environment

Perhaps the most important consideration in educational evaluation is the
particular environment that is being evaluated. E valuation processes are applied
to particular initiatives, teaching episodes, teachers, subjects or courses. If
evaluation processes are to be tailored to the educational aims of a particular
initiative, the specific characteristics of the object being evaluated need to be
considered. Similarly, individual educators have specific strengths and weaknesses
that lead to specific evaluation needs and should therefore inform the design of
any evaluation. As discussed in Section 5, the most common complaint against
educational evaluations is that they often do not provide an indication of the
extent to which the object being evaluated meets its intended aims.

7.1.4 Skill level of ICT educators

Participants at the mini-conferences discussed lack of familiarity with educational
research and evaluation methods as a barrier to the dissemination of their teaching
and learning initiatives (See Chapter 6). They noted difficulties accessing
educational literature because of their lack of familiarity with educational terms
and theories, and reported a lack of knowledge about methods of educational

104
 evaluation. Some also described difficulties getting papers published in
educational journals because of their lack of training in educational research.
Although it was clear from presentations and discussions at the mini-conferences
that evaluation was a weak point in many of the teaching and learning initiatives
described, it was also clear that the ICT educators who participated were
dedicated to the improvement of their teaching. However, as described above, the
organisational milieu of ICT departments is generally not one that encourages
teaching staff to give priority to educationally-focussed professional development.
In a recent study McInnis (1999) found that only 34% of Australian academics
had any training for teaching at the beginning of their careers and that only 24%
had experienced any professional development in teaching methods during the
previous two years. It can be expected that even smaller percentages of academics
have training in educational research methods and evaluation.
As the higher education system has implemented a quality management policy,
there seems to be a fundamental issue about who, within the average university
department, will have the skills to explore, customise and then implement a
realistic system which carries out evaluations of educational practice.

7.2 Criticism of dominant student feedback approaches

Discussion of the educational performance of tertiary institutions tends to focus
on
• teaching performance
• graduates’ ability to find employment
• graduates’ retrospectively views of their course
• industry’s views of courses
There appears to be a lack of research, outside of education faculties, into the way
subjects or courses actually affect student learning. Most research has been carried
out on delivery issues involving student feedback, course evaluation and student
satisfaction (Alexander 1999; Alexander & McKenzie 1998). This was evident in
the presentations of ICT educators discussed in Chapter 5 where the most
commonly used means of evaluating teaching and learning initiatives was standard
student feedback questionnaires administered by university learning units.
This approach to evaluating teaching currently predominates in Australian
universities. Student feedback questionnaires have been used in Australian
universities since the 1960s but gained greater popularity in the late 1980s with
the advent of the Unified National System and the attendant move toward quality
assurance approaches to management (Bedggood & Pollard 1999). Three main
purposes can be identified for student feedback measures:
• To provide teachers of a subject with information that can be used to improve
the subject’s content and delivery
• To satisfy institutional and governmental requirements concerning the
monitoring and reviewing of teaching quality
• To provide staff with a source of information regarding their teaching
performance for the purposes of promotion

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 One of the advantages of the student-based feedback approach is that it is a low-
cost, easily administered approach. Stringer (1993) identified features of teaching
for which student feedback is valuable. They include course organisation and
structure, workload and course difficulty, marking and exams, course impact on
students, breadth of coverage and global or overall ratings. A distinction is made
between feedback on these features of subjects and courses and the evaluation of
learning outcomes, to which they are generally less suited.
Data gathered via feedback and evaluation surveys for the purposes of teaching
and learning improvement should, however, be approached with caution. A range
of problems associated with the use of student opinion surveys (SOSs) have been
identified (see Bedggood & Pollard 1999; McInnis et al. 2001) as undermining the
educational objectives of the surveying of students and resulting in an imbalanced
and potentially damaging picture of students’ perceptions. These problems relate
to the construction of SOSs and characteristics of respondents. In particular:
• As SOS items are drawn from a large pool of potential items, the reliability
and validity of the constructed instrument can be questionable. These may
lead to difficulties in creating relevant devices and in being able to interpret
output.
• Respondent characteristics can influence the quality and nature of data
obtained via SOSs.
• Where an SOSs is for the production of data to be included in a teaching
portfolio as evidence of teaching performance for promotion purposes, it is
possible to construct an instrument that showcases a teacher’s strengths while
down-playing their weaknesses. (Bedggood & Pollard 1999).
Where teachers are unfamiliar with test construction principles, data may be
produced that is repetitive, incomplete or misleading. The intended purpose of
the surveying activity may also lead to the production of misleading or
questionable data. Often, a teacher is interested in students’ perceptions of
specific areas of their teaching or a subject. The interconnectedness of various
aspects of the classroom experience should not be ignored and an imbalanced
picture of student perceptions may arise where questionnaire items focus on a
circumscribed aspect of the classroom experience (eg., specific teaching and
learning resources) to the neglect of the total experience (including teaching
performance, subject difficulty and assessment processes).
As shown in Chapter 5, many ICT educators express frustration with the
inadequacy of this approach to evaluation. This finding is also supported by
information generated during a workshop in the Monash Faculty of Information
Technology in 2000, where it was agreed that staff members experience
difficulties applying the conventional, centralised system of evaluation to specific
teaching and learning environments. The item pools from which staff can create a
survey often lack items that reflect what the teacher is doing. The basic design
problem is exacerbated by the quality and structure of feedback, particularly when
a staff member needs more structured information. At another level, the outcomes
can be very limited when staff members do not have access to data that they
might want to analyse further.
Respondent characteristics can also influence the quality and nature of data
obtained via standard student feedback questionnaires. Unless administered in a
supervised environment (ie., in class) the response rates for surveys can vary
widely and lack the representativeness required for validity. Furthermore, they are
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often administered at the end of semester when students are most anxious and
perhaps least interested in completing questionnaires, especially if they have
already been surveyed in other subjects. Other respondent characteristics that
influence the quality of data obtained include their relationship with the teacher,
perceptions of the teacher and specific grievances regarding the teacher, subject,
course or its administration. These factors may bias a student’s responses
positively or negatively but, as questionnaires are completed anonymously, the
presence and sources of bias cannot be determined.
The use of student feedback questionnaires to produce data for teaching
portfolios as evidence of teaching performance for promotion purposes is also
questionable. Given their highly flexible nature, it is possible to construct an
instrument that showcases a teacher’s strengths while down-playing their
weaknesses. However, because of their inherent invalidity and unreliability, even
a well-considered instrument may “expose teachers to unreliable, invalid opinions,
that influence teacher career advancement and job security” (Bedggood & Pollard
1999, p.129). This problem arises from the accountability focus of current systems
and might be alleviated if portfolios focused on evidence of teachers’ efforts to
improve their teaching, rather than on summative evaluations.
A side-effect of the dominance of standard student feedback questionnaires in
quality assurance systems is that evaluation of teaching methods and materials
more generally are also often limited to this method; that is, student feedback
questionnaires are not only seen as an activity required by quality assurance
systems, but they become seen as a sufficient means of evaluating teaching and
learning initiatives. This was observed in the research reported in Chapter 5 and is
discussed in the literature. Bain noted that reports of innovative teaching practice
… often limit their evidence on the influence of the innovation to
students' and peers' reactions during development, and their
impressions of learning achievements after implementation.
Sometimes data from standard course assessments also are reported,
but often without regard to the relationship between the learning
encouraged by the innovation and the learning assessed by standard
methods. (Bain 1999, p.166)
Similarly, in a review of 104 teaching and learning initiatives that made use of
information and communication technologies, Alexander concluded that,
There continues to be a heavy reliance on student reaction surveys,
and in some cases there is an apparent confusion between student
reactions and student learning. Positive student attitudes and
increased motivation may encourage better learning outcomes, but
they are not in themselves evidence of improved learning. While
student reaction surveys are a useful component of any evaluation,
they should not be the only component. (Alexander 1999, p.181)
Although standard form student feedback questionnaires continue to dominate in
the evaluation of university teaching in Australia, educators increasingly recognise
the limitations of relying on this method and there is a move towards evaluations
that are targeted to the objectives of particular teaching methods and materials
and implemented for the purpose of improvement.

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7.3 Alternative approaches: Using student feedback to model
student behaviour
Bedggood and Pollard (1999) are sceptical about the contribution made by SOSs
to the improvement of higher education. The authors state that any effect that
the results of SOSs may have on teachers’ performance is minimal and that there
is little evidence to suggest that performance appraisal actually leads to
performance improvement in Australian higher education. Furthermore, the
authors claim that improvement seen during periods of formative evaluation
would probably have occurred anyway.
Similar observations have been made about the routinely administered Course
E xperience Questionnaires (CE Q). McInnis et al argued that, while useful in its
“function of sifting the best from the worst courses within a field of study”
(McInnis et al. 2001, p. 5), student satisfaction data arising from the CE Q is less
useful at the coalface. The impact of CE Q data at the course or subject level is
minimal and tends to be viewed with some cynicism by teachers (Hicks, 1999).
Alternative approaches to the evaluation of university teaching should be
considered in order to improve the validity of claims made based on student
evaluation data. Most student feedback research is carried out without any
account for student behaviours. This makes it difficult to build comparative
measures that are sensitive to the particular issues being faced by teachers.
Appropriate modelling of satisfaction can provide the basis for a continuous
improvement model for quality assurance.
One way of helping build a continuous improvement approach is to apply work
done on customer satisfaction (Wittingslow & Markham 1999) to student,
graduate and employer satisfaction. Specifically, this work argues that satisfaction
should be treated as an outcome variable rather than as an attitudinal variable.
This approach produces diagnostic information for helping develop a continuous
improvement approach. If evaluation is conceptualised within both a pedagogical
and behavioural milieu, and if it is oriented to both the educational process and
the student’s perceptions of outcomes, then it is possible for evaluation to help
improve teaching. This must be done within a context where the educational
managers give rewards for effective evaluation, change and development.
Such an approach will deepen our understanding of student evaluations of
teaching and learning and improve the validity of claims made based on student
evaluation data. In part, it will help us understand student satisfaction as a whole
life experience and one which must include the role of the ‘extra-curricular’ factors
(eg., motivations, pressures, expectations) in the students life.
Some approaches to student satisfaction can be criticised for their dubious
relevance to teaching and learning. For example, E lliot and Hughes (1999) utilised
what they saw as an ‘integrated’ approach to student satisfaction in their work
with the AIIA E &T Career Tracking Research project where they measured
graduates’ satisfaction with their ICT courses in terms of how well they prepared
them for industry. This research tells us about one aspect of possible satisfaction.
Malley (1998) argues that student satisfaction and its assessment must be seen as
a complex set of interacting factor which belong in a causal chain, beginning with
the expectations and attitudes the students brings into the university experience
and ending with the students assessment of the whole university experience.

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 He describes an approach to looking at student satisfaction, advocating a three-
part model comprising the antecedent domain, the transactional domain and the outcomes
domain. The antecedent domain includes the needs, wants expectations and prior
experience that the student brings with them to the education experience. The
transactional domain encompasses factors related to the transactional relationship
between the student and their education experience including the match (or
mismatch) between the student’s needs and expectations and the ‘product’
delivered by the institution. Finally, the outcomes domain represents the
integration of factors from the antecedent and transactional domains with the
post-university ‘out-side’ world.
Approaches to using student feedback to evaluate and improve teaching should:
• Be oriented towards students as evaluators
• Be tailored to the particular teaching initiatives being used by staff
• Be relatively easy to implement in any teaching-learning environment
• Not require special skills in the teacher over and above basic educational
research skills
If we explore some of the educational behaviour questions that determine the way
students respond in an educational environment, we can use expectancy-value
and/or social learning theory (Bandura 1977) as a starting point for a coherent
approach. These models of behaviour have the advantage that they are person-
centred in that they start with the perceptions the individual has of the world.
Social learning models, derived from the attribution model of Heider (1958), are
premised on the person as ‘the actor on life’s stage’ world view. One of the key
features of Heider’s model of behaviour is that we become involved in a task
when we have a challenge. We are less motivated when the tasks are not
challenging. Csikszentmihalyi (1975; 1996) develops this idea by arguing that we
become more involved in a task when we have a challenge and, where there is a
reasonable balance between challenge and our belief in the abilities we have; then
we get a sense of satisfaction on completing a task.
From this we conceptualise satisfaction broadly and look at how this might be
measured for students. It is important to understand that student satisfaction
measurement is not an end in itself. Rather it is a tool to aid in the process of
educational evaluation and improvement of the teaching and learning
environment.

7.3.1 Research support for a student satisfaction approach

Guolla (1999) has carried out a research project using a customer satisfaction
approach from the University of Michigan. He established that he could use a
traditional feedback survey and generate a useful model of student satisfaction
and its antecedent conditions.
Postema and Markham took an approach similar to the one used by Guolla to
investigate students’ responses to a second-year software engineering subject
(Postema & Markham 2001). Possible sources of student satisfaction were
investigated in terms of how they contribute to students’ overall satisfaction with
the subject. This investigation isolated both strengths and weaknesses in delivery

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 that then informed the further development and rethinking of specific teaching
activities.
Postema and Markham (2001) also looked at the relationship between rated
enjoyment and rated satisfaction. They found that when enjoyment was used as
the dependent variable in a regression with the various course content and
delivery variables, enjoyment behaved somewhat differently to satisfaction.
Students did not equate satisfaction with enjoyment, raising doubts about the
criticisms of satisfaction research as being simply about students enjoying classes.
Within Australian higher educational circles, there is an increasing recognition of
the importance of context-specific evaluations of teaching that are more action-
oriented than summative. The conduct of this type of evaluation by university
teaching staff is promoted as both a means of improving teaching and a means of
elevating the status of teaching.
In a discussion of trends in the evaluation of university teaching, Henkel (1998,
p.289-290) noted trend towards more context-specific conclusions, a greater
emphasis on the need for evaluation to be more practical, a greater emphasis on
organisations taking charge of evaluations themselves and incorporating them into
change strategies, and a shift from summative evaluation for the purpose of
accountability towards formative evaluation for the purpose of improvement.
Similarly, Oliver (2000, Online Document) observed a “shift of power away from
the evaluator as an arbiter acting for the commissioning authority and towards
evaluation as a collaborative process of building mutual understanding.” He
argued that,
This approach advocates a continuous process of evaluation by
practitioners (as opposed to evaluators) as a strategy for dealing with
organisational change and meeting the need for responsive, adaptive
organisational structures. ... Moreover, this style of evaluation
represents a shift in focus away from self-contained programmes or
projects to the ongoing evaluation of processes and systems. It
requires the creation of a culture of reflective practice similar to that
implied by action research. (Oliver 2000, Online Document).

7.4 Conclusions
• Methods of educational evaluation that are commonly used in ICT
departments are inadequate for the purpose of improvement. Nor do ICT
educators usually have the skills to implement evaluation designs that can be
used to improve their teaching.
• The organisational milieu of most ICT departments generally does not
encourage ICT educators to prioritise, and develop skills in, their teaching and
the evaluation of their teaching. ICT educators perceive a lack of resources
and a lack of reward for the pursuit of educationally-focused activities.
Consequently, ICT educators and their departments have difficulty
demonstrating that their teaching activities represent innovative or good
educational practice.
• The quality assurance policy environment of Australian universities,
particularly the focus on accountability over improvement, contributes to
environments at the university and departmental levels that promote simplistic
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 educational evaluation methods that are generally not useful for the purpose of
improvement.
• There are ways ahead for evaluating the extent to which educational initiatives
and programs meet their intended aims. They are varied and need exploring.

7.5 Recommendation arising from this section

• Recommendation 12 That continuous improvement approaches be adopted
in ICT departments so that ICT educators can more rapidly respond to change
and input from professional, organisational and industry sources.

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8 Conclusion
The broad aim of the research reported here was to investigate the ways teaching
and learning are being approached in the major discipline area of ICT in
Australia’s universities. More specifically, the Project Brief asked for an
investigation of the extent to which innovations in teaching and learning have
been deployed in response to the needs of students and employers, and that
recommendations be made for the dissemination of good practice. The research
comprised a number of review processes and complementary data collection
phases. Traditional review processes were used to identify key findings and trends
in the literature in a number of areas identified as relevant to the Project Brief.
They included
• E mployers’ needs and satisfaction with ICT graduates
• Student and graduate satisfaction with ICT courses
• The broad context of university teaching
§ Massification and vocationalisation of higher education
§ Changing policy environment for the funding and governance of higher
education
§ Internationalisation and the advance of information and communication
technologies
• Current movements in university teaching
§ flexible delivery and student-centredness
§ quality assurance of higher education
§ student evaluation of teaching
§ scholarship of teaching and practitioner-run, targeted evaluation of teaching
• Innovation and dissemination
A more novel approach was taken to reviewing current teaching and learning
initiatives in ICT education and the factors to which innovations respond. A mini-
conference format was used to collect data on teaching and learning initiatives,
and to facilitate open discussion of the factors driving and inhibiting innovation
and issues involved in disseminating innovation.
The review of current teaching initiatives, the factors driving them and the issues
involved in their dissemination was complemented by data collection phases that
focused on the views of employers and the views of ICT graduates.

8.1 Reception of project

The Project aimed to maximise the cooperative input from ICT academics,
employers and graduates. The mini-conference program was the first point of
contact between the Project and members of the ICT education community and
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 an important phase in terms of setting the collaborative tone of the overall
project. In total, eighty-three ICT educators from twenty-nine of Australia’s
universities participated in the program. The number of participants at each mini-
conference ranged from four to fourteen, with fourteen being the maximum
number of participants that could be accommodated on any one day. Only small
numbers were attracted to the Hobart and Darwin mini-conferences. This was
expected as Tasmania and the Northern Territory have only one university each.
In total, fifty-one university administrative units were represented, with
representatives ranging across all academic levels. The Project team was satisfied
that the participants represented a range of view points from a range of different
university departments. In terms of the data collected, saturation point was
reached both for the general issues raised and the type and focus of initiatives
presented.
The atmosphere of the mini-conferences was open and congenial. Informal
feedback indicated that participants saw the activities as worthwhile in terms of
the Project and also in terms of their own time investment. Two participants
provided unsolicited written feedback at the end of the mini-conferences in which
they participated:
A participant in the second Sydney mini-conference wrote:
• I felt the time was well spent
• Well run and facilitated
• fun/ enjoyable/ challenging
• Met interesting colleagues
• Felt that I learnt more than I gave
• Boosted my enthusiasm and encouraged me to keep on innovating.
A participant in the Adelaide mini-conference wrote:
• well organised/ well run
• open/frank exchange of views
• free flowing format
• useful to hear others’ views/ experience.
Contact with employers included a quantitative survey about needs in, and
satisfaction with, ICT graduates, and follow-up telephone interviews. Contact
with graduates included face-to-face interviews about their courses and the role of
education in their careers, and follow-up telephone and email questions.
In October, senior ICT academics were invited to attend an Intensive Workshop
to review draft recommendations arising from this research. Ten senior ICT
academics from non-Monash universities, or their representatives, participated in
the Workshop. In general participants were supportive of the Project. The
conduct of discipline-based national studies of this kind was seen as a positive
development. Participants made specific suggestions for the fine-tuning of
particular recommendations and many of these were responded to in subsequent
drafts of the final report.
It is hoped that the high level of consultation and collaboration that characterised
the Project has resulted in research outcomes and recommendations that are both
relevant and credibled.
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8.2 Summary of finding
As a result of the review processes and data collection that was undertaken by the
Project team, conclusions can be made about
• employers’ views of the preparedness of ICT graduates for the workforce
• future research needed to assess ICT graduates’ views on the value of their
courses
• methods for assessing student satisfaction, for evaluating educational
innovations and ICT educators’ skills in these evaluation methods
• ICT educators’ views on innovation in ICT education and the dissemination
and diffusion of innovation.
• the types of teaching and learning initiatives currently being undertaken by ICT
educators and the issues they respond to
Conclusions relating to each of these areas are outlined below.

8.2.1 Employers’ views

The differences between the attitudes of those employers who do employ recent
graduates and those who do not raises interesting questions about the state of the
job market in ICT. The large number of micro to small businesses in the ICT
industry may be a key issue in the question of skills shortages evident in the
literature. These businesses are least likely to employ graduates. Projecting the job
market in ICT would require an understanding of factors such as the job life span
of staff in such organisations as well as the likely expansion rates in job numbers.
There appears to be good reason for more labour market analysis if universities,
and TAFE s are have a clearer understanding of the career environment they are
feeding into. We have noted that, underlying all the analysis and interpretation,
there is the basic fact that 64% of those who do employ recent graduates said it
was highly likely that they would continue to employ graduates. There seems to
be an inevitable market for ICT graduates, which is partially independent of what
industry thinks universities should be doing to produce graduates. E xactly how
many graduates will be employed in the future is another question.
The employer survey data clearly indicated that those businesses employing recent
ICT graduates are satisfied with them. It is also clear that industry sees graduates
as having a number of obvious deficiencies but that these are irritants, or Squeak y
Wheels, rather than being significant factors in the decision to recruit. These
irritants have been reported in different papers over the last 10-years.
The results from the comparison of the regression modelling and the mean trends
for the skill data, combined with the suggested shortcomings of the DE TYA
employer satisfaction study (ACNeilsen Research Services 2000), point to the
importance of building research models which are sufficiently sophisticated to
allow analyses of the structure of behaviour. If the industry data had been based
upon interviews or focus groups, it is unlikely we would have been able to see the
distinct ways in which the skills interact, or to make a distinction between those
that are important (in satisfaction terms) and those that are not.
The ICT sector is subject to the vagaries of changing technologies, ideas and, to
some extent, fashion. The speed at which the e-bubble was inflated and then
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 deflated strongly suggests that university ICT departments should have depth in
their degree structures, which will allow them to readily shift direction as new
waves pass through. Focusing on skills training would lead to medium term
staffing problems for industry. It would also lead to broad human resource
problems as changing technology makes redundant those who have not been
educated for adaptation and change.

8.2.2 G raduates’ views

Little research has been published on ICT graduates’ experiences and attitudes
after they have entered the workforce. Universities routinely monitor initial
graduate destinations through the Graduate Destination Survey, but this exercise
is not intended to inform curriculum development and educational innovation.
E xploratory interviews with a small number of Melbourne-based ICT graduates
identified a number of common themes in ICT graduates’ experiences and a
number of salient issues.
The themes identified possibly characterise a particular type of ICT graduate, who
had exposure to and developed an interest in computing technology during their
childhood, taught themselves how to program before entering any formal ICT
education, and are motivated to pursue the intrinsic rewards of using computing
technology. This type of graduate fits the popular stereotype of a computing
student and eight of the thirteen interviewees fitted this type. This type of student
poses particular challenges for ICT educators because of their prior knowledge
and the specificity of their prior interests. If this type of student does predominate
in ICT courses5, the particular needs, challenges and strengths of this type may
mask those of other types. Popular perceptions of ICT students’ resistance to
learning generic skills, such as communication and problem-solving skills, may be
due to the predominance or the high visibility of this type.
Five of those interviewed did not fit this type, having not acquired extensive
knowledge about computers prior to their university degrees. Two of these were
the two female graduates interviewed. Both women were pragmatic in their views
about the value of their degrees, and both had made conscious decisions to pursue
careers ICT – one after consulting a career advisor, the other after having
completed a tertiary diploma that she deemed was not suited to her interests. This
contrasts with those interviewees who had long pursued interests in computer
technology, saw their university degrees as a natural continuation of this pursuit
and appear not to have sought advise on their careers.
Due to the small numbers of graduates interviewed, observed gender differences
cannot be generalised. However, this does raise questions about the needs,
attitudes and behaviours of graduates with different backgrounds, and warrants
further investigation.
Interviewees’ attitudes towards the non-programming subjects in university ICT
degrees raise questions about their expectations of their courses and their
expectations of the work of ICT professionals. Most of those interviewees who
raised the issue of programming versus non-programming subject expressed a

5
Note that predominance has not been identified statistically and may only be a perceived
predominance.
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 dislike for subjects on project management and documentation despite
recognising the importance of these subjects to their future work.
The themes and issues identified in the exploratory interviews warrant further
inquiry. Further research would have implications for the recruitment of students
to ICT degrees, the promotion of ICT degrees and the ICT professions to
prospective students and to current students, the provision of career guidance to
prospective and current students, and the development of programs to better
prepare graduates for work as ICT professionals.

8.2.3 ICT educators’ views

Consultation with ICT educators revealed that educational aims are the primary
driving force in innovation in ICT education, particularly those answering the
learning needs of students. Innovative teaching staff are motivated by a desire to
be better teachers. However, the need to improve learning outcomes for students
often stems from perceived problems whose origin is the changing context of
university teaching. Contextual factors such as large class sizes and increasingly
diverse student bodies are seen to cause problems that then need to be responded
to by teaching staff in innovative ways. While these factors apply pressure to
university teaching generally, they manifest more acutely in ICT departments
where student numbers have grown rapidly over the last decade due to the
expansion of the ICT industry and the growth of needs in the general community
for ICT professionals. Because of the diffusion of computing and networking
technologies into the broader community, ICT educators, more than in any other
discipline, face challenges due to the diversity of skill levels in first-year
populations. Yet another factor that, although affecting teaching across all
disciplines, is more acutely experienced in ICT education, is the development of
content. The rapid development of new technologies and related techniques has
implications for the curriculum in ICT courses. For educators in ICT disciplines,
the question of what to teach is perhaps more problematic than that of how to
teach. This question is subject to a number of tensions. First, there are the skill
and knowledge needs of employers. The market place for ICT graduates is a
diverse one and little is known about the different requirements of the various
segments of this employment market. There is a tension between the demands for
particular skills, demands for more generic skills and demands for principles and
areas of theoretical knowledge. E mployers’ needs for particular skills are perhaps
most directly communicated to ICT educators through the expectations and
demands of their students who are familiar with fashions in new technologies and
with trends in job vacancies. However, the demands of students, for example to
learn specific programming languages, are often at odds with ICT educators’
beliefs about the skills and knowledge necessary for graduates to be professionals
and lifelong learners in a rapidly changing industry. ICT educators report that
students are often misinformed or have misconceptions about their future working
roles and careers.
Students were generally seen as conservative in terms of the types of teaching and
learning activities they expected and desired in their courses, with ICT educators
reporting that students were often resistant to innovative, non-traditional
teaching. Providing an innovative learning environment was perceived as likely to
result in negative SE T responses by the predominantly conservative students.

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 ICT educators perceive extrinsic motivation and reward for educational
innovations to be minimal. In fact, many associate being an innovative teacher
with personal and professional risks. Institutional agendas and reward systems are
seen by some to discourage educationally motivated innovation. The source of the
risks associated with innovative teaching was the low status of teaching compared
with research. When academics reputations are built on their research profiles,
there is little incentive for spending precious time on planning, implementing and
evaluating new teaching strategies. This point is raised again, below, in reference
to educational evaluation and dissemination of innovation.

8.2.4 Teaching and learning initiatives

The impetus for, and aims of, the majority of the teaching and learning initiatives
reported here are student-focused, with many responding to needs or problems
encountered by students and a desire to improve the teaching of ICT. Other
initiatives were motivated by the changing context of university teaching
(including reduced resources, increased student numbers and more diverse student
populations), or by changing needs of employers.
Although the broad focus of initiatives was student learning, they addressed a
wide-range of particular issues and concerns. Some, responding directly to student
demands, involved flexible access to course materials, or the certifications of
courses. Others responded to observed problems, such as the logistical challenges
posed by large class sizes or the need to engage students with vastly different prior
learning. First-year subjects were the target of a range of initiatives that focus on
student engagement and retention. At higher year levels, initiatives aimed to
develop students’ generic skills, particularly skills associated with ICT
professionals, such as problem solving, team-work and communication. Initiatives
involved a range of strategies, from the creation of online learning environments
to the use of small groups and project-based curricula. Many initiatives that might
be seen as best practice within educational circles were presented as noteworthy
and novel within ICT education. Initiatives presented to the Project team
variously targeted classroom and online teaching modes and environments,
assessment, subject and course structure and content, partnerships with
employers, collaboration between teaching staff, a range of teaching tools, and
research projects into student learning and related issues.
When brief accounts of the initiative presented to the Project team were reviewed
by Monash CE RG members, those identified as particularly noteworthy initiatives
included addressed student retention and student engagement, attracting and
retaining female students, enhancing learning, catering for groups of students with
diverse skills, accommodating large class sizes, curriculum integration, teaching
skills associated with professional practice and teaching learning skills.
Most initiatives reported had been formally evaluated, however, for a large
proportion of these initiatives, standard student feedback questionnaires were the
only source of evaluation. Participants recognised the limitations of relying on
student feedback questionnaires alone for the evaluation of teaching and learning
initiatives. However, given the lack of reward for such activities and ICT
educators’ general lack of skills in educational evaluation, many ICT educators
chose not to pursue formal evaluations further than the standard student
evaluation of teaching questionnaires required by their departments.

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 It was also observed that many ICT educators underestimate the significance of
their teaching practice as innovation and that they use informal means to evaluate
and improve their teaching, rather than pursuing evaluation methods that better
qualify their work for publication as educational research and better demonstrate
the scholarship in their teaching.

8.2.5 Dissemination
ICT educators’ general lack of training in research design and educational
evaluation methods was seen as a major inhibitor in the dissemination of
educational innovations, both for the purpose of promoting one’s own work and
for making assessments about that of others.
The relatively lowly status of teaching compared with research was viewed as a
major inhibitor of dissemination activities that focus on educational innovation.
Many ICT educators believed that putting significant time and effort into the
improvement and evaluation of teaching would not be rewarded in their
departments or recognised as valuable by the larger ICT community. Some ICT
departments are seen as only playing lip service to the value of teaching. The links
between scholarship in teaching and the staff reward and promotion structures
that exist in these institutions are not credible in the eyes of ICT educators.
Dissemination activities that focused on teaching were generally viewed as
unrewarded in terms of career progression
Issues surrounding intellectual property and inter-university competition were
viewed by many participants as potentially restricting the dissemination of their
teaching and learning innovations and their freedom to discuss and share their
‘products in development’
While a range of factors at government, institutional and individual levels was
reported as threatening collegiality in Australia’s universities, participants were
able to identify these threats and are, at an individual level, actively seeking ways
around them.

8.2.6 Student satisfaction and educational evaluation

Methods currently used in university departments to assess students’ satisfaction
with their courses are inadequate for the purpose of continuous improvement.
On the whole, ICT educators are unfamiliar with the principles and techniques of
educational research and evaluation methods. This impairs their ability to conduct
formative evaluations that provide useful information for the improvement of
their teaching. It also inhibits their ability to conduct the summative evaluations
that would support the dissemination of educational innovations. A related
problem is their lack of skills to assess the innovations of others as reported in the
wider educational literature.
A lack of resources and a lack of reward for the pursuit of educational evaluations
further compound these problems. E valuation and dissemination activities are
seen to be a very low priority in ICT departments. Consequently, ICT educators
and their departments have difficulty demonstrating that their teaching activities
are innovative.

119
8.3 Challenges for the future
As a consequence of the conclusion made above, the Project team makes twelve
recommendations pertaining variously to improving the interactions between ICT
educators and industry and graduates, promoting educational innovation and
dissemination in ICT education, and promoting the evaluation of teaching and
learning initiatives in ICT education. These recommendations can be found at the
end of the sections from which they arise (sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). They are
also listed in the E xecutive Summary.
This report has highlighted a number of challenges for the future of ICT
education. They include challenges for teaching and learning, challenges for the
profession of ICT education and challenges for future research that targets this
diverse, and in some areas, emerging discipline area.

8.3.1 Challenges for teaching

University teachers currently face a raft of challenges due to recent and ongoing
changes in the higher education system. For ICT educators, challenges of
particular and ongoing concern include those posed by large class sizes and a
diverse student population, those posed by the rapid development of new
technologies and related content areas, and those posed by the increasing pressure
to respond to the needs of employers and students.

8.3.2 Challenges for the profession of ICT education

The promotion of teaching as a profession has been a concern in primary and
secondary sectors for a number of decades. In contrast, university academics have
long been considered professionals. However, since the establishment of
Australia’s first universities, teaching activities have been of a relatively low
status, with academics’ reputations and advancement being based on their
contributions to research, and their adequacy as teachers being based on their
expert status in particular fields of research. This situation is changing. At least in
terms of policy documents, university teaching is becoming more valued.
However, regardless of new and emerging policies, teaching is still well down the
list in terms of the professional activities of university academics. The scholarship
of teaching movement seeks to remedy this situation, as does the increasingly
active role taken by university academic development and teaching units.
However, ICT educators generally still view teaching as undervalued by their
departments and, therefore, as a low priority for the majority.

8.3.3 Challenges for future research across the discipline

Specific challenges for future research into ICT education have been discussed in
previous chapters, particularly for future research in to employers’ and graduates’
views about ICT education. Broad challenges facing future research into ICT
education include the diversity among ICT departments, the diversity among
employers of ICT graduates and the difficulty of identifying and following-up
graduates in the workforce.

