Gender and IT : ongoing challenges for computing and information technology education in Australian secondary education

# 1. Introduction. Exploring the gender and IT problem and possible ways forward /​ Julianne Lynch
# 2. The imagined curriculum: who studies Computing and Information Technology subjects at the senior secondary level? /​ Margaret Vickers and My Trinh Ha
# 3. A question of attention: challenges for researching the under representation of girls in Computing and Information Technology subjects /​ Leonie Rowan
# 4. The nature and purpose of Computing and Information Technology subjects in the senior secondary school curriculum in New South Wales /​ Toni Downes
# 5. The social construction of Computing and Information Technology subject subculture /​ Catherine Harris
# 6. Boy nerds, girl nerds: constituting and negotiating Computing and Information Technology and peer groups as gendered subjects in schooling /​ Kerry Robinson and Cristyn Davies
# 7. CIT teachers' cultures in a globalising world /​ Carol Reid and Jose van der Akker
# 8. Perceptions of changing pedagogies in Computing and Information Technology /​ Susanne Gannon

Helping teachers surf the information and communication technology tsunami

A range of factors, both internal and external, is creating changes in teaching and teachers’ professional lives. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is just one of the major changes impacting on the teaching profession. As teachers face intense pressure to adapt to this tsunami, this study aims to investigate ways in which teachers can be helped. In South Australia, where this study is set, all teachers in Government schools are expected to be "ICT Smart", i.e. able to use appropriate forms of ICT to enhance the teaching and learning environment of their classrooms. From the researcher’s involvement for over a decade in professional development for teachers, and from visits to many schools, it appears that numerous teachers have not reached this standard. The greatest need is in Reception to Year 7 schools where the average age of teachers is nearly 50. Because no state-wide data exists, this study is intended to establish if there is a problem and if there is, to identify specific needs and offer possible solutions. The study is comprised of four parts: Part A, the Introduction gives an overview of the inter-relationships between these parts and the overall Folio. It establishes the setting and provides a rationale for the study and its focus on Professional Development in Information and Communication Technology. Part B, the Elective Research Studies, follows the writer’s involvement in this field since the 1980s. It establishes the theme of "Moving best practice in ICT from the few to the many" which underlies the whole study. Part C, the Dissertation, traces the steps taken to investigate the need for professional development in ICT. This is achieved by analysing and commenting on data collected from a state-wide survey and a series of interviews with leading figures, and by providing a review of the relevant literature and past and existing models of professional development. Part D, Final Comments, provides an overview of the whole Folio and a reflection on the research that has been conducted. The findings are that there is widespread dissatisfaction with existing models and that there is an urgent need for professional development in this area, because nearly 20% of teachers either do not use computers or are considered to be novice users. Another 25% are considered to be below not yet "ICT Smart". Less than 10% of ICT co-ordinators have a formal qualification in the field but more than 85% of them are interested in a Masters program. The study offers solutions in Part B where there is a discussion of a range of strategies to provide on-going professional development for teachers. Chapter 9 provides an outline of a proposed Masters level program and offers suggestions on how it could be best delivered. This program would meet the identified needs of ICT co-ordinators. The study concludes with a series of recommendations and suggestions for further research. The Education Department must address these urgent professional development needs of teachers, particularly those in the more remote country regions. There needs to be a follow-up survey to establish to what extent teachers in South Australia are now "ICT Smart ".

Enhancing knowledge sharing with information and communication technology.

Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have examined the relative effectiveness of various enablers, such as organizational structure, technology, culture, managerial system and strategy on knowledge sharing in organizations. These enablers are mostly related to organizational infrastructure that promotes knowledge sharing in organizations. This paper focuses on the critical role of information and communication technology (ICT) in facilitating the process of knowledge sharing in organizations. The results indicate that ICT support significantly impacted knowledge sharing, which in turn positively affected firm performance.

