Development Of Information Technology Skills Research Articles

Cultural Influences on Students' Information Technology Skills Development

This qualitative study examines the cultural influences on developing information technology (IT) skills among secondary school students in Vietnam. The research uncovers how cultural values, educational practices, and socio-economic conditions influence IT education by conducting in-depth interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations across urban and rural settings. Key findings reveal significant disparities in the perception of IT's importance between urban and rural areas, with cultural norms and economic realities influencing these attitudes. Traditional Confucian values inhibit active and exploratory learning methods in IT education. Additionally, English language barriers limit the effective use of global IT resources, while gender norms and socioeconomic status create uneven student opportunities. The study suggests policy interventions aimed at enhancing IT infrastructure, promoting gender inclusivity, and adjusting curricula to accommodate language and cultural nuances. Recommendations include the development of more inclusive, culturally sensitive educational practices to ensure equitable IT skill development. This research contributes to understanding the multifaceted impact of cultural factors on IT education and proposes strategies for crafting more effective and inclusive IT educational policies.

Enhancing the measurement of information technology (IT) business alignment and its influence on company performance

Studies for over 30 years have consistently indicated that enterprise-level Business-Information Technology (IT) alignment is a pervasive problem. While significant progress has been made to understand alignment, research on IT alignment is still plagued by several problems. First, most alignment models approach alignment as a static relationship in contrast to analyzing the scope and variance of activities through which the alignment is (or can be) attained. Second, most alignment models are not founded on strong theoretical foundations. Third, because of their static view, these models do not guide how organizations can improve alignment. This study addresses these weaknesses using a capability-based lens. It formulates and operationalizes a formative construct rooted in the theory of dynamic capabilities and defines the scope and nature of activities that contribute to alignment. The construct identifies six dimensions promoting alignment: (1) IT-Business Communications; (2) Use of Value Analytics; (3) Approaches to Collaborative Governance; (4) Nature of the affiliation/partnership; (5) Scope of IT initiatives; and (6) Development of IT Skills. The construct measures are validated in terms of their dimensionality, item pool sampling, and the nomological and predictive validity. The research uses Partial Least Squares (PLS) to statistically validate the construct using a dataset covering over 3000 global participants including nearly 400 Fortune 1000 companies. All construct dimensions contribute significantly to the level of alignment and the construct shows strong nomological and predictive validity by demonstrating a statistically significant impact on firm performance. Scholars can leverage this research to explore additional activity-based constructs of IT-business alignment.

Research on ICT Literacy Education in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic

The implementation of ICT literacy education as obligatory part of primary and lower-secondary school curriculum is a feature of school systems of developed countries. We may consider a wide spectrum of approaches ranging from limiting ICT literacy education to practising mastering software tools on the one hand, to the approach emphasizing pupils’ algorithmic thinking development on the other hand. School educational programmes and teaching in action obviously differ. And yet the method and topical orientation of ITC literacy education definitely have a profound effect on pupils’ information technology competencies or digital literacy development. This paper briefly reports on the project focused on the Czech Science Foundation Project - Information Technology Competencies of Children and Their Development in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools examining the current state, structure and trends in development of ICT literacy education in Czech primary (ISCED 1) and lower-secondary schools (ISCED 2). The project involving 1183 participating schools (ICT teachers) provides findings on particular issues including characteristics and thematic units of educational ICT activities, pupils’ information technology skills development and implementation of ICT competencies into educational activities.

A customer-centric approach towards evaluating single-choice information technology service provision to the parastatal sector of South Africa

The article presents a case study whereby the service performance of a single-choice information technology service provider in the parastatal industry of South Africa is measured against multi-choice private service providers without any provisional agreements. The outcome of the case study reveals that single-choice service provision options with provisional agreements have a limited chance of success if they are not supported by strong service user inputs. In fact, provisional strategies that disallow sound competition among service providers are bound to impact negatively on user preferences as well as information technology skills development opportunities that are required to improve service provision generally and long-term survival in particular.

PRIMARY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH ON ICT LITERACY EDUCATION PUPILS’ AND TEACHERS’ ICT COMPETENCIES IN PRIMARY AND LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS

In 2012 and 2013, the authors of this paper worked on the Czech Science Foundation Project - Information Technology Competencies of Children and Their Development in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. This article briefly reports on this project focused on examining the current state, structure and trends in development of ICT literacy education in Czech primary (ISCED 1) and lower-secondary schools (ISCED 2). 1,183 schools (ICT teachers) and 2,507 pupils joined the project. It presents the key findings of the research in particular issues including characteristics and thematic units of educational ICT activities, pupils´ information technology skills development and implementation of ICT competencies into educational activities. The research follows up on a similarily orientated project realized in 2006, in which the relevant data was obtained from 930 schools and it seeks to update and compare these research findings.

Information Technology Skills Development for Accounting Graduates: Intervening Conditions

This paper discusses the findings on factors perceived to mitigate educators from incorporating IT skills in their taught unit(s). The factors are discussed under three main categories, which are academic staff-based barriers, environmental-based barriers and student-based barriers. These barriers should be considered in order to encourage the integration initiatives and its successful implementation. These findings make significant contribution towards enhancing IT skills development and innovation in accounting education.