120
The major discipline area of ICT contains a wide range of disciplines with
disparate histories and a wide range of university departments that vary in history,
size and structure. In fact, members of some departments may believe they have
little in common with other departments in this broad category. Similarly, the
businesses that employ ICT graduates vary considerably in size, industry and type
and, therefore, in their needs and views of ICT education.
Informal feedback on the research reported here from those with interests in ICT
education suggests that national research across this broad discipline area is
valuable. However, national studies should be complemented with site-specific
investigations.

121
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APPENDIX A. Reference group membership
Angela Carbone Senior Lecturer Monash University
School of Info Management Systems

Ainslie Ellis Senior Lecturer Monash University

School of Comp Sci & Software Eng

Assoc. Prof. Malcolm Eley Associate Professor Monash University

Centre for Learning & Teaching Support

Dianne Hagan Senior Lecturer Monash University

School of Comp Sci & Software Eng

Assoc. Prof. John Hurst Assoc. Dean (Teaching) Monash University

Faculty of Info Tech

Dr Selby Markham Research Fellow Monash University

Faculty of Info Tech

Dr Juhani Tuovinen Senior Research Fellow Monash University

Centre for Multimedia & Hypermedia
Research

Judithe Sheard Lecturer Monash University

School of Comp Sci & Software Eng

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APPENDIX B. Mini-conference participants

William Adlong Educational Designer Charles Sturt University

CELT
Carole Alcock Lecturer University of Wollongong
School of Info Tech & Comp Sci
Dr Rob Allen Senior Lecturer Swinburne University of
School of Info Tech Technology
Robert Andrews Lecturer Queensland University of
School of Info Systems Technology
Jocelyn Armarego Lecturer Murdoch University
School of Eng
Martin Atchison Lecturer Monash University
School of Info Management Systems
John Atkinson Lecturer Charles Sturt University
School of Environmental & Info Sciences
Kevin Austin Assoc Lecturer University of Western Sydney
School of Management
Dr Reuven Aviv Senior Lecturer Monash University
School of Comp Sci & Software Eng
Dr Mahfuz Aziz Senior Lecturer University of South Australia
School of Electrical & Info Eng
Dr Clem Baker-Finch Senior Lecturer Australian National University
Department of Comp Sci
Maria Blanco Barajas Assoc Lecturer University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Computer Systems
Monica Bayer Administrator International & Offshore University of South Australia
Programs
School of Computer & Info Science
John Bentley Senior Lecturer Victoria University
School of Info Systems
Clive Boughton Lecturer Australian National University
Department of Comp Sci
Ilona Box Lecturer University of Western Sydney
School of Management
Julie Brear Lecturer Northern Territory University
School of Informatics
Allison Brown Head University of Queensland
Learning Resources Development Unit
Prof Bill Caelli Head Queensland University of
School of Data Communications Technology
Malcolm Campbell Senior Lecturer Deakin University
School of Computing & Mathematics
Angela Carbone Lecturer Monash University
School of Info Management Systems
Penny Collings Senior Lecturer University of Canberra
School of Computing
Lorraine Connell Lecturer Northern Territory University
School of Informatics
Annemieke Craig Lecturer Victoria University
School of Info Systems
Dr David Cropley Senior Lecturer University of South Australia
School of Electrical & Info Eng

133
 Dr Paul Crowther Lecturer University of Tasmania
School of Computing
Gordana Culjak Lecturer University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Info Systems
Assoc Prof John Dearn Director University of Canberra
CELTS
Martin Dick Lecturer Monash University
School of Comp Sci & Software Eng
Michael Docherty Lecturer University of Queensland
School of Comp Sci & Electrical Eng
Peter Donnan Instructional Designer University of Canberra
CELTS
Assoc Prof Carolyn Dowling Head Australian Catholic University
School of Arts & Sciences
David Edmond Senior Lecturer Queensland University of
School of Info Systems Technology
Bob Edwards Lecturer Australian National University
Department of Comp Sci
Assoc Prof Jenny Edwards Assoc Prof University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Software Eng
Sylvia Edwards Lecturer Queensland University of
School of Information Systems Technology
Ken Eustace Lecturer Charles Sturt University
School of Info Studies
Lynne Fowler Lecturer Murdoch University
School of Eng
Royce Glemi Learning Systems Administrator Notre Dame, Australia
School of Electronic Commerce
Rohan Genrich Assoc Lecturer University of Southern Queensland
Department of Info Systems
Jennifer Goddard Head and Assoc Dean (Teaching) La Trobe University (Bendigo)
School of Management, Tech &
Environment
Assoc Prof Ozdemir Gol Assoc Prof University of South Australia
School of Electrical & Info Eng
Dr Robert Goodwin Lecturer Flinders University
School of Informatics & Eng
Dr Edward Gould Senior Lecturer University of Wollongong
Department of Info Systems
Tony Greening Senior Lecturer University of Sydney
Basser Department of Comp Sci
Jackie Hartnett Lecturer University of Tasmania
School of Computing
Neville Holmes Hon Research Associate University of Tasmania
School of Electrical & Computer Eng
Wanda Jackson Educational Designer Northern Territory University
ILD - Multimedia
Anita Jawary Lecturer Deakin University
School of Computing & Mathematics
Alanah Kazlauskas Lecturer Australian Catholic University
School of Business & Informatics
Prof Robin King Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean University of South Australia
Division of Info Tech, Eng & the
Environment
Anjan Kundu Assoc Dean Northern Territory University
Faculty of Tech & Industrial Education
John Lamp Lecturer Deakin University
School of Management Info Systems

134
Dr Richard Langman Senior Lecturer University of Tasmania
School of Eng
Michael Lawrence-Slater Lecturer University of Wollongong
School of InfoTech & Comp Sci
Rod Learmonth Senior Lecturer Griffith University
School of Info Tech
Brian Lederer Lecturer University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Software Eng
Kam Li Lecturer University of South Australia
School of Computer & Info Science
Dr Raymond Lister Senior Lecturer University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Software Eng
Ee Kuan Low Assoc Lecturer University of Southern Queensland
Department of Info Systems
Jo Luck Senior Lecturer Central Queensland University
Faculty of Informatics & Communications
Clive Maynard Head Curtin University
Department of Computer Eng
Dr Chris McDonald Senior Lecturer University of Western Australian
School of Comp Science & Software Eng
Penny McFarlane Lecturer University of Wollongong
School of Info.Tech. & Comp Sci
Joseph Meloche Lecturer Charles Sturt University
School of Info Studies
Ed Morris Senior Lecturer RMIT University
Centre for Intelligent Info Processing
Systems
Prof Andrew Nafalski Head University of South Australia
School of Electrical & Info Eng
Jon Pearce Senior Lecturer University of Melbourne
Department of Info Systems
Margot Postema Lecturer Monash University
School of Comp Sci & Software Eng
Michael Roggenkamp Assistant Dean Queensland University of
School of Computer Sci & Software Eng Technology
Amit Rudra Lecturer Curtin University
School of Info Systems
Tony Sahama Assoc Lecturer Queensland University of
School of Info Systems Technology
Dr Andy Simmonds Senior Lecturer University of Technology, Sydney
Department of Computer Systems
Dr Jill Slay Director of Overseas Programs University of South Australia
School of Computer & Info Science
Lorraine Staehr Lecturer La Trobe University (Bendigo)
School of Management, Tech &
Environment
Asst Prof Steve Sugden Assistant Prof Bond University
School of Info Tech
Assoc Prof Richard Thomas Assoc Prof University of Western Australia
Department of Comp Sci
Michael Turk Lecturer University of Western Sydney
School of Computing & Info Tech
Jodi Tutty Lecturer Northern Territory University
School of Informatics
Sue Tyerman Lecturer University of South Australia
School of Computer & Info Science
Richard Walker Assoc Lecturer and Honours Convenor Australian National University
Department of Comp Sci

135
 Prof Warren Yates Assoc Dean (Teaching & Learning) University of Technology, Sydney
Telecommunications Eng
Catherine Zuluaga Lecturer RMIT University
Department of Comp Sci

136
APPENDIX C. Intensive workshop participants
Penny Collings Senior Lecturer University of Canberra
School of Computing

Assoc Prof Kit Dampney Associate Professor University of Newcastle

School of Information Systems

Jennifer Goddard Associate Dean (Teaching) La Trobe University

Dept of IT, Faculty at Bendigo

Dr Chris Johnson Head Australian National University

Department of Computer Science

Catherine Lang Lecturer Swinburne University

School of IT

Dr Chee-Kit Looi President National University of Singapore

Asia-Pacific Chapter
Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE)

P rof Graham Low Head University of New South Wales

School of Info Systems, Tech and
Management

Prof Leon Sterling Head University of Melbourne

Department of Comp Sci and Soft Eng

Prof Geoff West Head Curtin University

School of Computing

Assoc Prof David Wilson Associate Dean (Education) University of Technology, Sydney
Faculty of IT

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APPENDIX D. Methodology – Mini-
conference program
This section describes the aims, data collection methods, participants, analyses
and reporting techniques for the part of the study that used mini-conferences to
elicit data from ICT educators. It also discusses the strengths and limitations of
the approaches taken in terms of Caulley and Lindsay’s (Caulley & Lindsay 2001)
framework for mark ers of rigour in qualitative research. The methods described here
correspond with the phase referred to in the Project Specification document as
Consultation with ICT educators (see Table 1 in Section 1). They were implemented
in response to those sections of the Brief that refer to the ways in which issues of
teaching and learning have been approached in ICT departments, the factors to
which innovations have responded, and the directions that have been taken. They
also provided information on current teaching and learning initiatives and on
dissemination of innovation.

Aims and objectives

The broad aim of the mini-conference program was to investigate the ways in
which ICT educators are approaching issues of teaching and learning. Two types
of data were sought: (1) data on educators’ perceptions of the issues currently
surrounding educational innovation and the dissemination of good practice and
(2) data on particular teaching and learning initiatives that are currently being
planned, implemented and/or evaluated.
This data was collected to meet the three aims of the Consultation with ICT educators
phase of the research (see Table 1 in Section 1). Those aims were
• To investigate current innovations in ICT education
• To investigate ICT educators’ views on developments in teaching and
learning and the dissemination of innovation
• To create a positive feel for the project among ICT educators
Methods associated with each of these aims are described in separate sections
below, headed Current innovations in ICT education, ICT educators’ views and Reception
of the project respectively, but first the mini-conference program and the
participants are described.

M ini-conference program
The data collected for this part of the study was qualitative. A mini-conference
format was devised to facilitate the discussion of issues and the description of
initiatives. The research project is, in the most part, a national review study. The
national mini-conference program was intended to maximise the opportunity for
participation of ICT departments from around Australia. Mini-conferences were
held in each capital city. Two mini-conferences were held in Melbourne and in
139
 Sydney. One mini-conference was held in each of Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide,
Perth and Canberra. A video-link was used to conduct an abridged version of the
mini-conference with educators in the Northern Territory. The mini-conference
format, materials and data sources are described below.

M ini-conference format

The mini-conferences ran from 10am to 4pm on designated days in each capital
city during February, March, April and May of 2001. Between four and fourteen
people participated in each mini-conference. Small numbers allowed for authentic
discussions and also allowed time for each participant to present information
about teaching and learning initiatives underway in their institutions. A workbook
was used to structure the proceedings of each mini-conference, breaking the day
up into five main sessions. Two researchers directed proceedings.

The workbooks

Workbooks were provided to each participant on their arrival at a mini-

conference. They were collected by the researchers at the end of the day.
Photocopies were provided to participants. The workbooks served a number of
purposes:
• To provide a structure for the mini-conferences
• To provide participants with somewhere to make notes in preparation for
their contributions to the mini-conferences and about the contributions of
others
• To provide participants with a record of their participation and of notes taken
• To provide the researchers with a record of notes made by participants
• To provide researchers with outline information about the teaching and
learning initiatives reported
The workbooks contained a description of the study, an informed consent form,
space for participants to make notes and five stimuli items:
1. What are the factors driving educational initiatives in ICT education?

2. What are the factors inhibiting educational initiatives in ICT education?

3. Please describe a teaching and learning initiative in which you or your

department are currently involved. (including sub-prompts)

4. Deciding whether your teaching initiative is effective. (including sub-prompts)

5. What issues would be involved in disseminating your initiative to other ICT

educators?
A sample workbook is given in Appendix E .
Items 1, 2 and 5 were used to stimulate open discussion among participants. For
each question, participants were given five minutes to think about and make
notes in response to the item before they were prompted to discuss the issues
involved. As issues were raised and discussed, one of the researchers recorded the
issues on a whiteboard. This often involved negotiation between participants. At
times, the researchers asked for issues to be clarified. The researchers retained

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whiteboard printouts as a data source. Photocopies of these were supplied to
participants for their records.
Items 3 and 4, along with accompanying sub-prompts, were used to help
participants prepare for presentations to the group about specific teaching and
learning initiatives. Sub-prompts for item 3 were the following headings:
• Background of your initiative
• Goals of your initiative
• Life-cycle of your initiative (including figure)
• Sub-prompts for item 4 included the following:
• Strengths of your initiative
• Limitations of your initiative
• Please give details of any planned, current or completed evaluation of your
teaching and learning initiative
Participants were first given fifteen minutes6 to prepare a ten-minute presentation
on their initiative in response to item 3. A blank page was provided for notes
under “Please describe a teaching and learning initiative in which you or your
department are currently involved”. Another blank page was provided for
responses to the remaining prompts for item 3. The life-cycle prompt was
accompanied by an unmarked timeline showing “planning”, “implementing” and
“continuing” from left to right. Participants were encouraged to mark-up the time
line, or to draw other diagrams, as they saw appropriate. E ach participant at the
mini-conference then gave his or her presentation. A few minutes were provided
after each presentation for questions from the group.
For item 4 and its sub-prompts, participants were given seven minutes to prepare
and five minutes to present to the group. Again, after each presentation,
presenters responded to questions from the group. At mini-conferences where the
attendance exceeded seven participants, the group was split into two for these
sessions, with each group moderated by a researcher. The researchers made notes
during these presentations, then summarised the presentations of the other group
once participants had reassembled.

Data sources

Data sources at the mini-conferences included the following:

• Transcribed audio-recordings of discussions (approximately 900 minutes)
• Transcribed workbook entries for each participant (83 in total)
• Whiteboard printouts (or, in some cases, transcriptions) (30 boards in total)

Participants
To recruit ICT educators to the mini-conference program, invitations were sent to
all heads of Australian university departments, schools and divisions where ICT-
related courses are offered. This contact with ICT departments was consistent

6
Times given here are approximations. Actual times varied according to the numbers of participants.
141
 with the requirements of the phase of the research referred to in the project
specifications as E stablishing parameters. Heads contacted included those of
departments of information systems, software engineering and computer science,
for example. The invitations that were sent to department heads described the
target group of staff teaching in ICT-related areas who are involved in teaching
and learning initiatives that aim to improve ICT education. Department heads
were encouraged to circulate invitations to relevant staff members.
In total 83 ICT educators from 51 administrative units (46 departments/schools,
1 faculty, 4 university level education units) in 29 universities (27 public, 2
private) participated in the mini-conference program. Participants included staff
members from a range of academic levels, including all levels of lecturer,
department heads, professors, associate and faculty deans, one pro-vice chancellor
and a small number of instructional designers.
For a number of reasons, participants can be described as a group of ICT
educators who are specifically interested in teaching and learning. First, the
invitation to participate described the target group as staff members who are
involved in teaching and learning initiatives that aim to improve ICT education.
Second, participants self-selected into the study knowing that it focused on
teaching and learning. Finally, the nature of participants’ contributions indicated
that they were not only interested in teaching and learning, but were enthusiastic
about and committed to improving teaching and learning in their disciplines.
Therefore, participants are not a representative sample of ICT educators, but
rather those ICT educators who were both interested in participating in a study
with an education focus and able to attend on one of the days offered.
When informally asked why they attended, participants generally gave reasons
such as, “to find out what other people were doing.” When asked what they had
gained from participating, two benefits were frequently given: an opportunity to
hear about what was going on in other institutions and an opportunity to reflect
on and receive feedback about their own practice. An interesting observation
about the participants is that the majority were from institutions that, prior to the
introduction of the unified national system, were predominantly colleges or
institutes of advanced education, that is, institutions where teaching was the
primary activity.
Of the eighty-two participants, eighty are from government-funded universities.
Of these, fifty are from universities that, prior to the reforms, were predominantly
colleges or institutes of advanced education, while of the thirty participants from
pre-Dawkins universities, at least ten are employed at old CAE campuses. This
bias helps us to describe the participants and it has implications for the findings.

Current innovations in ICT education

This section describes data collection, analysis and reporting methods associated
with the aim to investigate current innovations in ICT education. It should be
remembered that this aim was pursued in the context of a review study.

Data collection

As described above, each mini-conference participant was asked to give a brief,

impromptu presentation on a teaching and learning initiative in which he or she is

142
involved. E ach of the eighty-three participants gave presentations; however, in
some cases, more than one participants presented about the same initiative. In
total, 79 teaching and learning initiatives were presented to the researchers and
other participants.
Data collected on particular teaching and learning initiatives included the written
records from participants’ workbooks and the audio-recordings of participants’
presentations and ensuing discussions. In some cases, further information was
collected from participants after the mini-conferences via email.

Analysis

The review process undertaken focussed on identifying and describing types and
trends, rather than the tailored evaluation of specific innovations. Processes were
also undertaken to ensure that each participant’s contribution to the research was
acknowledged and that particular initiatives were appropriately attributed.

Brief accounts

As a first response to the data collected at the mini-conference on particular

teaching and learning initiatives, brief descriptive accounts were developed for
each initiative. These accounts were based primarily on the information supplied
in participants’ workbooks. In some cases, audio-recordings were also referred to.
The brief accounts were then emailed to respective participants for approval. This
approval processes increased the validity of accounts, enabling clarification of
details and the collection of additional information. Participants were asked to
supply details of the people, institutions or funding who should be acknowledged
and of Web sites where more information about the initiatives could be found.
When initiatives did not have Web sites, those containing the contact details of
the participants were collected. Approved accounts of teaching and learning
initiatives were posted on the Project’s Web-site
(http://cerg.infotech.monash.edu.au/icted/) and appear in Appendix J. Of the
seventy-nine initiatives described, the accounts of fifty were later expressly
approved. No accounts were expressly not approved.

Foci and motivation

Initiatives (both those for which accounts were approved and those that were not)
were then coded according to the reported motivation behind the initiative and
the reported aim or focus of the initiative. Both workbook and audio-recorded
data were used to code initiatives.

Evaluation

Initiatives were then coded according to information supplied about their

evaluation. This involved reviewing the information supplied to determine if a
formal evaluation had been undertaken. For those initiatives that had been
evaluated, evaluation methods were coded. It was also noted whether academic
papers had been produced on the initiatives and whether the initiative was subject
to an investigation linked to formal study, such as doctoral research.

Markers of rigour

143
 Caulley and Lindsay (2001) identify from the qualitative research literature three
key interrelated areas that need to be examined as sources of rigour in qualitative
research: research relationships, data handling and research results. E ach of these
areas, as they pertain to the methods described above, is discussed below. Caulley
and Lindsay’s work is useful here because, although it draws on a wide range of
complex literature on qualitative research, it provides a simple framework for
interrogating research methods. This framework will be used to discuss the rigour
of the research described in each section of this appendix.

Research relationships

In terms of relationships with participants, qualitative research should be open,

honest and fair (Caulley & Lindsay 2001). This requires researchers to critically
examine the research context, the role they play, and the power-relationships
involved. Caulley and Lindsay (2001) suggest considering the relationship
between the researchers and the participants, the interests the research serves, and
the audience of the research. These contextual factors play an important role in
the credibility and trustworthiness of the research.
This Project has many characteristics that led to layers of power differentiation
between the people involved. First, the Project is a national, government-funded
study, so it is of high status and high profile. Second, the Faculty of Information
Technology at Monash University is conducting the research. This Faculty is not
only the largest IT faculty in Australia but one of the largest in the world. Third,
recruitment of participants was conducted via department heads. These
characteristics of the project have implications for the type of ICT educator that
chose to participate, for their motivations for participation and for the quality of
their participation. They bring an element of performance to participation that
would have been less likely to occur in a study of lower status or profile. In fact,
the mini-conferences were sold to potential participants as venues for self-
promotion. Invitations to participate named one of the benefits to participants as
“the opportunity to promote their own teaching and learning initiatives”.
Relationships between participants also involved power differentials. Not all
participants were of equal seniority, with participants varying in rank from Level
A lecturers and tutors to Pro-Vice Chancellor and other administrative levels.
This power differential has implications for the truthfulness of contributions, as
does the fact that participants were drawn from competing university
departments. Possibilities include participants’ overemphasising the positive
attributes of particular initiatives or withholding information.
The relationship between participants and researchers was probably the least
fraught of the research context. The researchers were not peers of the participants,
with neither of them having a background in ICT education. Nor were they
permanent Monash staff; their recruitment for the purpose of implementing this
research project allowed some distancing from the Faculty of Information
Technology at Monash University. E very effort was made to ensure that the
atmosphere at mini-conferences was informal, including the use of “ice-breaking”
warm-up activities. As a result, the mini-conferences generally had a collegial and
collaborative atmosphere.
An important feature of credible and trustworthy qualitative research is quality
engagement in the field. The part of the mini-conferences that focused on
teaching and learning initiatives were not prolonged. Time constraints were such
144
that no more than a basic understanding of the concept of each initiative was
possible. Pursuing alternate accounts of initiatives or other sources of data was
outside of the scope of the study.

Data handling

The methods used to investigate specific teaching and learning initiatives did not
allow for in-depth analysis. They were conducted in the context of a review study
and were constrained by limitations on time and resources. The validity of
accounts of particular initiatives was increased by the use of member check ing. E ach
participant was asked to approve the account of his or her initiative and was
encouraged to make any changes thought necessary. The validity of coding of
teaching and learning initiatives was increased by the use of multiple analysts.

Research results

Qualitative research usually involves in-depth analysis. However, this section of

the mini-conferences did not. Instead, snapshots of particular teaching and
learning initiatives were collected. In the presentation of research results, the
phenomena being described are not specific ICT teaching and learning initiatives,
but instead an overview of educational innovations in ICT disciplines. When
considering issues of transferability, the questions asked should focus on this
intention of the research. That is, rather than asking “how do the conclusions
apply to this other instance of innovation” one should ask “where does this
instance of innovation fit within the description given of the types of innovations
being undertaken generally. Caulley and Lindsay (2001) pointed out that
transference is the responsibility of the reader. It is done after the research has
been reported. In terms of rigour, we should ask, “how well does the reporting of
the research results allow ICT educators to position, or even to better describe,
their own teaching and learning initiatives.”
In terms of fairness of reporting, all participants were acknowledged as innovators
regardless of the relative size or value of the teaching and learning initiatives
described. All initiatives were attributed to the participants who presented them,
with other attributions and acknowledgements made were appropriate. Member
checking was used to clarify details of initiatives and to attribute them
appropriately.
This part of the mini-conference had both educative and catalytic authenticity in
that participants were given the opportunity to learn about the innovative
practices of their peers, to network with peers from other institutions with
common interests, to receive feedback on their own teaching and learning
initiatives and some participants indicated that they would “try out” what they
had heard.

Summary of limitations

The main limitation of the innovations section of the mini-conference research

was the review design. E ngagement with the initiatives was limited and only
sketches of each initiative were developed. While conclusions can be made about
evaluation of educational initiatives generally, the data does not provide for a
tailored evaluation of particular teaching and learning initiatives. The data did
provide for a description of the realm of innovation in ICT education generally,
145
 particularly the types of initiatives being undertaken and the motivation behind
them.
Another limitation was the reliance on participants’ self-reports of initiatives. The
usual limitations of self-report data are aggravated here because of the
performance element introduced by the research context and the study design.

ICT educators’ views

This section describes data collection, analysis and reporting methods associated
with the aim to investigate ICT educators’ views on developments in teaching and
learning and the dissemination of innovation.

Data collection

An open approach to collecting data on ICT educators’ views was used to

increase the salience of factors identified. A qualitative approach ensured that the
data collected on complex and interrelated factors and issues were rich, enabling
detailed descriptions and ensuring a degree of transferability of conclusions. Data
collection for this phase was highly participative, increasing the quality of
engagement with, and the credibility of conclusions about, one of the key
stakeholder groups (ICT educators) in ICT education.
As described above, participants responded to items 1, 2 and 5 by making notes in
their workbooks and then by engaging in open discussions. During discussion,
participants raised and discussed the factors and issues they had noted in their
workbooks. As factors and issues were discussed a moderator from the research
team listed them on an electronic whiteboard. At times this required negotiation
between participants. Whiteboard printouts were collected by the researchers;
copies were provided to participants for their records.

Analysis

A coding process, using NUD*IST V IV O (Qualitative Solutions & Research

1999), was used to reduce the data collected. The aim the coding process was to
reduce the data, so an intelligible account could be produced (Dey 1993). This
objective is distinct from the development of theory: the aim here is
communication. To begin with, a data-up, rather than theory-down, approach was
taken to the analysis. For questions 1, 2 and 5, notes made in participants’
workbooks and whiteboard records of discussions were coded into a large number
of descriptive categories. These categories were then grouped, reducing the data
further. They were then tested against transcriptions of audio-recordings of
discussions, using the constant comparative method (Silverman 2000; Strauss &
Corbin 1997). As data were compared categories were merged and revised. The
resulting small number of categories allowed for the complexity of particular
issues/factors to be captured in each category and examined. Particularly rich
excerpts were coded into multiple categories. To increase the reliability of this
coding process, a co-researcher inspected reports of each code for consistency.

146
 Markers of rigour

The discussion of markers of rigour for this section of the study uses Caulley and
Lindsay’s (Caulley & Lindsay 2001) framework as described earlier.

Research relationships

The key relationships involved in the research context were described above
under Research relationships in the section on Current innovations in ICT education. The
presence of different academic levels in the open discussion sections of the mini-
conferences has possible implications for the candidness of contributions.
However, participants did not appear to be inhibited even when discussing
controversial issues. This is evidenced by participants’ willingness to criticise
management even when their own department heads were present. The
implications of the various power differentials present in the Project are not as
great for these sections of the mini-conferences as they are for those sections
dealing with particular teaching and learning initiatives. The open-discussion
sections involved discussing general issues, whereas the innovations sections
focused on specific initiatives owned by specific participants. In this way,
participants were less vulnerable and the data less likely to be distorted by
participant performance for the open discussion sessions.
Over the period of the mini-conference program, saturation point was reached in
terms of the issues discussed, with the same issues being raised at each mini-
conference.

Data handling

QSR NVIVO (Qualitative Solutions & Research 1999) was used to manage
discussion data. Data included workbook transcripts, whiteboard printouts and
transcripts of the audio recordings of discussions. The whiteboard printouts were
used as a starting point for coding because they contained dot-point records of
each discussion that had been negotiated among and agreed on by participants.
An analysis of whiteboard printouts from discussions at different mini-
conferences provided a starting point for themes that could then be tested against
the richer records found in the audio transcripts. Trustworthiness in the data
analysis was increased through the use of multiple analysts and through peer
review of findings. Findings were peer reviewed in preparation for conference
proceedings. Research reports were also made available to participants for
comment; though, few chose to do so.

Research results

The purpose of the analysis of the discussion data was to provide a coherent
account of the views reported across the mini-conference program. Results were
reported in the form of descriptions for each theme. E xcerpts from the audio
transcripts were given as illustrations of each theme. The presentation of these
themes at seminars elicited recognition in ICT educators who saw the themes as
reflecting their own experiences and views.

Summary of limitations

147
 A main limitation of the open discussion sections of the mini-conferences is the
way in which participants were recruited. Participants self-selected into the study.
We can safely assume that those who participated have an interest in teaching and
learning. Participants were not a random sample of ICT educators and we cannot
safely make assumptions about those ICT educators who chose not to participate.
We do not know why ICT educators might have chosen not to participate.
Possible reasons include unavailability on the days offered, inability to invest the
time required (a whole day), lack of interest in the subject of the study, or failure
of departmental contacts to pass on invitations.
Observations and conclusions made here need to be qualified by an
acknowledgment of the types of people who provided data. However, some
comfort can be taken in the diversity found in those people who did participate,
and in the consistency of issues raised despite this diversity. Participants included
both junior and senior staff from a range of ICT subject areas. Though the
majority of participants were teaching staff, administrators and support staff were
also represented. Both men and women participated (66% and 34% respectively).
Participants were from a large number of universities and each state and territory
was represented. Despite this diversity, the same issues were repeatedly raised at
each mini-conference.
A further limitation to the study is due to the type of data that was collected. The
mini-conferences were used to collect qualitative data only. While they yielded a
rich body of data on issues of concern to ICT educators, we do not have data on
the relative importance of issues.

Reception of the project

The mini-conference program was the first point of contact between the Project
and members of the ICT education community and an important phase in terms of
setting the collaborative tone of the overall project. In total, eighty-three ICT
educators from twenty-nine of Australia’s universities participated in the program.
The number of participants at each mini-conference ranged from four to fourteen,
with fourteen being the maximum number of participants that could be
accommodated on any one day. Only small numbers were attracted to the Hobart
and Darwin mini-conference with only one university existed in Tasmania and the
Northern Territory. The Project team was satisfied that the participants
represented a range of view points from a range of different university
departments. In total, fifty-one administrative units were represented, with
representatives ranging across all academic levels. In terms of the data collected,
saturation point was reached both for the general issues raised and the type and
focus of initiatives presented.
The atmosphere of the mini-conferences was open and congenial. Informal
feedback indicated that participants saw the activities as worthwhile in terms of
the research and also in terms of their own time investment. Two participants
provided unsolicited feedback in writing at the end of the mini-conferences in
which they participated:
A participant in the second Sydney mini-conference wrote:
• I felt the time was well spent
• Well run and facilitated

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• fun/ enjoyable/ challenging
• Met interesting colleagues
• Felt that I learnt more than I gave
• Boosted my enthusiasm and encouraged me to keep on innovating.
A participant in the Adelaide mini-conference wrote:
• well organised/ well run
• open/frank exchange of views
• free flowing format
• useful to hear others’ views/ experience.

149
 APPENDIX E. Mini-conference workbook

IC T- Ed: Inno va tio ns

in IC T e duc a tio n
m ini- c o nfe re nc e
http://cerg.infotech.monash.edu.au/icted

Mo na sh C o nfe re nc e C e ntre , Me lb o urne

Fe b rua ry 12 a nd 14, 2001

MO N A S H U N I V E R S I T
Y
151
 AUSTRALIA

Explanatory Statement

Pro je c t Title : Ed uc a tio na l inno va tio ns in IC T e d uc a tio n – Mini-c o nfe re nc e s.

Inve stig a to rs: Sup e rvising

Julia nne Lync h c o m m itte e : Jud ithe
Se nio r Re se a rc h Fe llo w Ass. Pro f. She a rd
Jo hn Hurst Ass. Pro f.
Fra nc e sc a C o llins
Dia nne Ma lc o lm
Re se a rc h Assista nt
Ha g a n Ele y
Dr. Se lb y Dr. Juha ni
Ma rkha m Tuo vine n
Ainslie Ellis Alliso n
Ang e la Bro w n
C a rb o ne

The C o m p uting Ed uc a tio n Re se a rc h G ro up , in the Fa c ulty o f Info rm a tio n Te c hno lo g y, a t

Mo na sh Unive rsity ha s b e e n c o ntra c te d to inve stig a te te a c hing a nd le a rning initia tive s
w ithin the Info rm a tio n a nd C o m m unic a tio n Te c hno lo g y (IC T) d isc ip line in Austra lia n
Unive rsitie s. This p ro je c t is fund e d b y the De p a rtm e nt o f Ed uc a tio n Tra ining a nd Yo uth
Affa irs (DETYA) thro ug h the Austra lia n Unive rsitie s Te a c hing C o m m itte e (AUTC ). The
p ro je c t is m ulti-fa c e tte d . Info rm a tio n o n the va rio us p ha se s o f the re se a rc h c a n b e
fo und o n o ur We b site a t http :/ / c e rg .info te c h.m o na sh.e d u.a u/ ic te d . The sta te m e nt
tha t fo llo w s c o nc e rns o nly Pha se tw o , w hic h m a ke s use o f m ini-c o nfe re nc e s a s a me a ns
to e sta b lish links w ith a nd b e tw e e n IC T e d uc a to rs a nd to c o lle c t p re lim ina ry d a ta .

