Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communications Technology Annual Council Meeting 23 and 24 July 2009 Swinburne.

Australian Council of Deans of Information and

Communications Technology

Annual Council Meeting

23 and 24 July 2009

Swinburne

ALTC ICT projects linked to ACDICT

Tony Koppi

ALTC National ICT Projects

• Koppi & Naghdy report, completed 2009– “Managing educational change in the ICT

discipline at the tertiary education level”• UOW, Monash, QUT, UTS

• Follow-on 2 yr project funded from 2009– “Addressing ICT curriculum recommendations

from surveys of academics, workplace graduates, and employers”

• UOW (Philip Ogunbona), Murdoch, Swinburne, UQ

Completed National ICT Project

• Recommendations given in Executive Summary

• ACDICT has responsibility for the Recommendations

• Key findings

Recommendations based on surveys of academics, workplace graduates, and employers

1. Raise ACDICT profile

2. Improve perceptions of ICT profession

3. Improve Professional recognition

4. Understand students better

5. Industry involvement in curriculum

6. More work-integrated learning

7. Improvement in teaching

8. Understand teaching-research-industry-learning nexus

9. Share good practices

What ICT graduates, employers and academics are telling us

• Graduates say they are not well prepared for industry

• Graduates say universities and industry have to work together for better curriculum

• Employers say that our graduates are not well prepared for industry

• Academics say they want better relations with industry

Better industry integration

What ICT graduates are telling us

Survey of ICT graduates in industry

• Online survey prepared by ICT project team for recent graduates (1–5 years in industry)

• Invitations sent to ICT graduates via university alumni organisations

• Had to be ICT graduate and currently working in ICT job

• 719 valid responses from graduates from 21 Australian universities

Survey of ICT graduates in industry

• Asked them about 37 abilities in 4 categories– Personal/interpersonal– Thinking/cognitive– Business– Technical

• Asked them how important is the ability to your present work (1–5 scale) and how well did your university prepare you for that ability (1–5 scale)?

Result: 100% significant mismatch

Survey of ICT graduates in industry

Examples of 37 abilities• Ability to remain calm under pressure or when things go

wrong• Ability to contribute positively to team-based project• Ability to diagnose what is really causing a problem and

test this out in action • Ability to access and organise information effectively • Ability to understand, appreciate and meet the needs of

clients • Having the technical expertise relevant to my work area

Result: 100% significant mismatch in work importance and university preparation

What did we get right?

• Other survey questions on university teaching showed we got some things right:– Online information– Researching publications to prepare reports– Lab classes where theory was put into

practice– Tutorials with group work and new material– Lectures that included discussion

What they said about teaching

• demonstrate subject relevance• have interactive sessions with students• use real-world examples and case studies• keep up to date with technology changes• provide group work related to industry practices • design meaningful problem-solving activities

Not all doom and gloom

• On 1–5 Likert:– “My university courses prepared me well for

my work”• 62% agreed

– “The technical content of my degree was always up to date”

• 62% agreed

What improvements the graduates said they wanted

• More work-integrated learning

• More ‘real-world’ experiences

• More practical relevance

• More industry involvement in teaching

• More up-to-date teaching

• More business abilities

What ICT employers are telling us

What ICT employers want from their recruits

• From the literature and recent survey of 28 ICT CEOs in Australia:– Workplace experience is necessary– Generic attributes (soft skills) are as important as

technical competence– Communication skills are very important– Industry needs to be involved in curriculum design

and delivery– Business knowledge is valuable– Problem-solving skills are underdeveloped– Team-working skills are important

What ICT academics want

What academics want from industry

• Improvement in the relationship between industry and academia

• Better communication by industry of industry needs

• Involve industry more in education

• Work-integrated learning for all ICT students

Common ground and mutual benefits for graduates, academics and employers

• More work-integrated learning• Greater involvement of industry in teaching• Greater collaboration between academia and

industry will keep programs up to date and relevant to the real world

Making it happen is the challenge

New ICT Project to make it happen

4 project areas– Improving Capability by Improving Perception

• Leader: Paul Bailes, UQ– Understanding Students Better to Address Attrition and Lack of

Women • Leader: Golshah Naghdy, UOW

– Greater Industry Involvement in the Curriculum• Leader: Chris Pilgrim, Swinburne

– Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus• Leader: Tanya McGill, Murdoch

You will be asked to contribute to the deliverablesInformation will be shared amongst the ICT community

Improving Capability by Improving Perception

Deliverables– Industry contributions to improve perceptions of ICT– Recent national enrolment trends in ICT by numbers and

gender– Descriptions of outreach programs linked to increased

enrolments in ICT– Overseas trends and outreach activities linked to increasing

enrolments in ICT

Example of your contribution:Has any university outreach activity been particularly successful?

Understanding Students Better to Address Attrition and Lack of Women

Deliverables– National attrition rates for ICT courses– Reasons for leaving ICT from a survey of students– Outreach activities leading to greater enrolments by women in

ICT– Gender inclusive ICT curricula: theory and practice

Examples of your contribution:Has any university outreach activity been particularly successful in attracting more women?How would you describe a gender-inclusive curriculum?

Greater Industry Involvement in the Curriculum

Deliverables– ICT Industry position paper on curriculum design and delivery– ICT Industry position paper on work integrated learning (WIL)– Policy and practices (including assessment) in WIL in the

university ICT sector

Examples of your contribution:How is industry involved in the design and delivery of your ICT curriculum?Do you have WIL of 6 months or more and how do you manage and assess it?

Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus

This project area brings it all together

Industry

Research

Teaching

Learning

Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus

Deliverables– The TRIL nexus concept amongst academic leaders

of ICT, and implications for practice

Examples of your contribution:

How would you describe such a nexus?

How is it put into practice in your university?

Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus

Industry

Research

Teaching

LearningBringing it together

A major connection is through Work-Integrated Learning

Benefits

StudentsAcademicsIndustry

Work-integrated learning

• ACS Foundation 2–3 % of ICT students with scholarships for workplace experience

• And the rest?

• Next session on WIL

Discussion

Recommendations from the first project

Project areas of the next project– Improving Capability by Improving Perception

• Leader: Paul Bailes, UQ– Understanding Students Better to Address Attrition and Lack of

Women • Leader: Golshah Naghdy, UOW

– Greater Industry Involvement in the Curriculum• Leader: Chris Pilgrim, Swinburne

– Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus• Leader: Tanya McGill, Murdoch

Next session concerned with WIL