Seeing, thinking and acting against Malaria: a new approach to health worker training for community empowerment in rural Gambia

In the Gambia, West Africa, Malaria is a major cause of death among children in rural areas. It has been estimated that in one division in the country malaria accounts for 40% of all deaths in children aged between one and 4 years. Most malaria cases are managed at home assisted by primary healthcare workers. The strategic plan of Gambia's National Malaria Control Programme includes improved training and supervision of all health care providers, at all levels, and increased community awareness in order to reduce the malaria burden by 50% before 2007. A malaria in-service training program for Community Health Nurses (CHNs) working at village level was piloted in 2004. The program includes a computer-based training (CBT) package, the first of its kind for health professionals in Gambia. The education program is part of a larger initiative funded by the Gates Malaria Partnership, that aims to increase community involvement in malaria control. The objective of the course is to enable CHNs to facilitate the change process. The curriculum was informed by a reference group and stakeholder input. Interviews and evaluation forms were used to gather information about learner experience and learning preferences. The CBT package was well received. Learners reported wanting more computer instruction, but felt they had gained confidence. There was resistance from other health professionals regarding the development of information technology skills in CHNs. This related to the perceived role and status of CHNs, as well as confidence in their ability. Some modifications of the CBT package were necessary, including the reworking of some activities and language. There are issues related to sustainability and resource implications that need to be addressed. Opportunities exist to expand e-learning in the Gambia for pre-service CHNs and other professionals. An investigation into the viability of reproducing this module as a generic planning tool for allied health workers and other extension workers at community level will be undertaken.

Seeing, thinking and acting against Malaria—A new approach to health worker training in rural Gambia

In the Gambia, West Africa, Malaria is a major cause of death among children in rural areas. It has been estimated that in one division in the country malaria accounts for 40% of all deaths in children aged between one and 4 years. Most malaria cases are managed at home assisted by primary healthcare workers. The strategic plan of Gambia's National Malaria Control Programme includes improved training and supervision of all health care providers, at all levels, and increased community awareness in order to reduce the malaria burden by 50% before 2007. A malaria in-service training program for Community Health Nurses (CHNs) working at village level was piloted in 2004. The program includes a computer-based training (CBT) package, the first of its kind for health professionals in Gambia. The education program is part of a larger initiative, funded by the Gates Malaria Partnership, that aims to increase community involvement in malaria control. The objective of the course is to enable CHNs to facilitate the change process. The curriculum was informed by a reference group and stakeholder input. Interviews and evaluation forms were used to gather information about learner experience and learning preferences. The CBT package was well received. Learners reported wanting more computer instruction, but felt they had gained confidence. There was resistance from other health professionals regarding the development of information technology skills in CHNs. This related to the perceived role and status of CHNs, as well as confidence in their ability. Some modifications of the CBT package were necessary, including the reworking of some activities and language. There are issues related to sustainability and resource implications that need to be addressed. Opportunities exist to expand e-learning in the Gambia for pre-service CHNs and other professionals. An investigation into the viability of reproducing this module as a generic planning tool for allied health workers and other extension workers at community level will be undertaken.

Information technology skills development and the new problematik

Where once curricula confidently mapped what had to be learned, current schooling practice is having to address new foci, including lifelong learning and the ever increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Curricula now need to focus on the development of specific capacities for engagement in lifelong learning and to address questions related to the rapid expansion of access to the ICTs, particularly the Internet. This article investigates aspects of the new problematik, drawing on recent research into the development of ICT skills in Australian schools (Meredyth et al, 1998). That research found that students tend to be more knowledgeable than their teachers in general, when it comes to the development of ICT skills. In addition, both students and teachers tend to have developed those skills outside of formal educational settings. These findings raise several challenges for those who wish to address the new foci for the curriculum.

The development of information technology skills in trainee teachers for the further education sector

Using a case study approach, 36 students were surveyed about the development of Information Technology (IT) skills during their pre- and in-service training programme for trainee teachers for the Further Education (FE) sector. A short questionnaire was developed and used to assess student capability and attitudes towards IT in the FE Curriculum after they had completed a specific IT module. The results show that the type and range of IT use continues to be limited, with most respondents emphasising standard applications packages such as word processing, spreadsheet and presentation packages for the preparation of teaching materials. There was little evidence produced of IT use within teaching practice classrooms or the use of computer-assisted learning in specific subjects. Overall, as a result of their experiences on the optional IT module, the trainee teachers reported significant gains in IT skills relevant to teaching and learning. Additionally, their desire to use IT increased significantly. The principal factors reported as facilitating the greater use of IT in their work were the provision of suitable study programmes (modules), encouragement by teacher-training staff and on their view of the importance of IT in teaching. Factors which were reported as inhibiting greater use of IT were lack of time, limits on access to facilities, and IT phobia. The author recommends that further research is carried out on a range of examples of effective and innovative classroom use of IT to enable the progressive enrichment of the IT experiences of FE teachers.

Acquiring skills for tomorrow today: “Cyberspace learning for kids”

Considers the development of an on‐line electronic learning network , “Cyberspace learning for kids” (CL4K), for children aged 5‐16 across Europe. Examines the impact of information technology (IT) in relation to various learning environments. Focuses particular attention on schools, the incorporation of IT into the National Curriculum and the impact this has on teaching. Presents findings from an analysis of the project’s user needs, that is, those of teachers, children and parents. The main issue expressed by teachers was the lack of training received in IT skills and lack of funds available to purchase equipment necessary to be able to use IT in the classroom. A decline in general levels of communication in the classroom, at home and between pupils was another issue of concern among teachers and parents. Overall, all users perceived “Cyberspace learning for kids” to be exciting and saw the development of IT skills as an essential asset when seeking employment. The children found the use of the Internet to be a fun way of finding out information and would enjoy using it if such a resource was available in the classroom, etc. With commitment to funding for resources and training CL4K has the potential to offer a fun and stimulating means of gaining information and educating children for the future.