The Transition from High School to College in Kuwait Research Paper

The Transition from High School to College in Kuwait - Research Paper Example    Previous literature reports on student’s transition into campus have mainly focused on the determinants of success of first-year students (Christensen & Evamy, 2011) Learning and expectation of first-year students (Tabitha et al. 2012) and Engaging ethnically and empowerment of first-year students (Apelian, 2010). Little literature is available on the challenges of students transitioning from high school to university in Kuwait. This research paper aims to evaluate the challenges faced by students joining the college for undergraduate programmes.   Most students are happy to join undergraduate studies. (Nia, 2014) state that this, however, brings extreme distress because most of them are separating with accustomed settings and places for the first time. Briggs (2013) argue that the transition process from high school to university is likely to interfere with physical comfort, social security and the pleasure from extracurricular activities in the first year.   Briggs (2013) adds that the transition process can be stressful. The segregation of students in the Middle East, for example, brings trauma to students most of who learn for the first time with the opposite gender. The students are also responsible for making major decisions regarding their schedule; this can be challenging given most of their time in lower classes was managed by teachers. Roe et al. (2010) confirm that students find it hard to adjust to making decisions on what to undertake at a particular time as well as sleep and wake up time.

Infrastructure Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Infrastructure Management - Essay Example In the technological world all odds have been met to ensure ease is experienced in spreading and accessing information. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is one field that has made information flow smooth and more efficient. Literature Review In the Business world, ICT has enhanced the possibilities of entrepreneurs to keep on the battle for survival in this competitive arena (Apellt, 1999). New mechanisms of accessing new market and the needed information from far distances with continuous knowledge gain is an advantage of good ICT employment. Additionally, the information between different organizations becomes real-time which tends to enhance the relationship between the customers and the organization. ICT is also the key factor to enabling business people get immediate feedback from their customers and use it as a way of indentifying their strong and weak points. The feedbacks from the customers also help in noticing the changes of demand, preferences and new marke t by an organization. ICT in companies or organizations is one platform that has to be closely monitored to ensure the best of it is achieved. IT professionals are employed in these areas to ensure that each and every required data from the networks is sufficiently reliable and available. In big companies, different departments are interconnected (intranet) to ensure much is shared and creates the virtual company of working from different offices (European commission, 2000). The intranet is established through local area networking or wireless networking. Information flow within a company is determined by how the ICT infrastructures are laid and managed. This infrastructure depends on a company’s customization but the general overview of this would involve clients, routers, bridges, servers and virtual firewalls then the web. The client connects to the server through a router or a bridge; the server accepts the request and sends back the requested data. If a client needs to c onnect to the internet, the server will send the request through the firewall to the worldwide web. The replay path will be the same i.e. web-firewall-server –client through the router. This brings us to common point in noting that, if a company properly utilizes the potentials presented by the ICT sector, then supply, customers and knowledge enhancement will be well managed. Statement of the Problem If we now analyze this scenario using Global Water Company, we find that the information channels are mostly used for communication within the regional locations. The company’s three locations namely, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States only communicate using the public networks. This seems to do no good to internal and external communications of the company. We are also quick to note that the rapid growth in the global business has made the communications here more difficult and unreliable in this company. Moreover, we find that the South African division is th e most clogged with a max of 300 clients being used by 400 workers. West Bromwich in UK also rags behind in efficiency since 200 computers are being used by 350 people. This is a great loop hole in the company in trying to keep up with the pace of the competitive world. The management has also come to its senses and noted the cost that the poor ICT structure is bringing to the company. Thanks to the management, the much required platform in gearing up

Hollyoaks and targeted Essay Example for Free

Hollyoaks and targeted Essay My soap opera is going to be on channel 4 because my soap is going to be similar to Hollyoaks and targeted at a younger audience. Itll be aimed at younger people because my cast is mostly young adults or late teens, but their will also be older characters to play the motherly/fatherly figures. My soap opera is going to be on at 20:30 so it doesnt clash with any big soaps like Coronation Street, Eastenders, Emmerdale or Hollyoaks. I also chose channel 4 because when my soap finishes at 21:00 Big Brother starts and this is one of the most popular programmes of all time so this may make people watch my soap preparing for Big Brother and may attract more viewers. Characters. Sam Cole-22- Captain of Newcastle A. F. C very popular and rich. Has a girlfriend called Chantelle who is mainly after his money and fame. He is also under stress most of the time because of some photos of him breaking the law. Chantelle Young-20- Sams girlfriend who is a model and is usually away on business, she is also secretly having a affair with Sams best friend Sol Patton. Sol Patton-28- Quiet character, is having an affair with Chantelle, and for his career at Newcastle A. F. C has been a victim of racism. Frank Mullen-65- Manager of Newcastle A. F. C, is very precise about how he likes things and because he is so rich and famous he always gets what he wants. Hates the paparazzi because they portray people as other things. Kieran Patrick-17- Youngest footballer at Newcastle A. F. C is the football wonder boy, his nickname is paddy and he and his mother are very close. Trisha Patrick-48- Kierans mother, she has also just been diagnosed with cancer and is scared because her husband died due to cancer. Terry Ord-32- Coach of Newcastle A. F. C is very strict with the players and in the past hit some of them. Nikki Davies-21- Little model who wants to be a footballers wife, goes to all the VIP parties to try and get a rich and famous boyfriend. Beverly Patton-70- Sols grandma, she knows everything about Sol and the racism she trys and helps him through life being the motherly figure. Stephen Thompson-25- Sam Coles x-best friend, used Sam for who he was to get money. Villain of the soap. Lea Mac-43- Cleaner at Newcastle A. F. C also the villain of the soap as she is sneaky and steals from the football club. David Ellison- Newcastle A. F. C secretary, rich powerful man. Settings My soap is based around Tyne and Wear and Northumberland. Newcastle A. F. C football ground-home to all the players for when they arent at home. Linden Hall- Big posh housing estate where most of the players and manager lives. Quayside- All the footballers and footballers wives meet up here to drink and have meals. Very up to date venue and very expensive. Metro Centre- A big shopping centre where all the players and players wives shop, special car park and restaurant so the news reporters or paparazzi dont see them. Morpeth- Quiet little town where players meet up so nobody can find them and they are not being followed by the paparazzi and the crazy fans. The slug lettuce- A posh restaurant in the Quayside where all VIP parties are held and also where players eat and drink. Storylines. Sol Patton starts receiving racist postcards through the door and is worried because he doesnt know who is sending them. He has suffered from racism all his time at Newcastle but nothing has come through his door and the reason he is worried is because they know where he lives. He tells his grandma Beverly and she tells him to go straight to the police but he doesnt want the tabloids knowing what is going on. Sol is also having an affair with Chantelle and when he