uow altc ict grants philip ogunbona dean faculty of informatics uow
TRANSCRIPT
UOW ALTC ICT Grants
Philip Ogunbona
DeanFaculty of Informatics
UOW
Two ALTC ICT projects
• Scoping project, 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
Scoping project approach
Universitycurriculum
Academics
Employers Graduates in industry
What ICT graduates, employers and academics told us
• Graduates said they are not well prepared for industry
• Graduates said universities and industry have to work together for better curriculum
• Employers said that our graduates are not well prepared for industry
• Academics said they want better relations with industry
Better industry integration
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 graduates 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 authentic problem-solving activities
What ICT employers want from their recruits
• 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
Major academic concerns
• Declining enrolments• Poor and erroneous perceptions of ICT amongst
students, parents, high school teachers, careers advisors, and the general public
• Quality of ICT teaching in high schools• Poor relations with high schools and industry
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
Further details available from theAustralian Council of Deans of ICT
http://www.acdict.edu.au/
ALTC ICT Follow-up Project 2009–2011
Building on issues identified in the first project
ALTC National ICT Curriculum Project
“Addressing ICT curriculum recommendations from surveys of academics, workplace graduates,
and employers”
UOW, Murdoch, Swinburne, UQ
New ICT project based on recommendations of the scoping project
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
Improving Capability by Improving Perception
Investigations– Industry contributions to improving
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
Understanding Students Better to Address Attrition and Lack of Women
Investigation into attrition– National attrition rates for ICT courses
(higher than average)– Reasons for leaving ICT from a survey of
studentsInvestigation into gender issues
– Outreach activities leading to greater enrolments by women in ICT
– Gender inclusive ICT curricula: theory and practice
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
Teaching–Research–Industry–Learning (TRIL) Nexus
Investigating:
The TRIL nexus concept amongst academic leaders of ICT, and implications for practice
Industry
Research
Teaching
Learning
Conclusion
Not all documented issues being addressed – Student engagement and class attendance– Innovative teaching such as:
• inquiry-based learning• learning from case studies• problem-based learning
– Developing work-ready graduates• problem solvers• business abilities esp. in technical degrees• communication skills