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The acceleration of technological change and trade liberalization in the 1990s have significantly intensified market competition and transformed the world economic infrastructure from a resource- and manufacturing-based economy to one in which knowledge and services are the key drivers of economic growth. In order for an organization to capitalize on its knowledge and truly become a learning organization, it must begin to systematically manage and leverage knowledge existing internally and externally to create and sustain its competitive advantage. Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have examined the relative effectiveness of various enablers, such as organizational structure, technology, culture, managerial system and strategy on knowledge creation and sharing in organizations. The enablers examined earlier are mostly related to organizational infrastructure that promotes knowledge sharing in organizations. This paper examines specifically the critical role of information and communication technology (ICT) in facilitating and enhancing knowledge sharing and organizational performance. This study adopted a process oriented approach by using Nonaka’s (1994) knowledge sharing model. The results indicate that significant positive effects of ICT support on knowledge sharing and all dimensions of knowledge sharing are significant predictors of organizational performance.

The place of information and communication technology-mediated consultations in primary care : GPs' perspectives

Background: New information and communication technologies such as email and text messaging have been shown to be useful in some aspects of primary care service delivery. Little is known about Scottish GPs’ attitudes towards the adoption of these technologies as routine consultation tools.

Objectives: To explore GPs’ perceptions of the potential place of new non-face-to-face consultation technologies in the routine delivery of primary care; to explore GPs’ perceived barriers to the introduction of these technologies and to identify the processes by which GPs feel that new consultation technologies could be incorporated into routine primary care.

Methods: Qualitative interview study: 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out with maximum variation sample of GPs across Scotland.

Results: Whilst the face-to-face consultation was seen as central to much of the clinical and diagnostic work of primary care, many GPs were conditionally willing to consider using new technologies in the future, particularly to carry out administrative or less complex tasks and therefore maximize practice efficiency and patient convenience. Key considerations were access to appropriate training, IT support and medico-legal guidance.

Conclusions: GPs are conditionally willing to use new consultation media if clinically appropriate and if medico-legal and technical support is available.

Using information and communication technologies to consult with patients in Victorian primary care : the views of general practitioners

Information and communication technologies such as email, text messaging and video messaging are commonly used by the general population. However, international research has shown that they are not used routinely by GPs to communicate or consult with patients. Investigating Victorian GPs’ perceptions of doing so is timely given Australia’s new National Broadband Network, which may facilitate web-based modes of doctor-patient interaction. This study therefore aimed to explore Victorian GPs’ experiences of, and attitudes toward, using information and communication technologies to consult with patients. Qualitative telephone interviews were carried out with a maximum variation sample of 36 GPs from across Victoria. GPs reported a range of perspectives on using new consultation technologies within their practice. Common concerns included medico-legal and remuneration issues and perceived patient information technology literacy. Policy makers should incorporate GPs’ perspectives into primary care service delivery planning to promote the effective use of information and communication technologies in improving accessibility and quality of general practice care.

Debating the capacity of information and communication technology to promote inclusion

This chapter begins with an exploration of the digital divide in the Australian context. This discussion is followed by an examination of online education, professional development and the capacity of ICT to enhance the well-being of practitioners. The chapter then focuses on the use of ICT in human services and the rise of computer mediated self help and support groups. The potential for ICT to promote and extend political participation is also explored as well as the role of ICT in global development. Throughout, the potential for inclusion and exclusion is highlighted, using examples and critical analysis for exploring the inclusionary and exclusionary capacity of ICT.

Personal ICT Ensembles and Ubiquitous Information Systems Environments: Key Issues and Research Implications

Personal information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become commonplace. Today many people own, or have access to, a range of different computing and communication devices, information technologies, and services, which they incorporate into their everyday routines. Increasingly, these technologies impact the way that individuals work, socialize, and play. Workers are bringing their personal ICTs to the office, and organizations are tailoring their computing environments toward ubiquitous integration with personal ICTs. These developments are opening up new ways of working, but they also create new challenges for organizations in accommodating this “nonaffiliated” use as part of their information systems environments. In this article we propose a framework for analyzing the composition and impact of personal ICT ensembles. The framework is positioned as pre-theory that invites further development and empirical testing. We illustrate how the proposed framework could be applied to consider personal ICT use across the work/home context. Several implications stemming from the notion of a personal ICT ensemble are highlighted, including practical considerations for nonaffiliated use in organizations. We conclude with suggestions for further development of the proposed framework.

