Connecting with the Y Generation: an analysis of factors associated with the academic performance of foundation IS students

[Abstract]: A strategy to overcome challenges associated with teaching a foundation Information Systems (IS) course to large cohorts of Business students has been highly successful. To further refine the strategy, a survey was conducted to better understand attitudes and computer experience of the students. This study revealed that factors such as gender, age, study mode, type of secondary school attended, level of previous computing studies, perceived knowledge, frequency of use and attitudes towards using computers did not predict academic performance. Academic performance and characteristics of students belonging to the Y Generation were also compared with those of the Older Generation. Differences between these generations were found to exist in relation to perceived knowledge, level of previous computing studies, and experience of formal computing studies. It is imperative that educators be aware of the characteristics of the growing Y Generation students. This research has raised critical curriculum issues for the development of foundation IS pedagogy

Impacting IT enrolments: what factors most influence student career decisions

This paper reports preliminary data on factors influencing student perceptions affecting their decision to study information technology in later years of high school and at university. Factors from the literature mainly align as social or structural. This research has found that structural factors (curriculum and teachers) have the most influence on student decision making about course selection related to IT subjects. Subsequent research will experimentally examine curriculum changes and teacher preparation for improvements of student perception about IT subject selection and IT careers

Mobile phone enabled mental health monitoring to enhance diagnosis for severity assessment of behaviours: a review

Mental health issues are a serious consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, influencing about 700 million people worldwide. These physiological issues need to be consistently observed on the people through non-invasive devices such as smartphones, and fitness bands in order to remove the burden of having the conciseness of continuously being monitored. On the other hand, technological improvements have enhanced the abilities and roles of conventional mobile phones from simple communication to observations and improved accessibility in terms of size and price may reflect growing familiarity with the smartphone among a vast number of consumers. As a result of continuous monitoring, together with various embedded sensors in mobile phones, raw data can be converted into useful information about the actions and behaviors of the consumers. Thus, the aim of this comprehensive work concentrates on the literature work done so far in the prediction of mental health issues via passive monitoring data from smartphones. This study also explores the way users interact with such self-monitoring technologies and what challenges they might face. We searched several electronic databases (PubMed, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Libraries, Soups, APA PsycInfo, and Mendeley Data) for published studies that are relevant to focus on the topic and English language proficiency from January 2015 to December 2020. We identified 943 articles, of which 115 articles were eligible for this scoping review based on the predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria carried out manually. These studies provided various works regarding smartphones for health monitoring such as Physical activity (26.0 percent; 30/115), Mental health analysis (27.8 percent; 32/115), Student specific monitoring (15.6 percent; 18/115) are the three analyses carried out predominantly

Y-generation students fail with Google

Just how net savvy are the Y-Generation students entering university? This study measures the perceptions of the entry level Y-Generation university students about their ability to search the Internet for familiar everyday tasks and for non-familiar academic tasks. Their ability to perform some tasks is then tested and compared with their perceptions. We found the students have confidence in their ability to search the Internet, but their ability does not match their confidence for all types of tasks

Barriers to the inclusion of wireless technology in aged care applications - a review

[Abstract]: The recent improvements in the wireless technology have prompted aged care organisations to consider wireless devices as a part of their overall information technology solution. This paper reports the barriers to wireless technology identified through a literature survey. The objective of the paper is to draw the attention of aged care organisations to various technical as well as management barriers to wireless technology in order to achieve a successful implementation of wireless technology in aged care

Connecting with the Y Generation: an analysis of factors associated with the academic performance of foundation IS students

[Abstract]: A strategy to overcome challenges associated with teaching a foundation Information Systems (IS) course to large cohorts of Business students has been highly successful. To further refine the strategy, a survey was conducted to better understand attitudes and computer experience of the students. This study revealed that factors such as gender, age, study mode, type of secondary school attended, level of previous computing studies, perceived knowledge, frequency of use and attitudes towards using computers did not predict academic performance. Academic performance and characteristics of students belonging to the Y Generation were also compared with those of the Older Generation. Differences between these generations were found to exist in relation to perceived knowledge, level of previous computing studies, and experience of formal computing studies. It is imperative that educators be aware of the characteristics of the growing Y Generation students. This research has raised critical curriculum issues for the development of foundation IS pedagogy

Changing student perceptions of information technology careers: investigating the use of a tech-savvy career-focussed curriculum for it career development with regional junior high school students