A im s:

The a im s o f the m ini-c o nfe re nc e s a re

To identify ICT educators' perceptions of the main factors driving

educational innovations and best practice in the discipline
To identify current teaching and learning initiatives aimed at
improving ICT education
To identify ICT educators' perceptions of the main issues currently
facing the discipline
To identify issues involved in the dissemination of information on
educational innovations and best practice in the discipline
Pa rtic ip a nts:

152
University departments, from across Australia, that are involved in ICT education
will be invited to send teaching staff to attend a one-day mini-conference in their
capital city. Participation will be strictly voluntary. E ach mini-conference will be
attended by ICT educators from a range of universities operating in that region. In
larger cities, two one-day mini-conferences will be held. Abridged versions of the
mini-conferences with ICT educators based in the Northern Territory and in
North Queensland will be conducted via video conferencing technology. The
number of participants at each mini-conference will range from 10-20. The
participants should be those teachers within each department that are involved in
current teaching and learning initiatives.
Mini- c o nfe re nc e struc ture :

The conferences will have three main parts. First, participants will be encouraged
to brainstorm and discuss the main factors driving educational initiatives and best
practice in ICT education. Second, participants will be encouraged to share details
of their own teaching and learning initiatives. Finally, participants will be
encouraged to identify and discuss issues involved in the dissemination of
educational initiatives and the promotion of best practice in the ICT education.
These sessions will be conducted over a day (from 10am to 4pm), with breaks for
morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, provided by the researchers.
Da ta c o lle c tio n:

Sessions will be video- and audio-taped. Audio tapes will be transcribed to

computer files. At times during the mini-conferences, each participant will be
encouraged to note ideas in a workbook containing sections for each part of the
day. Workbooks will be collected by the researchers at the end of the data as a
data source. Participants will be provided with photocopies of their own
workbooks as a record of their participation and future resource.
Re p o rting :

The mini-conferences provide participants with opportunities to show case their

own practice and to receive feedback from their peers. Reporting of particular
educational innovations will be in the context of identifying and promoting best
practice. The researchers anticipate that participants will want their contribution
attributed to themselves, rather than being presented anonymously. All reporting
of particular innovations will be reviewed and approved by the respective
participants before publication. This member-check ing will increase the credibility
(internal validity) of the reporting and will enable participants to amend or restrict
reports of their own practice. If any cases arise where participants wish to be
anonymous, the reporting will accommodate this by the use of pseudonyms.
A final report, covering a larger study of which the mini-conferences are only a
part, will be submitted to DE TYA on December 1, 2001. Smaller, sub-reports
and other documentation will be published on the projects Web page. Data may
also be reported in the form of conference papers and journal articles.

153
 Be ne fits to the p a rtic ip a nts:

The mini-conferences are part of a larger, nation-wide study. This phase of the
study is collaborative in nature, aiming to elicit information from practitioners
about their own teaching and learning initiatives, as well as their own and their
peers' assessments of these initiatives and of the wider context in which they are
developing. Participants are to be consulted as experts and as stakeholders in ICT
education. The collaborative nature of the mini-conferences is intended to set the
tone of the larger study, the ultimate aim of which is to identify and promote best
practice.
Benefits to individual participants include
The opportunity to promote their own teaching and learning
initiatives
The opportunity to learn about initiatives in other institutions
The opportunity to play an active role in a national study which
should serve as a reference for the future directions of the discipline
Inq uirie s:

Please contact Julianne Lynch for more information or with any questions:
Julia nne Lync h
Sc ho o l o f C o m p ute r Sc ie nc e a nd So ftw a re Eng ine e ring
Fa c ulty o f Info rm a tio n Te c hno lo g y
Mo na sh Unive rsity
C a ulfie ld C a mp us
Te l. 9903 1953
Fa x. 9903 1077
Ema il. Juli. Ly nc h@ c sse . m o na sh. e d u. a u

Should you have any complaint concerning the manner in which this research is
conducted, please do not hesitate to contact The Standing Committee on E thics
in Research on humans at the following address:
The Sta nd ing C o m m itte e o n Ethic s in Re se a rc h o n Hum a ns
Mo na sh Unive rsity
We lling to n Ro a d
C la yto n, VIC , 3168
Te le p ho ne (03) 9905 2052
Fa x (03) 9905 1420

154
M O N A S H U N I V E R S I T Y

AUSTRALIA

Informed Consent Form

Pro je c t Title : Ed uc a tio na l inno va tio ns in IC T e d uc a tio n -- Mini-c o nfe re nc e s.

I have read the description of the project and I understand what it involves. I
understand that agreeing to participate means that I will
• Participate in discussions with a small group (approximately 10) of my peers about
educational issues in the ICT discipline. These discussions will be video- and audio-
recorded and recordings will be transcribed. Discussions will be loosely guided by a
workbook, focusing participants on particular issues in ICT education. They will take
place across one day (from 10am to 4pm).
• Provide details about my own teaching in the ICT discipline.
• Keep notes in a pen and paper workbook, to be provided to researchers at the end of
the day. The workbook contains six open-ended questions, intended to prompt
discussion, and space for notes.
• Provide my name, institution and contact information (optional) to the researchers.
These details will be used to identify data and may be used if the researchers need to
contact me to clarify information provided.
I understand that participation is voluntary. I also understand that, at any time
during the project, I am able to withdraw my consent to participate, at which time
all information provided by me will be destroyed.
I c o nse nt to p a rtic ip a te in this p ro je c t

Na m e (p le a se p rint): ___________________________

Sig na ture : ________________________________ Da te : ___________________

I c o nse nt to b e c o nta c te d in the w e e ks fo llo w ing the m ini-c o nfe re nc e

sho uld the inve stig a to rs w ish to c la rify info rm a tio n c o lle c te d a nd p ro vid e m y
p re fe rre d c o nta c t d e ta ils b e lo w .

Institutio n: ________________________ Te l: ___________________________

Em a il: _________________________ Fa x: ___________________________

155
 Ho use ke e ping

To m inim ise inte rrup tio ns to to d a y’ s p ro g ra m w e a sk tha t yo u sw itc h o ff

a ll mo b ile p ho ne s a nd re fra in fro m using PDA’ s a nd la p to p s.

Intro duc tio n

Wa rm- up a c tivity fe e db a c k

156
 Bra insto rm

1. Wha t a re the fa c to rs d riving e d uc a tio na l initia tive s

in IC T e duc a tio n?

2. Wha t a re the fa c to rs inhib iting e duc a tio na l

initia tive s in IC T e duc a tio n?

157
 No te s

158
 Te a c hing a nd le a rning initia tive s

3. Ple a se d e sc rib e a te a c hing a nd le a rning initia tive

in whic h yo u o r yo ur de pa rtm e nt a re c urre ntly
invo lve d .

159
3.1 Ba c kg ro und o f initia tive

3.2 G o a ls o f initia tive

3.3 Life -c yc le o f yo ur initia tive

Pla nning Im p le m e nting C o ntinua tio n

160
 4. De c iding whe the r yo ur te a c hing initia tive is
e ffe c tive .

4.1 Stre ng ths o f yo ur initia tive

4.2 Lim ita tio ns o f yo ur initia tive

4.3 Ple a se g ive d e ta ils o f a ny p la nne d , c urre nt o r c o m p le te d e va lua tio n

o f yo ur te a c hing a nd le a rning initia tive

161
 No te s

162
 Disse m ina tio n

5. Wha t issue s wo uld b e invo lve d in disse m ina ting yo ur

initia tive to o the r IC T e duc a to rs?

163
 C o ntinua tio n

6. Wha t fa c to rs will influe nc e the future o f yo ur

initia tive ?

164
 O the r initia tive s

Inno va tive c o lle a g ue s

Re le va nt We b site s

Tha nk yo u fo r p a rtic ip a ting in the AUTC IC T Ed uc a tio n p ro je c t.

Yo ur c o ntrib utio ns will fo rm the b a se s o f furthe r sta g e s in the
p ro je c t a nd will, the re fo re , c o ntrib ute to the p ro mo tio n o f
c o lla b o ra tio n a nd d isse mina tio n o f inno va tive p ra c tic e in IC T
e d uc a tio n. Yo ur p a rtic ip a tio n is muc h a p p re c ia te d .

165
APPENDIX F. Statistical tables for industry
survey data

Data from those respondents whose organisations employ

recent ICT graduates
Tables F1 – F29 refer to data obtained from respondents whose organisations do
employ recent ICT graduates.

Demographics

Table F1. Respondents’ business size

Bu sin e ss siz e
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
less t han 6 15 7. 5 7. 5
6 t o 20 42 20.9 28.4
21 t o 99 41 20.4 48.8
100 or m ore 103 51.2 100.0
Tot al 201 100.0
Missing 7

Table F2. Respondents’ industry type

I ndust r y t ype
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Com m unicat ion services 15 7. 5 7. 5
Cult ural & recreat ional services 5 2. 5 10.0
Educat ion 38 18.9 28.9
Elect r icit y, gas & w at er supply 3 1. 5 30.3
Finance & insur ance 13 6. 5 36.8
Governm ent adm inist rat ion & 27 13.4 50.2
d ef en ce
Healt h & com m unit y services 6 3. 0 53.2
Manufact uring 3 1. 5 54.7
Personal & ot her services 4 2. 0 56.7
Propert y & business services 11 5. 5 62.2
Ret ail t rade 3 1. 5 63.7
Tr anspor t & st or age 1 .5 64.2
Ot her 72 35.8 100.0
Tot al 201 100.0
Missing 7

167
 Table F3. Respondents’ state
St a t e
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
ACT 16 7. 8 7. 8
NSW 50 24.4 32.2
NT 4 2. 0 34.1
Qld 30 14.6 48.8
SA 20 9. 8 58.5
Tas 7 3. 4 62.0
Vic 60 29.3 91.2
WA 16 7. 8 99.0
Not in Aust 2 1. 0 100.0
Tot al 205 100.0
Missing 3

Table F4. Respondents’ region

Region
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Capit al cit y 146 83.0 83.0
Regional cent re 21 12.0 94.9
Rural 8 5. 0 100.0
Tot al 175 100.0
Missing 33

Table F5. Respondents’ level of education

Educa t ion
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Cer t ificat e 9 4. 5 4. 5
Diploma 9 4. 5 9. 0
Degree 90 45.2 54.3
Higher degree 88 44.2 98.5
Ot her 3 1. 5 100.0
Tot al 199 100.0
Missing 9

Table F6. Organisation’s contact with universities through industrial

experience
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Yes 102 51.0 51.0
No 81 40.5 91.5
DK 17 8. 5 100.0
Tot al 200 100.0
Missing 13

168
Table F7. Organisation’s contact with universities through Committees
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 46 25.4 25.4
No 107 59.1 84.5
DK 28 15.5 100.0
Tot al 181 100.0
Missing 32

Table F8. Organisation’s contact with universities through Research &

Development
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 54 29.3 29.3
No 105 57.1 86.4
DK 25 13.6 100.0
Tot al 184 100.0
Missing 29

Table F9. Organisation’s contact with universities through Consulting

Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 50 27.8 27.8
No 107 59.4 87.2
DK 23 12.8 100.0
Tot al 180 100.0
Missing 33

169
 Skills, expectations and outcomes

Table F10. Importance of skills in ICT graduates

Skill/ know ledge
N Min Max Mean SD Sk e w Kur t
Skills in par t icular 200 1 5 3.62 1.15 - 0.53 - 0.52
com pu t er lan gu ages
Skills in par t icular 199 1 5 3.51 1.02 - 0.23 - 0.43
sof t w ar e applicat ion s
Fou n dat ion in 176 1 5 3.90 1.02 - 0.74 - 0.01
t heor et ical pr inciples
Abilit y t o com m unicat e 205 2 5 4.60 0.65 - 1.58 2.04
w it h client s
Wr it t en com m unicat ion 205 2 5 4.37 0.72 - 1.01 0.78
skills
Abilit y t o w or k in t eam s 205 2 5 4.55 0.62 - 1.19 0.94

Pr oj ect m an agem en t 202 1 5 3.60 0.97 - 0.20 - 0.63

skills
Pr oblem solv ing sk ills 204 3 5 4.66 0.51 - 1.12 0.15

Un der st an din g of 205 1 5 3.72 0.87 - 0.28 - 0.33

b u sin ess p r ocesses
Pr epar edn ess f or qu ick 204 1 5 3.85 0.87 - 0.57 0.23
en t r y in t o j ob t ask s
Sk ills in lan gu ages ot h er 196 1 5 1.89 0.87 0.63 - 0.25
t h an En glish
Ot her Skills 13 1 5 4.15 1.28 - 1.74 2.42

170
Table F11. Extent to which recent ICT graduates meet organisation’s needs
Skill/ know ledge
N Min Max Mean SD Sk e w Kur t
Skills in par t icular 171 2 5 3.71 .84 - .289 - .445
com pu t er lan gu ages
Skills in par t icular 179 1 5 3.55 .91 - .277 - .540
sof t w ar e applicat ion s
Fou n dat ion in 160 1 5 3.73 .85 - .323 - .109
t heor et ical pr inciples
Abilit y t o com m unicat e 192 1 5 3.42 .95 .024 - .607
w it h client s
Wr it t en com m unicat ion 194 1 5 3.28 .95 .057 - .572
skills
Abilit y t o w or k in t eam s 194 1 5 3.75 .88 - .552 .155

Pr oj ect m an agem en t 182 1 5 2.86 .97 - .113 - .505

skills
Pr oblem solv ing sk ills 195 1 5 3.70 .85 - .482 - .051

Un der st an din g of 182 1 5 2.90 .94 - .002 - .277

b u sin ess p r ocesses
Pr epar edn ess f or qu ick 190 1 5 3.41 1.03 - .267 - .355
en t r y in t o j ob t ask s
Sk ills in lan gu ages ot h er 96 1 5 3.22 1.35 - .278 - .964
t h an En glish
Ot her Skills 7 2 4 3.14 .69 - .174 .336

Table F12. Satisfaction with graduates

Sour ce of sa t isfa ct ion
N Min Max Mean SD Sk e w Kur t
Ov er all per for m an ce of t h ese 196 2 5 3.87 .80 - . 484 - .049
g r ad u at es
Per for m an ce com par ed t o 100 1 5 3.68 .96 - .354 - .478
g r ad u at es in ot h er
disciplines

171
 Table F13. Outcome variables
Variable
N Min Max Mean SD Sk e w Kur t
Wou ld y ou r ecom m en d t h at 202 1 5 4.33 .97 - 1.620 2.419
p eop le seek in g a car eer in
t h e I CT in du st r y do a
u n iv er sit y I CT degr ee?
Wou ld y ou r ecom m en d t h e 191 1 5 4.12 .89 - 1.260 2.214
I CT gr adu at es y ou r
or gan isat ion h as em ploy ed
t o ot h er em ploy er s?
How r esp on siv e ar e 146 1 5 3.05 1.09 - .501 - .367
univ er sit y I CT depar t m ent s
t o t h e n eed s of y ou r
indust r y ?
Wh at is t h e lik elih ood of y ou r 193 1 5 4.41 .92 - 1.605 1.954
or gan isat ion con t in u in g t o
em ploy univ er sit y I CT
g r ad u at es?

Table F14. Other variables

Variable
N Min Max Mean SD Sk e w Kur t
As f ar as y ou k n ow , d oes 201 1 5 1.72 .69 1.161 3.511
y ou r or gan isat ion h av e
difficult y finding I CT
g r ad u at es t o m eet it s
n eed s?
Br oad edu cat ion in I CT 188 1 5 3.98 .82 - .920 1.093
fur t her t o t echnical sk ills
Th eor et ical back gr ou n d t o 177 1 5 2.98 1.12 .045 - . 632
su p p or t r esear ch an d
dev elopm en t
Pot en t ial t o con t r ibu t e t o 193 1 5 4.06 .82 - .799 .720
fu t u r e dir ect ion s of t h e
or gan isat ion
Tim e needed fr om ent r y t o 194 1 5 2.65 1.01 .245 - .440
pr oduct iv it y

172
Statistical analyses

Table F15. Important Skills - Difference from assumed mean 3.0

Skill/ know ledge
t df Sig. Mean
( 2 - t ailed) D iffe r e nce
Sk ills in par t icular com put er 7.654 199 .000 .62
lan g u ag es
Sk ills in par t icular soft w ar e 6.990 198 .000 .51
applicat ion s
Fou n dat ion in t h eor et ical pr in ciples 11.709 175 .000 .90

Abilit y t o comm unicat e w it h client s 34.893 204 .000 1.60

Wr it t en com m unicat ion sk ills 27.249 204 .000 1.37

Abilit y t o w or k in t eam s 35.756 204 .000 1.55

Pr oj ect m anagem ent sk ills 8.868 201 .000 .60

Pr oblem solv ing sk ills 46.164 203 .000 1.66

Un d er st an d in g of b u sin ess 11.832 204 .000 .72

p r ocesses

Pr epar edn ess f or qu ick en t r y in t o 14.006 203 .000 .85

j ob t ask s
Sk ills in lan gu ages ot h er t h an - 17.747 195 .000 - 1.11
English

Ot her Skills 3.248 12 .007 1.15

173
 Table F16. Meet company’s needs - Difference from assumed mean 3.0
Skill/ know ledge
t df Sig. Mean
( 2 - t ailed) D iffe r e nce
Sk ills in par t icular com put er 10.951 170 .000 .71
lan g u ag es
Sk ills in par t icular soft w ar e 8.024 178 .000 .55
applicat ion s
Fou n dat ion in t h eor et ical pr in ciples 10.835 159 .000 .73

Abilit y t o com m unicat e w it h client s 6.145 191 .000 .42

Wr it t en com m unicat ion sk ills 4.142 193 .000 .28

Abilit y t o w or k in t eam s 11.863 193 .000 .75

Pr oj ect m anagem ent sk ills - 1.987 181 .048 - .14

Pr oblem solv ing sk ills 11.418 194 .000 .70

Un d er st an d in g of b u sin ess - 1.418 181 .158 .00

p r ocesses

Pr epar edn ess f or qu ick en t r y in t o 5.406 189 .000 .41

j ob t ask s
Sk ills in lan gu ages ot h er t h an 1.591 95 .115 .22
English

Ot her Skills .548 6 .604 .14

Table F17. Satisfaction - Difference from assumed mean 3.0

Sour ce of sa t isfa ct ion
t df Sig. Mean
( 2 - t ailed) D iffe r e nce
Ov er all per for m an ce of t h ese 15.206 195 .000 .87
g r ad u at es
Per f or m an ce com par ed t o gr adu at es 7.063 99 .000 .68
in ot her disciplines

174
Table F18. Outcome measures - Difference from assumed mean 3.0
Outcome variable
t df Sig. Mean
(2-tailed) Difference
Would you recommend that people 19.427 201 .000 1.33
seeking a career in the ICT industry do a
university ICT degree
Would you recommend the ICT graduates 17.262 190 .000 1.12
your organisation has employed to other
employers?
How responsive are university ICT .609 145 .544 .00
departments to the needs of your
industry?
What is the likelihood of your organisation 21.338 192 .000 1.41
continuing to employ university ICT
graduates?

Table F19. Other variables - Difference from assumed mean 3.0

Va r ia ble s
t df Sig. Mean
( 2 - t ailed) D iffe r e nce
Br oad edu cat ion in I CT fu r t h er t o 16.506 187 .000 .98
t echnical skills
Th eor et ical back gr ou n d t o su ppor t - .268 176 .789 .00
r esear ch an d d ev elop m en t
Pot en t ial t o con t r ibu t e t o f u t u r e 17.958 192 .000 1.06
dir ect ion s of t h e or gan isat ion
Tim e needed fr om ent r y t o - 4.775 193 .000 - .35
pr oduct iv it y

175
 Regression

Table F20. SATISFACTION and NEEDS Coefficients

Skill/ know ledge
B St d. Bet a t sig
Er r or
( Con st an t ) .640 .500 1.279 .206

Sk ills in par t icular com put er .109 .110 .123 0.992 .325
lan g u ag es
Sk ills in par t icular soft w ar e .184 .087 .229 2.116 .039
applicat ion s
Fou n dat ion in t h eor et ical pr in ciples .00 .096 .012 0.108 .914

Abilit y t o com m unicat e w it h client s .238 .113 .315 2.112 .039

Wr it t en com m unicat ion sk ills .00 .111 - .017 - 0.117 .907

Abilit y t o w or k in t eam s .00 .112 .016 0.125 .901

Pr oj ect m anagem ent sk ills .00 .084 - .061 - 0.530 .598

Pr oblem solv ing sk ills .258 .104 .288 2.477 .016

Un d er st an d in g of b u sin ess .00 .107 .024 0.172 .864

p r ocesses

Pr epar edn ess f or qu ick en t r y in t o .177 .082 .235 2.174 .034

j ob t ask s
Sk ills in lan gu ages ot h er t h an .00 .052 - .059 - .609 .545
English
Dependent Variable: Overall Satisfaction with performance

176
Importance in graduates versus Meeting organisation’s needs

Note Gap data recoded to = 0 no gap or negative gap

> 0 is some gap

Table F21. Skills in particular computer languages

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 104 61.2 61.2
1.00 46 27.1 88.2
2.00 16 9. 4 97.6
3.00 4 2. 4 100.0
Tot al 170 100.0
Missing 38
208

Table F22. Skills in particular software applications

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 113 64.6 64.6
1.00 43 24.6 89.1
2.00 14 8. 0 97.1
3.00 5 2. 9 100.0
Tot al 175 100.0
Missing 33
208

177
 Table F23. Foundation in theoretical principles
Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 88 57.1 57.1
1.00 44 28.6 85. 7
2.00 20 13.0 98.7
3.00 2 1. 3 100.0
Tot al 154 100.0
Missing 54
208

Table F24. Ability to communicate with clients

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 53 27.6 27.6
1.00 66 34.4 62.0
2.00 49 25.5 87.5
3.00 22 11.5 99.0
4.00 2 1. 0 100.0
Tot al 192 100.0
Missing 16
208

Table F25. Written communication skills

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 59 30.4 30.4
1.00 68 35.1 65.5
2.00 39 20.1 85.6
3.00 25 12.9 98.5
4.00 3 1. 5 100.0
Tot al 194 100.0
Missing 14
208

178
Table F26. Ability to work in teams
Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 73 37.6 37.6
1.00 80 41.2 78.9
2.00 29 14.9 93.8
3.00 10 5. 2 99.0
4.00 2 1. 0 100.0
Tot al 194 100.0
Missing 14
208

Table F27. Project management skills

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 74 41.1 41.1
1.00 55 30.6 71.7
2.00 35 19.4 91.1
3.00 14 7. 8 98.9
4.00 2 1. 1 100.0
Tot al 180 100.0
Missing 28
208

Table F28. Problem solving skills

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 62 32.0 32.0
1.00 82 42.3 74.2
2.00 37 19.1 93.3
3.00 12 6. 2 99.5
4.00 1 .5 100.0
Tot al 194 100.0
Missing 14
208

179
 Table F29. Understanding of business processes
Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 75 41.2 41.2
1.00 49 26.9 68.1
2.00 41 22.5 90.7
3.00 12 6. 6 97.3
4.00 5 2. 7 100.0
Tot al 182 100.0
Missing 26
208

Table F30. Preparedness for quick entry into job tasks

Ga p
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
.00 97 51.3 51.3
1.00 58 30.7 82.0
2.00 22 11.6 93.7
3.00 10 5. 3 98.9
4.00 2 1. 1 100.0
Tot al 189 100.0
Missing 19
208

Those respondents whose organisations do not employ

recent ICT graduates

Demographics

Table F31. Respondent’s business size

Size
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
less t han 6 163 54.9 54.9
6 t o 20 69 23.2 78.1
21 t o 99 25 8. 4 86.5
100 or m ore 40 13.5 100.0
Tot al 297 100.0

180
Table F32. Respondent’s industry type
I ndust ry
Frequency Valid Cum ulat ive
Percent Percent
Accom m odat ion , cafes & r est au r an t s 1 .3 .3
Agr icult ur e, for est r y & fishing 2 .7 1. 0
Com m unicat ion ser v ices 36 12.3 13.3
Con st r u ct ion 4 1. 4 14.7
Cu lt u r al & r ecr eat ion al ser v ices 11 3. 8 18.4
Edu cat ion 25 8. 5 27.0
Elect r icit y , gas & w at er supply 1 .3 27.3
Finance & insur ance 8 2. 7 30.0
Gov er nm ent adm inist r at ion & defence 10 3. 4 33.4
Healt h & com m unit y ser v ices 8 2. 7 36.2
Man ufact ur ing 6 2. 0 38.2
Mining 5 1. 7 39.9
Per son al & ot h er ser v ices 16 5. 5 45.4
Pr oper t y & bu sin ess ser v ices 30 10.2 55.6
Ret ail t r ade 13 4. 4 60.1
Tr an sp or t & st or ag e 4 1. 4 61.4
Wh olesale t r ad e 1 .3 61.8
Ot h er 112 38.2 100.0
Tot al 293 100.0
Missing 4

Table F33. Respondent’s state

St a t e
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
ACT 14 4. 7 4. 7
NSW 71 24.1 28.8
NT 7 2. 4 31.2
Qld 56 19.0 50.2
SA 22 7. 5 57.6
Tas 4 1. 4 59.0
Vic 89 30.2 89.2
WA 31 10.5 99.7
Not in Aust 1 .3 100.0
Tot al 295 100.0
Missing 2

Table F34. Respondent’s region

Region
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Capit al cit y 191 71.3 71.3
Regional cent re 55 20.5 91.8
Rural 22 8. 2 100.0
Tot al 268 100.0
Missing 29

181
 Table F35. Respondent’s level of education
Edu ca t ion
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Cer t ificat e 33 11.2 11.2
Diploma 40 13.6 24.8
Degree 110 37.4 62.2
Higher degree 76 25.9 88.1
Ot her 10 3. 4 91.5
None 25 8. 5 100.0
To t al 294 100.0
Missing 3

Table F36. Respondent’s contact with universities through Industrial

Experience
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 22 7. 7 7. 7
No 254 88.8 96.5
DK 10 3. 5 100.0
Tot al 286 100.0
Missing 19

Table F37. Respondent’s contact with universities through Committees

Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 19 6. 6 6. 6
No 256 89.2 95.8
DK 12 4. 2 100.0
Tot al 287 100.0
Missing 18

Table F38. Respondent’s contact with universities through Research &

Development
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 17 6. 0 6. 0
No 253 90.0 96.1
DK 11 3. 9 100.0
Tot al 281 100.0
Missing 24

182
Table F39. Respondent’s contact with universities through Consulting
Con t a ct
Fr e qu e n cy Va lid Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t Pe r ce n t
Yes 29 10.4 10.4
No 240 85.7 96.1
DK 11 3. 9 100.0
Tot al 280 100.0
Missing 25

Table F40. Anticipated future employment of ICT graduates

Ant icipa t e d
fut ure
r e cr u it m e nt
Fr e qu e n cy Pe r ce n t Cu m u la t ive
Pe r ce n t
Definit ely will not 44 14.4 15.6
2 53 17.4 34.4
3 83 27.2 63.8
4 48 15.7 80.9
Definit ely will 22 7. 2 88.7
DK 32 10.5 100.0
Tot al 282 92.5
Missing 23 7. 5

183
APPENDIX G. Methodology – Graduate
interviews
In this section the aims, data collection methods, participants, analyses and
reporting techniques are described for the part of the study that used semi-
structured interviews to identify themes and issues in recent ICT graduates’
stories about their careers and the role played by their courses. The main
limitations of the methods used are then outlined. The methods described here
correspond with the second part of the phase referred to in Table 1 (Section 1) as
graduate satisfaction. This phase involved a review of literature on graduate
satisfaction and an investigation of graduates’ views of the role their courses
played in their career paths. The methods used to investigate graduates’ views
were implemented as a direct response to a suggestion of members of the Project’s
Steering Committee, who suggested we conduct interviews with a small sample of
graduates instead of attempting a major survey with this hard-to-access group.
This represents a significant departure from the design proposed in the original
Project specifications document.

Participants
Graduates were identified using the Project team’s own networks. E fforts were
made to maximise variation among graduates: the criteria for variation were
graduate destination and graduate type. Graduate destination varied according to the
size of the business for which the graduate worked, ranging from micro businesses
(with six or fewer employees, including sole traders) to large businesses (with one-
hundred or more people employees). Graduate status varied according to
discipline of study (computer science and software engineering, information
systems, or electrical engineering). Comparative data were also collected from a
small number of non-graduates and a small number of graduates from non-ICT
disciplines. These individuals were employed in the graduate destinations
identified above. The research team’s own networks were used to identify
graduates who met the criteria.

G raduate type
Participants were eleven men and two women aged between 21 and 28 who have
recently joined the ICT industry. Of the thirteen, eight had studied Computer
Science and/or Software E ngineering (CSSE ), two had studied Information
Systems (IS), one had studied E lectrical E ngineering, one had studied Biological
Science and one had no tertiary qualification. Four of the male participants had
commenced, but not completed their degrees in Software E ngineering,
Information Systems and E lectrical E ngineering. Three of these participants do
not intend completing their degrees in the near future. Of the CSSE graduates,
four had commenced degrees in other disciplines, for example, engineering and
digital systems, before transferring to computing degrees.

185
 G raduate Destination
Seven of the participants are employed by large organisations (100+ employees)
as analysts, sales professionals and programmers. One works as in a small
business as a software developer. The remaining three work for micro
organisations (< 5 employers), small businesses (< 20 employees) or as sole-
traders contracting to larger companies. Table maps those graduates interviewed
according to graduate destination and graduate type.

Table G1. Summary of interviewees by graduate destination and graduate

type combinations
Micro (< 6) Small (6-20) Medium (21-99) Large (100+ )

CS/SE 2 1 - 5

IS/BS - - - 2

E lec E ng 1 - - -

Non-ICT grad 1 - - -

Non grad 1 - - -

CS/SE = Computer Science and/or Software E ngineering; IS/BS = Information Systems/Business

Systems; E lect E ng = E lectrical or E lectronic E ngineering; Non-ICT grad = a degree from a non-ICT
discipline; Non grad = no formal tertiary qualification

While the participants represent a convenience sample, their training covers a

broad range of levels and specialisations. For example, levels of training
represented include: no formal training, industry certificates, diplomas, pass
degrees and honours degrees. Areas of specialisation represented include: software
testing and quality assurance, programming, payroll systems administration, web
development, software development, pre-sales engineering, database
administration and financial/business analyst. Although Monash networks were
used to identify graduates, interviewees had studied ICT-based degrees in five
Melbourne-based universities representing a range of university types. Using
Marginson and Considine’s (2000) nomenclature, the universities types
represented include one Sandstone (established pre-war), one Redbrick
(established post-war), one Gumtree (established 1960-75), one Unitech (former
Institute of Technology) and on New university (former CAE ).

Data collection
The aim of the graduate interviews was to explore graduates’ beliefs about their
current positions and their career paths and their attitudes towards their degrees.
The approach taken was intended to identify those factors that ICT graduates
view as having affected their ability to find employment and their preparedness
for work.
Semi-structured conversational interviews (Patton 1990) were used to collect
graduates’ accounts of their career histories. Open-ended prompts were used to
elicit participants’ stories about background factors, such as family, schooling,
university education and work history, and to encourage them to reflect on the
role that these factors played in their careers. Prompts included instructions such
as, “So you are a Software Developer in a small business, tell me the story of how
you got to this point”. With participants’ permission interviews were audio-

186
recorded. E ach interview ran for approximately one hour and was conducted in a
location convenient to the interviewee. Follow-up telephone calls or emails were
used to clarify details or to fill in any gaps where necessary.

Analysis
Narrative-analytical accounts (Bassey 1999) of each participant’s career history
were constructed from the audio-recordings. Accounts included sections on
back ground (including current living situation, parents’ occupations, significant
childhood memories, recreational interests, etc.), schooling, university education,
employment history and aspirations. In some cases, interpretations and character
generalisations were included. For example, an account might describe an
interviewee as “enjoying challenges” or as “reserved”. Once compiled, accounts
were returned to participants to be approved. Participants were free to make
corrections and to add or delete sections.
Common themes across graduates’ stories were then identified using the constant
comparative method (Silverman 2000; Strauss & Corbin 1997). Using NUDIST
NVIVO (Qualitative Solutions & Research 1999), passages from each narrative
account were coded into emerging themes and issues. Reports on codes were then
examined and codes were merged and revised. The final coding system reflects
those themes observed across graduates’ stories and those issues identified as
salient to participants.

Limitations
The methods used to identify common themes in graduates’ experiences and
salient issues in their reflections on their careers and courses have three main
limitations. These limitations concern the methods used to select graduates and
the quality of engagement. E ach is discussed below.

Selection methods
The Project team’s own networks were used to identify graduates. This method
was used for its convenience because it was anticipated that once graduates had
completed their degrees, they would be difficult to locate. E ven using our own
networks, it was extremely difficult to find current contact details for potential
participants. As a result of this approach to identifying potential participants, all
interviewees were working in Melbourne and all had lived and studied in
Melbourne. Seven of the participants were Monash graduates. This is a limitation
because the majority of interviewees’ were reflecting on their experiences at the
same institution, so themes and issues are more likely to reflect the nature of the
degrees offered at Monash. For example, five of the interviewees had graduated
from the same Monash course. This course involved an industry experience
program that was run as a subject, in parallel with other subjects, so comments
about industry experience reflect the structure of this particular program. Only
one interviewee had completed industry experience that was significantly different
in how it was structured. This example shows how there was little opportunity to
contrast different programs or experiences.