tells her what he has been receiving she doesnt seem to bothered, and Sol is guessing if maybe it his her because she knows where he lives. Sol pays someone to trick Chantelle but instead of tricking her they go straight to the papers and everyone is guessing who is sending them. Sol confronts Chantelle and she says it is not her, but when one of the postcards has finger prints on he takes it to the police and they find out that it was Terry Ord the coach. The reason he was sending them was to make Sol play better so the racism would disappear. Terry gets a i 15,000 fine for internal harm and is thrown out of Newcastle A. F. C Sam and Stephen are out drinking in Morpeth in a quite pub. Sam is talking about how he misses Chantelle because she has been at work for a while and hasnt been home, Stephen suggests he takes some heroin to loosen himself up, Sam isnt to found of the idea but Stephen persuades him. They both go to the toilet and while Sam is sniffing his first ever line Stephen grabs his phone and starts taking pictures. At first Sam isnt to bothered because the drugs were getting to him but as they leave the pub later that night Sam asked him to delete them Stephen says no and says if Sam doesnt give him what he wants then he will give them to the press. Sam is scared and goes home waiting for Stephen to ring him. When Stephen rings him he says he wants i 12,000 for the phone Sam agrees and meets up with him. They exchange the money for the phone but when Stephen left his car crashed with something faulty on the car. Sam is the only suspect and gets all over the newspaper. But the case is dropped when there was a breakthrough with the case ands someone stepped forward saying they purposefully fiddled with the brakes. Trisha Patrick is diagnosed with breast cancer but it is too late to cure it and the doctors say she only has a year at the most to live. She wanted to hide it from Kieran but in an argument over him moving in with a team mate she says she wants to spend as much time as possible with him because she only has a year to live with cancer. Kieran is upset and says he is going to give up football so he can spend the rest of his mothers life with her. Trisha says she doesnt want him to miss out on his football but he says he is spending all his time with his mam no matter what anyone says. His mam finally gives up her fight and says she wants to move away, Kieran agrees and they end up leaving for America. Kieran left in that way so he can return in the future. Chantelle is sick of Sam whinging about Stephens death so she goes to the Slug Lettuce. There she met Sol who she told what was the matter and he told her about his past. As they were talking they were drinking quite heavily and one thing led to another. Sol asked her if she wanted to go back to his house for a drink she agreed but they ended up having sexual intercourse Sol regrets it but Chantelle thinks its more of a chance for fame and money. Sol begs her not to tell anyone or his career will be over Chantelle agrees but says they must keep seeing each other. Sol agrees because he wants no one knowing about them. Later in their affair there is a hitch when manager Frank sees them kissing. He confronts Sol and Sol says theres nothing going on so he goes and sees Chantelle she says that he is threatening her. Frank tries to handle it but it gets loose to the papers and Sol still says nothing ever happened but Chantelle says he threatened her over the relationship because he had no one else. Lea Mac who has worked as a cleaner at Newcastle A. F. C for eleven years has been recently stealing from the safe. She finds the safe key code in Franks draw and has a look inside she cannot resist and takes a batch of money. She takes i 20,000 over a year and thinks she isnt going to get found out. Secretary David Ellison noticed the Clubs money is disappearing. David asks manager Frank if he has taken any he says no and says if theres money missing its Davids fault because he is in charge of it. David knows its someone in the staff so he puts a new code on the safe and asks to see all the staffs bank balances for the past 6 months, everyone agrees to show there balances apart from Lea who fleas the club. The police find out and chase her down they find her and she gets three year in prison and all her belongings repossessed.

Skill Requirements for IS Professionals in E-learning

Skill Requirements for IS Professionals in E-learning Skills requirements for information system professionals in the e-learning sector This research project is an investigation into the skills required for Information Systems (IS) professionals working in the commercial e-learning sector. This involved determining the perceived skill requirements for IS professionals, the actual skills held by current employees in this sector, and identifying any skills gaps that existed. The survey obtained information from a representative selection of the IS professional population. The questionnaire sample included IS professionals at all levels and grades of employment and reflected the composition of participating organizations. The table below summarises the objectives of this investigation: Identify the state of the UK IS workforce and the e-learning industry, Investigate the skills required to work as an IS professional in the e-learning industry in Berkshire, Investigate what skills gaps exist and Investigate the possible causes of these skills gaps. The main outcome of the study was a matrix of the skills required that can be used by universities and training organisations to tailor their course content to suit the constantly evolving demands of this industry. To combat the skills gaps that emerged and prevent performance problems arising, a number of recommendations need to be adopted to address the problems discovered: (1) Improve training strategies for IS professionals within the sector, majority of organisations have no set training strategy or budget; this is something that needs to change, (2) Create an annual ‘e-learning skills report’ detailing gaps and shortages, allowing education and industry to understand emerging and established skills needs. It would allow changes in demand and type of skill to be monitored. This would allow organisations to structure their internal training strategies, to eliminate skills gaps and (3) Form direct links between industry and education partners to allow course content t o be improved and improve employment prospects for graduates. The most important action is to integrate education with industry. If courses as specialist as-learning could be developed with an industry partner, the correct content would be guaranteed. 1. Introduction Many organisations have come to realise that certain new technologies can optimise efficiency and make processes more effective. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can bring industry closer to their customers, partners and suppliers through more integrated business and communication systems, and can provide enhanced educational opportunities. â€Å"There is a well-established relationship between improvements in Information Systems (IS) skills and increased productivity.† (Dress, 2001) The opportunity to gain competitive advantage through technology has consequently contributed to demand for skilled IS professionals outstripping supply. The label used to describe this effect is a ‘skills shortage’. The Computer Services and Software Association estimate that IS skills shortages will cost the UK over  £30 billion over the next three years(e-skills NTO, 2001). There is a growing recognition that the gap in skills for IS professionals is widening. The gap in skills does not only affect the ICT (primary) sector but all other sectors (secondary)which apply information technologies in their production, processes, products or services. The E-revolution of the information industries has created a new labour force, professional IS roles are becoming diversified and a generic IS curriculum will not meet all the needs for all IS jobs in the future. It seems that in any system that has an â€Å"E† placed in front of it; e-learning, e-business, e-commerce, are the development of new skills. Never before have new skills appeared at such a rate. Even if industrial structure is only changing slowly, employers of ‘IS ‘practitioners rarely found it easy to articulate their current and particularly future skill needs very precisely. â€Å"Nearly one third of the IS skills in the market today have only emerged in the last year. Sixty seven of the one hundred and thirty three internet related skills are totally new.