Redesigning skill based IT subjects for the 21st century

The focus of this project was to address the requirements of a growing number of international students from Non English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB), students with disabilities, mature age students, and part time students. Currently, more than 60% of our students fall into these minority groupings. Also, our class sizes have grown. Where we used to have classes under 100 students, now it is commonplace to see over 450 faces a week in the laboratories. There is a wide range of people, no longer all full time students coming to university from 9-5 pm. Instead we see people with many time constraints: family, work, transportation, other studies and commitments.

We first performed a situational analysis in which we identified our stakeholders, both internal and external to our subjects. Subsequently, we conducted consultations with the key stakeholders, who helped us to categorise the strengths and weaknesses of the subjects, as well as to provide suggestions for improving them. Using the information gained from the consultations, we embarked on redesigning our subjects.

There were five main improvements as a result of our project:

To allow students more access to tutors, our school now has a "Duty Tutor System". Each semester one postgraduate student, acts as a "doctor is in". This person has an office where he/she tutors students via email and in person. This has provided more flexibility for students studying outside of the normal working day.

Since nearly 50% of our students are from a NESB, it is important to ensure that our curriculum is inclusive and international. As a consequence, the software, methodologies, and standards we teach are used both within and outside of Australia. This has allowed all students to gain skills that are globally portable. Other strategies include using examples and case studies from overseas, and publishing online glossaries, to help students keep track of the vast number of acronyms used in the IT industry.

Students requested help in motivating them during the semester. We have done this by introducing "mini ads" during the lectures. During these times we discuss current topics in the IT industry which relate directly to the students' exercises in the laboratories.

One weak point for many students is their ability to critically assess their performance and progress. As a result we require students to maintain a logbook, in which they not only record the answers to the laboratory exercises, but also provide an entry for reflection. This entails answering a few questions about their progress each week, with room to elaborate if necessary. Furthermore, we produce online mini-quizzes to prepare students for assessment. These quizzes provide instant feedback to ensure students have grasped the main topics for the week.

Finally, to increase the flexibility of presentation materials, we have created an online Administrator's Resource Kit on our Intranet and publish it on CD for distribution to students. This contains useful information for students when completing their laboratory exercises. The CD can be used at home as Internet access is not required.