Essays on decision sciences: exploring cognition, information processing, and complexity

This thesis provides three original contributions to the field of Decision Sciences. The first contribution explores the field of heuristics and biases. New variations of the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT--a test to measure "the ability or disposition to resist reporting the response that first comes to mind"), are provided. The original CRT (S. Frederick [2005] Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 19:4, pp.24-42) has items in which the response is immediate--and erroneous. It is shown that by merely varying the numerical parameters of the problems, large deviations in response are found. Not only the final results are affected by the proposed variations, but so is processing fluency. It seems that numbers' magnitudes serve as a cue to activate system-2 type reasoning. The second contribution explores Managerial Algorithmics Theory (M. Moldoveanu [2009] Strategic Management Journal, v. 30, pp. 737-763); an ambitious research program that states that managers display cognitive choices with a "preference towards solving problems of low computational complexity". An empirical test of this hypothesis is conducted, with results showing that this premise is not supported. A number of problems are designed with the intent of testing the predictions from managerial algorithmics against the predictions of cognitive psychology. The results demonstrate (once again) that framing effects profoundly affect choice, and (an original insight) that managers are unable to distinguish computational complexity problem classes. The third contribution explores a new approach to a computationally complex problem in marketing: the shelf space allocation problem (M-H Yang [2001] European Journal of Operational Research, v. 131, pp.107--118). A new representation for a genetic algorithm is developed, and computational experiments demonstrate its feasibility as a practical solution method. These studies lie at the interface of psychology and economics (with bounded rationality and the heuristics and biases programme), psychology, strategy, and computational complexity, and heuristics for computationally hard problems in management science.

Stage level measurement of information and communication technology in organizations

Na moderna Economia do Conhecimento, na Era do Big Data, entender corretamente o uso e a gestão da Tecnologia de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) tendo como base o campo acadêmico de estudos de Sistemas de Informação (SI), torna-se cada vez mais relevante e estratégico para as organizações que pretendem: permanecer em atividade, estar aptas para atender novas demandas (internas e externas) e enfrentar as complexas mudanças na competição de mercado. Esta pesquisa utiliza a teoria dos estágios de crescimento, fundamentada pelos estudos de Richard L. Nolan nos anos 70. A literatura acadêmica relacionada com modelos de estágios de crescimento e o contexto do campo de estudo de SI, fornecem as bases conceituais deste estudo. A pesquisa identifica um modelo com seus construtos relacionados aos estágios de crescimento das iniciativas da TIC/SI organizacional, partindo das variáveis de benchmark de segundo nível de Nolan, e propõe sua operacionalização com a criação e desenvolvimento de uma escala. De caráter exploratório e descritivo, a pesquisa traz contribuição teórica ao paradigma da teoria dos estágios de crescimento, adicionando um novo processo de crescimento em sua estrutura conceitual. Como resultado, é disponibilizado além de um instrumento de escala bilíngue (português e inglês), recomendações e regras para aplicação de um instrumento de pesquisa do tipo survey, na continuidade deste estudo. Como implicação geral desta pesquisa, é esperado que seu uso e aplicação ao mensurar a avaliação do nível de estágio da TIC/SI em organizações, possam auxiliar dois perfis de indivíduos: acadêmicos que estudam essa temática, assim como, profissionais que buscam respostas de suas ações práticas nas organizações onde trabalham.

Information and communication technology (ICT) for development of small and medium-sized exporters in Latin America: Chile

Includes bibliography