† Chris Bennett, MD SAP Australia (Hawking, 2002) New curricula need to be developed which consist-’of separate distinctive concentrations, which target specific roles in the job market. A new stronger relationship needs to be formed between educational institutions and companies; to allow the required skills to be taught and help alleviate the current IS skills shortages. In the rapidly changing field of IS, educational programs must be continually re-evaluated and revised. â€Å"There is presently a gap between what industry wants characteristically in it IS personnel and what academia provides to them.† Gupta and Watcher( 1998) The first step in the curriculum revision process is to conduct a study to determine the expected skills and knowledge required for IS professionals in industry. This will allow academic institutions to create programs that more accurately reflect the demands of the marketplace. At present, there is no identifiable data about the requirements of IS professionals specific to the e-learning sector. This is the gap in knowledge that needs to be investigated. This dissertation has been commissioned to do precisely that; to investigate the skills required for IS professionals working in thee-learning industry. The results can then be used as a foundation for developing a suitable postgraduate course at the University level. The main outcome of the study will be a matrix of the skills required that can be used by universities and training organisations to tailor their course content to suit the constantly evolving demands of this industry. The research carried out in this project can be used by other universities to clarify the skills required for employment in this sector, allowing course content to be tailored to suit the changing demands of industry, and improve the opportunities for students seeking employment upon graduation. 2. Aims Objectives The research will be cantered on the key area of skills gap analysis. This will involve determining the perceived skill requirements for IS professionals and the actual skills held by current employees, then determining the differences. This study aims to obtain information from a representative selection of the IS professional population, and from that sample the researcher will then be able to present the findings as being representative of the population as awhile. The characteristics of the total population will be represented justly in the sample to enable the researcher to say with fair confidence that the sample is reasonably representative. The sample will include IS professionals at all levels and grades of employment and will reflect the composition of participating organisations. The study will allow users to simultaneously score both their own self-assessment of their ability and their perceptions of the levels of skill actually required by their job. The sample population will include organizations in the e-learning sector with a history of close association with Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire. Summary of Research Objectives †¢ Identify the current state of the UK IS workforce and the e-learning industry †¢ Identify the most important/prevalent issues from the literature †¢ Investigate the skills required to work as an IS professional in the e-learning industry in the Berkshire region †¢ Identify the skill gaps from the perceived and actual skill levels †¢ Discuss the finding and compare against those of relevant previous studies 3. Literature Review The foundation for revision of curriculum process is the review of literature and investigation into the expected industry skills and knowledge for IS professionals. In the introduction chapter an outline of this study was given. This section will focus upon academic literature related to the subject area, which will go onto further support the data already mentioned. As well as academic literature, reports are of particular importance to this dissertation, due to the dynamic nature of the industry, reports are able to offer the very latest up to date information, which may take months to be peer reviewed and published in journals. There are a number of reports, which have been consulted in the preparation of this report that have provided valuable insight into the subject area. In addition the background chapter that follows this contains greater detail into the region and industry trends, separated to avoid over-powering the critical issues highlighted here. 3.1 Background The literature in general Skills Requirements Analysis (SRA) is extensive. Related areas include Training Needs Assessment (TNA) and the broader area of Learning Needs Assessment (LNA). Recent work in the area, such as that by Sine (1998) and earlier, by Kidd (1984) in knowledge acquisition adds to more traditional texts from skills training practitioners including Peterson (1998) and Major (1988). These papers all identify skills training as one of a number of initiatives to solve performance problems in an organisation. Using the performance problems identified, how far the skills identified are present, and how big is the gap between the performance objectives and the performance resulting from actual skills in place. This process is referred to as a skills audit. The skills audit links directly to the research questions in chapter one. A skills assessment or audit has three main objectives: 1. To determine what skills are required by each employee; 2. To determine which of the required skills each employee has; 3. To analyse the results and establish the specific training needs. Authors such as Hamel (1994) openly express the increasing value of employee’s skills, leading to knowledge within an organisation. More recent articles, such as Birch all and Tovstiga (1999) describe how this knowledge manifests itself primarily as organisational competencies and capabilities, leading to that all-important competitive advantage. Onaway to increase a company’s organisational competencies and capabilities in order to gain competitive advantage is through carefully implemented training and development, Schuler (1984).Education and training provision are important strategic practices in the development of organisational competence, but without understanding the precise skills needs first, how can the appropriate training be applied? 3.2 Information System Curriculum There is extensive literature surrounding the area of IS curriculum design. Although this study will not involve any design of curriculum, it is none the less useful to have an understanding of some of the issues that arise in designing IS curriculum; if the findings of this study will be used as a foundation to develop IS curricula. A common theme in the literature is the difficulty in creating curriculum that can fulfil all requirements in an industry that evolves so rapidly. Martinson and Cheung (2001) suggest that recent developments of IS industry jobs and career paths have made understanding the knowledge/skills requirement of an IS professional even more difficult. This is supported by Latham (2000) who explains that the complexity and multi-disciplinarily nature of Information Systems makes identifying a common curriculum both difficult and contentious. Skills requirements will inevitably change over time and it is important to take a strategic view of the needs of industry. There are a number of papers that highlight the differences between industry and academia strategies, and strong suggestions that these need to be merged and greater links formed between the two. Kim, Shim, and Yoon (1999) found that, â€Å"IS organisations perceive managerial and organisational issues as more important than educators†. They also found that educators consider emerging issues more important than industry organisations. Curriculum should be developed working with corporate partners. Similar work of Srinivasan, Duane, and Wright(1999) supports the importance of this idea of improving links between education and industry. In Lightfoot’s (1999) research on IS curriculum design, it was suggested that curriculum needs to be developed to satisfy both the current and future needs of the industry at the sometime. This is impossible without the links mentioned above. 