187
 Q uality of engagement
E ach interviewee participated in only one interview that lasted approximately one
hour. The length of interviews was restricted by interviewees’ availability.
Interviews usually took place in interviewees’ lunch hours or after work. In
qualitative research, this length of time in a single setting would not usually be
seen as quality engagement, but given the restrictions on the availability of
interviewees, or who were currently working in the ICT industry, and our own
time and resource restrictions, longer periods were not possible. The limitations
associated with the period of engagement were reduced by the use of follow-up
phone calls or emails, where issues arising from, or events described in, interviews
could be probed further. A further point in defence of the approach taken is that
the aim of the graduate interviews was not to build a rich picture of a particular
case (ie. intrinsic case study (Bassey 1999)), but to identify broad themes and issues
that could be examined in subsequent research. Descriptions are not thick enough
to do any more than this.
A further limitation to the quality of engagement is that the compilation of
particular interviewees’ stories relied solely on the self-report of the interviewee.
No collaboration was sought from other sources. Member-checking was used to
confirm the validity of inferences made by the researchers; however, this does not
move beyond the confirmation of a self-reported account. Interviews were
conducted using a conversational style and an open approach to questioning.
They were conducted in informal settings chosen by the interviewees. It is hoped
that these factors increased the candidness of interviews.

188
APPENDIX H. Broad context of university
teaching in Australia
Over the last fifteen years, Australia’s universities have been subject to extensive
and multi-facetted change. These changes parallel those experienced by the
university sectors in most developed countries around the world. They include
• Increasing mass education and increasing government focus on vocational
education
• The changing policy environment for the funding and governance of higher
education
• The advance of information and communication technologies
The pressures leading to these changes in Australia are evidenced in and
acknowledged by a series of Government reviews and reports (eg. Dawkins 1988;
Dawkins 1989; Hoang et al. 1998; Vanstone 1996; West 1998). They have been
widely described and discussed in academic literature, the popular press and
government reports.

Increasing mass education and increasing government

focus on vocational education
Participation in higher education has been increasing in all countries since the
post war era. Shattock (1995) observed that, in nearly all countries, universities
are suffering “something of an identity crisis” under the pressures associated with
the rapid increases in student numbers. Figures for Australia can be found in
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1997; 1999; 2000), E veringham (1999) and K emp
(2001, May 17). Coaldrake (2000) wrote that,
Throughout the period of the 1960s and 1970s, the Australian
university system was grown rapidly to meet the needs of the 'baby
boomer' generation and higher education was generally seen by
government to be an important component of nation building. ...
Since that time there have been changes in the volume of students
moving from secondary school to higher education, and a significant
increase in the numbers of older students, many of whom are
returning to higher education, looking for professionally-related
programs to build on their earlier studies.
Australian government policy documents have pointed variously to access and
equity and to the health of the economy as rationales for this growth. Dawkins’
papers (1988; 1989) described a need for further growth, referring to an unmet
demand for higher education, forecast growth in population numbers in the 17-19
year age group, increasing demands from older age groups, increased rates of
school retention to Year 12, increasing demand for adult training, increasing
demands of industry for higher education graduates, and increasing numbers of

189
 full-fee paying overseas students. This rationale has been criticised, with many
commentators noting more pragmatic explanations:
In order to absorb greater and greater numbers of those school-
leavers unable to find jobs in open employment, the university
system was required to take more domestic entrants. Although this
was couched in terms of a greater social commitment to the 'clever
country' and improved 'human capital' for the workforce, time
investment in apprenticeship training by government and industry
fell at the save, suggesting a more pragmatic explanation for the
enrolment explosion. (Marginson & Considine 2000, p.28)
The Green Paper proposed that, “Australia’s annual output of higher education
graduates [be increased] from the [1988 levels] of about 88 000 to about 125 000
by the turn of the century” (Dawkins 1989, p.13). This target was reached in 1993
(K emp 1998). By 1998, 671 853 students were attending Australia’s publicly-
funded universities (Kemp 2001).
Bessant (1996) argued that the increasing numbers of enrolments, together with
the need to compete with resources led to “an over-stressed system at all levels”
(Online Document). Marginson and Considine explained that, “New entrants
were simply allowed to flow into existing courses and institutions with little
attention to career options or ways to mark out a new pathway for less
academically formed students” (Marginson & Considine 2000, p.29).
Coupled with the increasing numbers of places in higher education is an increasing
government focus on vocational education. Dawkins’Green and White Papers
(1988; 1989) are generally regarded as a turning point that crystallised movements
towards the privileging of the economic value of education over other types of
value. The focus on economic value is a challenge to the traditional values of
universities and raises question about what purpose(s) higher education should
serve. Marginson and Considine (2000) remind us that, as early as the Martin
Report (1964), skill and professional development were described as a national
resource “to be developed and exploited like any other" (p.23). The Labor
Government’s focus on “human capital” and the economic value of education
came to the fore with Dawkins’ papers. Bessant (1996) noted that by the late
1980s, the Labor Government had placed the education system at the centre of
economic reform.
More recently, the economic advantage to be gained from education has been fore
grounded not only in terms of advantages to Australian society but also in terms
of individual gain (Crittenden 1999). While the seeds of this change of focus can
be seen in Dawkins’ papers, particularly in the introduction of the Higher E ducation
Contribution Scheme (HE CS), it is more clearly evident in the Howard Liberal
Government’s Higher E ducation Budget Statement 1996 (Vanstone 1996) in
statements such as, “current funding arrangements do not provide a fair balance
between the public and private benefits derived from higher education” (Online
document) and in legislation that allowed for Australian students to pay full-fees
for university courses.
Symes (1999) described this focus on the economic value of university education,
both for the wider economy and for individuals, and the subsequent changes in
the focus of teaching and learning and in the marketing of education, as the
vocationalisation of the university, in which “the dominant imperative is learning for
employment” (p.241). E mployers or industry groups are seen as stakeholders in

190
education, and industry needs are seen as the key driver of students’ needs as
future job seekers.
Information and Communication-based university departments and faculties in
part owe their growth to the massification and the vocationalisation of university
education. With the diffusion of computer-based technologies across society,
graduates skilled in ICT are required for growth in the economy. Skill shortages in
this area continue to be reported and forecast (see discussion in Section 2). This
opportunity is also one for employment growth. With the rapid expansion of the
number of students taking ICT-based courses, ICT has developed from a specialty
area located in Science and E ngineering faculties to a discipline in its own right.

The changing policy environment for the funding and

governance of higher education
The policy environment that supports the funding and governance of universities
in Australia has been subject to dramatic change over the last fourteen years. The
Labour Government reforms of the late 1980’s led to the formation of thirty-six
large universities from the numerous higher education institutions that had
previously existed. This rationalisation of the higher education sector was
accompanied by cuts to government funding and a need for universities to
compete for this funding, the introduction of student co-payments (HE CS) and
the introduction of formulae and targets that allowed for more centralised control
of universities. These changes have been described as the corporatisation of
universities. Marginson and Considine (2000) wrote:
Universities are no longer governed by legislation: they are more
commonly ruled by formulae, incentives, targets and plans. These
mechanisms are more amenable to executive-led re-engineering than
are the deliberations of a council or an academic board, and less
accessible to counter-strategies of resistance. They also fit with
management-controlled tools such as soft money budgets,
commercial companies, temporary institutes for research or teaching,
fund-raising and marketing campaigns, all drawn together in a
complex web of accountability tied only to the senior executive
office. (2000, p.10)
The competition that was encouraged between universities, for funding and for
students, was meant to improve their responsiveness to the needs of the
workplace and to enhance productivity and quality (Marginson & Considine
2000). Competition for funding has been facilitated by increasing demands for
accountability and quality reporting. These changes have been seen by many as
challenges to traditions of collegiality, institutional autonomy and academic
freedom (Bessant 1996, Online Document). Marginson and Considine (2000)
wrote, “The modernisation of management and the extension of economic
responsiveness seem inextricably linked to the faltering of academic identity, to
reliance on money as the meta-measure of value, and a corrosive cynicism about
individual motives and social purposes” (p.14).
The Vanstone budget statement (Vanstone 1996) coupled with the West Report
(West 1998) applied further pressure on the administrations of universities to
focus on competitiveness with each other and internationally, for students and for
funding. Peters and Roberts (1999) wrote that, “Contemporary universities
191
 function as performance-oriented, heavily bureaucratic, entrepreneurial
organisations committed to a narrow conception of excellence generated by the
imperative of international competitiveness” (p.47). Descriptions such as this are
indicative of the way many academics have interpreted the changes: with a degree
of cynicism. This cynicism can be best understood by exploring how the changes
challenge traditional conceptions of the university and the traditional roles and
motivations of academics.

The advance and convergence of information and

communication technologies
Another factor in the broader context of university education is the rapid advance
and convergence of information and communication technologies. The
convergence of these technologies is facilitating greater accessibility and greater
flexibility. Increasingly, Internet-based technologies are seen as the basis to
solutions to many of the problems faced by university educators, including
increasing student numbers and student demands for more flexible delivery. These
technologies have also assisted universities in increasing their target markets to
include students who do not attend physical campuses, including students in other
countries. This has been a key factor in the approach that many universities have
taken to the increasing need to be more market-oriented and more
entrepreneurial. E vans (1997) commented that,
It is now difficult to encounter a university that does not ‘sell’ itself
in its publicity materials partly on the basis of its use of new
educational technologies … and which is not seeking to reform its
teaching using these technologies. (p.15)
New electronic information and communication technologies play two main roles
in the broader context of university education: (1) They provide universities with
a focus for advances in teaching and learning that can be used as selling points in
their marketing, and (2) they promise a means of responding to the problems
emerging from this new environment, such as very large numbers of students.
Both these roles are linked to the internationalisation of education. The use of new
technologies is a means of attracting students from new markets and they also
facilitate the delivery of educational services to off-shore fee-paying students.
However, increasing internationalisation is not only an increase in the amount of
international teaching; numbers of international students attending universities in
Australia have also increased. Figures on trends in the recruitment of overseas
students and the delivery of off-shore programs can be found in the Australian
Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) reports on Internationalisation (eg. Australian
Vice-Chancellors' Committee 2000; Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee
2001c). The AVCC reported that overseas student enrolments in Australian
universities numbered 83, 111 in 1999, with the main growth areas being in
enrolment in coursework higher degrees and in bachelor degrees. While overseas
students come from a wide range of countries, the highest numbers come from
Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore: together these countries supplied fifty-three
percent of Australia’s overseas students in 1999. Compared with other OE CD
countries, Australia is well above the average in terms of overseas students as a
percentage of all students: in 1999, 12.6% of students enrolled in Australian
universities were from other countries compared with an OE CD average of 4.8.

192
Percentages for other E nglish speaking countries were 3.8% for Canada, 3.7% for
New Zealand, 10.8% for the United Kingdom and 3.2% for the United States.
Similarly, offshore programs offered by Australian universities through agreements
with overseas higher education institutions have increased. The AVCC reported
that by May 2001, Australian universities had 1, 009 offshore programs
(Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee 2001c). International links for the
purpose of staff exchange and research are also on the rise (Australian Vice-
Chancellors' Committee 2001b).
Coupled with advances in and the diffusion of information and communication
technologies are other globalising forces such as the development of transport
technologies and the development of legislation to better facilitate the movement
of people across borders for the purpose of education. As a result of university
marketing and enabling legislation, increasing numbers of fee-paying international
students are studying in Australia (Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee
2001a).
Some have been critical of universities money-raising approach to
internationalisation. Bessant (1996) wrote,
University marketing has been directed towards attracting fee-paying
overseas students as well as the sale of consulting and technical
services. Some universities have been very successful in these
ventures, but have also come to rely heavily on the finance this
brings. However, there is very little evidence that programs have
been tailored to meet the needs of these overseas students, apart
from special E nglish language courses. They are seen as the cream
on the ice-cream bringing in desperately needed finance. (Online
Document)
This criticism is borne out in the difficulties so often reported by teachers of
international students.
However, others have argued that the use of information and communication
technologies to facilitate the remote delivery of educational services has led to a
renewed focus on teaching and learning techniques and on the needs of students.
E vans (1997) wrote,
… traditional forms of education are focused around teaching
opportunities through, for example, lectures, tutorials and practicals.
Open and distance education, on the other hand, is focused more on
facilitating opportunities for learning. (p.49)
Crittenden (1999) has also noted the attention being given to how to teach and
learn using new technologies. However, he is critical of this preoccupation because it
detracts from more important questions about the role of universities and the
purpose of higher education.
The role of new technologies in the broad context of university education is
complex. New technologies are often seen as both the cause of and the solution to
problems. They offer a means of providing educational services and products to
larger bodies of students, in a more diverse range of circumstances, regardless of
the time/place needs of the students. They are also offered as a solution to
problems associated with large diverse bodies of students. There are many reasons
why the use of new technologies in education, and associated increases in the
internationalisation of university education, receive luke warm responses. One
reason that links the three areas of change outlined here is criticism of the
193
 perceived motivations behind the changes. When viewed as part of the larger
context of university education, the educational value of using new technologies
appears to be secondary to other motivations.
In ICT-specific courses, the effects of the development and diffusion of
computer-based technologies have yet another dimension: As new technologies
are integrated into workplaces, the skills and knowledge required by graduates
change and the number of graduates requiring skills in ICT increases.
Developments in technology usually translate into curriculum changes,
particularly in terms of content. And skill shortages that are answered by a growth
in the number of students mean not only a larger student body, but also a more
diverse student body.

194
 APPENDIX I. Movements in university
teaching and learning
Three movements are described below:
• That towards flexible delivery, which in some manifestations includes a
movement towards student-centredness
• That towards quality assurance of higher education and the particular role of
student evaluation of teaching questionnaires
• That towards the promotion of a scholarship of teaching and practitioner-run,
targeted evaluation of educational innovations

Flexible learning, flexible delivery and student-centredness

The twentieth century has seen a proliferation of movements aimed at reforming
educational practice. Popular terms used in this discourse have included
progressivism (often based on the ideas of Dewey (1961)), discovery learning
(promoted by Bruner (1967; 1977)), generative learning (Wittrock 1974; Wittrock
1978), constructivist teaching and learning (based on the cognitive theories of Piaget
and Vygotsky and discussed below), situated learning (based on Dewey, Vygotsky
and more recently Lave (eg., 1988)), in the last twenty years, open learning, and
more recently, flexible learning. Constructivist epistemologies have been strongly
promoted as the theoretical foundation of effective teaching and continue to
inform the goals of, motivations behind and evaluation of innovations in teaching
and learning, particularly in teacher education (Fox 2001) and educational
development departments of universities. For example, a quick glance at recent
volumes of journals such as Teaching in Higher E ducation reveals that a large
percentage of the writers (mainly educational support and development staff at
universities) have adopted constructivism as the foundation of their work.
The constructivist approaches cover a wide range of epistemological orientations,
from information-processing (Mayer 1992) and social constructivism (McCaslin &
Hickey 2001) to radical constructivism (von_Glaserfeld 1998). Thus as each
proponent of constructivism appears to advance a different variant of the
construct, it is perhaps misleading to class all the adherents together, instead a
more careful analysis and description of the specific characteristics of the
phenomena seems to be warranted to provide the basis of beneficial discourse in
teaching and learning improvement.
Many reviewers of learning theory, such as Shuell (1986), argue that, “cognitive
psychology currently represents the mainstream of psychological and educational
thinking” (p.441). He explained that, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, “the
zeitgeist of psychology began to change from a behaviouristic to a cognitive
orientation [and that] since about 1975 … cognitive psychologists have shown a
growing interest in learning” (pp.411-412). The shift away from behaviourist
approaches and towards constructive approaches led to a predominance of
student-centred conceptions of learning. In particular, learning was seen as a
195
 process that is active and cumulative rather than passive, and researchers became
concerned with meaning and understanding, increasingly seeing the context of
learning, prior knowledge and metacognition as important.
The focus on the active involvement of the learner has led to the promotion of a
particular range of teaching strategies and learning activities. These include having
learners involved in problem posing and problem solving, hypothesising,
predicting and investigating, solving authentic, multidisciplinary, real world
problems, working in groups, discussing their reasoning, exploring contradictions
and reflecting on processes.
As a movement, constructivism has been seriously criticised on a number of
grounds. For example, Anderson, Reder and Simon (unpublished) argue that many
constructivist interpretations present misunderstood accounts of the nature and
benefits of Piagetian assimilation and accommodation processes in knowledge
acquisition, and the nature of information processing theories. They also argue
that constructivists tend to misjudge the value of extensive practice and downplay
the value of good instruction. Overall Anderson et al critique in detail four of the
central claims of constructivists, as either misdirected or empirically incorrect. An
example of different critique is presented by Fox (2001), who argues that
constructivist theories are hardly different to common sense empiricist views, or
else they provide misleading and incomplete views of human learning, resulting in
misleading implications for teaching. He critiques seven key elements of
constructivism in turn.
However, more recent educational reviews suggest that each of the three major
schools of educational thought, behaviourist/empiricist, cognitive/rationalist and
situative/pragmatist-sociohistoric can make worthwhile contributions to
educational theory and practice leading to broader perspectives on learning and
teaching (Greeno, Collins & Resnick 1996). For example, using a situated learning
perspective Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) promote the value of
communication, group work and authentic activities.
Despite the heavy emphasis on constructivism in certain university
subpopulations, constructivism does not appear to have penetrated very deeply
into the ICT education in Australian universities. A comparative analysis of the
last two years’ (2000 and 1998, no conference in 1999) conference proceedings
from the Australian Computer Science (ACS) E ducation Conferences indicate
only 11% and 6% of the papers explicitly used a constructivist basis in their
studies, whereas in the last two years of the ASCILITE Conference proceedings
(2000 and 1999) the proportions of papers addressing explicit constructivist
philosophies were 25 % and 38 % respectively, although not always uncritically.
The ASCILITE conferences are predominantly attended by university staff
interested in using ICT in teaching and learning, (e.g. from multimedia education
and educational development departments, or staff working closely with such
departments), in contrast to the ICT educators meeting at the ACS conferences.
In fact, these results are in line with the identified plurality of educational
conceptions and beliefs held by university teaching staff in general (Bain et al.
1997; Samuelowicz & Bain 2001). They classified the teachers’ beliefs about
learning and teaching along a continuum from teacher-centred orientations (e.g.
imparting information) to learning-centred orientations (e.g. encouraging
knowledge creation), and found seven main orientations among their (small)
sample of university teaching staff.

196
Many of the teaching and learning directions noted above are compatible with
governments’ economic arguments for developing more adaptable, lifelong learners
(Martin 1992) who are familiar with working in teams to solve problems, and with
university policies on cross disciplinary graduate attributes.
In the higher education sector, the term that currently predominates in discussions
of good teaching practice is flexible learning. This term has largely replaced open
learning and carries with it some of the confusion that surrounded the original
term. Webberley (1990) described open learning as an approach that
• is based on the needs of individual learners, not on the interests of teachers or
the institution
• gives students as much control as possible over what and when and where
and how they learn
• changes the role of the teacher from a source of knowledge to manager of
learning and a facilitator
• commonly uses delivery methods of distance education and the facilities of
educational technology (p.4)
These features can equally be said to characterise what is intended by the term
flexible learning.
The slippage between terms used to describe approaches to education has been well
noted (Taylor, Lopez & Quadrelli 1996). The term flexible learning is often used
interchangeably with a similar and related term: flexible delivery. F lexible delivery
refers to the anywhere/any time element of flexible learning and is most often
associated with delivery facilitated by electronic ICT, via Web-based
environments, as well as other technologically-facilitated educational provision
(Bates 1995). In fact, the term flexible delivery is arguably associated more strongly
with the use of particular technologies, than with an aim to offer openness or
flexibility. The risk in the slippage between these two terms is that time/space
independent delivery becomes associated with flexible learning regardless of the
educational approach taken and the attention given or not given to creating an
open learning environment. Web-based technologies can easily be used to deliver
content in pre-determined sequences, for the purpose of knowledge transmission,
neglecting the other learning needs of the student. This has been referred to as a
learning pack age approach to flexible delivery (Willmot & McLean 1994), an
approach that has its origins in instructional design for distance education that is
based on behaviourist conceptions of learning (Taylor, Lopez & Quadrelli 1996;
Lefoe 1998).
However, learning package approaches may be modified by the incorporation of
collaborative ICT-based learning tools, such as email, mailing lists, Web
discussion forums. Tuovinen, (2000) uses a four-interactions framework for
designing and analysing flexible delivery and distance education, which overcomes
some of the limitations of learning package approaches. In this framework the
four key interactions involved in the educational process are identified:
interactions between teacher and content, between students and content, between
teacher and students, and among students. By making use of these interaction
spaces, various educational activities can be sited in complementary balance with
each other depending on the educational needs.
The use of hypermedia has been seen as a way of overcoming the negative
implications often associated with the learning pack age approach noted above
197
 (Ashman & Simpson 1999; Balcytiene 1999; Nicaise & Crane 1999; Jacobs 1992).
Using hypermedia students can control their learning process, move among
learning content in various personally selected directions, at their own pace, and
according to their own motivations. However, an evaluation of the educational
use of hypermedia found very few learning benefits (Dillon & Gabbard 1998).
The confusion or “imprecision” of the use of the terms flexible learning and flexible
delivery, noted above, parallels that observed in the use of open learning and distance
education. Rumble (1989) wrote,
The terms ‘open learning’ and ‘distance learning’ have never been
used precisely … Distance education is a method of education. It
differs from contiguous education. The concept of open learning
describes the nature of the education offered either contiguously or
at a distance. (p.28)
Similar distinctions can be made between flexible learning and flexible delivery. The
distinction is important because flexible delivery can serve educational aims as
well as non-educational aims, such as the development of new educational
markets and the servicing of large numbers of students. While flexible delivery
may serve students’ needs for time/space independent access to educational
materials and environments, the term does not necessarily imply the focus on
students’ learning needs implied by flexible learning. Flexible learning involves a
student-centred approach to designing learning environments such that
opportunities to learn are maximised; flexible delivery is only one, and not a
necessary, part of this.
The move towards flexible delivery, with a focus on Web-based technologies is
now one of the most remarked on movements in university education, both in
Australia and internationally. Caution needs to be taken so that student-
centredness is not assumed in Web-provided materials.

Q uality movement and student evaluation of teaching

Brennan observed that, “the growth of external assessment of higher education
quality has been one of the most marked international trends in higher education
in recent years” (Brennan 1997, p.23). Quality became an issue in Australia in
response to the Dawkins’ reforms of the late 1980s. Massaro (1997) wrote, “vice-
chancellors and other commentators began to express concern that the reforms
and the reductions in funding had led to a reduction in quality” (p.53). In 1991,
Peter Baldwin, the Minister for Higher E ducation and E mployment Services,
issued a policy statement, Higher E ducation: Quality and Diversity in the 1990
(Baldwin 1991), announcing that it was necessary to assure the community that
the quality of higher education was of a high standard and allocating $70m to
those institutions which could demonstrate better than adequate quality. In 1992,
an independent Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher E ducation was
established to undertake quality assessments of higher education institutions.
To promote diversity in the system, quality was to be measured against each
institution’s mission statement rather than against an abstract standard (Massaro
1997). This approach mirrored that taken in Britain where quality was defined as
“fitness for purpose” (Henkel 1998). Despite the intention of promoting diversity,
the quality assessment process that ensued in Australia produced a tendency
towards uniformity. Marginson and Considine (2000) observed a “pattern of inter-
198
institutional mimicry” (p.19). Massaro (1997) wrote that, “the results of the
quality rounds may actually have reined in the more creative attempts to be
different by reminding institutions that quality was still seen to reside in the old
and traditional types of university” (p.55-56). He concluded that “the tendency
toward homogenisation was inherent in the removal of regulation and it was over-
ambitious to expect quality assurance mechanisms to arrest it” (p.55-56).

Q uality assessment of teaching

The quality movement that began in the 1980s brought with it a focus on internal
and external assessment. University teaching, which had long been free of
scrutiny, increasingly became the focus of evaluation.
It is widely recognised that quality assurance has two main purposes:
accountability and improvement. In Brennan’s (1997) international review, he
concluded that, although virtually all quality assessment bodies claim to have
improvement as well as accountability goals, in almost all cases, statements of
purpose emphasise value for money and greater accountability for the use of
public funds. As a result of this emphasis and a tendency to rely on limited
methods for evaluating teaching, much cynicism surrounds the quality movement.
A key development that is often criticised is the proliferation of quantitative
student questionnaires aimed at gauging students’ opinions about and satisfaction
with particular subjects and particular teachers. While those systems commonly
used in Australia for student evaluation of subjects and of teaching have been
found to have validity with respect to the aim of improving student learning
(Moses & Trigwell 1993), they have been criticised when they are relied on as the
sole means of evaluation (Cosser 1998). A side-effect of this reliance is that
evaluation of teaching methods and materials more generally are also often limited
to student feedback questionnaires. Bain (Bain 1999) noted that reports of
innovative teaching practice
… often limit their evidence on the influence of the innovation to
students' and peers' reactions during development, and their
impressions of learning achievements after implementation.
Sometimes data from standard course assessments also are reported,
but often without regard to the relationship between the learning
encouraged by the innovation and the learning assessed by standard
methods. (p.166)
Similarly, in a review of 104 teaching and learning initiatives that made use of
information and communication technologies, Alexander (Alexander 1999)
concluded that,
There continues to be a heavy reliance on student reaction surveys,
and in some cases there is an apparent confusion between student
reactions and student learning. Positive student attitudes and
increased motivation may encourage better learning outcomes, but
they are not in themselves evidence of improved learning. While
student reaction surveys are a useful component of any evaluation,
they should not be the only component. (p.181)
Stringer (1993) identified those features of teaching for which student feedback is
valuable. They include course organization and structure, workload and course
difficulty, marking and exams, course impact on students, breadth of coverage and
199
 global or overall ratings. A distinction is made between feedback on these features
of subjects and courses and the evaluation of learning outcomes. Student
feedback questionnaires and their role are discussed in more detail in Section 7.

Q uality assessment of teaching for improvement

Some commentators do believe that quality assurance can serve the purpose of
improving university teaching if it takes particular forms. E lton (1993) argued that
the promotion of quality in university teaching requires the following changes:
• a rapid increase towards the professionalization of university teaching
• the establishment of TQM practices at all levels of each university
• increasing recognition and resourcing of teaching and rewards for excellence
in it (p.145)
These changes are consistent with the views of others who support quality
improvement of university teaching. Brennan wrote that, “quality judgements
which lack legitimacy in the eyes of those on the receiving end of them are not
likely to be acted upon if action can be avoided. In this respect, the nature of the
involvement of the academic community as a whole is important” (Brennan 1997,
p.13).
Although standard form student feedback questionnaires continue to dominate in
the evaluation of university teaching in Australia, educators increasingly recognise
the limitations of relying on this method and there is a move towards more
formative evaluations targeted to the aims of particular teaching methods and
materials. However, as Cosser (1998, 159) concluded, “unless teaching is seen to
be valued in and by the institution, all attempts to introduce new systems for
evaluation its effectiveness will fail.” A major flaw observed in current systems
for evaluating teaching is that quality teaching is generally not highly valued or
rewarded within universities. The introduction of new systems of evaluation alone
will not solve this problem.

Evaluation and scholarship of teaching movement

While evaluation of teaching has emerged as a key part of quality assurance in
Australian higher education, the approaches taken have more often served
summative purposes than they have provided meaningful information for the
improvement of university teaching. This section focuses on the movement
towards formative, practitioner-run evaluations for the improvement of university
teaching and tailored evaluation for the identification, promotion and reward of
scholarship in university teaching. Three relevant trends are outlined here:
• an increasing recognition of the value of formative, practitioner-run
evaluation
• a growing interest in peer review of teaching
• a resurgence of interest in the role that scholarship might play in the
promotion, recognition and reward of good teaching
Then observations about the implementation of changes to the evaluation and
assessment of teaching are briefly described.
200
Formative, practitioner-run evaluation
In a discussion of trends in the evaluation of university teaching, Henkel (1998,
p.289-290) noted a retreat from the search for generalisable knowledge and
causative modeling towards more context-specific conclusions, a greater emphasis
on the need for evaluation to be more practical, a greater emphasis on
organisations taking charge of evaluations themselves and incorporating them into
change strategies, and a shift from summative towards formative evaluation for
the purpose of improvement. Similarly, Bain (1999,) noted a growing preference
for using “authentic” evidence and multiple methods rather than experimental
designs that rely on a limited range of data gathering methods, to evaluate
teaching. Coupled with this move away from summative, towards formative
evaluations, is a move away from external evaluation towards internal evaluation
of teaching for improvement. Oliver (2000, Online Document) observed a “shift
of power away from the evaluator as an arbiter acting for the commissioning
authority and towards evaluation as a collaborative process of building mutual
understanding.” He argued that,
This approach advocates a continuous process of evaluation by
practitioners (as opposed to evaluators) as a strategy for dealing with
organisational change and meeting the need for responsive, adaptive
organisational structures. ... Moreover, this style of evaluation
represents a shift in focus away from self-contained programmes or
projects to the ongoing evaluation of processes and systems. It
requires the creation of a culture of reflective practice similar to that
implied by action research. (Oliver 2000, Online Document).
It is often observed that formative evaluation is an integral part of university
teaching and that all teachers undertake informal formative evaluations in the
course of the iterative improvement of the subjects they teach. As Stringer (1993,
p.94) observed, “anybody involved in curriculum development is automatically
engaged in formative evaluation; thus testing work while it is still being developed
and obtaining feedback will produce revisions for change.” Similarly, Brennan
(1997, p21) noted that, “much educational change is invisible. It is incremental. It
is slow.”
Within Australian higher educational circles, there is an increasing recognition of
importance of context-specific evaluations of teaching that are more action-
oriented than summative. The conduct of this type of evaluation by university
teaching staff is promoted as both a means of improving teaching and a means of
elevating the status of teaching.

Peer review of teaching

Henkel (1998, p.285) pointed out that, "E valuation, in the form of peer review,
has traditionally been at the heart of higher education and its regulation."
Similarly, Brennan (Brennan 1997, p.16) wrote, “Peer review has long been a
central part of the decision-making process in higher education."
E valuation by one's academic peers is ... part of the academic
enterprise. It is built into the character of knowledge, not as a
supporting plank but as its very foundation. Academic knowledge
simply does not count as knowledge without it having been
subjected to some kind of peer evaluation. ... It is entirely proper,
201
 therefore, that peer assessment has been extended from its central
place in truth discourse as such to its occupying a strategic function
in activities critically associated with academic life. (Barett 1992,
p.123)
Despite some criticisms, a resurgence of interest in the peer review of teaching
has been observed in E urope, the United Kingdom and in the United States
(Cosser 1998). Henkel (1998, p.293) explained that, "as E uropean governments
have sought to develop evaluative systems for higher education, they have placed
peer review and self-evaluation at the centre of their policies." A key motivation
for the growing interest in peer-review of teaching is the perception that university
teaching is not highly valued. Peer review is seen as a means to elevate the status
of university teaching to that of research. In the early 1990s, the American
Association for Higher E ducation launched a major investigation into peer
review. Hutchings (1994, p.4) commented,
What's needed ... are strategies for peer review that capture the
scholarly substance of teaching, and which might therefore focus not
only on what happens in the classroom (where the evaluation of
teaching is now almost exclusively focused) but also on matters of
course design, and assessment of results in terms of student learning.
Taylor (1999, np) has commented on the situation in Australia, “where academic
career advancement is strongly linked to achievement in both teaching and
research, much has been written about the need to recognise and reward teaching,
but little progress made - research rules!" He advocates "the development of
strategies to make teaching achievements as equally valued as research
achievements, in terms of career progression."
In Australia, peer review is increasingly seen as an appropriate process for the
identification of scholarship in university teaching. A recent government-funded
report on V alidating scholarship in university teaching (Taylor & Richardson 2001)
places peer-review at the center of this process.

