Information Technology Awareness Research Articles

Perception of Student Readiness in Mastering Core Skills of the Malaysian Skills Certificate / Persepsi Kesediaan Penguasaan Pelajar Dalam Kemahiran Teras Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia

The Malaysian Skills Certification (SKM) is implemented as a formal certificate of recognition for individuals who demonstrate the ability acquired or practiced efficiently to perform a task. Among the aspects emphasized in Malaysian skills certification are core abilities. Therefore, this study aims to look at the perception of students' mastery readiness of core abilities among students of the Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education (FPTV), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. This study uses a quantitative approach with a survey research design. Using a questionnaire instrument based on SKM level 3 core skills assessment module which consists of six elements namely effective communication, information technology awareness, leadership skills, workplace ethics, administrative skills and health, safety and environmental implementation awareness. The study sample consisted of 92 final year students from General Machining, Building Construction, Catering, Welding & Metal Fabrication, Electrical & Electronics, Creative Multimedia and Refrigeration & Air Conditioning courses. The study's results underwent analysis via the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. This analysis encompassed both descriptive techniques, such as percentages, means, and standard deviations, as well as inferential methods, including T-tests and ANOVA. The study's findings indicate that FPTV students' perception of their readiness to master the core abilities required for Malaysian skills certification is notably high. Therefore, students who will take the SKM verification will be at a high level of mastery readiness. These skills are essential to create a highly skilled workforce that has mastered technical skills as well as core skills.

COMO A SATISFAÇÃO COM A COMUNICAÇÃO INTERPESSOAL IMPACTA A SATISFAÇÃO NO TRABALHO NO CASO DE TELETRABALHADORES? O PAPEL DA CONSCIENTIZAÇÃO EM TECNOLOGIA DA INFORMAÇÃO E DO DESEMPENHO CRIATIVO

ABSTRACT With COVID-19, a significant number of companies have started to work remotely, and communication has started to occur mainly through technological tools. This study investigates the relationship between teleworkers’ interpersonal communication and job satisfaction through the mediating role of information technology (IT) awareness and creative performance. Data were collected from 683 teleworkers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and PROCESS Macro. The findings indicated that (1) teleworkers’ interpersonal communication satisfaction is positively associated with job satisfaction, and (2) IT awareness and creative performance mediate the relationship between interpersonal communication satisfaction and job satisfaction. Finally, the study’s theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. The results emphasize the role of interpersonal communication satisfaction on job satisfaction and show that both employees and companies should receive the necessary training for a sufficient level of employee IT knowledge.

Awareness and Utilization of Moodle among Students at Nursing Schools in North-Western Nigeria

Background: E-learning has been observed to enhance and support the teaching and learning processes, ranging from the way students use educational materials on the web or server and accessing course work online while following a course on campus to programs offered entirely online. Again e-learning allows for efficient transfer of knowledge anywhere and anytime, regardless of subject matter. It opens up a world of learning unavailable in most corners of the world, while at the same time empowering learners with the information technology awareness and skills crucial to succeed in today's global knowledge economy. Aim: The study aimed at assessing the awareness and utilization of moodle among students at nursing schools in North-Western Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional analytic design was used for this study. Multistage sampling technique was used to select three schools; school of nursing Birnin Kudu, Jigawa state, school of nursing Katsina, Katsina state and school of nursing Gusau, Zamfara state which forms the setting for the study. A total of 307 nursing students were selected and recruited for the study. A structured Self-Administered Questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and the Bonferroni Post Hoc test were used in data analysis which. Results: The findings of the study revealed that most of the students (245 out of 305) have an excellent levels of awareness of e-learning with a percentage of 80.4%. The study also found out that most of the students have a high level of utilization of e-learning with 62%. The study also showed a statistically significant relationship between awareness and utilization of elearning among students at nursing schools in North-Western Nigeria with P-values of 0.001. Conclusion: Based on the findings, it was concluded from the results of the study that the students have an excellent level of awareness of e-learning and have a high level of utilization of e-learning.