3.3 Information System Skills Although the growing demand for IS professionals is evident, the exact combination of skills required is not. This could be attributed to the scope and divergence of IS roles that are now available. Hedge (now known as Dress) highlighted that â€Å"The fast-moving technological change in 1CT and rapid innovation, mean that it is much more difficult than in the past to determine the type and combination of skills that are needed† (Dee, 1999). While the reported growth of demand for IS workers is very evident, the identification of specific skills required for the variety of positions in Information Systems is not as clear† (Noll and Wilkins 2002).Research by Young and Lee (1997) and Lee, Trough, and Farwell (1995)confirm the increasing importance of these â€Å"soft skills†, which include writing, teamwork, presenting, project management, and interpersonal relationships. E-skills NTO, the industry representative body for IT skills, recently published a comprehensive report detailing the current situation regarding the supply and demand of IT and telecommunication professionals in the United Kingdom. This survey, called e-skills 21(2002) was the most comprehensive study of IT and Telecom Professionalism the UK in history, it included over 4000 interviews with professionals at all levels and across all sectors during 2001. The results of the comprehensive e-skills 21 survey mentioned earlier are characterised into technical and generic skills. More detail into what each compromises of will be given later. Aspects of the e-skills study have been used to develop the research instrument used in this study, to allow the skills gap findings to be directly compared. This E-Skills survey revealed a consensus among the companies that there was no major skill gap among the IS workers. However the one’s that did mention about a gap, pointed out the skills gap related to operating system, application usage and networking skills. It was common opinion among most of the respondents that technology was evolving at a much faster rate than they could grasp. These issues will be looked at during the study. Several studies indicate that verbal skills, work in cross-functional groups and written communications skills were the three most highly rated qualities to seek in staff Gupta and Watcher (1998) This view is supported in a recent report (lackey et al., 2000) quotes one respondent who said that: ‘There is a real lack of people who can combine ICT and business acumen.’ The biggest challenge for technical CT staff is in understanding the dynamics of business; including sales and marketing processes, supply chain processes, and internal processes. They also need to continue to develop and evolve customer facing business systems to enhance and improve the end user experience. CT staff were also identified as a central resource in teaching skills to other areas of the business; consequently communication skills and an understanding of the organisation are essential (E-skills 21, 2001). Another requirements paper by Lewinski (2003) suggests that IS skills can be more effectively developed through on-the-job training. The classification of requirements was not as specific as the other literature mentioned, but similarities can be seen in the results. With regard to technical skills; troubleshooting was required by 97 preceptor respondents, 91 services and facilitation, 82 installation of hardware/software and configuration, and 67 expressed a need for systems operation, monitoring and maintenance. Equal importance was placed upon non-technical skills, including; good communication, analytical/problem solving, flexibility and the ability to learn quickly. The only other study to include both a perceived and actual approach to skills assessment (as this study does) is by Hay (2003). The report by Hay (2003) concludes that there are four skills that are consistently higher than perceived needs of the job; basic computer use, word processing, spread sheet and database use. The areas repeatedly below the required level were presentation and graphics software, and use of a browser. There was also a reported â€Å"clear gap in the market† in the areas of knowledge of operating systems and networking. These skills gaps are readily identifiable by the employees themselves, with over 50% of participants lacking the required skills in at least one area. There are so many papers, with so many different classifications that comparing them directly was extremely difficult in writing this literature review. The common themes that came out were the technical and generic split of skills. There is a need for combination of both sets of skills. The skills gaps appear to be entered on OS and Networking skills on the technical side, and all skills related to the generic side. The only way to breakdown the mixture of skills from various papers to be able to understand and compare in a scientific way is by using an industry standard framework. The chosen framework and a number of other frameworks are described inspection 3.5. 3.4 E-Learning Skills Any employee, in any role, requires some overall, understanding of the business within which they work. Therefore, as this study is of IS professional skills in the e-learning industry each individual employed is required to have some understanding of the basics of teaching, tallow them to function as part of an educational organisation. The skills mentioned in this section will be required, though the depth of pedagogical skills will by dependant on the individual’s role. For example, the pedagogical skills of a training professional should be considerably stronger than that of a programmer. There was surprisingly little literature in the area of IS professionals working in-learning. The most useful research found was by Massy (2000 and2001). Both these studies were critically analysed by the Scottish enterprise research report published on their website. Both the papers suggested that the skills and competencies required by on-line training professionals can be broadly categorised as technical, pedagogical and managerial. Massy (2001) pointed out that there has been a consistent shift from the importance laid on Information Communication Technologies skills requirements with increased efforts now being placed on the acquisition of the above mentioned categories. The SFIA framework appears to cover every aspect of IS skills, the area of education and training was looked at closely being of particular importance to this study, and was found to give enough detail for IS professionals in general. Although more detail was required in the design of the instrument used in this study. â€Å"In line with developments in technology generally, the impact of technology-supported learning (TSL), and in particular e-learning(EL), has given rise to new combinations of skills, featuring how people learn with a sound understanding of the available technology in the design of learning experiences.† (Massy, 2000a cited in SERR, 2005) The first survey by Massy (2000) showed some interesting differences from the follow-up survey (2001). There was a marked change in focus of skills from technical (ICT) to pedagogical skills. The key concern in2000, was that technology had become the central focus for e-learning development, appeared to have been address in the 12 months that passed before the second survey. Greater emphasis was now being placed on the managerial and pedagogical attributes required for producing and presenting e-learning. In the same 12 month period, over 60% of respondents had taken part in some informal training, and a further 30% formal classroom-based learning. The step down in attaining ICT skills was reportedly due to the basic fluency being established and the focus being directed to attaining new skills in e-learning content design. This requires a greater understanding of management and pedagogy. The study by Martin and Jennings (2002) followed the same approach as Massy. In this survey a distinction was made between users and suppliers of e-learning. Unfortunately it is not possible to make that distinction, as more often than not they are the same person. This problem of identifying groups was also expressed in the report, â€Å"Unreality, most user organisations are also providers of e-learning, such as universities.† Suppliers identified an increased interest in gaining in-depth Information Communication skills; others suggesting this were a major problem. Stronger leadership and ‘championing’ of projects is also required. The most important ICT skills identified, with regard to-learning were: To effectively utilise web-page design, including text, audio and video conferencing materials, E-mail, Bulletin boards, Discussion forums for communication with and between learners (SERR,2005). These are relatively common and well-developed skills for IS professionals. Another important issue, which has continued to braised throughout this literature review, is the need for better collaboration between industry (supplier) and academia. To aid this it is also suggested that e-learning needs to be integrated further in to university and college education. 