Choosing Information Systems as a Major: Factors that Influence Selection

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of factors affecting the decision to select information systems as an undergraduate major. Additionally, information systems students were compared to other business students to see if significant differences existed between groups. The four factors studied included: (a) personal interest in the major, (b) student competence, (c) value and utility, and (d) external influences of other people and academic experiences. A convenience sample was used at a public university in the Southeastern region of the United States. Two hundred junior/senior students were selected as participants. One hundred of the students were information systems students, and 100 were from other business majors. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, including t-tests, were conducted to determine which factors influenced major selection and to see if statistically significant differences were observed between groups of students. The findings suggested that the profile of an information systems student was male, Caucasian, and 20-24 years of age. Participants generally selected their major in the freshman or sophomore year of college. As suggested by several other studies, student personal interest in the subject appeared to be the most important factor. Interest was generated in large part by being good in high school math and computers and enjoyment in using computers. Those students interested in information systems recognized that the major was more than coding and programming. It was also determined that many information systems students secured information about the major from the Internet, and they did not rely heavily on parents or other people to assist them in deciding on their major. Another factor influencing information systems students to select their major was their perceived competence in the subject matter, including academic performance and level of confidence. Students opting for other majors suggested that information systems were influenced by the value and utility of an information systems degree. These participants acknowledged that the degree led to immediate jobs, career opportunities, and good salaries

Cultivating Ordinary Voices of Dissent: the Challenge for the Social Studies

Two broad ideas emerge from reflections on my career in global and international education: first, that my ‘lived experience’ offers both intelligence and ignorance in terms or how I view the world; and second, that the essence of my humanity is enhanced through my identification with, and sense of responsibility for, fellow humans. The latter idea is encapsulated in the African philosophy of ubuntu. These two ideas prompt my contention that the global education movement has failed to adequately convey through its literature and practice the complexity and interrelatedness of global systems, including the inextricable connections between humans and their environments. The nature of contemporary global challenges, such as climate change, demands that we understand how global systems are intertwined and adjust our actions accordingly. The social studies need to be at the forefront of nurturing systems level thinking and innovation, particularly to counter the tendency arising from advances in information technology to develop cultures of conformity. Young people around the world have the potential to bring about system-wide change through their ordinary voices of dissent, a collective commitment to decision-making based on recognizing the needs of all humanity, rather than just assessing the benefits to individuals or nations

Understanding how people choose to pursue taught postgraduate study

HEFC

A Postmodern Approach to Career Education: What does it look like?

Changes in our concepts of work and career reflect a move from an industrial era to what has been termed a postindustrial, information or postmodern era, an era wherein our concepts of career guidance also need to change. A number of authors have commented on aspects of career guidance practice which need to incorporate changes, such as career education and career counselling (Guichard, 2001; McMahon & Patton, 2000; Watts, 2001). This paper will add to the call for greater application of constructivist approaches to career education. It will critique current practices and present strategies which reflect such approaches

Factors influencing the decision to choose information technology preparatory studies in secondary schools: an exploratory study in regional/rural Australia

[Abstract]: The career paths of students are influenced and shaped by the subject choices that are made in the final years of secondary schooling. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that identified the key factors influencing the decision of rural / regional Australian students to choose or not choose to study Information Processing and Technology. The findings revealed that career oriented, extrinsic factors play an important role in motivating the selection of I.P.T. at school and, by implication, information technology at university. There are few apparent gender differences but there is limited evidence to suggest that males may be more influenced by extrinsic motivators and females by intrinsic motivators. Although the factors used in the study were initially identified largely via informal processes, they all appear to influence the decision to take I.P.T. The focus on career-related factors and the instrumentality of taking I.P.T. could explain the drop-off in students taking the subject. This has potentially significant implications as regards the future supply of good information technology professional

Maximising the impact of careers services on career management skills: a review of the literature

The review identified an international body of work on the development and implementation of competency frameworks in reaction to CMS, including the ‘Blueprint’ frameworks, which are a series of inter-related national approaches to career management skills (originating in the USA and taken up subsequently, and with different emphases, by Canada, Australia, England and Scotland). There is, as yet, little empirical evidence to support the overall efficacy of CMS frameworks, but they have the advantage of setting out what needs to be learned (usually as a clear and identifiable list of skills, attributes and attitudes) and, often, how this learning is intended to happen. The international literature emphasised the iterative nature and mixture of formal and informal learning and life experiences that people needed to develop CMS. It suggested that, though there was no single intervention or group of interventions that appeared most effective in increasing CMS, there were five underpinning components of career guidance interventions that substantially increased effectiveness, particularly when combined. These included the use of narrative/writing approaches; the importance of providing a ‘safe’ environment; the quality of the adviser-client relationship; the need for flexibility in approach; the provision of specialist information and support; and clarity on the purpose and aims of action planning. The review also identified a possible emergent hierarchy around the efficacy of different modes of delivery of career guidance interventions on CMS development. Interventions involving practitioner contact and structured groups appeared more effective than self-directed interventions or unstructured groups. Computer-based interventions were found to work better when practitioner input was provided during the intervention or when they were followed up by a structured workshop session to discuss and review the results.Skills Funding Agenc