Scholarship of teaching
The idea of the scholarship of teaching was introduced ten years ago by authors
such as Boyer (1990) and Rice (1991). Since then a considerable literature has
developed, discussing what the scholarship of teaching might look like, and how it
might be encouraged and demonstrated. Kreber and Cranton (2000, p.478) argued
that, “the scholarship of teaching includes both ongoing learning about teaching
and the demonstration of teaching knowledge. As such, it is of critical importance
in faculty development and evaluation." They noted that, to date, assessment of
the scholarship of teaching has stressed outcome measures over the process of
knowledge acquisition. They propose “an alternative understanding of the
scholarship of teaching, one that considers it to be both learning about teaching
and the demonstration of that knowledge" (Kreber & Cranton 2000, p.492).
The movement described earlier, towards formative, practitioner-run evaluation
of teaching, has been picked up in particular by those interested in the scholarly
use of new electronic technologies to improve learning. In Australia, the most
recent work on the scholarship of teaching has been done in this area. Alexander
wrote,

202
 E valuation (both formative and summative) must become as much a
part of professional practice as project development. Academics
have a professional responsibility to design, develop, implement and
evaluate CIT [Communication and Information Technology] for
learning in a scholarly way, as would be expected in their research
and in all other aspects of their academic lives. (Alexander 1999,
pp.181-2)
Taylor and Richardson, in their report on a national scheme for external peer
review of ICT-based teaching, make the distinction between what he calls
scholarship-about-teaching and scholarship-in-teaching, where scholarship-in-teaching
focuses on the design process and accounting for outcomes, rather than on
understanding the teaching and learning process:
Our sense is that most examples of scholarship of teaching are really
discussions about teaching and learning processes, mostly in the
form of conference and journal papers. We refer to this publication-
focused aspect of the scholarship of teaching as 'scholarship-about-
teaching'. Our interest in this work is with those aspects of the
scholarship of teaching that directly inform the decisions teachers
make. That is, we are interested in those aspects of the scholarship
of teaching that both inform the design of pedagogical practices and
are evident in teaching itself. We refer to these aspects as
'scholarship-in-teaching'. (Taylor & Richardson 2001, p.32)
In this way, the processes of design, implementation and evaluation are seen as
sources of scholarship. This is consistent with Alexander’s (Alexander 1999)
recommendation that evaluation be undertaken at all stages of development. The
processes recommended by Taylor and Richardson involve the peer-review of
resources and documentation produced by the university teacher. Documentation
submitted to the proposed review system would address design, implementation
and evaluation considerations. They described this review process in detail,
specifying procedures for submission, review, feedback and dissemination.
The goal of the peer-review system proposed by Taylor and Richardson is not only
to advance knowledge about teaching and learning, but also to recognize and
reward quality teaching. However, as Cosser points out this may be a chicken and
egg situation:
… the rewards for good teaching are grossly inadequate. Until there
are real incentives for improving the quality of teaching, then -
money; status; advancement opportunities - peer review is likely to
fail. The irony however, is that only the establishment of viable
methods of assessment of teaching ... will bring teaching the
recognition it deserves. (Cosser 1998, p.159)

203
APPENDIX J. Teaching and learning initiatives
– brief accounts
[1]
Innovators: CSU Online, Division of Information Technology, Charles Sturt
University (the software was largely the work of Matthew Morton-Allen).
Presenter: William Adlong
Organisation: CE LT, Charles Sturt University
Keywords: Computer-mediated Communication - Teaching Tools
Description: Adlong and colleagues at CE LT CSU encourage teaching staff to
focus on the constructivist communication aspects of online learning, rather than
simply on content delivery. At CSU, 'Online Subject Forums' are available to all
subjects. These provide for threaded asynchronous communication, file sharing,
and passworded access and include moderator management facilities. They
provide students with an alternative way to engage with material and they help to
overcome the isolation experienced by distance education students.
To find out more: a recent paper about the online subject forums:
http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw01/papers/refereed/burr/paper.html
You can contact Matthew Morton-Allen at: mmorton-allen@ csu.edu.au

[3]
Innovators: Bill Farrow, Annette Oppenheim, Matthew Smith, Kevin Bluff, and
Ahmet Sekerciouglu.
Presenter: Dr Rob Allen
Institution: School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of
Technology
Key words: Assessment - Online Assignment Submission
Description: To reduce the work involved in assessing programming
assignments, the Swinburne University School of IT have developed a system for
the online submission and automated assessment of students' programs. Students
upload their programs via a web-based system to a UNIX host; marks are
automatically generated reflecting the success of the program execution.
Immediate feedback is given via the web. This automatically generated feedback
is complemented by online marking summaries prepared by tutors and then
emailed to the students. Using this system, students may resubmit assignments
(prior to the due date) as often as they wish. A prototype was in use in 2000 with
a redesign/rewrite currently in progress.
To find out more: http://www.it.swin.edu.au/staff/aoppenheim/default.htm

[5]
205
 Innovators: Geoffrey Roy, Jocelyn Armarego, Terry Woodings
Presenter: Jocelyn Armarego
Organisation: School of E ngineering, Murdoch University
Keywords: Academic Skills - Flexible Delivery
Description: At Murdoch University, the Bachelor of Software E ngineering is
delivered, for the most part, online. However, lecturers in the School of
E ngineering have found that they cannot assume that students have the skills to
manage their own online learning. In an effort to accustom students to online
learning and to prepare them for life-long learning, B(SE ) students are progressed
through two learning environments. In the first 1-2 years of their studies, the
learning environment is quite structured with material presented in a linear
fashion with clear milestones and firm deadlines for the completion of tasks. An
underlying goal of this environment is to provide students with the skills to
manage their own learning. The second learning environment, encountered in the
senior years, is more flexible; students are free to tackle course material in any
order they wish as long as all topics are completed. Within these student-centred
learning environments, the academic takes the role of 'guide' rather than 'teacher'.
Acknowledgements: Partial support from Murdoch University's Teaching and
Learning Centre
To find out more:
http://eng.murdoch.edu.au/WebTeachingDemo/MUE page0.html

[6,21]
Innovators: Project leader: Angela Carbone 1999, Kathy Lynch 2000Other Key
Staff: David Arnott, Martin Atchison, David Foot, Peter Jamieson, Don Schauder.
Presenters: Martin Atchison and Angela Carbone
Institution: School of Information Management and Systems, Monash University
(Caulfield)
Key words: E xperiential Learning - Studio-Based Teaching
Title: Studio-based teaching in Information Technology
Description: Based on the work of Donald Schon, studio environments are used
as a core element of the School's Multimedia and Information Management and
Systems degrees. The studios provide physical environments that facilitate
teamwork and simulate the professional work place. The teaching approach is
collaborative and team oriented, building on an integrated curriculum where work
done in the studios builds on and reinforces concepts from other core subjects.
The learning is based around teamwork and the production of student portfolios.
The IT infrastructure includes multimedia simulations, threaded discussions,
online quizzes, electronically available notes and portable notebooks.
Acknowledgements: 1998 Monash SIF Grant
To find out more: http://www.sims.monash.edu.au/studios/bims/index.html

[8]

206
Innovators: Kevin Austin
Presenter: Kevin Austin
Organisation: School of Management, University of Western Sydney
Keywords: Problem solving - Peer learning
Description: In response to an observed lack of student interest and engagement
in lectures, Austin has introduced puzzles within the lecture environment of a
subject on knowledge-based information systems. The goal is to increase student
participation and to encourage lateral thinking and problem solving in students.
At intervals during lectures, students are asked to solve puzzles that relate to the
content area. Students are also encouraged to devise their own puzzles for up-
coming topics. The students are required to present these puzzles, creating an
interactive lecture-based learning experience.
To find out more: Further documentation on the subject refer ACE 2000 -
proceedings p.253 - poster presentation.

[9]
Innovators: Reuven Aviv, Orli Doron, Tami Shapira.
Presenter: Dr Reuven Aviv
Institution: School of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, Monash
University; Department of Computer Science, Open University, Israel
Keywords: Co-operative Learning - Computer-Mediated Communication
Description: Aviv and colleagues at the Open University in Israel conducted a
content evaluation of an online learning program in an effort to identify methods
for evaluating co-operative learning and to explore methods for structuring
effective co-operation between online learners. A group of 10 students engaged in
the online learning program over a period of 3 weeks with most communication
being via the Internet. Content analysis of educational performance revealed that
structuring effective co-operation resulted in a high level of reasoning in students.
Acknowledgements: This work was partially funded by the Multimedia and
Networking Consortium, Israel.
To find out more:
http://www.aln.org/alnweb/journal/Vol4_issue2/le/reuven/LE -reuven.htm

[10]
Innovator: Dr S Mahfuz Aziz
Presenter: Dr S Mahfuz Aziz
Organisation: School of E lectrical and Information E ngineering, University of
South Australia
Keywords: Peer Learning - Project-based Learning
Description: In a project-based subject on computer design, students are required
to work in small groups to design, implement and test a single board computer.
Aziz has observed that students find this task difficult, encountering many
problems in the implementation stage. As part of an action research project, Aziz
207
 has introduced a class project seminar and class project meetings. The class
project seminar allows student to present their designs to their peers and to
receive feedback. Class project meetings provide students with a forum for
sharing problems and discussing issues with their peers on a regular basis. Aziz's
research project aims to investigate the impact of these initiatives on student
learning outcomes and on the outcomes of the design projects.
Acknowledgements: This project is being carried out as part of the requirements
for the unit The Reflective Practitioner in Higher E ducation in the Graduate
Certificate in Higher E ducation programme of Queensland University of
Technology (https://olt.qut.edu.au/edu/ed61/). The coordinator for the unit is
Dr Sally Clarke of TALDU, QUT. Her advice and feedback have been very
valuable for this action research project.
To find out more: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Mahfuz.Aziz

[14]
Innovators: John Bentley, Annemieke Craig.
Presenter: John Bentley
Institution: School of Information Systems, Victoria University
Key words: E xperiential Learning - Problem-Based Learning
Description: Bentley and colleagues observed that final year students did not
have good project management skills and the ability to apply/integrate prior
knowledge in undertaking a real project. In response, a problem-based learning
approach was developed in an introductory IS analysis and design subject. This
subject is delivered primarily through students' group work as they develop
solutions to given problems. Problems are designed to simulate those found in the
professional world, each taking from one to five weeks to complete.
Acknowledgements: This initiative is supported by School of Information
Systems Curriculum Committee, Victoria University. The problem-based learning
approached used here is the subject of John Bentley's doctoral study.
To find out more: http://www.business.vu.edu.au/bentley

[16]
Innovators: Ilona Box, Marilyn Wells, Peter Jerram, Cate Jerram, Kevin Austin
Presenter: Ilona Box
Organisation: School of Management, University of Western Sydney
Keywords: Curriculum Integration - Graduate Attributes
Description: With the aid of a Teaching Development Grant, Box and colleagues
are working toward integrating the teaching of first year Information Systems. The
aims of the Integrating First Year Subjects project are to rationalise assessment,
teach within a ‘graduate attributes' framework, better accommodate the changing
nature of students and introduce first year students to university-style study as
early as possible.

208
Acknowledgements: Former University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury,
Faculty of Management, Teaching Development Grant for2001
To find out more: E mail Ilona Box

[17]
Innovators: Julie Brear, Jodi Tutty
Presenter: Julie Brear
Institution: School of Informatics, Northern Territory University
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Self-Paced Learning
Description: In an effort to overcome the problems of variable student skill level
and learning style, Brear and colleagues have introduced self-paced learning
materials into their introductory computing subject. Students' take control of their
own learning and, instead of attending regular weekly practical classes, may attend
optional 'help sessions' where an instructor is present to answer questions relating
to any computing topics. Replacing regular practical classes with help sessions
also reduces the costs of holding classes that may be poorly attended and
eliminates the problem of students who miss classes, missing important material.
To find out more: http://www.cs.ntu.edu.au/homepages/jbrear/

[18]
Innovators: The Information E nvironments Program, The University of
Queensland, Ipswich Campus. Program Director, Michael Docherty
Presenter: Allison Brown
Organisation: Learning Resources Development Unit, University of Queensland
Keywords: Studio-based Teaching - Flexible Delivery
Description: The Ipswitch campus of UQ was established as a flexible learning-
based campus where educational innovation is encouraged. The educational focus
of the campus is one of learning rather than delivery. Brown and colleagues
applied this ethos to the teaching of their new Bachelor of Information
E nvironments degree. A studio-based approach has been adopted with the aim of
producing IT graduates skilled in critical analysis, problem solving and
communication design.
To find out more: http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/lrdu/ and
http://www.infenv.csee.uq.edu.au/
Other Initiatives:
• Development of flexible learning approaches in more traditional campuses

[20]
Innovators: Malcolm Campbell, Albert Goodman, Wanlei Zhou.
Presenter: Malcolm Campbell
Organisation: School of Computing and Mathematics, Deakin University

209
 Keywords: Capstone Subjects - E xperiential Learning
Description: To prepare final-year students for the reality of the IT workplace,
Campbell and colleagues have developed a capstone subject in which students
work in groups of 10 or more on a software development project. Project groups
are self-selected to meet the job specifications for various roles, and make
formalised bids for the projects offered by external and staff clients. Group
members appoint a project manager who is responsible for assigning tasks and the
overall running of the group. Professional communication skills are developed
through weekly formal project meetings and end of project presentations and
product displays.
Acknowledgements: Dr Kai Ming Ting (formally from Deakin, now at Monash
University) contributed to this initiative.
To find out more: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~ malcolmc/
Other Initiatives:
• E -delivery of IT degrees
• Recruiting students for IT success

[22]
Innovators: Penny Collings, Craig McDonald and Avon Richards-Smith
Presenter: Penny Collings
Organisation: School of Computing, University of Canberra
Keywords: Teaching Tools - Computer-mediated Communication
Description: To facilitate group work and refine project and quality management
skills in final-year project students, Collings and colleagues have implemented a
computer supported co-operative work (CSCW) approach to group-work projects.
Students are required to complete a semester-long group project using Lotus
Notes® for workgroups as the core communication infrastructure. CSCW has the
benefit of facilitating software management and online information sharing among
group members.
Acknowledgements: Funding for some of the development of CSCW was
obtained from the University of Canberra and the former Committee for the
Advancement of University Teaching.
To find out more: http://www.ise.canberra.edu.au/collings/
Other Initiatives:
• User interface design: poster session and online resource.
• Girls in computing in the ACT.

[23]
Innovators: Lorraine Connell
Presenter: Lorraine Connell
Organisation: School of Health, E ducation and Science, Northern Territory
University
210
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Technology E ducation
Description: Information technology is a key learning area for trainee teachers at
Northern Territory University; education students are expected to utilise
technology in both their own learning and their future teaching. To encourage the
use of IT in non-IT students, Connell delivers much of the content for the subject,
Technology in E ducation, online using Blackboard.com® .
To find out more: http://138.80.22.25
• search in catalogue for "E ducation" and then scroll down to Connell's units.
Other Initiatives: as above, only type in,
• etu114 for Arts in E ducation.
• etu458 for Arts in the Community
• recorder for Recorder in E ducation
• dance for Dance in E ducation
• edn531 for Teaching with Multiple Intelligences

[24]
Innovators: Annemieke Craig, Julie Fisher, Angela Scollary.
Presenter: Annemieke Craig
Institution: School of Information Systems, Victoria University
Keywords: Access and E quity - Females in Computing
Description: Craig and colleagues sought to increase the enrolments and
retention of females in computing courses at Victoria University through Girls
into Computing days, the development of promotional videos and a
mentoring/support scheme. They also aimed to better prepare female computing
students for professional life through an increased emphasis in their courses on
interpersonal, communication and team-work skills.
Acknowledgements: This work is supported by a research grant from the E quity
and Social Justice Branch, Victoria University.
To find out more: http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/Acraig/
Other Initiatives:
• Problem Based Learning project.

[25]
Innovators: Dr David Cropley
Presenter: Dr David Cropley
Organisation: School of E lectrical and Information E ngineering, University of
South Australia
Keywords: Graduate Attributes - Academic Skills
Description: Creativity and innovative thinking have been identified by UNISA
as desirable graduate attributes. Cropley and colleagues recognise that the
211
 preferred learning style of many undergraduate engineering students does not lend
itself to creativity and innovative thinking. Confronted with this pedagogical
challenge, Cropley, with the assistance of an educational psychologist, has
developed and implemented a second year subject that aims to develop creativity
and innovative thinking in students. Before taking the subject, students complete
measures of creativity and preferred learning style; creativity is again measured at
the end of the subject. This has the dual purpose of identifying blocks to
creativity and improvements in creative thinking. The subject has also been
successfully presented to industry-based engineers in a workshop form.
To find out more:
http://www.seec.unisa.edu.au/personnel/DC/DCHomepage.htm

[26]
Innovators: Jeni Paay, Jacky Hartnett, Mark Davis.
Presenter: Dr Paul Crowther
Organisation: School of Computing, University of Tasmania
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Student Needs
Description: Crowther and colleagues have developed an introductory computing
subject that can be adapted to suit the needs of students from various disciplines
(eg., IT, Nursing, Human Movement). Adaptable to the educational needs and
skill level of a broad range of students, the subject provides students with
practical skills and a theoretical background relevant to their discipline, delivered
at an appropriate pace and depth. Offered both electronically and face-to-face,
the subject develops core competencies in all students and offers optional
components to challenge the experienced and engage the novice.
To find out more: http://www.comp.utas.edu.au/staff/pcrowthe.html

[27]
Innovator: Gordana Culjak
Presenter: Ms Gordana Culjak
Organisation: Department of Information Systems, University of Technology,
Sydney
Keywords: Student Journals - Assessment
Description: To promote class attendance and participation, Culjak and
colleagues have introduced a 'research journal' component into their Internet
Commerce subject. Students are required to collect and write comments upon
media articles related to their course. At any time, students may be asked to
present their journal to the tutorial group and are marked according to their
preparedness and the depth of their understanding of the material.
To find out more: http://it.uts.edu.au/about/contact?dept= is

[identified in follow-up – international]

Innovators: Mats Daniels, Arnold Pears, Christina Björkman, Anders Berglund.
212
Organisation: Department of Computer Systems, Uppsala University
Keywords: Capstone subject – Computer-mediated communication
Description: To give students the experience of working in an international
virtual workgroup, Daniels and colleagues have established a capstone subject
offered jointly by Uppsala University in Sweden and Grand Valley State
University in the USA. The subject is run over 10 weeks during which students
work on a real world project focusing on both the technical and social skills
aspects of working internationally. Project groups are assembled by instructors
and managed using a fairly strict project management model. E ach group
comprises six students – 3 Swedes and 3 American – who are required to work
collaboratively within the constraints of differences ion time zones and cultures.
Acknowledgements:
Carl E rickson and Bruce Klein - Department of Computer Science and
Information Systems, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA
To find out more: http://www.docs.uu.se/docs/runestone/index.html

[29]
Innovators: Martin Dick, Dr Selby Markham and Judy Sheard
Presenter: Martin Dick
Institution: School of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, Monash
University,
Keywords: Assessment - plagiarism
Description: In response to a high rate of cheating amongst undergraduate and
postgraduate ICT students, Dick and colleagues are investigating student attitudes
with regard to cheating and plagiarism. The main aims of the research project are
to educate students about what constitutes cheating, to improve the detection of
cheating, to develop new cheating and plagiarism policies and ultimately, to
prevent cheating.
To find out more: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/person_info?mdick

[31]
Innovators: Dr Rosemary King, Peter Donnan
Presenter: Peter Donnan
Organisation: CE LTS, University of Canberra
Keywords: Computer-mediated Communication -- Peer Learning
Description: Donnan and colleagues recognise that although content
transmission is easily possible using the Internet, student-to-student interaction is
more challenging. They have designed a number of online activities in Information
Technology and E ducation, a subject with an enrolment of approximately 150
students. To promote student interaction and critical discussions in these forums,
they have linked assessment to students' participation. Students are asked to self-
select their three best postings from the many they contribute to a range of online

213
 interactions. They have observed an increase in the quality of students’
contributions.
To find out more: See the paper 'Strategies for promoting and moderating online
discussions within a WebCT environment' by Peter Donnan at:
http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/top/webctconf/program/papers.html
Other Initiatives:
• Peter Donnan is presently involved in instructional design activities for the
Flexible Delivery Development Unit that has been recently established at the
University of Canberra to provide quality assurance for University priority
courses. This initiative provides opportunities to implement approaches
presented in the paper Donnan, P. (2000) 'E -moderating offshore electronic
forums' published in the Conference Proceedings 'Offshore E ducation and
Training in a e-Learning World' by the Centre for Research in International
E ducation (University of Canberra).

[32]
Innovators: School of Arts and Sciences (Victoria), Australian Catholic
University.
Presenter: Assoc Prof Carolyn Dowling
Institution: School of Arts and Sciences (Victoria), Australian Catholic University
Key words: Flexible Delivery - Mixed Modes
Description: As Head of School, Dowling has led a School-wide initiative that
encourages staff to explore teaching and learning, particularly alternative modes of
delivery, by employing mixed modes in their teaching and assessment. Modes
include face-to-face lectures and tutorials, student group work and individual
work, and synchronous and asynchronous electronic interaction. This initiative
aims to increase staff understanding of pedagogical advantages and disadvantages
of different modes of interaction with students, and to increase student awareness
of their own learning styles so they can make choices about how to learn later in
life.
To find out more: http://www.acu.edu.au/fas/vic/a&s/staff/page1.html

[35]
Innovator: Jenny E dwards
Presenter: Assoc Prof Jenny E dwards
Organisation: Department of Software E ngineering, University of Technology,
Sydney
Keywords: Technology education - Self-paced learning
Description: In response to demand for computer literacy training for IT and
non-IT students, E dwards and colleagues set up a Computing Study Centre. The
centre is equipped with self-teaching packages for students wanting to learn such
things as word-processing, spreadsheets and databases to quite advanced levels.
The centre is overseen by an academic staff member and staffed by undergraduate
IT students.
214
Acknowledgements: a UTS Strategic Initiatives Grant initially funded the
centre. It now forms part of a wider UTS initiative, BE LL -Becoming an E ffective
Learner.
To find out more: http://it.uts.edu.au/about/contact?id= jenny

[36]
Innovator: Sylvia E dwards
Presenter: Sylvia E dwards
Organisation: School of Information Systems, Queensland University of
Technology
Keywords: Student Journals - Graduate Attributes
Description: Within the QUT unit ITB322 Information Resources, E dwards has
developed a learning environment to help students to broaden their knowledge
base, and yet allow a certain flexibility to develop their own independent interests
in the field of IT. In the unit, diaries and team projects are used to foster
information literacy, particularly the development of communication and practical
problem solving skills. Students learn to identify, retrieve and evaluate print and
electronic business information resources that are relevant to a variety of
problems. The aim of this subject is to encourage students to become information
literate, Internet literate and resources literate, to develop good communication
skills, the ability to work in teams and skills in the selection and evaluation of
information. The primary method used to help students to develop these skills is a
reflective journal that underpins the students' work throughout the semester.
To find out more:
• go to http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~ sylvia and follow the links to Teaching
Theory Presentations
• or read:
E dwards, S. (2000). You have provided me with a new set of tools and taught me
how to use them: E mbedding generic skills within the IT curriculum. Paper
presented at Lifelong Learning Conference: Inaugural International Lifelong
Learning Conference, Yeppoon, Central Queensland, Australia, 17-19 July 2000.
[Lifelong Learning Conference (1st: 2000: Rockhampton, Qld.) ISBN: 187 6674
06 7]
Other Initiatives:
• Particpation in QUT's Peer Assisted Study Scheme QUT's OLT (Online
Teaching)

[37]
Innovators: Jennie Bales, Ken E ustace, Geoff Fellows, Lyn Hay and Rosalind
Kentwell
Presenter: K en E ustace
Organisation : School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University
Keywords: Computer-mediated Communication - Teaching Tools
215
 Description : E ustace and colleagues have adopted a computer supported
collaborative work (CSCW) approach to teaching OO programming concepts and
virtual world building. The goal of the initiative is to train students in professional
workgroup practices. Using as its infrastructure, LC_MOO, an object oriented
MUD learning community, students form online workgroup communities where
they can engage in synchronous discussion, virtual conferences and secure
meetings.
Acknowledgements: Internet Special Projects Group (ISPG), Farrer Centre
Internet technology program, Centre for Studies in Teacher Librarianship, School
of Information Studies and the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at Charles Sturt
University.
To find out more: http://farrer.csu.edu.au/moo/jv/
Other Initiatives:
• K9MOO is a dog world theme park and virtual campus at
http://ispg.csu.edu.au:9000 for developing R&D projects with a CSCW and
virtual worlds approach. ISPG Zworld at http://ispg.csu.edu.au uses ZOPE
² as an object publishing environment with a similar CSCW approach. Both
MOO and ZOPE products are used to teach about CSCW and Online
Communities at Charles Sturt University.
• ZOPE is a Web application development system, by Digital Creations at
http://zope.org

[38]
Innovators: Lynne Fowler & Maurice Allen
Presenter: Lynne Fowler
Organisation : School of E ngineering, Murdoch University
Keywords: Teaching Tools - Learning Styles
Description : In an effort to increase understanding of student learning styles and
to improve teaching practices, Fowler is investigating how students learn large,
complex software packages. The initial research uses Rational Rose™ , a
professional Software E ngineering CASE tool. As part of the first year
Foundation Unit, Fowler administers learning style inventories to all students,
who then identify their self-reported learning styles. She has developed an online
tracking tool to monitor usage and movement through the CASE tool software.
The goal of Fowler’s initiative is to examine the relationship between learning
styles and the actual methods of usage of the software by students, as revealed
by the tracking process. In this way, Fowler hopes to develop a learning
methodology by which both students and lecturers become aware of the impact
of learning styles on the learning process.
To find out more: http://eng.murdoch.edu.au/%7E lynne/

[39]
Innovators: Uni-u International
Presenter: Royce Gelmi
216
Organisation : School of E lectronic Commerce, University of Notre Dame,
Australia
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Course Materials
Description : The University of Notre Dame, Australia, offers a first year subject
in Internet fundamentals as part of their Bachelor of E lectronic Commerce
program. NDA aims to provide students with a sound education in electronic
commerce by having students use the Internet as much as possible. He has also
sought to maximise the flexibility of the subject by offering three modes of study:
intensives plus online delivery, intensives plus online delivery plus face-to-face
tutorials, and online delivery plus face-to-face tutorials. All online material is
delivered using Blackboard®.
Acknowledgements: College of Business, School of E lectronic Commerce (NDA)
and Uni-u International.
To find out more: http://www.nd.edu.au/ecommerce
Other Initiatives:
• International Master of E lectronic Commerce - Online Program.

[44]
Innovators: Robert Cox, Phil Scott, Mal Sutherland.
Presenter: Jennifer Goddard
Institution : Department of Information Technology, School of Management,
Technology and E nvironment, La Trobe University(Bendigo)
Key words: Flexible Delivery - Mixed Modes
Description : To increase course accessibility and student numbers, Goddard and
colleagues have been using mixed modes to deliver subjects for the Graduate
Diploma in Computing. Course contact time was effectively halved by replacing
thirteen three-hour lecture/tutorials with seven three-hour face-to-face tutorials
offered at times convenient to distant learners (Saturday mornings and afternoons,
for the participants named). Lectures were replaced by students accessing
annotated course material prior to attending classes.
This initiative was pursued for four years, 1997-2000, and has been discontinued
in 2001. Various factors contributed to this decision, but the major one was the
majority student preference for face-to-face classes, with the Web materials as
back-up rather than as the primary source. The Saturday offerings gained a few
distant students, but lost those with sporting commitments, so there was little net
advantage in numbers, and they were unpopular with staff.
Prior to the trial, we anticipated that IT students would be the most receptive of
all to learning via ICT, and that we should be open to flexible ways to increase our
courses' accessibility. Concluding that IT students do not necessarily want to learn
via ICT, and that our students prefer face-to-face lectures, seems a positive
contribution.
Acknowledgements: The initiative was undertaken as a trial, internally agreed
within the Department. It was unfunded, and the industrial aspects of Saturday
classes were not addressed.

217
 To find out more:
http://ironbark.bendigo.latrobe.edu.au/staff/jgoddard/Jennifer.Goddard.html
A paper describing the initiative in more detail is in preparation.

[41]
Innovators: Dr Robert Goodwin, Mr Phillip Roach and Mr Neville Williams
Presenter: Dr Robert Goodwin
Organisation : School of Informatics and E ngineering, Flinders University
Keywords: Technology E ducation - Flexible Delivery
Description : At Flinders University, staff members are encouraged to optimise
the flexibility of their teaching programs. Goodwin and colleagues are
experimenting with techniques to make the delivery of computing subjects as
flexible as possible without substantially increasing the workload. Initial testing is
done with the materials for a first year computer literacy subject. The subject is
offered in intensive and semester modes and attracts up to 700 students from
disciplines as diverse as science, education, humanities, nursing and medicine.
Currently, all the course material is available in print as subject booklets, on CD-
ROM and as a student web site. Lectures are video-taped and made available to
students. In the future, Goodwin and colleagues plan to include digital video-
recordings of previous years' lectures on the CD-ROM and to add current lectures
to the web site within a day of delivery of the lecture to students.
To find out more: E mail Robert Goodwin: Goodwin@ infoend.flinders.edu.au

[collected in follow-up]
Innovators: Dianne Hagan, Michael Kolling, Selby Markham, John Rosenberg
Presenter: Ms Dianne Hagan
Organisation: School of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, Monash
University
Keywords: Teaching Tools – Programming
Description: The teaching of programming to first year students is difficult
because students perceive it as unrelated to anything they have done before, and
because it requires problem solving, memorisation and attention to detail. In
response to this difficulty, Hagan and colleagues have developed a Java
development environment – BlueJ – to help first year students learn the object-
oriented paradigm. Further support for students is provided by a helpdesk and
two websites.
Acknowledgements: Michael Kolling, John Rosenberg, designers and developer
of BlueJ, Selby Markham
To find out more: The CSE 1202 website at
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/cse1202 has links that are relevant
to BlueJ - as well as other things

[42]
218
Innovators: Dr Helen Hasan
Presenter: Dr E dward Gould
Organisation : Department of Information Systems, University of Wollongong
Keywords: Mixed modes - Access and equity
Description: Gould's department offers the Bachelor of Business to remote
students living on the South Coast of New South Wales. Learning centres have
been established at Nowra, Bateman's Bay and Bega. These centres provide local
tutors and resources that complement web-based materials, video-conferencing
and occasional visits by subject lecturers. This initiative responded to a
government push to expand access to university education to the South Coast in
the form of fully integrated degrees.
To find out more: http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/buss/fgould-1.htm

[46]
Innovators: Jackie Hartnett
Presenter: Jacky Hartnett
Institution : School of Computing, University of Tasmania
Keywords: Course materials - Flexible Delivery
Description : Hartnett is making innovative use of the Internet in the teaching of
a computer security subject at University of Tasmania. Hartnett makes a range of
course materials available online including annotated lecture slides and examples
of marked assignments and exam answers from past students which act as quality
guides for current students. Hartnett has also plans to reduce the amount of time
needed to respond to student emails by instituting a regular cross-campus
interactive chat session and a subject bulletin-board on which she posts the
answers to the frequently asked questions.
To find out more: http://www.comp.utas.edu.au/staff/jhartnet.html
Other Initiatives:
• 100% flexible delivery of computing degree

[50]
Innovator : Alanah K azlauskas
Presenter: Alanah K azlauskas
Organisation : School of Business and Informatics, Australian Catholic University
Keywords: Problem Solving - Student Needs
Description : Kazlauskas has observed that her students have difficulty with an
introductory programming subject. To improve students' learning in this subject,
problem solving skills are taught, along with program design and testing. Students
are encouraged to pay particular attention to language aspects of solution
development. Tutorial and assignment work is designed to support this approach
to the subject's delivery.
To find out more: E mail Alanah K azlauskas
219
 [52]
Innovators: Anjan Kundu
Presenter: Anjan Kundu
Organisation : Faculty of Technology and Industrial E ngineering, Northern
Territory University
Keywords: Industry Partnership - Industry E xperience
Description : Kundu and colleagues at NTU are planning to forge links with
industry to form a company to develop commercial products. Through the
company, they plan to make the best use of the limited resources and expertise
available in their region. Industry partners will benefit from access to the expertise
of university staff, university staff will benefit from access to resources and
opportunities to participate in research and development, and students will gain
experience of working on authentic projects. This plan is modelled on an initiative
that has been successfully implemented at Queens University, Belfast.
To find out more: E mail Anjan Kundu

[53]
Innovators: John Lamp, Chris Goodwin, Craig Parker.
Presenter: John Lamp
Institution : School of Management Information Systems, Deakin University
(Geelong)
Keywords: Communication skills - Computer-Mediated Communication
Description : Lamp takes a team-work approach to a third year project
management unit. Students work in teams of approximately ten to manage
authentic projects. The teams use computer-mediated communication (via First
Class®) to manage their work, conducting virtual meetings. This approach is
designed to emphasise the importance of communication in project management.
It takes the emphasis away from the product, putting it on the project
management process, communication between team members and communication
with the client.
To find out more: http://mis.deakin.edu.au/pages/staff/jlamp.htm
Other initiatives:
• Deakin E lectronic Trading Community®
• O n- and off-campus tutorials using computer-mediated communication

[54]
Innovators: Dr Jon Osborn, School of Spatial Information Science & Mr Richard
Langman, School of E ngineering, University of Tasmania.
Presenter: Mr Richard Langman
Institution : Faculty of Science and E ngineering, University of Tasmania

220
Keywords: Teacher Collaboration - Teaching Interest Group
Description : Langman and Osborne have established a teaching interest group
that has attracted funding from the University. The purpose of the group, which at
present meets bimonthly, is to share experiences and develop teaching
innovations within the context of alignment of teaching and learning. Langman
has used feedback from the interest group to develop strategies to improve first
year students' motivation, and hence their willingness to try to understand the
quite subtle concepts of electricity.
Acknowledgements: Professional advice from Dr Margaret Robertson, School of
E ducation
To find out more: http://www.eng.utas.edu.au/cgi/staffn/langman/

[55]
Innovator : Michael Lawrence-Slater
Presenter: Michael Lawrence-Slater
Organisation : School of Information Technology and Computer Science,
University of Wollongong
Keywords: Mixed Modes - Peer Learning
Description : In response to a shortage of skilled teachers and an increase in class
sizes, Lawrence-Slater is developing an online ‘collaborative learning' subject,
Case Studies in IT. The subject is to be simultaneously taught at three institutions
- the University of Wollongong, the University of Melbourne and the Auston
Open University Centre in Singapore. Subject delivery will comprise a
combination of online and face-to-face teaching sessions where students from the
three centres will be undertaking the production of a collaborative work using
online, electronic media.
In the pilot iteration of the subject, Lawrence-Slater will travel from site to site to
deliver the face-to-face practical skills component of the course.
Acknowledgements: Thanks are due for the support in this project received
from Professor Joan Cooper - Head of the School of IT and Computer Science at
the University of Wollongong, Professor Liz Sonenberg - Head of the Department
of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne and Mr Ken Yeo -
Principal of the Auston Open University Centre in Singapore.
To find out more: E mail Michael Lawrence-Slater
Other Initiatives:
• Lawrence-Slater is also involved in practical research into tools and
techniques for teaching student-directed learning, particularly in respect of
participation within 'hybrid' classes where students may not necessarily be
physically present.