3.5 Information System Frameworks IS management and occupational analysts in different-organisations and countries have tried to distil the structure of the industry, from the constantly evolving picture, so it is understandable that a number of different occupational frameworks have therefore emerged. The most important frameworks to this study are those that have been used for surveys. While there are broad similarities, different surveys, using different frameworks, produce different results, and although they may enrich the overall picture of the industry, they cannot generally be usefully compared. A number of academics have developed their own skills frameworks. Allot these follow the same format of grouping technical and business skills, against various levels of competency. Examples of academic frameworks developed include early research by Ashen Hurst (1972) that identified 37 skills and abilities that a student in a graduate IS program should expect to acquire into six categories: people, models, systems, computers, organizations, and society. Similarly the work of Todd et al. (1995) classified IS knowledge into seven categories: hardware, software, business, management, social, and problem solving, and development methodology. It was also reasoned that interpersonal and managerial skills are more important than any technical skills for IS managers. Nelson (1991) classified 30 skills into six groups: organizational knowledge, organizational skills, organizational unit, general IS knowledge, technical skills, and IS product. This paper found that IS personnel were deficient in general IS knowledge followed by organizational knowledge, technical skills, organizational skills, IS product, and organizational units (in that order). Lee and Gosling (1999) classified three key abilities of IS professionals: ability to learn new technologies, ability to focus on technology as a means (not an end), and ability to understand technological trends into technology management knowledge and other technology-related knowledge into technical specialized knowledge. There port classified non-technology-related knowledge into business functional knowledge, interpersonal and management skills, letting interpersonal and management skills contain some personal traits. Also included was the ability to teach others interpersonal and management skills. It was found that non-technological knowledge is now more important than technical skills. A skills framework gives organisations: A clear, well-structured view of their staffs skills; A tool for more accurate planning and management of resources; A tool for accurate development of careers, so improving retention; A better way of targeting training; A method of risk assessment for the loss of key skills; A tool for accurate and efficient recruitment (Taken From Skills Framework ). In the UK, in June 2001 e-skills NTO published a Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). It provides a common reference model for the identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems making use of Information Communications Technologies. It appeared to be a simple and coherent two-dimensional framework consisting of areas of work on one axis and levels of responsibility on the other (SFIA ). Previously there was no industry benchmark for organisation to measure the skill levels of their organisation. The methodology for this study will be developed to allow the results to be mapped directly onto the framework. Therefore, the findings can be compared to those of previous research carried out by-skills NTO. 3.6 Summary The literature presented has highlighted some important issues, provided grounding for this study and has helped eliminate some of the preconceptions of what was expected. The purpose of identifying skills gaps is to allow the appropriate training to be adopted, therefore eliminating the performance problems that exist. The career paths of the IS industry are no longer straight forward and the complexity and diversity of the sector makes understanding it in a scientific way very difficult. The literature suggests that as the industry is so dynamic, relationships must be improved between education and industry. The problems that exist relate to academic and training practitioners not providing the correct skills in their graduates. Research focused academia tends to provide graduates with the latest emerging technologies, these skills quickly become out-of-date, while the more fundamental technologies appear to be neglected. This is expressed in the views of many industry speakers, it is assumed that an IS professional will be capable of learning new programming languages, once the method of logical thinking has been established. It is more important to develop the established fundamental technologies, and allow the professional to develop the niche skills required as they move into a specialist area, for example e-learning. The technical skills gaps that exist are focused around Microsoft Programs; including Windows/NT, MS Application skills (especially MS Access), and Networking technologies. The generic skills gaps that exist include both written and oral communication, user IT skills, industry awareness, and problem solving. The combinations of these two types of skills gaps are from literature that investigated the whole IS industry. It will be interesting to see how they compare with thee-learning sector, which you would presume at this stage to have stronger focus on generic skills. The literature that was focused one-learning highlighted all forms of communication (e.g. oral, written, and electronic) as the most important generic skills. The most important technical skills required included web related technologies and presentation or audio visual skills. The final area to look into was to see if the focus change from technical to pedagogical was visible in this study. This could not be done in the same way as the literature by repeating the study again after a 12 month period. As different approach the structure of the instrument could be written in way to allow comparisons to be made between importance levels of the three categories of skill. The main reasons cited for skills gaps in the ICT sector are a lack of skills/experience of new technologies and organisations failing to train/develop staff sufficiently to meet their needs. This in turn causes difficulty in introducing technological change. The other effects highlighted include delays in the development of new products/services and difficulties meeting business objectives. Much of the literature suggests the most obvious actions to address the problem of skills gaps would be to provide further training and increase recruitment of direct staff. These can be included in the changing of working practices. The chapter on research methods will explain exactly what instruments are used and the approach taken. The literature was used extensively to create the instruments and followed previous research to allow comparisons of the results to be made. They follow the form set out in this review; combining technical, generic and pedagogical skills. Instruments used in the literature were modified and extended for the purposes of this study. The results chapter also uses some of the literature as a source of ideas for the descriptions and highlighting the most significant findings. This is to allow direct comparison with previous studies. The main gap identified in the literature is with regard to quantifying the pedagogical skills mentioned. In Masons work the skills are mentioned but not in enough detail. In the e-learning industry the pedagogical skills will not match that of a â€Å"normal† teacher or lecturer, as there is not only a significant difference between the methods of teaching and learning, but also in content provision. The student in an e-learning environment is a researcher, which is quite different from classroom based taught learning. There are also further technical skills that are only required in this sector that need to be assessed. This study should provide the reader with an understanding of the requirements of an IS professional working in e-learning and highlight the gaps that currently exist in this sector in Berkshire. It will be of particular benefit to persons working within the industry or closely linked to it. This study can be used as a basis to start an investigation into the requirements of an IS e-learning undergraduate or postgraduate course. 3.7 Research Hypothesis Null Hypothesis is defined as ‘The state opposite to that suggested in a hypothesis, postulated in the hope of rejecting its form and therefore proving the hypothesis.’ Hence the null hypothesis for this research may be stated as H0: â€Å"There is no skills gap among Information system professionals in the e-learning sector.† The following research hypothesis is derived from the literature and will be tested using the primary research conducted by the researcher. H1: â€Å"There exists a skills gap among Information system professional in the e-learning sector† 4. Research Methodology 4.1 Introduction An appropriate research methodology is a general plan of how the researcher will go about answering the research questions considering the sources to collect data and the constraints that one might have(access to data, time, location and money, etc.). It should reflect the fact that the researcher has thought carefully about why a particular strategy/method has been employed. Data intended for almost any study can be obtained from two sources: Primary Data and Secondary Data. This chapter describes the process of method selection and justification for the method chosen. The sample selection method is described and the design of the instrument used is included. There is an introduction into how the results were analysed before the results chapter which holds greater detail. Then there is a short description of how the methods chosen could have been improved or expanded on given greater time or financial resources. 