Builds Soft Skills & Delivers Work Ready Graduates
Dr. Joan Richardson, School of Business Information Technology, Dr. Paul Cerotti, School of Business Information Systems, Melbourne, John Pastoriza Pinol, School of Pinol, School of Business Information Technology
Case studies are delivered in various ways due to technology. There are review cycles at the University which impact on the development of materials but tends to be piecemeal. Web and social networking are impacting on delivery. Currently deliver materials via web, audio, video, CDs and interactively. Now developed an e-book which can be annotated and downloaded to various devices including mobile.
Trying to get students to develop high order technology skills and soft skills (for example communication, collaborate, presentation skills). Students complain about integration or lack of it between theory and practice. Students and staff wanted one or two big case studies.
Had ongoing problem of where to put case studies and how to connect theory to practice. Experimented with various technologies over time including SMS. When they used SMS they got a student to ‘translate’ lecturer language into text speak and students loathed it! Continue to deliver via CD-Rom but there are issues around software platforms. They won’t teach students how to create web sites anymore and reduced networking hardware aspects of programme. Using a plain e-book this semester, next semester it will be more web 2.0 based. Working with Pearsons on this.
Delivery choices are had to make. Challenge is how to take material from a standard text back and adapt it for web 2.0 world. Was easy to convert paper textbook to CD-Rom but making interactive and collaborative so could include blogs is more complex. Change the technologies but up end up with same problems [surely this is because technology is not the issue but learning and how we engage learner in a dialogue about education is the challenge?] Hard to educate students about how to behave in the global, digital world.