Assessing the work readiness skills of ICT graduates:
Developing a SFIA-based ICT Curriculum
Brian von Konsky PhD(Curtin) FACS CP Charlynn Miller PhD MACS (Senior) CP Asheley Jones DBA Candidate MACS CP
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Case Study Contributors:
Nicole Herbert BSc(Hons) GradCert (Uni Learning & Teaching) Joan Richardson BAppSci, DipEd, MEd. Phd (La Trobe)
Kathy Henschke Bsc, DipEd, MIT, DEd (MelbUni) Funded by a grant from the
Australian Council of Deans of ICT (ACDICT) ACDICT Learning and Teaching Academy (ALTA)
ACS CBOK ICT Building Blocks
SKILL - Graduate/Career Skill Sets (e.g. as defined in SFIA)
CORE
Core Body of Knowledge
SPEC
ICT Role Specific Knowledge
COMP
Complementary Knowledge Technology
Building
Outcomes Management
Technology Recourses
Services Management ICT Problem
Solving and Professional
Knowledge
Additional knowledge building on one or more of the CORE knowledge areas
Could include knowledge from:
• Business
• Science
• Engineering
• Mathematics
• Health
• Psychology
• Education
• Government
• Economics
• Statistics
• Humanities
• Arts
ACS (2012). The ICT Profession Body of Knowledge. Adapted from Gregor, S., von Konsky B.R., Hart, R., and Wilson D. (2008) The ICT Profession and the ICT Body of Knowledge, Australian Computer Society.
Activity 1 SFIA Assessment
Green IT
Activity 2 SFIA Role Description
from PD
Transcription and Thematic
Analysis
Case Studies and Resources
Best practice?"
Stakeholder interaction?"
Common nomenclature and framework?
Focus Groups
Findings
• SFIA to define ICT Career Roles
- Good examples in Industry
- Academic examples largely aspirational or limited to mapping exercises
• Cognition, Experience and Authentic Learning
- SFIA skill sets readily identified for given role
- Assumptions necessary to identifying higher levels
- Practicum, WILL, Industry-placements important
- Various factors can lead to varying outcomes
Findings
• Soft Skills
- Focus on technical skills over soft skills
- Experienced SFIA practitioners able to identify soft skills in context of technical skills
- Less experienced struggled to develop shared meaning regarding the implicit connection
• Processes and Related Frameworks-
- Mappings to other frameworks needed
- Available but not widely disseminated
Findings
• Closing the Loop
- Case studies a common approach taken in relation to Green IT example
- E-Portfolios to collect and reflect on evidence of SFIA skill attainment
SFIA-Bloom’s-AQF Mappings
SFIA Level SFIA Automony Bloom’s Level
Bloom’s
Cognition AQF Skills
1 Follow 1 Remembering Remember
2 Assist 2 Understanding Understand
3 Apply
3 Applying Apply
4 Analysing Investigate, analyse 4 Enable 5 Evaluating Critical reflection,
evaluate
5 Ensure, advise 6 Creating Create
6 Instantiate,
Influence These SFIA skills are generally achievable through experience in the ICT industry 7 Set strategy,
inspire,mobilse
Richardson, J., and Henschke, K., RMIT
The ICT Profession Body of Knowledge
• Identify roles, skills, level of autonomy & responsibility
• Identify role-specific knowledge
• Identify complementary knowledge
• Design course structure as part of a holistic program
• Collect artefacts to demonstrate skill attainment
ACS (2012) The ICT Profession Body of Knowledge, Adapted from Gregor, S., von Konsky, B.R., Hart, R., and Wilson, D. (2008). The ICT Profession and the ICT Body of Knowledge (Vers. 5.0), Australian Computer Society, Sydney, Australia.
Queensland Government SFIA-based position descriptions
Queensland Government (2013) ICT Career Streams, http://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/
products/ict-workforce-capability/careers-and-programs/ict-career-streams
Software Designer"
(Programming/software Development (PROG) (Level 4 - Enable)
Designs, codes, tests, corrects and documents large and/or complex programs....
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Consultancy (CNSL) (Level 5 - Ensure, advise)"
Takes responsibility for understanding client requirements, collecting data, delivering analysis and problem resolution. Identifies, evaluates, and recommends options, implementing if required...
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Technical Specialism (TECH)"
(Level 5 - Ensure, advise)"
Maintains an in-depth knowledge of specific technical specialisms, and provides expert advice regarding their application...
ACS (2013) Common ICT job profiles & indicators of skills mobility: ICT Skills White Paper, http://www.acs.org.au/information-resources/ict-skills-white-paper
ACS survey of SFIA skills reported by
members in various job roles ACS Data"
Skills
Relative node size
based on degree
ACS Data"
Job Roles
Relative node size based on betweeness
ACS Data"
Job Roles
Relative node size based on betweeness
Case "
study
Case study Case study
Case Studies
• University of Tasmania Bachelor of ICT
• RMIT Bachelor of Business
• ACS Computer Professional Education Program (CPeP)
• Hypothetical Data Science Position
RMIT - BBIS
UTas - BICT Recommendations
• Use published sources to inform discussions with Industry Advisor Boards regarding ICT career roles
• Use network analysis to consider related skills and roles based on real data, not opinion and personal views
• Use SFIA Skill descriptors to inform assessment design
• Visualise SFIA skills and responsibilities for benchmarking and documentation purposes
• Don’t reinvent the wheel and leverage existing mappings and case studies(e.g. SFIA-Bloom’s AQF Mappings)
Focus Groups: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney"
Workshops: Melbourne Conventicle, ACSW ACE Conference Workshop"
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Published Papers:"
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von Konsky, B. R., Jones, A., Miller, C. (2013). Embedding professional skills in the ICT curriculum. ascilite 2012, Auckland, New Zealand, Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education."
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von Konsky, B. R., Jones, A., Miller, C. (2014). Visualising Career Progression for ICT Professionals and the implications for ICT Curriculum Design in Higher Education. Sixteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2014), Auckland, New Zealand, ACS."
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Papers in Preparation:"
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von Konsky, B. R., Jones, A., Miller, C., (in preparation) SFIA: Engaging Stakeholders in ICT Curriculum Design and Management"
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von Konsky, B.R., Jones, A., Miller, C. (in preparation) SFIA Case Studies: Reflective conversations in ICT higher education"
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von Konsky, B. R. (in preparation) Network Analysis of ICT career roles