4.2 Choice of Methodology A small-scale research study of this kind can use a survey to obtain large amounts of data in a short space of time. This study has produced a statistical analysis of the skills r Skill Requirements for IS Professionals in E-learning Skill Requirements for IS Professionals in E-learning Skills requirements for information system professionals in the e-learning sector This research project is an investigation into the skills required for Information Systems (IS) professionals working in the commercial e-learning sector. This involved determining the perceived skill requirements for IS professionals, the actual skills held by current employees in this sector, and identifying any skills gaps that existed. The survey obtained information from a representative selection of the IS professional population. The questionnaire sample included IS professionals at all levels and grades of employment and reflected the composition of participating organizations. The table below summarises the objectives of this investigation: Identify the state of the UK IS workforce and the e-learning industry, Investigate the skills required to work as an IS professional in the e-learning industry in Berkshire, Investigate what skills gaps exist and Investigate the possible causes of these skills gaps. The main outcome of the study was a matrix of the skills required that can be used by universities and training organisations to tailor their course content to suit the constantly evolving demands of this industry. To combat the skills gaps that emerged and prevent performance problems arising, a number of recommendations need to be adopted to address the problems discovered: (1) Improve training strategies for IS professionals within the sector, majority of organisations have no set training strategy or budget; this is something that needs to change, (2) Create an annual ‘e-learning skills report’ detailing gaps and shortages, allowing education and industry to understand emerging and established skills needs. It would allow changes in demand and type of skill to be monitored. This would allow organisations to structure their internal training strategies, to eliminate skills gaps and (3) Form direct links between industry and education partners to allow course content t o be improved and improve employment prospects for graduates. The most important action is to integrate education with industry. If courses as specialist as-learning could be developed with an industry partner, the correct content would be guaranteed. 1. Introduction Many organisations have come to realise that certain new technologies can optimise efficiency and make processes more effective. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can bring industry closer to their customers, partners and suppliers through more integrated business and communication systems, and can provide enhanced educational opportunities. â€Å"There is a well-established relationship between improvements in Information Systems (IS) skills and increased productivity.† (Dress, 2001) The opportunity to gain competitive advantage through technology has consequently contributed to demand for skilled IS professionals outstripping supply. The label used to describe this effect is a ‘skills shortage’. The Computer Services and Software Association estimate that IS skills shortages will cost the UK over  £30 billion over the next three years(e-skills NTO, 2001). There is a growing recognition that the gap in skills for IS professionals is widening. The gap in skills does not only affect the ICT (primary) sector but all other sectors (secondary)which apply information technologies in their production, processes, products or services. The E-revolution of the information industries has created a new labour force, professional IS roles are becoming diversified and a generic IS curriculum will not meet all the needs for all IS jobs in the future. It seems that in any system that has an â€Å"E† placed in front of it; e-learning, e-business, e-commerce, are the development of new skills. Never before have new skills appeared at such a rate. Even if industrial structure is only changing slowly, employers of ‘IS ‘practitioners rarely found it easy to articulate their current and particularly future skill needs very precisely. â€Å"Nearly one third of the IS skills in the market today have only emerged in the last year. Sixty seven of the one hundred and thirty three internet related skills are totally new.† Chris Bennett, MD SAP Australia (Hawking, 2002) New curricula need to be developed which consist-’of separate distinctive concentrations, which target specific roles in the job market. A new stronger relationship needs to be formed between educational institutions and companies; to allow the required skills to be taught and help alleviate the current IS skills shortages. In the rapidly changing field of IS, educational programs must be continually re-evaluated and revised. â€Å"There is presently a gap between what industry wants characteristically in it IS personnel and what academia provides to them.† Gupta and Watcher( 1998) The first step in the curriculum revision process is to conduct a study to determine the expected skills and knowledge required for IS professionals in industry. This will allow academic institutions to create programs that more accurately reflect the demands of the marketplace. At present, there is no identifiable data about the requirements of IS professionals specific to the e-learning sector. This is the gap in knowledge that needs to be investigated. This dissertation has been commissioned to do precisely that; to investigate the skills required for IS professionals working in thee-learning industry. The results can then be used as a foundation for developing a suitable postgraduate course at the University level. The main outcome of the study will be a matrix of the skills required that can be used by universities and training organisations to tailor their course content to suit the constantly evolving demands of this industry. The research carried out in this project can be used by other universities to clarify the skills required for employment in this sector, allowing course content to be tailored to suit the changing demands of industry, and improve the opportunities for students seeking employment upon graduation. 2. Aims Objectives The research will be cantered on the key area of skills gap analysis. This will involve determining the perceived skill requirements for IS professionals and the actual skills held by current employees, then determining the differences. This study aims to obtain information from a representative selection of the IS professional population, and from that sample the researcher will then be able to present the findings as being representative of the population as awhile. The characteristics of the total population will be represented justly in the sample to enable the researcher to say with fair confidence that the sample is reasonably representative. The sample will include IS professionals at all levels and grades of employment and will reflect the composition of participating organisations. The study will allow users to simultaneously score both their own self-assessment of their ability and their perceptions of the levels of skill actually required by their job. The sample population will include organizations in the e-learning sector with a history of close association with Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire. Summary of Research Objectives †¢ Identify the current state of the UK IS workforce and the e-learning industry †¢ Identify the most important/prevalent issues from the literature †¢ Investigate the skills required to work as an IS professional in the e-learning industry in the Berkshire region †¢ Identify the skill gaps from the perceived and actual skill levels †¢ Discuss the finding and compare against those of relevant previous studies 3. Literature Review The foundation for revision of curriculum process is the review of literature and investigation into the expected industry skills and knowledge for IS professionals. In the introduction chapter an outline of this study was given. This section will focus upon academic literature related to the subject area, which will go onto further support the data already mentioned. As well as academic literature, reports are of particular importance to this dissertation, due to the dynamic nature of the industry, reports