[59]
Innovator : Dr Raymond Lister
Presenter: Dr Raymond Lister

221
 Organisation : Faculty of Information Technology, University of Technology,
Sydney
Keywords: Problem-based Learning - Assessment
Description : Lister is redesigning a large (approx 600 students) database subject.
The subject is currently taught in a traditional lecture/tutorial/assignment mode
and draws heavily on the Department's resources. The planned redesign involves
reducing the number of lecturers by half and incorporating student-centred,
problem-based learning. Lectures will be delivered in the first half of semester,
with students able to sit a pass-only exam at the end of this period. Students
wishing to gain higher marks will participate in problem-based learning for the
remainder of the semester.
To find out more: E mail Raymond Lister
Other Initiatives:
• Design for Web-Based On-Demand Multiple Choice E xams Using X ML. See
http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~ raymond/icalt/pap-046-Lis.doc

[61]
Innovators: Rod Jewell (Mackay campus), Maria Madsen (Gladstone campus) and
Angela Schlotzer (Bundaberg campus)
Presenter: Jo Luck
Organisation : Faculty of Informatics and Communications, Central Queensland
University
Keywords: Teaching Tools - Student Retention
Description : In an effort to standardise teaching across geographically dispersed
campuses, and in turn, reduce the number of CQU students leaving for Brisbane-
based universities, Luck and colleagues have adopted an Interactive System-wide
Learning (ISL) approach to teaching. ISL uses video-conferencing technology to
deliver interactive lectures across a number of campuses simultaneously. The
lectures are interactive in that students can put questions to lecturers and hold
group discussions with students at other campuses.
Acknowledgements: CQU Teaching and Learning Grant
To find out more: http://www.infocom.cqu.edu.au/Staff/Jo-Anne_Luck/
Other Initiatives:
• Staff development in the use of interactive video-conferencing for teaching
and learning.

[63]
Innovator : Dr Chris McDonald
Presenter: Dr Chris McDonald
Organisation : School of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, University
of Western Australia
Keywords: Teaching Tools - Simulations
222
Description : McDonald has developed a network protocol simulator - cnet - for
use in undergraduate computer networking courses. In development since 1992,
cnet comprises simulation tools that allow students to experiment with various
aspects of networking within a laboratory environment. cnet is currently used in
about half of Australia's university computer science and information technology
departments and in several hundred university departments around the world. At
present cnet can be run on UNIX and Linux platforms.
To find out more: http://www.cs.uwa.edu.au/cnet/
Other Initiatives:
• Web-based Teaching Administration - funded by a University of Western
Australia University Initiative Fund (UIF) Grant.

[64]
Innovators: Penney McFarlane
Presenter: Penney McFarlane
Organisation: School of Information Technology and Computer Science,
University of Wollongong
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Access and E quity
Description : Staff at the University of Wollongong are concerned that off-shore
students be as well supported as their on-shore counterparts. To ensure uniformity
of support, McFarlane and colleagues are utilising WebCT® to structure online
subject materials and ensure accessibility across platforms. A goal of the initiative
is to explore cultural differences in responses to the subject's web interface and
modify it accordingly.
To find out more: http://www.itacs.uow.edu.au and
http://www.cedir.uow.edu.au or E mail Penney McFarlane
Other Initiatives:
• Penney McFarlane is also interested in investigating the use of team teaching
at university level. There is a lack of research at this level of education and
with flexible delivery growing its impact on teaching will only grow.

[67]
Innovators: This is a University-wide initiative, trialled in many courses. In our
School Dr Timothy Ferris (course Systems E ngineering Management) and myself
(course Introduction to E lectrical E ngineering) are involved.
Presenter: Prof Andrew Nafalski
Organisation : School of E lectrical and Information E ngineering, University of
South Australia (UniSA)
Keywords: Graduate Attributes - Teaching Tools
Description : Andrew Nafalski and colleagues are implementing a system known
as Record of Achievement (RoA) in their courses. RoA enables students to
develop and keep well-structured records of their achievements and experiences
throughout their university studies to develop a portfolio that shows evidence of
223
 their acquired knowledge and skills. In the process, students learn about graduate
qualities, as described by the University, and track their development of these
qualities. RoA also helps students to create résumés and job applications.
Acknowledgements: Staff of Flexible Learning Centre at UniSA
To find out more:
About the
presenter:http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?Name= Andrew
.Nafalski
About RoA:http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/gradquals/shappen/roa.htm
About Graduate Qualities at
UniSA:http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/gradquals/
Other Initiatives:
• Peer Assisted Learning, Active Learning, Learning Style Project, Intensive
Modes of Delivery, Inclusive Curriculum Development.

[68]
Innovators: Connor Graham, Jon Pearce, Prof Liz Sonenberg
Presenter: Jon Pearce
Institution : Department of Information Systems, University of Melbourne
Keywords: Flexible Delivery - Mixed Modes
Description :
Project Title : E xploiting courseware delivery tools in Information Systems
teaching
Amongst the staff of the University of Melbourne Department of Information
Systems, there is a genuine concern about the quality of students' university
experience given current trends, such as increasing large class sizes, demand for
on-line resources, etc. In response to this, Pearce and colleagues are encouraging
teaching staff to make 'smarter' use of teaching resources. WebCT ® is being
trailed as a course management system to complement face-to-face classes by
providing features such as forums, chat groups, online quizzes and other online
material.
Acknowledgements: This project is funded internally by the University of
Melbourne Teaching and Learning (Multimedia and E ducation Technology)
Committee.
To find out more: http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/Jon/

[69]
Innovators: Margot Postema, Jan Miller, Martin Dick.
Presenter: Margot Postema
Institution : School of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, Monash
University

224
Keywords: Course Materials - Teaching Tools
Description : To improve student performance in a second year Software
E ngineering course, Postema and colleagues are using a range of teaching tools
that simplify manual tasks including detailed tutorial notes, exercises and
technological tools. The team has also reviewed other subject materials to
incorporate content from this subject with the aim of achieving a more integrated
and valuable learning experience for students.
Acknowledgements: The PASE Tool was supported with two SCSSE summer
scholarships.
To find out more: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~ margot/

[70]
Innovators: Sauwan Cheah, Ruth Christie
Presenter: Michael Roggenkamp
Organisation : Faculty of Information Technology, Queensland University of
Technology
Keywords: Peer Learning - Student Retention
Title : Supplementary Instruction @ QUT
Description : In an effort to reduce drop-out and failure rates in large classes
(600-800 students), the Faculty of Information Technology has instituted a Peer
Assisted Study Scheme (PASS) for all first year IT subjects. The scheme
comprises weekly study sessions conducted by paid undergraduate students of
high academic standard. PASS sessions are not additional subject tutorials; rather
than focusing on what material needs to be studied for a particular subject, PASS
sessions focus on how to study for success in a subject. Attendance at the
tutorials is voluntary.
Acknowledgements:
1995 QUT E quity Grant Since 1996 funded as an ongoing Faculty
initiative Supplementary Instruction was created by Deanna Martin, University
of Missouri-K ansas City in 1973
To find out more: http://www2.fit.qut.edu.au/PASS

[72]
Innovator : Tony Sahama
Presenter: Tony Sahama
Organisation : School of Information Systems, Queensland University of
Technology
Keywords: Course Materials - Plagiarism
Description: In response to changes in the student body, including larger class
sizes and increased numbers of international students, Sahama is re-structuring his
Information Systems Major (Programming) subjects and reviewing course content.
Specific aims of this review are to motivate students by using task-driven
programming exercises and to minimise plagiarism. Sahama hopes to achieve this
225
 by introducing laboratory-based exams. More generally, Sahama hopes to increase
student motivation to learn, thereby improving the quality of student learning
processes.
To find out more: http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~ sahama/

[73]
Innovators: main contact: Ury Szewcow (also in Dept CS, UTS)
Presenter: Dr Andy Simmonds
Organisation: Department of Computer Systems, University of Technology,
Sydney
Keywords: Certification - Peer Learning
Description: In response to student demand for networking skills, Simmonds and
colleagues have incorporated components of the Cisco Certified Network
Associate (CCNA) course into the networking course at UTS. In addition to
providing established course materials and tailored assessment, becoming a Cisco
Academy has helped counter the problem of surface-learning in students by
promoting peer learning and paced learning, and by ensuring there is plenty of
practical work.
Acknowledgements: see Cisco information
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/certprog/lan/programs/ccn
a.html and the academy start page at http://cisco.netacad-intl.net/
To find out more: http://it.uts.edu.au/about/contact?id= simmonds

[75]
Innovators: Lorraine Staehr, Chris Cope.
Presenter: Lorraine Staehr
Institution: School of Management, Technology and E nvironment, La Trobe
University (Bendigo)
Keywords: E xperiential Learning - Small Group Teaching
Description: Dissatisfied with the lecture/tutorial teaching format, we have
adopted a small group teaching approach to teaching a second year Information
Systems Development subject at La Trobe University, Bendigo. The aim of the
approach is to encourage students to take a deep approach to their learning and
promote conceptual understanding through learning activities designed to teach
both subject-specific content and general learning skills. Students attend
workshops and tutorials in which they undertake experiential learning tasks,
working in groups of 3 or 4.
Acknowledgements: La Trobe University, Bendigo Teaching Committee; School
of MTE Research Advisory Group.
To find out more: http://ironbark.bendigo.latrobe.edu.au/~ lorraine/pers1.html
Other Initiatives:
• E valuation of the teaching of computer ethics

226
• Women in Computing Project.

[76]
Innovators: Assist Prof Steve Sugden
Presenter: Assist Prof Steve Sugden
Organisation : School of Information Technology, Bond University
Title of Initiative : Flexible Delivery in E lementary Tertiary Mathematics with
E xcel ®
Keywords: Teaching Tools - Maths E ducation
Description: "Discrete Maths" and "Maths & Stats for Computing" are
compulsory subjects in the Bachelor of IT at Bond University. Student interest
and skill level in these subjects vary considerably. To ensure that the top students
are challenged and the middle to low-end students remain engaged in the subject,
Sugden and colleagues take advantage of spreadsheet software. Using
spreadsheets, topics such as calculus, combinatorics, induction, recurrences and
many others, can be usefully modelled using tables, graphs, patterns and colours.
An investigative approach is encouraged, and it is possible to illustrate a wide
range of fundamental math principles with minimal algebra.
To find out more: http://www.bond.edu.au/it/staff/steve.htm
Other Initiatives:
• Currently preparing textbook for elementary discrete and continuous
mathematics topics based on the E xcel approach. It is aimed at low-level
tertiary.

[77]
Innovators: Richard Thomas, supported by students David E rwin and Martin
Ritchie
Presenter: Assoc. Prof. Richard Thomas
Organisation : Department of Computer Science and Software E ngineering, The
University of Western Australia
Keywords: Assessment - Student Retention
Description: Based on his earlier research findings, Thomas has hypothesised
that the time it takes a first-year student to complete a lab-based software
engineering task is related to their likelihood of successfully completing the whole
subject. To test this hypothesis, Thomas has developed an 'early warning system'
using Teachers' and Learners' Collaborascope (TLC) technology developed by the
University of Glasgow. With this system, Thomas and his colleagues can track the
length of time it takes individual students to complete lab-based tasks. It is
anticipated that this information will aid in the identification of those students at
risk of failing the subject and the allocation of teaching resources to those
students most in need.

227
 Acknowledgements: Funding is partially from internal Departmental resources
and also via the UK E PSRC-funded GRUMPS project at the University of
Glasgow.
To find out more: http://www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~ richard/ and
http://grumps.dcs.gla.ac.uk/
Other Initiatives:
• The teaching of generic IT skills: (i) a trial of the Computing Skills Workshop
on freshers at UWA (ii) development of a course on Learning to Learn About
Computers (iii) evaluation of far transfer effects in generic IT skills courses

[78]
Innovator : Michael Turk
Presenter: Michael Turk
Organisation : School of Computing and Information Technology, University of
Western Sydney
Keywords: Curriculum Integration - Professional Skills
Description: Turk has incorporated integrating projects and team-related open-
ended exercises into his programming and systems analysis and design subjects.
His general goal is to prepare IT students for lifelong learning. The specific aims
of the initiative are to equip students to effectively manage themselves and their
time, to instil students with a sense of personal responsibility for their professional
actions and to develop students' teamwork and self-awareness in addition to their
technical IT skills.
Acknowledgements: Thanks are due for the support and encouragement of this
initiative received from Professor Athula Ginige, Head of the School.
To find out more: http://fistserv.macarthur.uws.edu.au/michaelt/publicn.htmA
paper describing the initiative in more detail is in preparation.
Other Initiatives:
• The Undergraduate Study Maturity Model and Personal Study Process -
Studies for partial completion of Doctor of Teaching, currently in progress.

[82]
Innovators: Warren Yates
Presenter: Prof Warren Yates
Organisation : Telecommunications E ngineering, University of Technology,
Sydney
Keywords: Graduate Attributes - Government Project
Description : The Faculty of E ngineering at UTS participated in the Australian
Technology Network Project on Graduate Capabilities. As Associate Dean of
Teaching an Learning, Yates has been involved in the development and delivery
of a subject, Authentication and System Security, to be used as a model for
subjects designed within the 'generic capabilities' framework, that is, subjects that
are 'graduate attribute' based and learner centred.
228
Acknowledgements:
Associate Professor Keith Trigwell, Director, UTS Centre for Teaching and
Learning Dr Keiko Yasukawa, E ducational Developer, Faculty of E ngineering
To find out more:
http://www.uts.edu.au/div/clt/ATN.grad.cap.project.index.html and
http://cea.curtin.edu.au/ATN/UTSatn1.html

229
APPENDIX K. Industry questionnaire
ICT-Ed Project
FIT, Monash University
Caulfield East, Vic, 3145

11 July 2001

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Education

Research
Industry Survey
This survey is directed to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. It
has been designed to build a picture of industry’s views of university ICT education. It has
been distributed to a selection of members of the Australian Computing Society.
We are looking for responses from both those who employ recent ICT graduates and
those who do not. We need to build a balanced picture. If you feel there is someone better
able to complete the survey, feel free to pass it on to that person.
If you prefer to complete the survey online, please go to
http://cerg.infotech.monash.edu.au/icted/industry/indexmain.html
This research has been commissioned by the Australian Universities Teaching
Committee, which is under the Federal Government’s Department of Education Training
and Youth Affairs. Details of the project can be found at
http://cerg.csse.monash.edu.au/icted/.
Summary results of the survey will be published on our Web page (URL above),
approximately four weeks after you receive this survey. This assumes, of course, that the
responses are prompt.
We hope that you find the survey interesting.

Thank you for your time.

Monash University E thics Requirements

Your response will be anonymous unless you are interested in helping us if we need further information. In that
case we are asking you to give us your name and preferred contact details. We will not release any information
that could identify an individual or organisation. Aggregate findings will be made available on the project’s web
site.

Participation is entirely voluntary. You indicate your consent to participate by completing and returning the
questionnaire. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the researchers. Should you have any
complaint concerning the way this research is conducted, please call The Standing Committee on E thics in
Research on humans:

The Standing Committee on E thics in Research on Humans

Monash University
Clayton, VIC, 3168

231
 Most items will involve circling the option that applies to you.
Only use DK (Don’t Know) if you have no knowledge on the item. Similarly, use NA (Not
Applicable) only when the item does not apply in your organisation.

Section 1. Demographics (All respondents to complete this

section)

1.1 Your position: ________________________________________

1.2 Including contract positions, approximately how many people does your business
employ?

Less than 6 1
6 – 20 2
21 – 99 3
100 or more 4

1.3 To which industry grouping does your business belong (choose one)?

Accommodation, Cafes & Restaurants 1

Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 2
Communication Services 3
Construction 4
Cultural & Recreational Services 5
Education 6
Electricity, Gas & Water Supply 7
Finance & Insurance 8
Government Administration & Defence 9
Health & Community Services 10
Manufacturing 11
Mining 12
Personal & Other Services 13
Property & Business Services 14
Retail Trade 15
Transport & Storage 16
Wholesale Trade 17
Other -Please specify 18
__________________________________

232
1.4 What is your primary location?

i. State/territory ii. Region

ACT 1 Capital City 1

NSW 2 Regional Centre 2
Northern Territory 3 Rural 3
Queensland 4
South Australia 5
Tasmania 6
Victoria 7
Western Australia 8
Not in Australia Which country? 9
_____________________

1.5 What is your highest tertiary qualification?

Certificate 1
Diploma 2
Degree 3
Higher Degree 4
Other 5
None 6

1.6 Does your organisation hire people with ICT qualifications from any of the following?

Yes No DK

TAFE Colleges 1 2 3
Private TAFE providers 1 2 3
Private Computer Training Colleges 1 2 3
Universities 1 2 3
Other
Please specify_____________________________________

1.7 Does your organisation have any contact with University ICT departments for the
following activities?

Yes No DK

Industrial Experience programs 1 2 3

Course or subject advisory committees 1 2 3
Research and development projects 1 2 3
Consulting 1 2 3
Other
Please specify_____________________________________

233
Section 2. Complete this section only if your organisation
employs recent university ICT graduates. If your organisation
does not currently employ ICT graduates, go to Section 3.

ICT graduate is used throughout this questionnaire to refer only to people who
have recently graduated from a university course that focused primarily on
information and computing technology.

2.1 Please indicate the general area(s) in which your ICT university graduate recruits
have studied (select more than one area if applicable).

Computer Science/ Software Engineering 1

Information Management Systems /Business Systems 2
Distributed Software Systems 3
Multimedia (including Web design) 4
Library and Information Management 5
Other (please specify …………………………………….) 6

2.2 Please indicate how important you think each of the following skills are in ICT
graduates.

Use DK (Don’t Know) if you have no knowledge on the item.

Not Importan
important t

Skills in particular computer languages 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Skills in particular software applications 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Foundation in theoretical principles 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Ability to communicate with clients 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Written communication skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Ability to work in teams 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Project management skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Problem solving skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Understanding of business processes 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Preparedness for quick entry into job tasks 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Skills in languages other than English 1 2 3 4 5 DK
Other 1 2 3 4 5 DK
(please specify: .………….…………..………)

234
To answer the following questions think about the typical ICT graduates you have worked
with recently.

2.3 Indicate the extent to which the usual ICT graduate, who has worked for you, meets
your organisation’s needs for the following skills.

Use NA (Not Applicable) if the skill is not important Doesn’t

in your organisation.
meet Use DK (Don’t
Meets
Know) if you have no knowledge on the item. our needs our
needs

Skills in particular computer languages 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA

Skills in particular software applications 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA
Foundation in theoretical principles 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Ability to communicate with clients 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Written communication skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Ability to work in teams 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Project management skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Problem solving skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Understanding of business processes 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Preparedness for quick entry into job tasks 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Skills in languages other than English 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Other 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA
(please specify: .………….…………..………)

2.4 Please indicate your satisfaction with these graduates:

Dissatisfied Satisfied

Overall performance of these graduates 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA

Performance compared to graduates in other disciplines 1 2 3 4 5 DK

2.5 As far as you know, does your organisation have difficulty finding ICT graduates to
meet its needs?

Yes 1
No 2
Don’t Know 3

2.6 Indicate the importance of the following in your organisation’s decision to recruit ICT graduates.

Unimportant Important

Broad education in ICT further to technical skills 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA

Theoretical background to support R&D 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Potential to contribute to future directions of the organisation 1 2 3 4 5 DK

Other 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA
(please specify: ___________________________________ )
235
236
2.7 Please indicate your organisation’s preference when recruiting ICT graduates for the
time needed from the graduate’s entry to their productivity.

Short lead time Longer lead

with minimal time, allowing
training needed for training

Time needed from entry to productivity 1 2 3 4 5 DK NA

2.8 Would you recommend that people seeking a career in the ICT industry do a university ICT degree?

Not Strongly
Recommend Recommend

1 2 3 4 5 DK

2.9 Would you recommend your ICT graduates to other employers?

Not Strongly
Recommend Recommend

1 2 3 4 5 DK

2.10 How responsive are university ICT departments to the needs of your industry?

Not Very
Responsive Responsive

1 2 3 4 5 DK

2.11 What do you think Australian universities can do to improve the preparation of ICT graduates for
work in your industry?

2.12 What is the likelihood of your organisation continuing to employ university ICT graduates?

Not Very
Likely Likely

1 2 3 4 5 DK

Thank you for helping us with this survey. We would like to be able to follow up on interesting
information you might give in this survey. If you would like to be involved in a follow-up interview,
please provide your preferred contact details below:

Name: ____________________________________

Email: ____________________________________

Phone: ____________________________________

Use the enclosed postage-paid envelope to return your completed questionnaire.

237
Section 3. Complete this section only if your organisation
does not currently employ recent university ICT graduates.

ICT graduate is used throughout this questionnaire to refer only to people who
have recently graduated from a university course that focused primarily on
information and computing technology.

3.1 Has your organisation employed university ICT graduates in the past?

Have never employed graduates 1

Employed once, but not currently 2

3.2 Why doesn’t your organisation currently employ ICT graduates?

3.3 Do you anticipate that your organisation will recruit university ICT graduates in the
future?

Definitel Definitely
y Will Will
Not

1 2 3 4 5 DK

Thank you for helping us with this survey. We appreciate your input. We would like to be
able to follow up on interesting information you might give in this survey. If you would like
to be involved in a follow-up interview, please provide your preferred contact details below.

Name:_______________________________

Email:_______________________________

Phone:_______________________________

Use the enclosed postage-paid envelope to return your completed questionnaire.

238
APPENDIX L. Graduate cases

Case 1. Ben
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Course completed: none
Business size: micro (2 employees)
Position: Manager

Background
Ben is a 24-year old male who lives in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne with his
wife who is a childcare worker. Ben grew up in the eastern suburbs. His father,
although trained in accounting, has always worked in the computing industry,
currently for IBM. His mother, once a hairdresser, has worked primarily in the
home since her children were born. Ben has one sibling: a younger sister who is
currently studying for a university degree in psychology/psychophysiology.
When Ben was aged 10, his father brought an IBM-X T computer into the family
home. Initially Ben was not interested in the computer, but when it was replaced
by a later model upon which games could be played he taught himself how to use
it. His father had encouraged him to use the computer, but until the possibility of
playing games presented itself, he had shown little interest. Ben taught himself
how to use dos so he could get games running, experimenting with himem, memory
managers, autoexec.bats, etc. This learning came relatively easy to Ben and he
enjoyed his successes when he “conquered the machine” and learnt something
new. Ben continued to learn more about computers through his desire to play
games until early secondary school. He was motivated by the challenges and the
“fun”. He had “computer friends” in the local neighbourhood with whom he
played games. After his father had brought home a modem and organised a
“Pegasus” connection through his work, Ben and one of his neighbourhood
friends became interested in electronic bulletin boards. Ben ran a personal BBS.
Ben has a confident and out-going manner. He enjoys challenges and the
satisfaction of solving problems and providing useful solutions. He says he is a
natural trouble-shooter and a perfectionist. In his work, Ben is motivated by the
satisfaction of doing good work and of working with “good people”.

Schooling
At school, Ben excelled in and “loved” art. He pursued his art studies at
secondary school, while also taking, and getting A-pluses in, information
technology. His parents gave him guidance as to what subjects to take at school.
When he decided to drop Science at Year 10 and then Mathematics at Year 11,
239
 they were concerned that he was limiting his options, but he was confident that he
would not need these subjects. Ben says that his parents have always let him have
control over decisions about his education and career.
At school, Ben was in the computer club. The club was started by a teacher that
Ben admired. He says the teacher had a brilliant mind and was a “nice bloke”.
In his final VCE year, Ben took Art, Media Studies, Information Technology,
Graphics and E nglish. Ben’s VCE was very successful, with a high TE R score. He
got top marks for Art and for Information Technology.

University education
Ben says that after completing secondary school, it was “a toss up” as to what
area – Art or Computing – he would pursue. In terms of a career, the two areas
that interested him were graphic design and three-dimensional computer
animation. He understood that neither of these required a tertiary qualification,
and that “being very good” was sufficient to succeed in these fields.
Ben did not pass the selection process for a university education in graphic design,
instead enrolling in a two-year TAFE certificate in 2-dimensional and 3-
dimensional computer-aided art. He was aware that he was taking a risk by not
going to university, but he was confident he knew what he wanted to do and he
was confident in his skills. He says that his parents would have liked him to go to
university, but he convinced them that he didn’t need to. Ben did not complete
the TAFE course because he didn’t think it was a very good course and because

Employment history and career aspirations

During the last months of his VCE , Ben worked for a computing business,
specialising in multimedia, where he was exposed to the latest computing and
multimedia technologies. During his TAFE course, he worked for micro
computing business owned by a family friend. He helped with networking and
software solutions. Through this friend he then moved into a web-design business.
He worked in for this business for about 6 months, “churning out quick and nasty
web-sites”. Ben was uncomfortable with this approach to business. He says he is a
professional and a perfectionist. He left this job and temporarily returned to
working for the family friend on a contract basis. Ben then took a job with an
Internet café as a “techie” and then as “technical manager”. He observed that the
business was not doing well, so decided to leave before it failed.
Reflecting on his work history, Ben says that he was not happy with the
management at any of the businesses he worked for. He believed that he could
make a more successful business himself and decided to “give it a sh
1997, Ben has run his own business. He operated as a “one man show” for several
years making small web sites. He was not making much money, but he was
comfortably living in his family home. When he got engaged to be married he
realised he would need to make money. He secured large contract in 2000 and
brought a friend into the business and has continued in this way since.
Over the last 8 months finding work has been more difficult. Ben blames the end
of the IT boom. He now has a responsibility to keep finding work because he has

240
a business partner to consider. He actively targets clients “with money”, so he
does not have to compromise the product and can meet his perfectionist
inclinations. When asked about his aspirations, Ben says he has moved away from
graphics and can see himself in a management position. Ben has always been a
“jack-of-all-trades”, so he can communicate effectively with different specialists
and he understands how different areas work. He thinks his skill set should enable
him to manage a small group of graphic designers and programmers, working on
moderately sized web-site productions and perhaps even applications. He would
be happy managing his own small business or someone else’s, but he wouldn’t like
to be too removed from “the action”. Most of the work currently done by Ben’s
business is web site development, but he would like to expand it to provide
complete digital solutions.
Ben does not regret having not completed a university degree and is comfortable
with the current direction of his career, but he sometimes thinks about the
possibility of future formal education in business or management.

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 Case 2. Dave
Gender: Male
A ge: 28
Qualifications: BSc (Hons) in Bird E cology; short course provided by recruitment
company leading to certification in software testing.
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: Contractor - Business Analyst

Background
Dave is a 28-year-old male who graduated from the Bachelor of Science Honours
in 1995, specialising in bird ecology. He currently works in the credit card
division of a large bank as a contractor business analyst. In his immediate family
unit, Dave is the second children having an older brother and a younger sister and
three younger brothers, biological and adopted. His father also has a
responsibility of care for five other children, biological and adopted, from other
relationships. Dave describes his father as an entrepreneur and sees himself and
his three brothers as sharing his father’s entrepreneurial tendencies.
Dave’s mother, who is separated from his father, is an Occupational Therapist.
His father is an Obstetrician/Gynaecologist by trade but works for himself in
property development. Dave recalls that his father always did other things while
practising medicine, has never been an employee and is something of an
entrepreneur although “not very good at it”.
Like himself, Dave’s older brother is a contractor in creative roles. His sister is an
employee in the travel industry, another brother is a contractor in the field of IT
and the environment and his youngest brother is still at school. Dave describes
himself as entrepreneurial, but pragmatic unlike his father who is more of a
“gambler” and less successful in his entrepreneurial activities. His mother,
although not entrepreneurial, nurtures this trait in her children. Dave sees his
siblings and himself as milder versions of their father – “we’re in control”.
Dave sees opportunities and executes. He doesn’t um and ah, he just goes for it
without worrying too much about the implications. This approach to life
sometimes lands him in trouble but he figures that this is a natural consequence of
being productive – some initiatives will miss but on the whole he has more hits
than misses. Dave is drawn to people who are independent, self-driven and self-
employed but not necessarily successfully. He describes his friends as generally
care-free and happy-go-lucky.

Schooling
Reflecting on his schooling, Dave says that it was alright and that he attended
school, prominent Melbourne private school, regularly – “normal school, nice
family”. He was never part of a clique at school and he did okay across the board.
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He sees his current attitude as perhaps rebellion against his schooling and at odds
with middle-class norms. Dave had no interest in IT in high-school and originally
thought he might train as a psychologist. He had no real plan until he received his
Year 12 results. He identified the courses he could apply for based on his results
and decided from there.

University education
Dave has a strong personal interest in ecology and conservation and enrolled in
Bachelor of Science at a Melbourne metropolitan university, specialising in
Zoology and Botany. His choice of subjects was not a career based decision but
rather, based on interest. Part of him wanted to get into conservation and land
management but he soon realised that he just enjoyed studying the natural
sciences and wanted to find out more. As a university student he didn’t really
care about work and money wasn’t a problem as he was living at home for the
most part.
Dave completed his BSc followed by an Honours year specialising in Bird
E cology. He graduated in 1995 before accepting a PhD scholarship in
Queensland. He discontinued his PhD after 10 weeks when it became apparent
to him that he had been recruited as cheap research labour and would not be able
to pursue his own research interests – North Queensland was the “worst place on
earth for a Melbourne, tree-hugger, non-redneck”.

Employment history and career aspirations

Dave returned to Victoria and took up a position managing farm operations at a
trout farm in E ildon. He found this position “hermitising”, he felt out of place
and returned to Melbourne to work as a builder’s labourer. For Dave, his time
labouring was a period spent escaping reality and avoiding progressing.
In mid 1998, Dave was informed of a 2 week software development and quality
assurance course being run by an IT recruiting firm. At the time, Dave didn’t
know what IT was but figured it paid better and would be less physically gruelling
than labouring and he would be able to use his intelligence. The firm was looking
for non-IT graduates, particularly Arts graduates, who could look at software with
a creative and analytical eye.
On completing the course, Dave worked as a contract software tester for a credit
card software vendor. This position led to his being contracted to a client of the
vendor as an on site consultant and involved working in Sydney as well as travel
to Orlando. As his knowledge base grew, Dave became involved in more
business analysis and less software testing. Dave left this company 18 months
ago to work for his current employer, a large bank, as a contractor business
analyst operating through an umbrella company.
Dave sees the ICT industry as somewhat mercenary. Being a contractor, his
company is not committed to him and can terminate a 12 month contract with 4
weeks notice. His long-term commitment is to himself as a commercial entity and
he aims to minimise his susceptibility to market ups and downs. This entails
being adaptable, professional and fitting into any company – “or you won’t get the
next contract.” Dave regards himself as having good business acumen but not as
a capitalist.
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 He is not committed to or motivated to stay in the ICT industry. Despite this, he
sees his work as interesting and challenging; not necessarily intellectually, but
organisationally and in a management sense it’s very challenging. Dave stated
that he can only do the things he’s interested in, no matter how much money he’s
paid - “I’m not going to hang around in a field that doesn’t challenge me.” A
change of industry now would not change Dave’s vision.
Dave’s vision relates to his lifestyle rather than his career, and this vision changes
from time to time. For Dave, IT is just a means to an end but a means that he
happens to enjoy. There is no ‘ideal job’ for Dave although he would perhaps
prefer to be in an industry that involved excitement, travel and ‘do-gooding”. He
knows he does not want to be a wage slave or tied to a company. In this sense, he
says that he identifies with Generation X ers – he doesn’t care what he does for a
living, he just wants to happy and have nice people around.
Dave has been offered permanent positions in every IT role he has taken. Some
of his colleagues can’t understand why he wouldn’t take it but he prefers being in
control rather than being controlled.
Commenting on the value of an ICT degree in the ICT industry, Dave
distinguishes between technical and non-technical roles, such as his own. Having
an ICT degree is valuable in non-technical roles, which make up a large
proportion if ICT positions, but you can wing it. “I don’t know the first thing
about computers and programming . . . It’s all about common sense and being able
to work with people.” In regard to technical roles, the technology learnt in first
year of university will likely be obsolete by graduation. In addition, the project
life-cycles learnt at university may not be relevant on graduation as your employer
may not adhere to them.
Dave sees those ICT professionals who enter the industry through graduate
programs as having a different perspective to those who come in ‘through the
back-door’. “Those who come in through the backdoor tend wonder what all the
fuss is about. It’s just another industry but you get paid twice as much.” He sees
a lot of people do university courses for vocational reasons because they think it’s
the “Holy Grail”, that it’s going to make them happy. Dave is quite against the
vocationalisation of education, believing that education is about personal
development.

