Degree Portfolio Resource ICT Professionals

Questions: Week 3: Create a Word document called 'Critical Thinking' and describing why you need to be a critical thinker. Explain why it is important for ICT professionals to be critical thinkers. Note that you should include your definition of the term critical thinking. You need to provide at least four (4) relevant unique points in your discussion. Upload the document to Moodle. Week 5: Conduct a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis of your presentation skills. An example can be found on page 13 of the prescribed textbook. The SWOT analysis should be presented in a square with four (4) quadrants. In addition to the SWOT analysis, you also need to identify two areas of improvement for your presentation skills and outline some strategies you could use to enhance those areas. Use no less than 350 words and no more than 450 words for the entire task. Week 7: Some people love Social Networking through technology (Facebook and Twitter) whilst others loathe it. Write reflectively about your experience with the use of a Social networking technology such as Facebook or Twitter. You will need to provide a brief description of the experience and then write three paragraphs of reflective writing where you analyse the experience, what you have learnt from the experience and how you would handle it differently in the future. Your reflective writing should cover the three key points on reflective writing (see below). If you do not use Social networking technologies, you should write a reflection on why you do NOT use Social networking technologies. Call your MS Word document Reflective Writing and upload that file to Moodle. Week 11: In week 9 you learnt about how to develop a personal ethical framework and last week you learnt about work and cultural issues. Understanding who you are and how you relate to others in both your personal and work life can make you aware of the values that are important to you as well as the values that you may need to work on to improve. Create a document called Personal Ethical Framework in MS Word and how to build a reputation as a good ICT professional and how to work with others from diverse backgrounds. This document should include statements about your work ethic, values that are important to you and how you relate to and communicate with others around you. As you are training to be an ICT professional you should refer to the ACS Code of Ethics and/or ACS Code of Professional Conduct when writing this personal ethical framework. In addition, your response should contain your views on working with diversity in the workplace and how to be sensitive to the people who have been br ought up in cultures different to your own. Upload the Personal Ethical Framework document to Moodle. Week 12: Create a document called Successful Completion and write a reflective analysis that demonstrates you have satisfied all eight(8) course learning outcomes that are listed in the course profile for COIT20233 Professional Skills for ICT (they are listed below). In no more than two (2) A4 pages justify how the work you have completed this term has satisfied all eight (8) course learning outcomes. Please note it is important that you Justify that you have satisfied the course objectives do Not just summarise the course content and/or assessment items. Write two things you liked about this course and provide the reason or reasons you liked them. Also describe two suggested improvements to the course and justify why they would improve the course. Upload the Successful Completion document to Moodle. Anwers: Week 3: Critical Thinking and Its Importance for ICT professionals Academicians and research scholars have defined critical thinking as a special way of thinking which influences the individual to make rational decisions with the aid of lucid, reasonable and logical statements. In simple terms, critical thinking can be defined as the potential of an individual to think rationally by engagement of independent as well as reflective though procedure (Fowler, 2012). Critical thinking significantly emphasizes on understanding the logical relationship between different concepts and ideas. Restructuring the procedure of thinking is undertaken by individuals through development of critical arguments which ultimately leads to the achievement of rational and self directed as well as self monitored thinking process. In order to become an effective critical thinker, an individual must have the capability for interpreting and verifying the ideas in reasoned and logical well. Academic research studies have provided ample evidence for immense importance of critica l thinking in the present world. According to Hill and Shaw (2011), it is very important to improve the critical thinking of an individual. The principal reasons behind improving the critical thinking skills are given below: It has been observed that the critical thinking ability helps in enhancing the presentation and language skills. When an individual starts to think in logical way, it assists the person to express his ideas more clearly. Studies have demonstrated that critical thinking helps in promoting creativity as it enabled the individual to consider all perspectives and therefore provided rational solution to the problem. It is evident that critical thinking assists in facilitating self reflection which helps in justification of the personal decisions of the individuals. According to Fumoto (2012), use of information and communication technology such as social media, online education portals etc can be secured with the aid of critical thinking. According a study, International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) has helped in revealing that only 2% of the students have been using critical thinking in the essential ICT skill. In the following fields of ICT, individuals need to apply the critical thinking skills Individuals can apply critical thinking skill for encouraging the children to find a connection between their experiences. The ICT professionals have an opportunity for using different educational software in a creative way for extending the learning of child beyond the traditional practices. In order to implement it, individuals require high level of critical thinking skill. In order to implement the latest innovations of information and communication technology, the ICT professionals need to apply the logical thinking. Logical analysis and critical thinking ability are essential for the ICT professionals as well as users for conduction online information search an effective manner (Hatva, 2013). Reference Fowler, J. (2012). Professional skills. Part 4: helping staff to be positive. Dental Nursing, 8(1), pp.42-44. Fumoto, H. (2012). Young