are able to offer the very latest up to date information, which may take months to be peer reviewed and published in journals. There are a number of reports, which have been consulted in the preparation of this report that have provided valuable insight into the subject area. In addition the background chapter that follows this contains greater detail into the region and industry trends, separated to avoid over-powering the critical issues highlighted here. 3.1 Background The literature in general Skills Requirements Analysis (SRA) is extensive. Related areas include Training Needs Assessment (TNA) and the broader area of Learning Needs Assessment (LNA). Recent work in the area, such as that by Sine (1998) and earlier, by Kidd (1984) in knowledge acquisition adds to more traditional texts from skills training practitioners including Peterson (1998) and Major (1988). These papers all identify skills training as one of a number of initiatives to solve performance problems in an organisation. Using the performance problems identified, how far the skills identified are present, and how big is the gap between the performance objectives and the performance resulting from actual skills in place. This process is referred to as a skills audit. The skills audit links directly to the research questions in chapter one. A skills assessment or audit has three main objectives: 1. To determine what skills are required by each employee; 2. To determine which of the required skills each employee has; 3. To analyse the results and establish the specific training needs. Authors such as Hamel (1994) openly express the increasing value of employee’s skills, leading to knowledge within an organisation. More recent articles, such as Birch all and Tovstiga (1999) describe how this knowledge manifests itself primarily as organisational competencies and capabilities, leading to that all-important competitive advantage. Onaway to increase a company’s organisational competencies and capabilities in order to gain competitive advantage is through carefully implemented training and development, Schuler (1984).Education and training provision are important strategic practices in the development of organisational competence, but without understanding the precise skills needs first, how can the appropriate training be applied? 3.2 Information System Curriculum There is extensive literature surrounding the area of IS curriculum design. Although this study will not involve any design of curriculum, it is none the less useful to have an understanding of some of the issues that arise in designing IS curriculum; if the findings of this study will be used as a foundation to develop IS curricula. A common theme in the literature is the difficulty in creating curriculum that can fulfil all requirements in an industry that evolves so rapidly. Martinson and Cheung (2001) suggest that recent developments of IS industry jobs and career paths have made understanding the knowledge/skills requirement of an IS professional even more difficult. This is supported by Latham (2000) who explains that the complexity and multi-disciplinarily nature of Information Systems makes identifying a common curriculum both difficult and contentious. Skills requirements will inevitably change over time and it is important to take a strategic view of the needs of industry. There are a number of papers that highlight the differences between industry and academia strategies, and strong suggestions that these need to be merged and greater links formed between the two. Kim, Shim, and Yoon (1999) found that, â€Å"IS organisations perceive managerial and organisational issues as more important than educators†. They also found that educators consider emerging issues more important than industry organisations. Curriculum should be developed working with corporate partners. Similar work of Srinivasan, Duane, and Wright(1999) supports the importance of this idea of improving links between education and industry. In Lightfoot’s (1999) research on IS curriculum design, it was suggested that curriculum needs to be developed to satisfy both the current and future needs of the industry at the sometime. This is impossible without the links mentioned above. 3.3 Information System Skills Although the growing demand for IS professionals is evident, the exact combination of skills required is not. This could be attributed to the scope and divergence of IS roles that are now available. Hedge (now known as Dress) highlighted that â€Å"The fast-moving technological change in 1CT and rapid innovation, mean that it is much more difficult than in the past to determine the type and combination of skills that are needed† (Dee, 1999). While the reported growth of demand for IS workers is very evident, the identification of specific skills required for the variety of positions in Information Systems is not as clear† (Noll and Wilkins 2002).Research by Young and Lee (1997) and Lee, Trough, and Farwell (1995)confirm the increasing importance of these â€Å"soft skills†, which include writing, teamwork, presenting, project management, and interpersonal relationships. E-skills NTO, the industry representative body for IT skills, recently published a comprehensive report detailing the current situation regarding the supply and demand of IT and telecommunication professionals in the United Kingdom. This survey, called e-skills 21(2002) was the most comprehensive study of IT and Telecom Professionalism the UK in history, it included over 4000 interviews with professionals at all levels and across all sectors during 2001. The results of the comprehensive e-skills 21 survey mentioned earlier are characterised into technical and generic skills. More detail into what each compromises of will be given later. Aspects of the e-skills study have been used to develop the research instrument used in this study, to allow the skills gap findings to be directly compared. This E-Skills survey revealed a consensus among the companies that there was no major skill gap among the IS workers. However the one’s that did mention about a gap, pointed out the skills gap related to operating system, application usage and networking skills. It was common opinion among most of the respondents that technology was evolving at a much faster rate than they could grasp. These issues will be looked at during the study. Several studies indicate that verbal skills, work in cross-functional groups and written communications skills were the three most highly rated qualities to seek in staff Gupta and Watcher (1998) This view is supported in a recent report (lackey et al., 2000) quotes one respondent who said that: ‘There is a real lack of people who can combine ICT and business acumen.’ The biggest challenge for technical CT staff is in understanding the dynamics of business; including sales and marketing processes, supply chain processes, and internal processes. They also need to continue to develop and evolve customer facing business systems to enhance and improve the end user experience. CT staff were also identified as a central resource in teaching skills to other areas of the business; consequently communication skills and an understanding of the organisation are essential (E-skills 21, 2001). Another requirements paper by Lewinski (2003) suggests that IS skills can be more effectively developed through on-the-job training. The classification of requirements was not as specific as the other literature mentioned, but similarities can be seen in the results. With regard to technical skills; troubleshooting was required by 97 preceptor respondents, 91 services and facilitation, 82 installation of hardware/software and configuration, and 67 expressed a need for systems operation, monitoring and maintenance. Equal importance was placed upon non-technical skills, including; good communication, analytical/problem solving, flexibility and the ability to learn quickly. The only other study to include both a perceived and actual approach to skills assessment (as this study does) is by Hay (2003). The report by Hay (2003) concludes that there are four skills that are consistently higher than perceived needs of the job; basic computer use, word processing, spread sheet and database use. The areas repeatedly below the required level were presentation and graphics software, and use of a browser. There was also a reported â€Å"clear gap in the market† in the areas of knowledge of operating systems and networking. These skills gaps are readily identifiable by the employees themselves, with over 50% of participants lacking the required skills in at least one area. There are so many papers, with so many different classifications that comparing them directly was extremely difficult in writing this literature review. The common themes that came out were the technical and generic split of skills. There is a need for combination of both sets of skills. The skills gaps appear to be entered on OS and Networking skills on the technical side, and all skills related to the generic side. The only way to breakdown the mixture of skills from various papers to be able to understand and compare in a scientific way is by using an industry standard framework. The chosen framework and a number of other frameworks are described inspection 3.5. 