Factors impacting behavioural intentions to adopt the electronic marketplace: findings from small businesses in India.

The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce adoption for both consumers and sellers. This study aims to identify factors critical to the adoption of electronic markets (EM) during the pandemic, from the perspective of small sellers in non-metro cities. The research design utilizes core dimensions of the UTAUT model and selected constructs from protection motivation theory; since business closure vulnerability also triggers electronic market adoption. A questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from 150 sellers from tier-II/III cities of India. Study results identified performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and perceived vulnerability as significant determinants of behavioural intention towards adoption of EM. The findings also explain the moderating impact of sellers' awareness of information technology and merchants’ age on behavioural outcomes. Given the growing demands from such cities, the research offers insights for marketers to understand the bottlenecks and ways to motivate small sellers to get associated with EMs.

Reference Architecture for Running Computationally Intensive Physics-Based Digital Twins of Heavy Equipment in a Heterogeneous Execution Environment

Physics-based digital twins for heavy equipment provide a powerful tool for improving operation and maintenance activities. In contrast to data-driven models, they present more explainable and confident results but require more computational power. Besides the problem of physics-based digital twins creation, there is a task of managing their lifecycle, including their execution, maintenance, storage, and updating. The features distinguishing this kind of digital twins are the mobility of the real counterpart, operation in remote locations, long lifecycle, information sensitivity, and gaps in information technology awareness among the equipment owners and users. This paper presents a methodology and reference architecture for a set of interconnected systems capable of running digital twins of heavy equipment in such conditions. A data model for preserving digital twin-related information for decades of machine operation is described. Operating-system-level virtualization technologies are used to run digital twins in a heterogeneous execution environment. An example of the reference architecture implementation is presented for the physics-based digital twins of a mobile log crane. The experimental part of the paper includes a comparison of computing time for different types of digital twins in different execution environments. It highlights the peculiarities related to running physics-based digital twins in containers. Experiments were performed using the Amazon cloud platform, an edge computing system represented by a single-board microcomputer based on ARM architecture, and a virtual machine on a desktop personal computer. Experimental results show that physics-based digital twins for the analysis of the multi-body dynamics can be run within the proposed architecture with real-time performance in all three types of execution environments. The paper demonstrates the practical implementation of physics-based digital twins for heavy equipment and defines directions for future research in this field.

Measuring the effects of different factors influencing on the readiness of SMEs towards digitalization: A multiple perspectives design of decision support system

The development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) becomes the benchmark and leading position for developing countries’ economies. The digital transformation demands strategies, desires, and awareness of Information Technology (IT)-based market players and investments. Despite the transformation of a digital business platform, many SMEs have stumbled in the middle road. Therefore, this study aimed to determine priority indicators in assessing SMEs’ readiness towards digitalization and evolving a readiness model for SMEs based on the Decision Support System (DSS) approach. Multiple stakeholders’ viewpoints, particularly regarding academicians, governments, investors, market places, and SMEs’ business actors as targeted respondents, were scrutinized quantitatively and qualitatively to verify the proposed factors. The priority weights of factors have been examined from economic and IT perspectives and derived through deploying the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) method. This study reveals the rank of measures necessary to assess the readiness of the digital revolution of SMEs. Transaction preparedness in SMEs’ cultural, educational, financial, and technological infrastructure views grows into the principal components during this assessment with 0.30 of vector value, accompanied by marketing and micro-environment at 0.24, management at 0.20, macro-environment at 0.03 and business activities at 0.02, respectively. For the recommendation purposes, the rubric segmented SME fitness into three levels, low, middle, and high performance. The prototype system DSS-SMEsReadiness was then evolved in order to simplify the adoption of the DSS method in the SME performance measurement model. The software analysis demonstrates that this application would assist decision-makers to ascertain SMEs’ readiness to digitalize. The future recommendation provides SMEs and stakeholders with knowledge transfers and acclimatization for taking the appropriate option about their business strategy, management resources, skills, and assistance programs for SMEs. This model attempts to reduce SME digitalization disruptions and achieve a digital business’s growth and sustainability in a nutshell.