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Case 3. G rant

Gender: Male
Age: 23
Qualifications: Completed one year of Bachelor of Digital Systems
Graduated from Bachelor of Computing
Business size: Micro (< 5)
Position: Web developer/programmer

Background
Grant is a 23-year-old male who lives with his girlfriend in a rented house in
Melbourne’s E astern suburbs. He completed a Bachelor of Computing degree in
1998 and now works on the internet programming side of a two-person web
solutions business. His boss, who is a friend from high school, is the company
founder and works on the design side of the business. He is reserved, somewhat
cynical and not driven by financial gain so much as lifestyle. He describes himself
as lazy or economical in his choices made regarding education and employment.
Mother and father, who are now divorced, are both programmers by trade. His
father has worked as a technical/IT manager, then an IT academic and then as a
manager of people as opposed to ‘technical’ manager. Grant’s mother currently
works as an IT academic. Grant has two younger brothers: Sam, 21, who is about
to commence a nursing degree after taking a few years off between high school
and university, and Tom, 18, who is enrolled in an Arts degree. Tom is just as
technically-minded as grant while Sam is non-technical. Grant has one other
relative, an older cousin, who is a programmer however the most popular career
choices in his wider family are teaching and music.
Grant was exposed to computers, programming and academia from a very early
age. He first learned a programming language from his father at age 11 and spent
time at university since he was about 5 years old. He has always had an interest in
computer games however his academic interest in computing waned in his mid-
teens when he decide he did not want to follow in his parents’ footsteps.
Grant’s sports interests include karate in which he trained for ten years, soccer
and rock-climbing. Until he was about ten, Grant’s family did not own a
television. He feels that this may be a factor in his siblings’ and his own interest in
reading and computing in childhood.

Schooling
Grant was precocious child who was reading in his pre-school years. Identified as
exceptionally bright at a young age, he entered a Montessori school as did his
younger brothers. On completing Grade 5, Grant skipped Grade 6 and entered
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 Year 7 at a private co-educational secondary school with a half scholarship.
Grant worked well until Year 9 when he rebelled against school, authority and the
study of computing. He described ‘hanging in there’ with the support of some
teachers. He did well in Year 12 but not as well as could if he applied himself.
Many of his friends at school did very badly and none went on to university.
Grant was often told by his parents and teachers that he had ‘potential’. Potential
became a dirty word as it seemed to refer to what you could be doing rather what
you are doing – “whatever you’re doing, ain’t quite up to your potential”. Grant
says that he still doesn’t live up to his potential but whereas he thought this was a
bad thing in his teen years, as a mature person, if had the chance again, he would
have tried for better marks in high-school. Despite this, he saw potential as over-
emphasised as it focused on the 1% wrong rather than the 99% right. He can now
understand the motivation of parents in emphasising potential.
Grant worked hard at school until about Year 9 when he rebelled deciding that
“people weren’t going to tell me what to do”. After this time, his grades dropped.
Looking back at this time, he recognises that being two years younger than his
class-mates caused tensions and that his defence was to “stop being smart” in
order to fit in – “it’s cooler not to work”. Grant always enjoyed reading and
writing at high school but has since let the writing slip. He recalls some teachers
at high-school, with whom he was friends and who were supportive of him while
most were not, “pushing him through”. Overall, the work he did do out-weighed
the work he didn’t do. He “held on” through high-school obtaining a TE R of 88
in Year 12. Although others around him were obtaining TE Rs in the high 90s,
Grant believes that his life was more balanced while the high-scorers “didn’t have
a life”.

University education
Grant always knew he would go to university as this was strongly encouraged by
his parents. After Year 12, attracted by the prospect of building robots, he
enrolled in a digital systems degree at a Melbourne metropolitan university. On
arriving at university, there was no longer anyone pushing him. He had the
attitude that he was still rebelling but there was no-one around to rebel against
except himself. He describes himself as lacking control and self-discipline at this
time – “I slide easily”.
The digital systems course contained more maths and other subjects that did not
interest him, than he expected. He did poorly overall and after the first year,
transferred to a computing degree at the same university. He chose this course
partly because his mother was involved in it’s organisation and she advised him
that he would be well suited to it given his aptitude for computing; it seemed like
the easiest way to go.
In his computing degree, Grant did well in programming subjects and poorly in
others, working on the premise that achieving 51% in a subject was 1% wasted.
He took 4.5 years to complete his 3-year degree as he had to repeat subjects. He
began to dislike his course after the first two years as it was beginning to drag on.
He began to miss classes, which he attributed to waning interest and having to
rely on public transport to get to university.
He recalled completing an industrial experience subject in the third year of his
degree however after 6 months of work, the project group still lacked organisation
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and produced what he considers as a worthless solution. He feels that difficulties
with this project were attributable to poor guidance on the part of the academic
supervisor. Having spoken to other graduates, he feels that a sandwich (industry)
year may have been more valuable than a few hours a week while continuing
other studies.
Grant completed his degree in 1998. He described himself as “scraping through”
and estimates that his attendance, especially toward the end of his degree, was
about 60%. The time he had invested in his education and the urging of his
parents pushed him towards completion. Looking back on his time at university,
Grant expressed the belief that some academics are resistant to re-training and are
out of touch with industry standards.

Employment history and career aspirations

During his time at university, Grant commenced a job installing computer
networks in schools. In this position he had contact with a wide range of clients
from young children to adults. On completing his degree, he took the first job he
was offered in a small custom software house which involved installing and
providing remote support for a car-rental management package used by a number
of nation-wide car rental companies. Grant received some informal training in
this job, allowing him to hone his programming skills. This position involved
phone and some on-site, client contact. Grant does not feel that his university
training prepared him for client contact so much as his experience in his previous
job. He was in this position 1.5 years before leaving for his current position.
The web development company that Grant currently works for was established
about 4 years ago by a good friend from high-school. Grant was warned by others
of the risks of working for a friend, but considered the pay-offs as worthwhile.
The company is currently developing in-house software which will hopefully bring
more money and clients to the company. An aspect of his job that he particularly
enjoys is having total control over his programming work although this sometimes
leads to him spending too much time on it, costing the company money. Grant
entered the company with hope of eventually becoming a partner. He has since
found out that the company structure will not allow this; he did not investigate
this part of his employment very deeply.
Grant describes himself as creative and would like one day to design games
however is not sure whether this will be enjoyable or will involve more maths
than he prepared to do. He hopes that one day, with advances in bandwidth, he
will be able to combine his internet programming skills with his interests in game
design to create online, real-time games.
Although he would like one day to be running a company of 10-15 people, this is
up in the air at the moment. He has kept in touch with an employment agency
because he may be in need of a job if the company’s current project doesn’t come
off. also, although it is stable now, delays in client payments have threatened the
financial stability of the company.
Grant recognises the trade off in not applying himself one hundred percent at
university and the kind of salary he can command as a graduate. He also sees this
trade-off in not working long hours and financial rewards. He has seen his parents
work very long hours and does not relish that lifestyle; “I would rather not have
heart disease at 50”. Describing himself as not greedy by nature, he is not
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 resentful that he does not earn more, but recognises that he wasted opportunities
in terms of employability. He attributes his current position to laziness; he took
first job he was offered and sees that he could have exposed himself to more
recruitment-directed activities during his time at university.
In describing how his degree has influenced his career, Grant identified himself as
possessing more and better abstract knowledge than his non-graduate peers but
states that this is not always considered valuable by employers, especially non-
technical management who are more interested in speed and cost of delivery.
Grant was strongly encouraged by his parents to go to university because they felt
that he would not get a well paid job without a degree. Grant disagrees with this
view as his employer has had no formal training and he has seen others become
successful in the IT industry without formal training. He believes that, depending
on choices made at university, a graduate’s knowledge may be obsolete by
graduation. He sees the importance of self-education, both for graduates and
non-graduates and from this point on will primarily self-educate.
Grant was always encouraged to fulfil his potential but does not see himself as
having done that to date. He sees his university career as “killing time”; his heart
was not really in it. He is not driven by money and had an “economical” outlook
at the time – “don’t do more than is needed”.

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Case 4. James

Gender: Male
A ge: 23
Qualifications: Completed one year of Bachelor of E ngineering
Graduated from B.Bus.(Accounting)/B.Comp.
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: IT Consultant/Database Administrator

Background
James is a 23-year-old male who lives with his parents and younger sister in
Melbourne’s southern suburbs. He completed a double degree, Bachelor of
Business (Accounting)/Bachelor of Computing, in 2000 and now works as an IT
Consultant/Database Administrator for a large consulting firm. James’ father is
the purchasing officer for a small car trim company and his mother is the
principal’s secretary in a secondary school. His sister, 21, is completing an Arts
degree at the same university that he attended.
James’ parents emigrated from India 35 years ago, arriving in Australia with
is parents circumstances as immigrants have influenced James in his
attitude to education and his career. His parents did not have the opportunities
that he now has and are very supportive of their children’s education. James is
very proud of the fact that he is the first in his family line to obtain a tertiary
education.
James recalls always being interested in computers. His family got their first
computer, a PC 286, when he was in Year 8. He played ‘shoot ‘em up’ and role-
playing games as a teenager and now enjoys playing games over the Internet, when
he has time, to unwind. Computing came naturally to him and by Year 10 he was
repairing, upgrading and configuring friends’ computers. He describes himself as
something of a hardware fanatic and now that he is working full-time, he is buying
all of the components and brands he always wanted to and is building his own
computer.
When he has the time, James plays jazz piano, catches up with friends and fixes
things around the house. His great love is his car which is his main hobby

Schooling
Primary school was ‘quite tough’ for James. He recalls being ‘a very unhappy little
boy’ as there was a lot of racism in his school and he was the only coloured child
among his peers. Difficulties with racism continued into high-school, a private
co-educational secondary school, as he and his peers entered Year 7 but phased

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 out in later years as his high-school had a more racially diverse student body than
did his primary school.
In both primary and secondary school, James was rowdy and often disruptive in
class which he attributes to his being very energetic. Years 7 to 10 presented no
problems for James although he was ‘a last-minute worker’, a study habit he
maintained until his last year of university. Year 11 came as a shock to him as he
had to do homework every night. By Year 12, he had adjusted to the work load
and obtained a TE R of 86 with which he was quite happy. James did not start
programming before starting university nor did he take any IT subjects in high-
school as they were ‘secretarial’ in nature and his computer use was already quite
advanced. In Year 12 he studied Accounting, E nglish, Physics, Maths Methods
and Specialist Maths.

University education
James did not always think he would be suited to university as he is a very hands-
on person and didn’t enjoy theoretical subjects. In his senior high-school years,
James’ ambition was to become an engineer and he attended an engineering
summer school. He enrolled in a Bachelor of E ngineering degree but soon found
it was not for him; “there’s only so much calculus I can do in a day”. He found
himself working hard but receiving poor marks. He passed his first year but, after
a lot of soul searching, decide to discontinue engineering and enrol in a Bachelor
of Business (Accounting)/Bachelor of Computing double degree.
With the move from engineering to business and computing, James went from
hating his subjects and just passing to getting HDs across the board. He found
that he did not have to put in a lot of effort as he enjoyed the subject content
especially in practical subjects; his computing marks were always better than his
theory marks as he found them more relevant.
James completed an industrial experience subject in the final year of his
computing degree. He recalls being highly unmotivated from the start of it as he
had a heavy workload and he was not happy with his group; he found himself
allotted the administrative and documentation tasks rather than the hands-on
work which was his preferred role. However, he did prefer to study in groups
rather than on his own, as he is people person and finds group study more
motivating than working alone.
Toward the last 6 months of his studies, James felt very worn out because of his
workload both at university and in his part-time job. He missed quite a few
classes but felt this was okay if good notes were available or if the lecturers were
boring. He failed one subject in his computing degree in the first semester of his
final year – “I just didn’t work and thought I would make it through”. He recalls
not wanting to finish in some ways because he liked the university lifestyle and
socialising.
James was very social at university. He joined his university’s Accounting and
Computing Society in first year and went on to become a committee member. He
sees his involvement in the Society as playing a major role in his career planning
as the Society had corporate sponsors who held recruitment events and offered
vacation employment. He is still active in the Society, attending social and
networking functions.

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Employment history and career aspirations
James has been working since he was fifteen. While at university, he worked on
average 20-25 hours per week for a fast food company. In his 6.5 years with this
company, he advanced from a junior role to area manager. In his penultimate year
at university, James worked for three months in an on-site technical support role
for an IT company.
He secured vacation employment with his present employer, a large consulting
firm, in the Summer of 2000 in the area of accounting. He decided then that he
preferred computing and applied for a graduate IT position through the firm’s
usual recruitment process. James prefers IT because it is a very dynamic area,
always changing.
James works for one of Australia’s ‘big five’ consulting firms. He was first exposed
to these firms through the Society and learnt that the work and pay were the same
across the companies – what mattered was whether you ‘fitted in’. He found that
fitting in was, in fact, more important than university marks, describing his final
results as quite poor. He also feels that his extra-curricular activities and
consistent work history were influential in his being hired, reasoning that if you
have not worked or been involved in social activities, it shows that you are not
much of a people person which you need to be as a consultant.
He commenced with the company in March 2001 and was sent to Orlando, FL,
for two months training. James enjoys his work very much as it involves variety
and leading-edge technology. He has exposure to a range of industries and project
roles and is involved a lot of problem solving, for which he has a natural aptitude.
“That’s what it’s all about really. Always solving other people’s problems”.
At this stage, James hopes to work up the ranks to management level in his firm.
He currently has a two year ‘bonding’ contract and plans to use this time to work
hard, gain knowledge and get a feel for where he would like to go in the firm.
While in high-school and university, he did not feel that he was working to his real
potential, he believes he is doing this now.
James attributes his current employment position to a combination of personal
factors and a university education. He feels strongly that if he had earned straight
HDs but had not socialised, become involved in the Society and its recruitment
activities and developed people skills, he would not have made it through.
Thinking about the value of theory in his computing degree, James says that,
while he hated it at the time and thought he wouldn’t remember any of it, it is
valued by employers. Although he was trained on the job, he realises that you
cannot be trained in new skills if you don’t know the fundamentals. He now
realises how much theory he has learnt and retained from his computing degree
and has seen other new recruits, who did not possess the same knowledge,
struggle during company training.
James believes his degree has made him highly employable but feels that course
administrators should do more for students in terms of career planning and advice
- “no-one gives you a kick up the bum”.

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 Case 5. Michael

Gender: Male
Age: 27
Course completed: Bachelor of Computing with Honours
Completed bachelor degree in December 1998
Completed Honours year in June 2000
Business size: micro (5 employees) unit attached to larger corporation
Position: Web Developer

Background
Michael is a 27-year-old male who lives in a house owned by his parents. Michael
grew up in a bayside suburb of Melbourne. He lived there with his mother, father
and two younger brothers. Michael is the eldest child. The middle brother is
currently completing an undergraduate degree in Science. The youngest brother is
still in secondary school. His father, who once owned a general store, has worked
in various trades and most recently as a wholesale salesperson, traveling around
Australia. Michael’s mother is a nurse and works in a hospital close to the family
home. Michael’s family has played a key role in his
father has suffered with illness over the past several years, leading to a shift in the
role that Michael plays in the family and having direct influence on decisions
related to his education and career.
Michael appears to be goal oriented, competitive and highly motivated to succeed.
He has a strong sense of control over his future. He does not appear to be a big
risk-taker; particularly in financial matters, he prefers to research options to
minimize risk and optimize security and return.

Schooling
At school, Michael excelled in sports. He was known for his commitment and
excellence in sport rather than in academic studies. He played competitive team
and individual sports, competed in athletics and competed at the state level in
martial arts. Many of the adults that influenced Michael during his schooling were
sports coaches/teachers and he says they played a mentoring role. When the
International Olympic Committee announced that Sydney would host the 2000
Olympic Games, Michael’s martial arts coach thought he had a chance of
competing.
Michael found his school work easy and did not have to put in much effort to do
well. His most enjoyable subject at school was Information Technology. Michael says
he found it interesting and he was good at it. He had always had an interest in
technology. As a child he would dismantle his toys and other household gadgets
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and then reassemble them. Later, he owned a Commodore 64, which he “loved”.
Initially, his interest had been in hardware and he thought might pursue this at
university and become a technician. However, with the development of the
Internet and the World Wide Web, he became more interested in web
programming and design. This interest was further stimulated when he later
enrolled in and completed a Bachelor of Computing at an institution that had a
programming focus. Michael sees this interest and the particular focus of the
degree that he completed as playing a role in his achieving his current position as
a Web Developer.

University education
While at school, Michael was not sure what he wanted to do at university. He had
always assumed that he would do a university degree, receiving encouragement
from his parents and from his favourite teachers. He decided to do computing
because he was interested in this area.
Michael selected his university based on access by public transport from his family
home. He selected one campus over another based on the proximity of a railway
station. Michael continued to play and compete in sports while at university, but
he also brought his need to achieve and to “be the best” to his academic life.
Michael was not completely conscientious, sometimes missing classes so he could
play sport, but he achieved good marks. He planned to pursue further study and
eventually complete a PhD because “that is the highest you can do in education”.
In his first and second year he achieved a Credit average. Michael saw Honours as
the quickest way to get into a PhD program. To achieve this goal, he applied
himself in third year, achieving a High Distinction average. During this year, he
also worked as a sessional tutor in his department. He was then invited to do an
Honours year.
During Michael’s bachelor degree, his father suffered with ill health. Midway
through Michael’s Honours year, his father became extremely ill. At this point,
Michael deferred his studies for several months. With his father unable to work,
Michael saw a need for another “bread earner” in the family to complement his
mother’s income while his younger brothers completed their education. This was a
turning point in Michael’s education and career aspirations. His father’s illness not
only led to a pragmatic need for income, but it prompted Michael to reassess his
direction and what he valued. From that point he has focused on achieving new
goals that would facilitate a lifestyle that made family life his first priority.
Michael returned to university later the same year to complete his Honours year,
but he then sought full-time employment consistent with his new “plan”.
Reflecting on his university education, Michael says “they pretty much had it all
covered”. He completed streams in information systems, programming and
computer technology. Subjects in information systems covered documentation
and presentation skills, subjects in programming covered programming and
software development, and subjects in computer technology covered the technical
side. He appreciates the value of an industry experience program in his third year
that provided him with an opportunity to apply what he had learnt in previous
years.
Thinking of the position he currently holds, Michael thinks he may have benefited
from more advanced subjects of direct relevance and that some of the subjects he
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 completed were not relevant to the work he now does. However, while at
university he would not have been able to anticipate what type of roles he would
have in the future or what type of businesses he would work in. Given this, he
believes the degree he completed, with its mix of subjects, was the right one to
do. It gave him a grounding in a wide range of computing areas and, therefore, the
ability to apply for a wide-range of positions. He believes that the undergraduate
level is too early to specialize.
Further to the skills and knowledge Michael acquired at university, he says it also
gave him a good social life and a network of lifelong friends. He says he learnt
lessons of life, such as, the importance of friendship and that hard work will lead
to future rewards. In terms of his working life, he believes his university education
gave him are a broader perspective on the IT industry, the knowledge required to
stay in tune with this rapidly changing industry and, most importantly, the
knowledge that there is more than one way to solve a problem and that even
incorrect solutions are a source of learning and progress.

Employment history and career aspirations

Michael applied for a number of positions on completion of his Honours year. He
was offered two positions in Web development: one in a university and the other
in a micro business unit attached to a larger corporation. He was made aware of
the latter position by one of his lecturers who then recommended him for the job.
Michael chose to take this job because it seemed “more commercial”, being
outside of the university environment. Michael is currently working as a Web
Developer for this company. He started in this position in June 2000. His primary
task is asp programming to maintain his organisation’s Web site. He continues to
do some contract work through contacts with his old university.
Michael’s motivation for seeking and taking up his current position was to raise
money for the service of a larger plan. Michael says that he became aware of the
potential of the Web development industry while at university, through talking
with his peers, reading newspapers and browsing the Internet itself, and through
contact with friends who had already graduated and taken up positions in this
area. Michael plans to work in this industry for the next ten years. Over this
period he will save money and purchase real estate, and after this time he plans to
retire and to live off his investments. He will complement this income with part-
time work, possibly teaching others how to manage their investments. Michael
and a friend who studied accounting have put a lot of time into researching
various investment avenues and have settled on real estate and shares as the
avenues that suits them. They belong to an investment club and have attended
seminars on both areas. Michael is currently living quite frugally. He lives in a
house owned by his family and he doesn’t run a car. This way he can save most of
his income.
Michael enjoys working in his current position. The company is non-hierarchical
and he is treated as a professional. The company is currently undergoing some
management and structural changes. Michael hopes to continue with the company
and will do if he is made a good offer (financially) after the changes have been
finalized. Michael has considered starting his own business, but believes “it’s too
much of a hassle”. He doesn’t want to take risks that would jeopardize his long-
term plan. He has also considered working overseas where incomes are

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substantially higher than they are locally, but at this stage he does not want to
move away from his family.
The motivation behind Michael’s plan for early retirement is family. He expects
that in ten years’ time he will be starting his own family, and he “wants to be
there”. He says he’d rather “have more time with his
While he sometimes still contemplates doing a PhD, he believes that, with the pay
increases that he is experiencing in his work, he will continue to work full-time.
He may reconsider the option of doing a PhD once he has attained his goal of
early retirement.

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 Case 6. Steve

Gender: Male
Age: 28
Qualifications:
Did two years of Chemical E ngineering
Almost completed 5-year degree in Software E ngineering (currently deferred with
one year to go and does not plan to complete)
Business size: small (16 employees)
Position: Software Developer – full-time

Background
Steve is a 28-year old male, who lives in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne with
his mother, his sister and his sister’s two children. Neither of Steve’s parents are
university educated. Steve’s mother left school after grade 5 and has spent most
of her working life in the furniture business. At times she has run her own
business. Steve’s father completed year 12 and has worked in many different
skilled and unskilled positions. Steve has two brothers and two sisters; he is the
middle child. His older brother, who completed a Bachelor of Arts, works as an
audiovisual technician for a high school. His older sister enrolled in but did not
complete a university degree and now works part-time selling produce at a
market. Steve’s younger sister, who also enrolled in a university degree without
completing it, is currently between jobs. She was most recently working as an
administrative assistant. His younger brother did not attend university and works
as a labourer/builder
Since childhood, he has had a keen interest in science and mathematics. When he
was in Year 9, his father bought the family a computer. Steve treated the new
machine like a puzzle. He enjoyed the problem-solving required to get it working.
Steve learnt how to use it better than anyone in the family, so he “pretty much
took it over”. No one else in his family shared Steve’s interest in science and
maths.
Steve is not motivated by career aspirations or money. He likes to pursue his own
interests for intrinsic rewards. He is motivated to learn to satisfy his own interests,
rather than for career advancement. Steve observes that he has a pattern of
“dropping out”. He easily becomes bored and de-motivated with study and work.
Over the years, at home, in school, at university and now at work, he has found it
difficult to find peers who appreciate science and maths in the way that he does or
mentors to inspire him.
Steve is reserved and quite cynical. He says he would rather work with technology
than with people. He is attracted to, enjoys and is naturally good at solving logical
or mathematical problems. He enjoys the satisfaction of devising elegant solutions

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peers who could understand and appreciate good work.
Recently, Steve has started learning karate, training three nights a week. His
motivation for starting this was twofold: he sees it as an opportunity to improve
his fitness and to mix with people. He is not very good at mixing with people
socially, so karate is a challenge for him. Because of his pattern of “dropping out”,
Steve has set himself the challenge of continuing with karate for four or five years.

Schooling
In Year 9, Steve’s favourite subject was Advanced Mathematics. It was in this
subject that he had his only school experience of using a computer. He was
required to write a simple program and he remembers enjoying it. He did not use
computers in an educational context again until university.
Steve respected his Mathematics and Science teachers because they had skills and
knowledge he wanted to acquire. He viewed other teachers, for example his
E nglish teachers, as impediments to his pursuit of those subjects he enjoyed.
Steve says he took every opportunity to avoid attending classes in E nglish, often
going to the library to do puzzle books.
For his VCE , Steve took two Maths, Physics, Chemistry and E nglish. He excelled
in the maths and science subjects with marks ranging from the high 70s to the
high 80s, but received a significantly lower mark for E nglish. Steve felt somewhat
isolated at school, seeing himself as more intelligent than his peer group. He was
surprised when he started university to find that he was no longer top of the
bunch.

University education
Steve was attracted to the idea of doing Chemistry at university because he liked
the logic of putting a and b together to get c. He enrolled in Chemical E ngineering.
He says that although he “loved” chemistry, there was too much rote learning
required in the course, so he became bored and began to “drop out”. During this
course, he rediscovered computers and began to move towards electrical
engineering. He says he enjoyed the programming, but was not interested in the
hardware.
Steve withdrew from the E ngineering course and spent several years driving a van
for his mother’s furniture business. Four years later, when he became bored with
this work, he decided to return to university and pursue his interest in
programming. He enrolled in a five-year Software E ngineering degree. After two
years of working diligently in this course he began to lose interest again. He says
that the course was moving away from programming and towards project
management and “paperwork”. Steve commented that the non-programming
components were “too much like E nglish and Humanities and things I don’t want
to touch.” At this time, he also learned that the advanced mathematical modeling
subjects that had been a key factor in Steve’s selection of this particular course
had been removed from the course.
During the fourth year of the software engineering course, Steve was offered some
programming work through a relative. He accepted the work and deferred his

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 studies because he was no longer enjoying his course. Steve did not defer this
course because he particularly wanted to work. Nor was his enrolment in the
software engineering course motivated by a desire to make a career in this area.
He says he just wanted to learn and then to apply that that knowledge to pursue
his own interests.
Steve has since taken up a full-time position as a software developer in a small
business. He says that it seems more and more unlikely that he will complete the
software engineering degree. He thinks he would pick up more useful skills by
studying at home and then putting them into practice at work. Only one of the
programmers at his work is formally trained. Steve believes that self taught people
make better programmers because they naturally enjoy programming, but that they
are limited within a team environment because they have not learnt about proper
programming styles, documentation and how to work with other people, so
integration is a problem.
Reflecting on his software engineering course, Steve identified three main areas of
learning that were intended to prepare him for work:
• networks and programming
• project management and documentation
• group work
Steve says he learnt a lot about networks and programming and that this was both
interesting and useful.
He learnt a bit about project management and documentation, but he did not
apply himself to these areas while studying because they did not interest him. Nor
does he apply what he learnt in his work. He knows he should, but he avoids the
extra workload it would involve because he would not enjoy the work. He has not
fully documented the work he has done in his current job.
Steve’s software engineering course involved a lot of group work. He did not
enjoy this, recalling that it led to problems with disorganization and delegation of
work: “E veryone wants to do the programming and no one wants to do the

Steve does not think his university studies prepared him very well for work, but
nor does he think that this is necessarily the role of university education. He
believes that the best place to develop the skills required for employment is the
workplace itself; university provides a loose framework on which to build further
skills or flesh out the framework. In terms of employment, Steve sees his studies
as “just keeping me from working for a couple more years”.
Although Steve is highly motivated to pursue his interests in mathematics and
programming, he would not consider doing a research degree because of the
pressure that he would be under to conform to the expectations of others. He
thinks the formal structure provided by such a degree is unnecessary for him to
satisfy his own needs; he would rather pursue his interests in his own time.

Employment history and career aspirations

In 2000, part-way through his software engineering course, Steve took his first
computing job. This job involved making dynamic web pages and working with
databases. Steve taught himself the programming language required for this work.
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This job came to an end a year later when the business started to fail and the work
was no longer available.
E arly in 2001 a friend put Steve’s name forward for a job with his current
employer. Steve was interviewed. His employer gave Steve a logic puzzle that he
partially solved at the interview and then finished off that night. The employer
was impressed and gave Steve a job as a Software Developer.
Reflecting on his work in this position, Steve says he enjoyed the first three or
four months because he had to solve problems. He then had a period, involving a
lot of paperwork that he did not enjoy. He is now moving onto another area that
involves a language with which he is not familiar. He says this was “a bit scary” at
first because he is expected to do a lot more than he is qualified to do, but it
turned out he was worrying unnecessarily).
Steve does not have strong career aspirations. He is not interested in moving into
management, nor does he believe he is committed or intelligent enough to achieve
beyond a certain level in programming. He says he would not work as a contractor
or start his own business because it would be too stressful. He likes to solve
problems and would be happy in a job where he could turn up in the morning, do
his work, and then go home. He is not willing to put in the work that he believes
would be required to make a lot of money and he is content making enough to
live on. He believes he will stay in his current position until he gets bored with it.

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 Case 7. Tim

Pseudonym: Tim
Gender: Male
A ge: 22
Qualifications: Completed two years of B.Bus & Info. Systems (currently deferred
and does not plan to complete)
Business size: large (100+ )
Position: Sales E xecutive/Corporate Sales

Background
Tim, a 22-year-old male, completed the first two years of a Bachelor of Business
and Information Systems from which he has deferred and does not intended
completing. Tim’s mother is involved in home duties and his father, who has a
background in sales and marketing, established his own software development
company when Tim was young. Tim’s sister is a receptionist and his brother in
completing Year 10. He describes his sister as not being technically minded while
his brother has an interest in technology but not as strong as Tim’s at his age.
Because of his father’s business, Tim has been around computers since about the
age of 8. He recalls always having a curiosity for technology and as a child,
pulling things apart to see how they worked. He first began experimenting with
programming at the age of 12. His interest in programming shifted to an interest
in how computers could best be used to make money, “how to make them work ”.
In addition to his father, Tim’s interest in computing was influenced by his high-
school friends who were also interested in “geek stuff”.
Tim’s father also influenced his interest in business. He recalls discussing
business decisions and processes with his father in his youth and sees his father as
something of a business mentor.
Tim’s interests outside computing and business include tennis, running and
weights. He and his girlfriend, a PE teacher, socialise often and Tim has an
extensive network of friends and acquaintances in the ICT industry.

Schooling
Tim describes his primary and secondary schooling as uneventful. In high school,
he didn’t push himself too hard and “cruised through”. He took IT subjects from
Year 8 onward and in Year 12 took Information Systems, which he enjoyed
because he was naturally good at it. In year 12 he also took E nglish, Maths
Methods, E conomics and Business management and obtained a TE R of 73.

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University education

the first two years of the course before becoming bored; he wasn’t interested in
the technical subjects and feels that it was “probably the wrong thing for me as a
person”. Although the course was very balanced between business and IT
subjects, Tim’s professional interests had moved more toward sales and
marketing. He wanted to earn money more than study and began to miss classes
in order to do paid work.
Tim hopes to return to university to study economics in the next two to three
years but does not think he will study full-time again as he needs to be involved in
hands-on work to keep his interest up. In thinking about the value of his two
years of study, he feels that he did learn things but doesn’t refer to them often.

Employment history and career aspirations

Tim has been working for his current employer, a telecommunications company,
since he was in Year 12. His first position was as a part-time installations officer
and then he moved into sales and technical support in the company’s call centre.
E ighteen months ago, Tim deferred from university to take up a full-time position
with the company. Originally, he had planned to defer from his course for one
year but was offered a higher paying position and decided to stay on. He is
currently employed as a sales executive and is responsible for building the
company’s corporate client base. He also does some pre-sales technical work
preferring not to rely on pre-sales engineers where he can build solutions himself.
Although Tim would like to progress in his current company, he and two
colleagues are in the process of creating a ‘side-business’ offering remote network
support. While it is still in the planning stage, Tim expects the business to be up
and running within months and possibly supporting himself and his two business
partners within 12 months. The business is being planned in such a way that it
will grow slowly allowing the partners to continue in their current jobs until its
client base is large enough to support them. Tim describes himself and his
business partners as ambitious and business-smart and he considers the business
venture to be low risk in that the start-up costs are small. The main risk
associated with the business is leaving his current job to work full-time in the new
business and the new business failing. However, because of his network of
contacts in the ICT industry, he believes he would have no trouble finding work
again.
In addition to his father, Tim credits two previous industry figures as having
influenced where he is today. The first was the owner of a hospitality company in
the US for which Tim worked during a 3-month overseas holiday. This employer
was very “switched on” and hard working and taught Tim about motivating
people. The second was the manager who offered him his current position. A
contractor from London, he was appointed to get a new division of the company
up and running and his business and sales talents impressed Tim.
Thinking about the value of university education in the ICT industry, Tim noted
that life experiences during your education are helpful. He sees university degrees
as helpful but not regarded as highly as hard work and making a name for yourself
through your performance. Having a degree can help you get a job but it is up to
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 the individual after that. Tim feels that obtaining a university degree is not the
best way to go as courses provided by software and hardware vendors are more up
to date and more highly valued - “switched on smart guys may not have degrees
but they have industry certificates which will take them further”. However he
sees university as teaching you how to acquire new knowledge and this is a bonus.
Tim is personally motivated in the ICT industry by money but a sense of
satisfaction and achievement is also very important to him and he is happy with
how he has done so far.