Career development, management, and planning from the vocational psychology perspective

This chapter is a consideration of career development, planning, and management from the perspective of vocational psychology. Before describing career development, management, and planning, the chapter begins with a brief overview of the discipline of vocational psychology, highlighting recent trends toward its redefinition. This is followed by a description of the significant constructs and theories of vocational psychology, along with the paradigms under which they are subsumed. In concluding, there is reiteration of a call for paradigmatic diversity in theory, research, and practice

Maximising the impact of careers services on career management skills: a review of the literature

The review identified an international body of work on the development and implementation of competency frameworks in reaction to CMS, including the ‘Blueprint’ frameworks, which are a series of inter-related national approaches to career management skills (originating in the USA and taken up subsequently, and with different emphases, by Canada, Australia, England and Scotland). There is, as yet, little empirical evidence to support the overall efficacy of CMS frameworks, but they have the advantage of setting out what needs to be learned (usually as a clear and identifiable list of skills, attributes and attitudes) and, often, how this learning is intended to happen. The international literature emphasised the iterative nature and mixture of formal and informal learning and life experiences that people needed to develop CMS. It suggested that, though there was no single intervention or group of interventions that appeared most effective in increasing CMS, there were five underpinning components of career guidance interventions that substantially increased effectiveness, particularly when combined. These included the use of narrative/writing approaches; the importance of providing a ‘safe’ environment; the quality of the adviser-client relationship; the need for flexibility in approach; the provision of specialist information and support; and clarity on the purpose and aims of action planning. The review also identified a possible emergent hierarchy around the efficacy of different modes of delivery of career guidance interventions on CMS development. Interventions involving practitioner contact and structured groups appeared more effective than self-directed interventions or unstructured groups. Computer-based interventions were found to work better when practitioner input was provided during the intervention or when they were followed up by a structured workshop session to discuss and review the results.Skills Funding Agenc

Choosing teaching as a career : a case study to explore students' motivations

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)Nowadays, education quality is a worldwide concern. Furthermore, one of the factors to improve it is to attract the best students to study a teaching program. In order to achieve this goal, it is important to identify the motives that drive a person to choose a teaching program. Several quantitative studies have been conducted around the world with the same purpose using the FIT-Choice scale (Richardson & Watt, 2006) which is a reliable instrument to determine the reasons that drive a person to choose teaching as a career. Therefore, as this study aims to explore the reasons that drive Chilean first-year students to choose a teaching program, a semi-structured interview based on the Fit-Choice scale categories was used to add more information about the topic using a qualitative approach. The interview considered the theme motivation and its codes - intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic motivations - when identifying the reasons that lead first-year students to choose a teaching career. In this study, four participants from first year were selected from the different educational programs at Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello. The results demonstrated that the altruistic motive, which is related to make social contributions, was the main reason mentioned.Hoy en día, la educación de calidad es una preocupación global. Además, uno de los factores para mejorar la calidad de educación es atraer a los mejores estudiantes a que elijan una carrera de pedagogía. Para lograr este objetivo es importante identificar los motivos que conducen a una persona a elegir una carrera de pedagogía. Varios estudios cuantitativos se han llevado a cabo alrededor del mundo con el mismo propósito aplicando la escala FIT-Choice (Richardson & Watt, 2006) que es un instrumento confiable para determinar las razones que llevan a una persona a elegir la enseñanza como profesión. Por lo tanto, como el objetivo de este estudio es explorar las razones que llevan a los alumnos chilenos de primer año a elegir pedagogía como carrera, una entrevista semi-estructurada basada en las diferentes categorías de la escala FIT-Choice fue usada para añadir más información acerca del tema utilizando un diseño cualitativo. En la entrevista se consideró como tema principal la motivación y sus códigos - intrínseco, extrínseco y altruista - para identificar los factores que motivan a los estudiantes a estudiar pedagogía. En este estudio cuatro participantes de primer año fueron seleccionados dentro de las diferentes carreras de pedagogía en la Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello y los resultados demostraron que el motivo altruista, el cual está relacionado con contribución social, fue mencionado como la razón principal para elegir esta profesión