Research on multimedia technology of physical education classroom combined with computer platform

With the rapid development of the economy, the development of information technology is also relatively rapid, and informational teaching is being valued by more and more educators. The organic combination of information technology and classroom teaching can not only stimulate students’ interest in learning, but also improve students’ learning efficiency, thus enhancing the quality of teaching. Therefore, teachers should enhance the concept of high technology when teaching, and combine information technology with teaching methods. This paper mainly analyzes the application status and existing problems of information technology in physical education classroom, and discusses the application strategies of information technology in physical education, so that people can raise awareness of information technology.

Conceptualising an IT mindset and its relationship to IT knowledge and intention to explore IT in the workplace

PurposeAn “IT mindset” significantly influences public sector information technology (IT) adoption in least developed countries (LDCs). The purpose of this paper is to explore the IT mindset concept and its relationship with IT knowledge and intention to explore IT in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a mixed-methods approach in two phases. Qualitative work was conducted to formulate the conceptual framework and hypotheses, followed by a survey of 228 public sector officials in Bangladesh to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe study showed that an IT mindset can be conceptualised as comprising personal innovativeness with IT and IT beliefs. The IT mindset was significantly related to intention to explore IT use in the workplace and its components were influenced by an individual’s IT skills and IT awareness.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could further explore the IT mindset concept and its antecedents and consequences in LDCs, where it is often related to successful IT adoption, and also in public and private organisations elsewhere.Practical implicationsThe study furthers understanding of barriers to IT adoption in LDCs’ public sectors. Building IT knowledge through IT skills and awareness is required to orient mindsets to IT adoption.Social implicationsImproved efficiency, productivity and transparency in the public sector through IT use have flow-on societal and economic benefits. The paper provides insights into greater facilitation of e-government and IT in the public sector.Originality/valueThe study is theoretically significant because the IT mindset concept has lacked in-depth study and requires clarification of its nature and role.

Empowering Indonesian women through building digital media literacy

There is still a gender digital divide in Indonesia. Indonesian women need digital media literacy skills to effectively use the Internet and to raise their quality of life. Empowering literacy abilities includes the skills of using digital media to access, search, analyze, reflect, share, and create. In this qualitative research study, founders, leaders, and participants from IWITA (Indonesian Women Information Technology Awareness) and FemaleDev (Female Developer) were interviewed because these organizations focus on developing digital literacy for women. The findings indicated that digital media literacy remains low because of inadequate education, lack of opportunities and the patriarchal system in Indonesia.

Revisiting Open Source Software Development Models for Community-Based Digital Humanities Research Generation

Enmeshed modes of digital communication are based on public disclosure and the exposed space of the digital, that is to say, where an idea shared is always already an idea utilized by someone else.Background: Community-based practices of open source software development offer a model for enmeshed private-public digital humanities (DH) research that can balance the demands of macro or global digital disruptive forces with the needs of everyday learning communities.Analysis: In the space of enmeshed modes of digital communication, knowledge is not owned, since it is essentially discovery-based.Conclusion and implications: Digital literacy is key for contemporary DH knowledge production, yet also needs to be active (not a passive information technology awareness or ability) about building, making, and improving, as well as functioning within an open environment.

Healthcare IT: An all-or-nothing opportunity for some patients?

Patient access to healthcare is becoming increasingly information IT-driven, and it is perhaps inevitable that this trend will continue well in to the 21st century. The internet and social media are central to this process, with emails, texts and smartphone applications (apps) likely to control future access to services—such as hospital appointments. What is not currently known, however, is how well-equipped the general patient population is to cope with the changes that are envisaged. A questionnaire-based study was undertaken to determine information technology awareness among NHS patients attending for day-case dermatological surgery in an independent healthcare setting. Of all those surveyed, the use of information technology generally, and smartphones in particular, was lowest among patients in the over 70 years age group. Although it is difficult to know how long this generation gap may last, healthcare managers should not lose sight of the needs of less information technology-literate elderly patients when planning and developing services.