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Case 8. Rita

Gender: Female
A ge: 21
Qualifications: Bachelor of Computing
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: Analyst

Background
Rita is a 21-year-old female who graduated from a Bachelor of Computing degree
at a Melbourne metropolitan university. Since April 2001, she has worked as an
analyst in the market unit of financial services for a ‘big five’ consulting firm.
Born in New Zealand, Rita came to Australia with her mother, her partner and her
half-sister at age 10. Rita’s parents divorced when she was three years old and she
is the only child from this relationship. Rita’s mother, an aged-care nurse, and her
partner, a pharmaceutical engineer, have a 15-year-old daughter. Rita’s father, a
car importer in New Zealand, and his partner have two sons aged 11 and 8 years.
Rita lives out of home, having left her mother’s home in the outer Southern
suburbs to attend university in Melbourne.
Rita sees her dad as having influenced her career choice; he has always had an
interest in IT and has the latest computing equipment in his company. His sons,
Rita’s young half brothers, are also very computer literate. Rita sees her mum as
having ‘no influence at all’ on her career. Like herself, Rita’s sister’s interest in
computing is as a tool for completing schoolwork. In her spare time, Rita teaches
highland dancing.

Schooling
Rita had no exposure to computers during her primary schooling. From Year 7,
she attended a Catholic high school in the outer Southern suburbs of Melbourne
where she completed compulsory IT subjects involving general computing skills
from Year 7 to 10. In Year 9, she got her first home PC which she used for
surfing the web, for homework and as a research tool during Year 12.
In Year 12, Rita studied Information Technology along with E nglish, International
Studies, History, E conomics and Literature. Rita was a little disappointed with
her TE R of 75.6 as she had expected to do better and the score was below the
cut-off for her preferred course, Marketing. She consulted her school’s careers
advisor and decided to enrol in a Bachelor of Computing degree. This decision
was based on a few factors. Rita was interested in teaching at high school, but at
the time, many teachers were being retrenched. She also enjoyed studying history
and literature but did not see an Arts degree as leading to employment. As her
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 best performance in Year 12 was in Information Technology; computing seemed
like a practical choice.

University education
Rita was happy with her decision to enrol in a computing degree however
“programming came as a big shock” as her high-school information technology
subjects dealt mainly with commercial word-processing, database and spreadsheet
products. She completed her degree in three years recording only one fail, a
second year accounting-oriented project management subject. As it turned out,
this subject, in which MS Project ™ was taught, is the one which has most
relevance to her current position.
In first year, Rita became involved with her university’s information systems
student society, starting out as a member and rising to the position of vice-
president in third year. ‘Big five’ companies became sponsors of the society and
conducted recruitment activities at society social functions. In the second year of
her degree, she began exploring graduate employment opportunities, focusing on
the ‘big five’ companies. Rita believes that her involvement in the society, and
subsequent contact with ‘big five’ sponsors, influenced her employment prospects
in two ways: by allowing her to familiarise herself with the companies’ recruitment
practices and as a demonstration of her involvement and leadership in extra-
curricular activities. Socialising with other similarly motivated society members
also helped Rita crystallise her career goals.
In the final year of her degree, Rita completed a year-long industrial experience
project which she regards as one of the more positive things about her course
because it involved dealing with an actual client. She has heard that some
universities offer six month paid industry placements and thinks this arrangement
would have been more useful because it would involve working with an industry-
based manager, rather than a university-based project adviser.

Employment history and career aspirations

In April of this year, Rita was employed as an analyst within the financial services
division of a ‘big five’ consulting firm. After attending many interviews, Rita
chose her current employer over other offers because the company, and its
management staff, demonstrated the most interest in their prospective employees
in terms of offering time and information.
Thinking about the factors that influenced Rita’s recruitment, she stated that
recruiters were interested in “well-rounded” graduates who were involved in
extra-curricular activities during their degrees including paid work and student-
professional societies. Rita noted that involvement in well-run student-
professional societies was regarded particularly highly by industry. Rita also
stated that she attended so many interviews that she became adept at the process:
“I went to so many interviews I got used to the questions, so I was prepared.”
She sees the interview process as favouring graduates with more open
personalities and disadvantaging the quieter candidates. “Some people didn’t deal
with it well . . . quiet students did not manage the recruitment process well.”

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On commencing employment, Rita completed two weeks of local team-oriented
training in HTML, Java, JavaScript, VB and asp. Shortly after, she completed 2.5
weeks of similar, although more in-depth, training in Chicago. Rita is currently
involved in a two-year graduate program after which she hopes to become a
consultant. She is not sure what role she would like in the longer term but sees
that opportunities will open as her skills develop.
Thinking about the relevance of her degree to her current employment, Rita
believes that “hands on is more useful than the theory theory is no good if it is
not used in a hands-on way. … A lot of theory, you learn once and then it goes
out the door”. Asked whether employers value theory, Rita stated that you need
to have a basic understanding, and employers value theory, however employers
also have their own practices and standards that may make theory learnt in
university redundant.
In terms of practical skills, Rita found the programming languages taught in her
course, E iffel, “ a complete waste of time no-one in industry knows what it is.”
Rita believes that universities should be teaching the languages and skills
demanded by industry such as CRM™ , Java™ , asp™ and MS Project™ .
When asked what universities could be doing for students, Rita stated that
computing courses should include more industry knowledge rather than theory,
including inviting industry professionals to speak to students. She also feels that
students should be given more help in preparing for the recruitment processes,
multiple interviews and presentation skills.
Rita is motivated to continue working in the ICT industry because she sees it as a
“very stable, strong industry – always going to be around”. She also sees the
industry as one in which you can “earn and learn a lot” although money is not that
important to her: “it’s more important to me that I fe
happy with the career choices she has made: “ If I stop enjoying it, I’ll do

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 Case 9. Brendan

Gender: Male
Age: 24
Course completed:
Bachelor of Computing with a double major in software engineering and
information technology
Did two years of a Bachelor of Digital Systems before transferring
Business size: large
Position: Programmer

Background
Brendan is a 24-year old male who lives and grew up in the South E astern suburbs
of Melbourne. His father is an electrical engineer who lectures at the University
that Brendan later attended. His mother, a trained teacher, works in social work.
Brendan is the youngest of three children, having two sisters: one is a lawyer; the
other studied psychology at university, but now works in office administration.
Through his father’s work, Brendan was exposed to electronic technology from a
very young age. When Brendan was seven, his family bought their first home
computer – an Atari ST. Brendan taught himself to program on this computer,
using an assembler language. He later became interested in E lectronic Bulletin
Boards, which he used as a resource for further learning about computers and
networking. Brendan met others who were interested in computers through the
Bulletin Boards (“Bulletin Board friends”), and at one stage he ran his own BBS.
Brendan says he was not very interested in school and he was distracted by family
problems, and that his grades reflected this. He says that technology was his
escape from his family problems. He also developed an interest in science fiction.
Brendan’s parents divorced after he had finished his secondary schooling. His
mother now lives in Sweden.
Brendan has a philosophical approach to life. He is outgoing and he exhibits
leadership qualities. He says that when he was younger, he had aspired to be “rich
and powerful”, but he has “mellowed with age” and now aspires to be happy and
to have an easier and more relaxed life than he had earlier imagined he would
want.

Schooling
Brendan attended a public primary school that did not have computers for student
use. He had an interest in science that was encouraged by a teacher that he liked.
He remembers that this teachers’ husband worked in some sort of science trade
and would sometimes give fun demonstrations.
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He then attended a private school that was well funded and had computer
laboratories for student use. From Year 7 he did computing subjects, mostly using
LOGO and PrintShopPro. He remembers in Year 10, the school up-graded its
Apple 2e laboratories, replacing the machines with IBMs. It was at this point that
Brendan became interested in networking and how the computers worked.
Brendan studied Japanese at school for six years. He chose this language because
he had plans to be “rich and powerful” and it was commonly believed that
Japanese would be the future language of business in this region of the world. In
his senior years, he studied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, and E nglish
which was compulsory but which he did not like. Instead of VCE , Brendan did
the International Baccalaureate. As part of this diploma, Brendan also studied a
subject on the theory of knowledge. Brendan liked this subject because it opened
his mind to different ways of thinking. Brendan appreciates activities that will
broaden his knowledge and skills, even if they do not come naturally to him. For
example, he says he hates public speaking, but he takes every opportunity to
practice it because “it is a good skill to have”.

University education
Although he didn’t consciously plan to follow in his father’s footsteps, Brendan
believes that his interest in electronics and digital systems was influenced by
exposure to his father’s work and he sought entrance to a university course that
would suit this interest. Brendan was in the second year of students completing
the International Baccalaureate in Australia and there was no system for
translating it his marks into a VCE -equivalent university entrance score. With
assistance from his school principal who wrote letters to various Melbourne-based
universities, Brendan organised a special entrance into a Bachelor of Digital
Systems at the university of his choice.
He left this course after two years because he found the Mathematics too difficult,
transferring to a Bachelor of Computing in the same university. This course
moved Brendan’s interest away from electronic and towards programming.
Reflecting on his computing course, Brendan says he appreciated his exposure to
the different sides of computing. Prior to his computing course, Brendan already
knew most of the programming covered through his own self-learning, but he says
that this course gave him a formal structure to “bind his knowledge together”,
giving him an overall view of how different parts of computing relate to each
other, for example, how the programming relates to the system and how the
system relates to the goal and so on.
The course also introduced Brendan to new areas like project management. He
says he did not enjoy the subjects in project management and documentation and
he failed a project management subject. Although he was not interested this area
of computing, he realized that it involved important knowledge and skills, and
that it would add to his “well-roundedness”. He sees documentation and testing
as necessary evils; he appreciates why they are necessary, but he finds them
boring.
Brendan’s computing course involved group work in every subject. He likes
working in groups if you can rely on the other people. He says it is easier doing
the work by yourself, but he knows that he will always have to do group work
because the whole world is about human interaction and communication. Brendan
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 believes that communication skills are the most important thing he learnt at
university.
The course also included an industrial experience program that involved a project
conducted over two semesters. Brendan’s group developed a distributed note-
taking system. He was the project leader because he is a strong personality in a
group. During this project, he learnt about the importance of group dynamics and
conflict management, for example, “When to put your foot down and when to be

When asked if his course was lacking anything that may have been valuable,
Brendan said he would have been interested in doing some low level
programming, for example, looking at data structures for example, to suit his own
interests. In retrospect, he thinks he should have done a Computer Science
course, but he would not have had the marks to get in. He also realizes that if he
had done Computer Science, he would not have got the general overview and the
project management skills that he now appreciates.

Employment history and career aspirations

During his undergraduate studies, Brendan worked as a sales person at Dick
Smith E lectronics for 3 year. He later became the computer technician for the
"Power House" stores. He then moved on to become a Systems Adminsitrator /
System Integrator / Programmer for a small financial company that wrote
software to help banks and other financial institutions "better utilise their client
base".
On the completion of his Bachelor of Computing, Brendan gained his current
position as a Programmer in his university department. He also supervises
industrial experience projects for the course that he completed.
Brendan is interested finding a career that can combine research and
programming. Through a friend of his mother, he is in contact with a robotics
department in a Swedish university that has offered him a position as a PhD
candidate. Brendan plans to take up this opportunity once he and his partner have
paid of a bank loan (possibly in 2003).
Brendan sees himself working academia in the future and likes the idea of doing
research and some teaching.

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Case 10. Shona

Gender: Female
A ge: 27
Qualifications: Completing Bachelor of Computing specialising in Object-oriented
programming
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: Information Analyst/C+ + Programmer.

Background
Shona is a 27-year-old female completing the third year of a Bachelor of
Computing degree part-time at a Melbourne metropolitan university. She
currently works as an Information Analyst/C+ + Programmer for a consultancy
company, contracted to a large telecommunications company.
Shona is the eldest of four children, having two younger sisters and a younger
brother. One sister has a diploma in childcare and the other works in retail but
intends returning to university to complete a teaching degree. Her younger
brother has a diploma in social law and has played professional football. Shona’s
parents are both in technical positions; her father works in polymer and AutoCAD
engineering and her mother is employed by hospital and is involved in the
sterilisation of theatre equipment.
As a teenager, Shona enjoyed swimming and running and for the last 6 years has
been keen scuba diver. She also enjoys reading up on, and playing with, new
computing technologies and methodologies but does not program in her own time.

Schooling
Shona’s first access to a computer was in Year 7 at which time she undertook a
very basic programming subject. She did not study computing again until Year 11
during which she completed an information technology subject “that turned out to
just be typing.” In Year 12, her parents bought a computer that she used in her
studies. In her VCE year, Shona studied Marketing, E conomics, Law, E nglish,
Maths, Religious E ducation and Physical E ducation – “all the subjects that
weren’t me” – obtaining a TE R of 260. Information technology was not offered
at Year 12 level at Shona’s school.

TAFE and University education

In 1992, after VCE , Shona completed a Diploma of Marketing but feels it was “a
waste of time” as she was neither suited to, nor interested in, a career in
marketing – “I finished high-school; got to do something. I’ll do this.”

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 In the following year, Shona became involved in computing, first as an interest.
She began to “tinker” with computers and explore operating systems
basic, but more advanced than looking at the interface.” In 1995, she completed
a Diploma in Computing which led immediately to her first computing position.
In 1999, Shona enrolled, part-time, in a Bachelor of Computing degree as she
wanted to continue her learning and improve her employment prospects – “I knew
that was what I wanted to do”. She received exemptions for work completed
during her diploma studies and is currently completing her final year. She plans to
complete her Honours year in computing and, eventually, her PhD – “I know
exactly what I want to do.”
Comparing her current experience of education to her time in high-school, Shona
stated that the two experiences are vastly different in terms of her level of
attention to, and pride in her work. She used to be happy with C’s and D’s but is
now “a straight HD student.” When asked what her education means to her,
Shona stated that “if you say it’s just a piece of paper, then I guess it’s not
important to me. I just enjoy what I’m doing there’s nothing more to it.”

Employment history and career aspirations

At age 16, Shona had her first paying job in a department store. Shona did not
work in the year following her Diploma of Marketing, but obtained immediate
employment after completing her Diploma of Computing as a database
administrator in the areas of payroll and human resources with a directory
company. She remained in this position for one year before using her domain
expertise to secure a systems analyst/programmer position for a payroll company.
She remained in this role for 2.5 years. Keen for a new challenge, Shona took on
a web development position for 6 months with an insurance company before
joining her current company as an information analyst/C+ + programmer.
Shona’s current employer is supportive of her education in terms of time release
and HE CS allowances.
Shona’s long-term career goal is to become an academic, teaching and researching
in the areas of distributed computing, OO and re-useable software. Academia
appeals to her as it offers a level of intellectual challenge “not presented too [her]
e has been offered tutoring work at her university but has
declined due to work commitments. Shona expects to leave industry to join
academia in the next 2-3 years. She describes herself as “not driven by money
money means nothing if your not happy or being challenged”.
Reflecting on her course, Shona noted a number of areas where she believes
universities can improve and increase the relevance of course content to industry.
In particular, she feels that there is a great deal of duplication in her degree due to
individual lecturers and departments not communicating with one another – “it’s
like the departments don’t talk”. She feels subjects are poorly integrated and
recalls being taught similar material at each year level. While she recognises that
“re-iteration and concreting” is important, she feels this occurs too often,
especially in relation to basic OO principles.
Shona also has concerns regarding the degree of redundancy in both course
content and hardware referenced. In contrast, she feels that some content lacks
industry relevance because it is emerging and not yet applicable in industry.
Furthermore, she feels that some content, which is fundamental and will be highly

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applicable in industry, is taught too late in the degree to be of use to the new
graduate.
Thinking about the usefulness of a university education in the ICT industry,
Shona noted that often students come out of degrees without having developed a
systematic way of thinking and approaching tasks. She believes that this should
be addressed by universities – students “need to learn to problem solve; [they are ]
hand held a bit.”

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 Case 11. Mark

Gender: Male
A ge: 26
Qualifications: Completed all but one subject of a Bachelor of E lectrical &
Computer E ngineering (may complete at a later date)
Business size: Micro (< 5)
Position: Consultant – Online Business Intelligence

Background
Mark is a 26-year-old male who withdrew from a Bachelor of E lectrical &
Computer E ngineering degree at a Melbourne metropolitan university after failing
to complete his final assessment piece. He currently works as a consultant in
online business intelligence for a large telecommunications company. He is the
eldest of five children and has one younger sister and three younger brothers. He
and his siblings grew up in country Victoria on their parents’ dairy farm.
Mark describes his parents as being very business-minded, having run their own
books for many years using accounting software. As dairy farmers, they are “very
.
Mark’s parents always wanted their children “to go away and do something before
coming back to the farm.” Mark’s sister is a sports journalist, one brother is
studying geology at university and a second is a high school. Mark’s third brother
“barely finished Year 12” and is working on the farm. This is of some concern to
Mark as he feels his brother should gain experience off the farm - “there’s more to
life than farming.”
When not working, Mark is interested in politics and current affairs and follows
this in the media, particularly talk-back radio. He used to ride a bike a lot and
would like to get back to it. Of late, Mark has become more interested in his
health and has recently stopped smoking cigarettes and marijuana. Mark stated
that he had smoked marijuana quite heavily for some years “because of lack of
confidence and as a way to avoid personal issues – [it was] a really easy way to
escape from it all.” He also describes himself as quite obsessive “which is why
d one reason why I smoked so much.”
Mark describes himself as being lazy yet highly motivated to become financially
independent. “I’m a really lazy person . . . and I’ll always be a lazy person. That’s
why I want to be successful – so I can be more lazy and do the things I enjoy.”

Schooling
Good marks came easily to Mark in high school. He had a natural talent for
maths, physics and chemistry and received the top VCE result for his school, 148
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out of a possible TE R of 160. Socially, high school was not a happy time for
Mark. He made few friends and was the subject of bullying by his peers. He
described his school as not having a lot of “smart people” and although it was a
“great school”, there was no incentive for him to do more work than he had to -
“I’m a bit lazy and only do what I have to do.”

University education
Mark recalls not being career-focused at the end of Year 12 and enrolled in a
Bachelor of Chemical E ngineering/Science double degree because chemistry
“fascinated” him. A fellow-student from high school who he regarded as a role
model and had enrolled in Chemical E ngineering at the same university the year
before also influenced his decision. In his first year at university, he lived in
college and then moved into a share house with friends in his second year.
After his first semester at university, Mark decided that, while fun, chemistry
involved more rote learning than he preferred. Preferring formulae and rules over
rote learning, he transferred into an E lectrical and Computer E ngineering degree
at the same university.
Mark recalls having known nothing about computers prior to his first year at
university when he was first introduced to the game Doom. While he had used his
family’s home PC for homework during high school, with Doom he was forced to
learn DOS. He did not know how to load the game and his friends, tired of
loading it for him, told him he would have to learn to load the program himself.
He quickly learnt DOS commands, worked through problems using help files and
was soon loading the program for others. Computing came easily to Mark. He
attributes this in part to his familiarity with the keyboard as he had learnt to type
in secondary school - it was “one of the best things I ever learnt.”
He recalls his third year at university as being a “bad year”; he failed several
subjects and started smoking a lot of marijuana. Marijuana “took up a lot of [his]
time” and he sees it as contributing to his not finishing his degree
wasn’t a good enough reason to stop at the time”. He recalls that there were few
supports to turn to at university to help him stop smoking marijuana. He
describes this time as being a “very challenging period of my life” and believes a
number of other students were in a similar situation.
In his final year at university, Mark teamed up with a friend, who had failed
several subjects previously, to undertake a year-long theoretical project. The pair
failed to complete the project on time and, while they were given an extension,
did not take advantage of the opportunity to complete the subject and their
degrees. Mark feels he failed because he and his partner hated the project, had
conflicting views on how to proceed and spent a lot of time smoking marijuana.
Mark stopped working on the assignment once he began paid employment.
Overall, Mark remembers university as being a lot of fun but a “wasted
opportunity”. When asked if he would consider returning to university to
complete his degree, he stated that if asked 9 months ago he would have said
“No”, but in the last month, has decided that he will take any opportunity to get
the subject done including “sucking up to the lecturer and explaining what
happened” despite feeling somewhat “ashamed and embarrassed at the way I
approached the assignment.” Although he does not feel that completing the
degree will be of benefit in the short-term, he believes it will give him more
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 security and make him more competitive in the workplace in the medium-term.
Specifically, he expects that it will allow him to attain “a level of remuneration
that is adequate for me to support my investment strategies . . . I’ve got big goals
in the long-term.”

Employment history and career aspirations

While at university, Mark worked “as little as possible”. As his parents had put
money aside for their children's education from the time they were born, they
were able to support Mark through university. He did not undertake paid
employment for the first three years of his degree but, as his degree stretched on,
found it necessary to take on a casual kitchen-hand position to supplement his
allowance. “I never focused on earning more money than I needed to live on . . .
which is a bit different to what my goals are now”.
In the early 2000, while still working on his final university project, Mark was
offered a two week programming assignment with a service provider to a large
telecommunication company. On completion of the project, Mark remained
working with the service provider as a business intelligence analyst. Mark’s
relationship with his employer was very strained and, very recently, he resigned to
form his own company in order to provide the same consultation services directly
to the telecommunications company.
Mark’s attitude toward money and career shifted in late 2000 when he attended a
wealth creation seminar with his father. Mark describes his father as having been
“a sceptic, sticks to the fundamentals” when it came to money, before being
“blown away” by a wealth creation seminar he attended. Mark attended the
seminar on his father’s recommendation and feels the experience changed his
perspective on “what he wanted to do with his life and how”.
Mark reported always knowing that he would one day work for himself and be
successful but until the seminar, was not sure how; attending them has “clouded
what my visions were before I went to the seminar – I’m so much more certain
now”. As a youth, Mark had watched how his parents ran their business and feels
that his parents taught him to be both alert and knowledgeable about business and
politics. He considers himself to be an entrepreneur now but is not sure that he
always was –“now I know it can happen, I’m gonna make it happen.”
When asked of his career plans for the future, Mark stated that he plans to
become “unashamedly filthy rich” and become a venture capitalist “throwing
money at good ideas”. He sees this plan as benefiting the larger community
through job creation and contributing to the economy.
He believes that graduating from his degree will provide security in the interim
but he does not feel that he requires a degree to attain his long-term goals – “a
degree will make it happen quicker and more securely”. Thinking of himself as a
commercial entity, Mark sees tertiary education as just one asset and foresees his
engineering training as being “just something that started me off” on the path
toward financial independence. He describes himself presently as having more
drive and commitment as opposed to actual ideas for wealth creation. He does
have “ideas of [his] own that are really quite out there” but for the mean time
plans to surround himself with people who are highly intelligent, drawing on novel
business ideas and direct investments toward their realisation – “when I set my
mind on something, I do it.”
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Case 12. Matt

Gender: Male
A ge: 21
Qualifications: Completing the final year of a Bachelor of Business (Business
Information Systems)
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: Systems E ngineer

Background
Matt is a 21-year-old male studying part-time in the fourth and final year of a
Bachelor of Business (Business Information Systems) at a Melbourne metropolitan
university. He is employed full-time as a systems engineer for a large networking
integration company.
Matt is the youngest of four children and lives with his parents. His father, who is
an air-traffic controller by trade, has worked for his local council since retiring five
years ago. Matt’s mother, who is a primary school teacher by training, is
completing her PhD and currently works as an education officer. Matt’s siblings
have graduated from science-based degrees, however, their careers have moved
toward business (eg., PR, pharmaceutical sales and banking).
Matt’s first exposure to computing was around age 12 when his parents bought a
Commodore PC. He enjoyed playing computer games with friends and taught
himself basic commands and programs. It was not until he was in Year 11 that he
began to tinker with hardware.
When not working or studying, Matt enjoys spending time with his friends from
university and playing basketball.

Schooling
Matt described himself as having been an average student in primary school:
“nothing too flash back then”. In Year 7, he had some trouble making the
transition from primary- to secondary school. He found the amount of class- and
home-work a bit daunting but settled down to become a B+ student.
In Year 9, Matt completed an IT subject comprising mainly Microsoft™
applications and key-boarding skills. In Year 10 he completed an IT subject that
involved networking content which was “a real eye-opener” for Matt as he “didn’t
know you could do that sort of stuff”. He did not undertake any IT subjects in
Years 11 and 12 as, at that level, the focus was on programming which was not of
much interest to him. A further factor in his decision not to take IT subjects in
Years 11 and 12 was that IT subjects did not carry much weight in terms of TE R
and he wanted to maximise his opportunities for a good score.
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 In Year 12, Matt took two maths subjects, E nglish, physics and chemistry.
Although he socialised a lot that year, he recalls Year 12 as being very stressful
and was relieved when it was over.
Matt began considering university courses toward the end of Year 11. He recalls
that at that time, there was a lot of ‘hype’ surrounding careers it IT; “money grows
on trees [for IT professionals] – I wouldn’t mind that”. He was attracted to
working with computers on an on–going basis but was also interested in business
and wanted to keep his options open. At university open days, Matt discussed his
needs with lecturers and found that he was best suited to a Bachelor of Business
majoring in Business Information Systems that included a ‘co-op’ or ‘sandwich’
industry year at third year level. Similarly structured courses were offered by two
universities, however, he chose the one that claimed to have a very high rate of
industry placement for the ‘co-op’ year; the other course did make such claims
and appeared to focus more on academic- rather than industry-related aspects of
the course.

University education
Matt performed very well in the first year of his Bachelor of Business (Business
Information Systems). He won a prize for first year academic achievement
sponsored by a networking integration company. The prize comprised a monetary
award and an interview with the sponsoring company for a ‘co-op’ position in
third year. Of the six prize-winners interviewed, Matt was one of two students
who were offered a position. At the conclusion of his ‘co-op’ year, Matt was
offered his current position as a full-time systems engineer with the same
company. He is now completing his final year of university part-time.
Matt recalls the second year of his course as being quite stressful for two reasons.
Unsure as to whether he would secure a ‘co-op’ position with the prize sponsor,
who interviewed him twice, seven months apart, he attended 6-7 interviews with
other potential employers. In addition, he found the second year programming
subjects very frustrating and "just wanted to get working and see what was out
there”.
E arlier this year, Matt travel to Italy for four weeks on an academic exchange
program during which he completed the equivalent of two subjects from his
degree. This has reduced the duration of his degree program by six months and he
expects to complete his studies in June 2002.

Employment history and career aspirations

Matt’s first paid job was at age 13, retrieving golf balls at a golf range. During the
first year of his degree he worked night shifts in a supermarket. His next paid
position was his ‘co-op’ year, which led to his current position.
Matt’s immediate career plan is to get as much experience as possible and perhaps
move into a consulting position although he sees himself better suited to technical
rather than sales roles. In terms of personal motivations, Matt would like to enjoy
what he does and see how far he can go professionally. While “money growing on
trees” is still a motivator, his focus is not on financial gain. He enjoys travelling
and sees more travel for himself in the future and possibly working in the UK or

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USA. Matt is inspired in his career by the success of his siblings and mother “who
has ridiculous work ethics . . . always working”.
When asked what universities could be doing to better prepare students for
graduate employment, Matt stated that there should be a greater emphasis placed
on industry placements - “work experience is the only way of knowing what it’s all

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 Case 13. Jarrod

Gender: Male
A ge: 29
Qualifications: Bachelor of Computing
Business size: Large (100+ )
Position: Computer Games Producer/Project Manager

Background
Jarrod is a 29-year-old male living with his partner in a Melbourne bay-side
suburb. He completed a Bachelor of Computing at a Melbourne metropolitan
university and currently works as a producer for a multi-national computer games
company. Jarrod is the younger of two children to bookshop owning parents. His
brother, Rob aged 31, graduated from a Bachelor of Applied Science in
E nvironmental E ngineering and currently works with an environmentalist
organisation in Papua New Guinea.
Jarrod’s first access to computers was at age 12 when his parents purchased a
Commodore VIC 20. This was upgraded to a 64 and, eventually, an Amiga.
Jarrod’s initial interest was in playing computer games. As teenagers, he and his
friends aspired to careers in programming and, as they became more familiar
programming languages, began writing programs and ‘primitive games’ on
weekends.
Apart from by school friends, Jarrod was not influenced by others in his interest in
computing; his parents and brother, although technology users, are not particularly
technically minded.
In addition to occasional dabbling in programming, Jarrod spends his free hours
surfing, mountain-biking and reading and writing fiction. He has written a
number of screenplays and sees writing as an outlet for work-related frustration;
”when I’m bored and frustrated there, I need another outlet”.

Schooling
Jarrod recalls being a “terrible student” in high school, “just kind of lazy”. He
socialised with the “nerd group”, a group of friends who were also interested in
computing. During high school, Jarrod taught himself programming. There were
no computing subjects offered at his high school until Year 12 when he completed
a Group 2 HSC computing subject. In Year 12, he also took E nglish, Biology,
Geography and Graphics, obtaining an Anderson score around the 255 mark.

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University education
At the end of Year 12, Jarrod planned to pursue a career in programming. In
1990, he entered a Bachelor of Computing degree at a university campus some
distance from his home. In the first year of his degree, he began working for a
computer game company that was eventually bought out by his current employer.
Jarrod sees himself as an atypical student as he completed his degree over 10 years
and was employed as an ICT professional throughout. In first year, he worked
part-time while studying full-time. He deferred from his course for a year in 1992
and again in 1995 at which time he travelled to the UK with his partner and
worked for a UK computer games company. On returning from overseas, Jarrod
recommenced his studies part-time at a campus closer to home and graduated
from his degree in 2000.
Jarrod recalls his academic performance at university as being ‘up and down’. In
second year he earned a number of fails but by his final year was averaging
Distinctions. He attributes his improved performance to “having time to study”
as a part-time student: “There’s a limit to what I can concentrate on at the same
time … [it was] the difference between taking four or five subjects and taking
three subjects.” E arlier on in his degree, he was juggling full-time study and part-
time employment and travelling over two hours a day to attend university. He
also sees his earlier performance as being affected by his not having a PC at home
at that time: “The course really required access [to a PC] … If you wanted to do
any work, you had to go into uni.” He sees the course as being more
straightforward for current students as they typically have home PCs and are able
to take advantage of ftp.
In the course of his studies, Jarrod’s interests shifted from programming to project
management and information systems: “turns out I’m not really a good
programmer.” Moving away from programming subjects, he focused on
management and information systems subjects including information security,
organisational issues and project leadership for information systems and interface
design. As he was employed in the ICT industry full-time in his final year, he was
exempted from a core industry experience subject.
Thinking about the value of the subjects offered in his degree, Jarrod feels that the
earlier programming languages taught – COBOL and PCScheme – constituted
“bad programming.” These languages were obsolete, having little relevance in
industry. Later in his degree, C was taught and he feels that perhaps it should
have been introduced earlier to give students a solid grounding in the language.
In regard to structure, Jarrod feels the course was too rigid in that all students
were required to take subjects in three core streams (computing technology,
information systems and software) at each year level. He is “a fan of choice for
people” and feels that course curricula should be flexible enough to allow students
to “direct their degree and subjects on their own. You can’t tailor the degree to
what each person needs so not everyone gets the best result out of it. You may
not be good at, or interested in, some core subjects.”

Employment history and career aspirations

Jarrod’s first paying job was making deliveries for a chemist at age 12.
Throughout his teenage years, he worked casually, first at a supermarket and then
in his parents’ bookshops.
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 Jarrod entered the computer games industry while in his first year at university.
He had read about a local company and “walked in off the street and asked for a
job.” He met with the owner of the company, told him that he was an avid
computer game player and that this was the industry he wanted to get into. He
was offered a part-time position in quality assurance as a play-tester, checking for
bugs and identifying game-play issues, a role requiring an analytic approach and
attention to detail. After a period in this role, he moved into game design.
In 1995, Jarrod and his partner travelled to the UK where he again worked in the
quality assurance division of a UK computer games company. On his return to
Australia, he was offered an associate producer position with his former employer.
Three years ago he was promoted to full producer/project manager and he
currently manages teams of 10-20 ICT professionals, depending on the project.
As producer, he oversees game design, art and programming, in addition to his
administrative duties.
Thinking about where he would like to take his career, Jarrod stated that there are
few opportunities in Australia. His company is the largest computer games
company in the country and there are only four or five people senior to him. He
and his partner have considered moving overseas to work if the “right job” came
up. However, at present, Jarrod is happy in his current role. Furthermore, his
partner is completing her tertiary studies and they have their own flat, so a move
overseas at this time would not be as easy as it was previously when they were
both still living at home.
For Jarrod, a further disincentive for seeking a new or more senior position is that
if you “go any higher … you’re not actively involved in the project.” He enjoys
his current position because he is still involved and works directly with his project
teams.
When asked whether he feels the Bachelor of Computing adequately prepares
graduates for industry, Jarrod stated that it does in terms of programming and
analytical skills and that his company frequently hires graduates from the course
he completed, and other programs offered by his university, on the basis of these
skills. From the perspective of a student and professional already working in the
industry, Jarrod feels the course contained some “interesting stuff that
supplements what you learn on the job.” Overall he found the course worthwhile
although he attributes sixty percent of “what he knows” to his experience in the
industry.
Commenting on the relevance of ICT programs to industry, Jarrod noted that it is
difficult to make these courses practical because they are taught by academics
who “don’t always know what’s going on out there.” He believes that a
grounding in the fundamentals is useful “in as much as it gives you a grounding in
all sorts of stuff”, but he also feels that too little time is given to specific skills:
“A lot of [the time spent on fundamentals] is wasted on people; a small proportion
will use all they learned – most will use a small percentage.”

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