children's creative thinking. Los Angeles: SAGE. Hatva, E. (2013). Polishing Soft Skills for The Future HTM Professional. Biomedical Instrumentation Technology, 47(2), pp.147-151. Hill, A. and Shaw, I. (2011). Social Work and ICT. London: SAGE Publications. Week 5: SWOT Analysis of My Presentation Skill SWOT analysis is the acronym for strength, weakness, opportunities and threat. One can become successful in life if he utilizes his talents and improve the shortcomings to the fullest extent. Hence, it is very important to identify the strength, weakness, opportunities and threat of a person. In this paper, SWOT analysis of my presentation skill will be conducted so that the identified can be capitalized and opportunities can be availed (Maryska, 2012). Additionally, I will be able to work on my weak areas to improve those. The table of SWOT analysis is presented below: Additional Areas of Improvement: In the above section, SWOT analysis has already identified the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat of my presentation skill. Additionally, I have identified two additional areas which need to be improved for enhancing my presentation skill. First of all, lack of motivation and indecisiveness regarding what to include in the presentation. Additionally, lack of creativity makes the visual presentation dull which fails to attract and engaged the audience (Kniveton, 2012). Strategy for Improving Presentation Skill Regular practice and self assessment is required for improving my presentation skill. Reducing my pace of speaking and increasing voice modulation will help in retaining the attention of audience (Papadopoulos, 2013). Maintaining proper gesture throughout the presentation is important for me. I need to include interesting visuals such as relevant videos, graph, charts and pictures for engaging the audience during presentation (Jacobs, 2009). Reference Jacobs, D. (2009). Review of Communication skills for the health care professional. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 22(2), pp.191-192. Kniveton, M. (2012). Supporting physical skills through ICT. Practical Pre-School, 1(135), pp.12-13. Llorens-Garcia, A., Llinas-Audet, X. and Sabate, F. (2009). Professional and Interpersonal Skills for ICT Specialists. IT Prof., 11(6), pp.23-30. Maryska, M. (2012). ICT Speicalist Skills and Knowledge - Business Requirements and Education. ERIES Journal, 5(3), pp.157-172. Moulic, M. (2012). Developing Effective Listening Skills to Enhance Professional Efficiency. iamure.ijbm, 3(1). Papadopoulos, T. (2013). EVALUATION OF AN ICT SKILLS PROGRAM: ENHANCING GRADUATE CAPABILITIES AND EMPLOYABILITY. ijecs, 4(1), pp.93-102. Week 7: Reflective Writing According to Miller and Briscoe (2012), increasing use of the social media technology such as Twitter and Face book has significantly influenced the personal life of human beings. It is evident the social media applications provides ample opportunity to the individuals for spending time by connecting with other people, tweeting and expressing their personal opinions, going through others perspective, sharing personal images and video with others, playing games and sometimes making new friends online. It has been observed that social media significantly contributes in the enhancing social network and provides and exposure to the individuals to a large group of people belong to different geographic region and culture. However, it is true that sometimes, the social network over expose personal life of individuals. I have been using Face book for the past few years and I have gained several experiences. I have been enjoying communicating online with the distant relatives and friends. Face book has provided a platform to share their recent activities and photographs with my close associates. I like to enhance my social communication through Face book as I found it convenient. I have been sharing my opinion regarding various ongoing issues and receive comments which express the perspective of other people. I apply my critical thinking ability to analyze those arguments and develop my own stand point regarding that topic. Later, I started to experience some negative aspects of Face Book. Increasing engagement in Face Book has significantly affected my personal life. The addition was too high that I used to start using Face book for dragging unnecessary conversation with people without any significant reason. It increased the noise in the communication structure and wasted my precious time. I found that Face book has become a compulsion in my life and I started to post impulsively for sharing each and every little incidents and activities of my life. It leaded to lose my individuality and I wanted to have instant gratification (Seri and Zanfei, 2013). For example, I used to get depress if I get less likes than my friend. Therefore, I decided to reduce the usage of Face book. Initially, it was tough for me to get out of the addiction. However, I have been able to successfully manage the controlled usage of Face book. Presently, I use face book for maintaining my social communication. It helps me to maintain a healthy connection with my friends, relatives and acquaintances. Additionally, I have reduced interaction with my online friends who are stranger. I have been using Face book in my leisure and hardly share any personal things such as personal emotions, pictures and stories on Face book (Pinkowska and Lent, 2011). Refernce Miller, A. and Briscoe, M. (2012). Results of a Preliminary Survey on Graduate Training in Professional Skills. oceanog, 25(4), pp.6-8. Pinkowska, M. and Lent, B. (2011). Evaluation of Scientific and Practice Approaches to Soft Skills Requirements in the ICT Project Management. IBIMA Business Review Journal, pp.1-12. Seri, P. and Zanfei, A. (2013). The co-evolution of ICT, skills and organization in public administrations: Evidence from new European country-level data. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 27, pp.160-176. Week 11: Personal Ethical Framework The Australian Computer Society has developed a code of ethics for the ICT professionals. The ICT professionals need to abide by the ethical codes listed below: Primary Public Interest It must be noted that the ICT professionals must place the interest of the public above the interest of an individual or the business organization. According to Cox (2012), it is the major reasonability of the ICT professionals to put significant effort in order to recognize the stakeholders group who will be significantly impacted by the activities of the ICT professionals. Hence, they need to protect the interest of the stakeholders for maintaining the security, utility as well as integrity of the information and communication system (Seri and Zanfei, 2013). Hence, it is important to consider the safety and interest of the stakeholders while delivering the service to its clients. Enhancement of the Quality of Life The ICT professionals need to play a major role in enhancing the quality of life of its customers by utilizing the skills of ICT professionals. The utilization of the critical thinking ability of the ICT professionals has significantly helped the community and the customers to improve the quality of life. For example, it has been observed that the ICT professionals have developed a tool, Braille, which significantly contributed in the education of the visually handicapped people (www.acs.org.au , 2015). Maintenance of Honesty ACS code has significantly emphasized on the role of ICT professionals in maintaining integrity and honesty in the workplace. It has focused on the fact that delivery of product and service is an integrated part of the ICT professional ethics. ICT professionals are advised to reject bribes and encouraged to not to participate in activities of misleading the customers. Additionally, the ICT professionals are advised to maintain honest reputation and draw a distinct line between professional and personal life. Demonstration of Work Competence The services offered by the ICT professionals must demonstrate high level of diligence to the work and the stakeholders. The competence of the ICT professionals must be expressed through their activities (Trajkovik and Mishev, 2014). Hence, the ICT professionals must choose to work in those areas in which they are confident and competent. Thus, it will also help in influencing the quality of performance in a positive manner. Maintaining Respect for Other People According to the code of ACS, it has been additionally found that the legislation for supporting equivalent appreciation or mutual respect along with the integrity of the working environment for each employee within the organization without any discrimination must be promoted (Vaghari and Shuib, 2013). According to the code of professional ethics and behavior it has been found that the ICT experts ought to be treated with respect as well as digni and ought to stay away from any type of provocation and dishonest conduct. The work environment will be comprised of representatives with different social and cultural background. Henceforth it can be stated that this code ensures the rights and the ethical values of the workers belonging to diverse community. The code endeavors to restrict discrimination in the workplace guarantee that opportunities for job, growth prospects, compensation and other working conditions are based on the skills and competencies of the employees instead of any c ultural biasness. Reference: Cox, D. (2012). Creative thinking for dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Trajkovik, V. and Mishev, A. (2014). ICT innovations 2013. Cham: Springer. Seri, P. and Zanfei, A. (2013). The co-evolution of ICT, skills and organization in public administrations: Evidence from new European country-level data. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 27, pp.160-176. Vaghari, S. and Shuib, M. (2013). A Target Needs Analysis of the Written Communication Skills for Students of Writing for Professional Purposes Course. Jurnal Teknologi, 65(2). www.acs.org.au (2015). [online] Available at: https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/7835/Code-of-Ethics.pdf [Accessed 28 Jan. 2015]. Week 12: Successful Completion This course module has significantly helped me in achieving the principle learning outcomes through implementation of the entire course work of the project. First of all, I need state that I have enjoyed completing the module thoroughly and it has been an enriching experience. This module has significantly contributed in understanding the basic ideas as well as the principles of effective interpersonal communication along with active listening and reading for meaning. Additionally, I am exposed to the importance of active listening, reading and effective interpersonal communication for ICT professionals. This module as given me an opportunity to demonstrate my ability and skills associated with team work. Team work skills are essential for becoming a successful ICT professional. Hence, I feel that was very pertinent for nurturing my professional skills. This module has enabled me express my ideas in an effective manner by use of both verbal and written communication. I have learnt to use appropriate words and methods for communicating effectively. Thus, my written and verbal communication skills have improved. I have learnt why critical thinking is important for the ICT professionals through analyzing relevant literatures. I get an exposure to the idea of critical thinking and application of it in the real life context. In this module I was given an opportunity to conduct a SWOT analysis of my presentation skill. Presentation skill is an important quality of an ICT professional. SWOT analysis helped in identification of my strength, weakness, opportunities and threat of my presentation skill. Undertaking a SWOT analysis has been found to be very effective as got to know about my weaknesses and threats. Additionally, I got an idea regarding the opportunities which can be utilized for enhancing my presentation skill. Moreover, strateg ies were developed for improving my presentation skill. This module has provided clear idea regarding the ACS code for the ICT professionals. It helped me in understanding the importance of ethical code for directing the ICT practice and behavior of professionals. The ACS code has significant contribution in maintain integrity of the service along with enhancing the quality of life. I was exposed to the responsibility of the ICT professionals to identification of the stakeholders and consideration of the public interest. This paper has provided an idea regarding the common work practice along with the professional values operating in the workplace of Australia. This module has significantly helped in assessing how information and communication technology can be used for improving the organizational procedures. I have learnt the major applications of ICT innovations and how those can change the organizational procedures. This module has provided an opportunity to express my idea regarding the application of emerging technologies in communication. I have discussed my personal experience of using social media. I reflected regarding my personal experience of using Face book. I evaluated the positive as well as negative aspect of social media by taking Face book as an example. I have learnt a lot form this module and I suggest that this module can include some assignments for discussing the application of ICT software in different industries.