The Effect of Board of Directors’ IT Awareness on CIO Compensation and Firm Performance

ABSTRACTChief information officers (CIOs) play increasingly strategic roles in firms in this competitive global economy, which is now largely powered by information technology (IT). However, research has shown a lack of board of directors’ oversight on CIO‐ and IT‐related issues. Drawing on agency, resource dependence, and alignment theories, we investigate the effect of board of directors’ IT awareness on CIO compensation structure and firm performance. We conduct cross‐sectional time series analyses of data collected from various sources. Our study underlines three important findings. First, we show that some commonly known executive compensation determinants, such as individual characteristics and governance structure, do not have significant effects on CIO compensation structure. Second, with regard to CIO compensation structure, firms respond to increasing information asymmetry differently according to the level of IT awareness of their boards. Finally, firms perform better when their boards have higher levels of IT awareness, and this positive effect of IT awareness is considerably larger in IT intensive industries. Overall, our study provides empirical support for the important role of boards’ IT awareness in shaping CIO compensation and improving firm performance. Our results suggest that boards with functional area knowledge—or higher IT awareness in this case—can more effectively monitor and better incentivize executives, and consequently lead to better firm performance.

Customer relationship management influence on sales of selected companies

General awareness of information technology and business strategy Customer Relationship Management (CRM) among managers in the Czech Republic is for several years, but in comparison with Western states of the European Union the Czech companies are underdeveloped. Apparently also because of the economic crisis is CRM in the Czech Republic begins to be used more. The main goal of implementing CRM is to help to company increase the quality of relationship and communication with customers. In this article are the most common definitions of CRM.The main content of this article is about the analysing and comparing of Trading Income of selected companies doing business in the Czech Republic. There are compared selected companies with implemented information technology and business strategy CRM with companies without implemented CRM and how it could have an impact to the Trading Income of these selected companies. Has CRM implementation helped to increase the positive Trading Income during the economic crisis? Included is an analysis of Trading Income from 2007 to 2010 for selected companies grouped by number of employees. The conclusion summarizes the analysis of results and assumptions and benefits of CRM.

Information Security Awareness within Business Environment: An IT Review

Abstract -The beauty of Information Technology (IT) is with its multifunction nature; it is a support system, a networking system, a storage system, as well as an information facilitator. Aided with their broad line of services, an IT system aims to support or even drive organizations towards desired paths. Trends of IT and information security awareness (ISA) in society today, particularly within the business environment is quite interesting phenomenon. The overviews of the role of IT in the modern world as well as the perception towards ISA are initially introduced. A series of scope are outlined, and also further examination on matter of IT and ISA in the business environment - emphasis on revolution of business with ISA, security threats such as identity thefts, hacking and web harassments, and the different mode of protections that are applied in different business environments. Unfortunately, the advancement of IT is not followed by the awareness of its security issues properly, especially in the context of the business settings and functions. This research and review is expected to influence the awareness of information security issues in business processes.

Green IT: practices of leading firms and NGOs

The key to becoming a green low-carbon society consists of cutting back the use of fossil fuels and developing new and renewable sources of energy. This long-term goal should be accompanied by the immediate solutions; some of which, such as Green IT practices, are already available. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the importance of sustainability and the role of IT (Information Technology) in it by providing specific examples of how to green IT and greening with IT that some of the leading firms and non-profit organizations have already undertaken. The paper also introduces some strategies and initiatives undertaken by international environmental organizations for establishing standards and increasing green IT awareness. Finally, the study suggests some guidelines, for businesses, governments, and individuals, to increase the efforts for Green IT and its awareness.