The number of students enrolling in secondary Information Technology (IT) subjects within Queensland has shown a significant decline since the year 2000. Tertiary institutions have also experienced a significant decline in domestic enrolments in Australia. The decreases in student participation, as well as students’ interest in considering IT careers, have reached a point where serious IT skills shortages have been forecast in Australia. According to Deloitte Access Economics and the Australian Computer Society, demand for IT workers is expected to grow by 100,000 by 2023. This will further strain Australian businesses trying to recruit IT workers to meet this demand. All schools teaching foundation to year ten follow the Australian Curriculum developed by the Australian Federal Government and endorsed by each State. The Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies learning area focuses on problem-solving, often using coding. There appears to be a perception drawn from the current curriculum that IT equates to coding. The Digital Technologies learning area does not cover any specific content on IT careers. The Australian Curriculum of Mathematics and Science learning areas also demonstrate a lack of specific careers content. Providing students with specific knowledge about careers in these learning areas appears to be a current omission. This thesis examines the factors influencing student perceptions affecting their choices of studying high school IT subjects and their consideration of an IT career. Factors from the literature align as social or structural. Social factors, especially gender and family, have been the focus of the majority of the research in this field. This research focuses on the structural factors (curriculum and teachers) due to the strong influence of these factors on student decision making about course selection related to IT subjects. Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-creation Theory is used to identify the developmental stage in a student’s life, where structural changes may have the most significant impact on perceptions of IT careers. Social Cognitive Career Theory is also used to highlight the importance of a student’s self-efficacy on influencing a student’s interests and career choice goals. The study examined the structural factors of curriculum change and teacher preparation for improving student perception about IT subject selection and IT careers. This was tested through the development of an IT curriculum using tech-savvy web-based teaching tools, focussing on developing a student’s understanding of the depth and breadth of IT careers. This study involved implementing the IT Careers Curriculum at four schools in the Toowoomba region. An Information Technology Careers Instrument (ITCI) was developed as part of the study to measure the change in students’ perceptions of IT careers. All the IT classes at all four schools were surveyed before and after the implementation of the IT careers curriculum. The impact of the IT Careers Curriculum was also qualitatively measured through student focus groups and teacher interviews. The researcher participated directly by teaching the IT Careers Curriculum at one of the schools, and a self-reflection was undertaken of the IT Careers Curriculum during this time. The quantitative data collected from the two surveys, before and after the students had undertaken the IT Careers Curriculum used Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance of the Pre and Post Test ITCI Means. The results of this analysis showed no significant improvement in student perceptions towards IT careers as a result of the IT Careers Curriculum. The qualitative data collected through focus groups of students and interviews with the teachers involved in the IT Careers Curriculum indicated a different result. The student focus groups and the teacher interviews indicated that the students’ awareness and interest in IT careers had increased after undertaking the IT Careers Curriculum. This strong qualitative finding supported the key research question and provided a counterbalance to the quantitative findings. Reasons for this difference in results are discussed, as are implications for future research in this area. This research has provided a fresh examination of Circumscription, Compromise and Self-creation Theory, and Social Cognitive Career Theory and the research into structural factors that influence student perceptions towards IT study and career choices. It is believed that this research assists researchers and policymakers to better understand the factors that influence students’ IT study and career choices, and informs educational practitioners when developing programs aimed at increasing students’ involvement in IT education and vocational pathways, by providing better awareness of the range of IT careers available beyond programming and technical support

Principles of information systems, 2nd ed.

This second Asia-Pacific edition of Stair and Reynolds' renowned US text continues to provide business students with a solid grounding in the Principles of Information Systems. This book maintains a strong emphasis on business applications, and takes a management-focussed approach to the key concepts of information systems

Principles of Information Systems

Today, information systems (IS) are used for business processes from communications to order processing and number crunching, and in business functions ranging from marketing to human resource management, accounting, and finance. Regardless of your future occupation, the chances are that you will need to understand what IS can and cannot do and be able to use IS to help you accomplish your work. You will be expected to suggest new uses of IS and participate in the design of solutions to business problems employing IS. You will be challenged to identify and evaluate IS options. To be successful, you must be able to view IS in terms of business and organisational needs. For your solutions to be accepted, you must identify and address their impact on fellow workers. For these reasons, a course in IS is essential for business students in today’s high-tech world. Our primary objective with this text is to develop the best IS text and accompanying materials for the IS university courses required by business students. We present IS concepts that every business student must learn in order to be successful. This text has been written specifically for the IS curriculum, and it discusses IT and IS concepts in a business context with a strong managerial emphasis. ISBN: 978017018845

An exploratory qualitative study to determine factors influencing the adoption of mobile learning for tertiary education

[aBSTRACT]: The advent of mobile devices has provided a new direction to the current models of e-learning. While current models warrant students to access educational resources using a desktop computer with Internet technology, mobile devices extend the concept to directing educational resources to students' devices and added a new dimension of 'anyhow', realizing mobility. This research looks at the tertiary students view point to understand how mobile technology can be utilized in an effective and efficient manner in order to realize educational strategies. Students' opinions were extracted using a focus group discussion and the preliminary results are reported in this paper