A Review of ISA Impacts within Business Environment

Within the era of modern technology where we hardly avoid IT in our daily life, people are becoming increasingly aware of the IT benefits, especially as these benefits are mostly in tune with the fast-paced nature of the society today. The beauty of Information Technology (IT) is with its multifunction nature; it is a support system, a networking system, a storage system, as well as an information facilitator, IT system aims to support or even drive organizations towards desired paths, in supporting IT performance, information security awareness over IT is extremely needed. Trends of IT and information security awareness (ISA) in society today, particularly within the business environment is quite interesting phenomenon. The overviews of the role of IT in the modern world as well as the perception towards ISA are initially introduced. A further examination on matter of IT and ISA in the business environment – emphasis on revolution of business with ISA, security threats such as identity thefts, hacking and web harassments, and the different mode of protections that are applied in different business environments. This review is expected to identified the influence of information security awareness issues impacts within business environment processes.

Information Security Awareness within Business Environment: An IT Review

The beauty of Information Technology (IT) is with its multifunction nature; it is a support system, a networking system, a storage system, as well as an information facilitator. Aided with their broad line of services, an IT system aims to support or even drive organizations towards desired paths. Trends of IT and information security awareness (ISA) in society today, particularly within the business environment is quite interesting phenomenon. The overviews of the role of IT in the modern world as well as the perception towards ISA are initially introduced. A series of scope are outlined, and also further examination on matter of IT and ISA in the business environment-emphasis on revolution of business with ISA, security threats such as identity thefts, hacking and web harassment, and the different mode of protections that are applied in different business environments. Unfortunately, the advancement of IT is not followed by the awareness of its security issues properly, especially in the context of the business settings and functions. This research and review is expected to influence the awareness of information security issues in business processes.

IT Professionals Awareness: Green IT International Comparison Study

Global warming and other environmental issues such as energy and resource constraint are becoming the world’s major concerns and need to be solved. Information Technology (IT) is perceived as an enabler to resolve those problems and bring greater efficiency. This concept is known as Green IT which covers energy conservation by IT and energy conservation of IT. It is important to analyse the awareness of IT professionals about Green IT in order to measure whether they are ready to implement a Green IT strategy. Many countries have already applied Green IT initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. Awareness of Green IT has been measured in many countries, except Indonesia, which has committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 26% in 2020. Green IT should be one of the potential enablers to achieve that goal. This paper provides a preliminary insight into Green IT awareness among Indonesian IT professionals and shows a comparison between attitude and awareness levels of other countries. Some recommendations will be discussed in order to increase the awareness and reduce the inhibiting factors that influence it. The current findings suggest that although IT professionals in Indonesia have already some concerns about climate change and the power consumption of IT, there is still a lack of implementation and action dimensions.

IT-Adventures: A Program to Spark IT Interest in High School Students Using Inquiry-Based Learning With Cyber Defense, Game Design, and Robotics

The IT-Adventures program is dedicated to increasing interest in and awareness of information technology among high school students using inquiry-based learning focused on three content areas: cyber defense, game design programming, and robotics. The program combines secondary, post-secondary, and industry partnerships in educational programming, competitive events, and service learning projects targeted at high school students to accomplish its goals. This paper provides details about the IT-Adventures program as well as the capstone event for students-the IT-Olympics. Project assessment findings, such as differences between students who compete in different content areas, and descriptive measures about the participants are also provided.

Implications of an experimental information technology curriculum for elementary students

The information technology (IT) of today forms an integral part of everyday living, thus the nurture of children’s IT awareness early in life is crucial. Young children have an innate curiosity for IT which suggests that in the school environment it can easily be integrated with other subjects in thematic and interdisciplinary curriculum. This quasi-experimental study used the Technology Foundation Standards for Students of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) project on National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) as the basis to design a thematic and interdisciplinary IT curriculum for elementary students. A total of 1273 elementary students and 12 computer teachers were separated into either a control or experimental group. After one academic year, students’ final scores in English, mathematics, science, social studies, and art were gathered and compared. Statistical analysis indicated that there were significant differences in the experimental group’s academic scores. Findings also suggested that an interdisciplinary curriculum design opened opportunity for collaborative work and cohesiveness among faculty. Further longitudinal studies are recommended to examine the long-term implications of a thematic and interdisciplinary IT curriculum design.