3.4 E-Learning Skills Any employee, in any role, requires some overall, understanding of the business within which they work. Therefore, as this study is of IS professional skills in the e-learning industry each individual employed is required to have some understanding of the basics of teaching, tallow them to function as part of an educational organisation. The skills mentioned in this section will be required, though the depth of pedagogical skills will by dependant on the individual’s role. For example, the pedagogical skills of a training professional should be considerably stronger than that of a programmer. There was surprisingly little literature in the area of IS professionals working in-learning. The most useful research found was by Massy (2000 and2001). Both these studies were critically analysed by the Scottish enterprise research report published on their website. Both the papers suggested that the skills and competencies required by on-line training professionals can be broadly categorised as technical, pedagogical and managerial. Massy (2001) pointed out that there has been a consistent shift from the importance laid on Information Communication Technologies skills requirements with increased efforts now being placed on the acquisition of the above mentioned categories. The SFIA framework appears to cover every aspect of IS skills, the area of education and training was looked at closely being of particular importance to this study, and was found to give enough detail for IS professionals in general. Although more detail was required in the design of the instrument used in this study. â€Å"In line with developments in technology generally, the impact of technology-supported learning (TSL), and in particular e-learning(EL), has given rise to new combinations of skills, featuring how people learn with a sound understanding of the available technology in the design of learning experiences.† (Massy, 2000a cited in SERR, 2005) The first survey by Massy (2000) showed some interesting differences from the follow-up survey (2001). There was a marked change in focus of skills from technical (ICT) to pedagogical skills. The key concern in2000, was that technology had become the central focus for e-learning development, appeared to have been address in the 12 months that passed before the second survey. Greater emphasis was now being placed on the managerial and pedagogical attributes required for producing and presenting e-learning. In the same 12 month period, over 60% of respondents had taken part in some informal training, and a further 30% formal classroom-based learning. The step down in attaining ICT skills was reportedly due to the basic fluency being established and the focus being directed to attaining new skills in e-learning content design. This requires a greater understanding of management and pedagogy. The study by Martin and Jennings (2002) followed the same approach as Massy. In this survey a distinction was made between users and suppliers of e-learning. Unfortunately it is not possible to make that distinction, as more often than not they are the same person. This problem of identifying groups was also expressed in the report, â€Å"Unreality, most user organisations are also providers of e-learning, such as universities.† Suppliers identified an increased interest in gaining in-depth Information Communication skills; others suggesting this were a major problem. Stronger leadership and ‘championing’ of projects is also required. The most important ICT skills identified, with regard to-learning were: To effectively utilise web-page design, including text, audio and video conferencing materials, E-mail, Bulletin boards, Discussion forums for communication with and between learners (SERR,2005). These are relatively common and well-developed skills for IS professionals. Another important issue, which has continued to braised throughout this literature review, is the need for better collaboration between industry (supplier) and academia. To aid this it is also suggested that e-learning needs to be integrated further in to university and college education. 3.5 Information System Frameworks IS management and occupational analysts in different-organisations and countries have tried to distil the structure of the industry, from the constantly evolving picture, so it is understandable that a number of different occupational frameworks have therefore emerged. The most important frameworks to this study are those that have been used for surveys. While there are broad similarities, different surveys, using different frameworks, produce different results, and although they may enrich the overall picture of the industry, they cannot generally be usefully compared. A number of academics have developed their own skills frameworks. Allot these follow the same format of grouping technical and business skills, against various levels of competency. Examples of academic frameworks developed include early research by Ashen Hurst (1972) that identified 37 skills and abilities that a student in a graduate IS program should expect to acquire into six categories: people, models, systems, computers, organizations, and society. Similarly the work of Todd et al. (1995) classified IS knowledge into seven categories: hardware, software, business, management, social, and problem solving, and development methodology. It was also reasoned that interpersonal and managerial skills are more important than any technical skills for IS managers. Nelson (1991) classified 30 skills into six groups: organizational knowledge, organizational skills, organizational unit, general IS knowledge, technical skills, and IS product. This paper found that IS personnel were deficient in general IS knowledge followed by organizational knowledge, technical skills, organizational skills, IS product, and organizational units (in that order). Lee and Gosling (1999) classified three key abilities of IS professionals: ability to learn new technologies, ability to focus on technology as a means (not an end), and ability to understand technological trends into technology management knowledge and other technology-related knowledge into technical specialized knowledge. There port classified non-technology-related knowledge into business functional knowledge, interpersonal and management skills, letting interpersonal and management skills contain some personal traits. Also included was the ability to teach others interpersonal and management skills. It was found that non-technological knowledge is now more important than technical skills. A skills framework gives organisations: A clear, well-structured view of their staffs skills; A tool for more accurate planning and management of resources; A tool for accurate development of careers, so improving retention; A better way of targeting training; A method of risk assessment for the loss of key skills; A tool for accurate and efficient recruitment (Taken From Skills Framework ). In the UK, in June 2001 e-skills NTO published a Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). It provides a common reference model for the identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems making use of Information Communications Technologies. It appeared to be a simple and coherent two-dimensional framework consisting of areas of work on one axis and levels of responsibility on the other (SFIA ). Previously there was no industry benchmark for organisation to measure the skill levels of their organisation. The methodology for this study will be developed to allow the results to be mapped directly onto the framework. Therefore, the findings can be compared to those of previous research carried out by-skills NTO. 3.6 Summary The literature presented has highlighted some important issues, provided grounding for this study and has helped eliminate some of the preconceptions of what was expected. The purpose of identifying skills gaps is to allow the appropriate training to be adopted, therefore eliminating the performance problems that exist. The career paths of the IS industry are no longer straight forward and the complexity and diversity of the sector makes understanding it in a scientific way very difficult. The literature suggests that as the industry is so dynamic, relationships must be improved between education and industry. The problems that exist relate to academic and training practitioners not providing the correct skills in their graduates. Research focused academia tends to provide graduates with the latest emerging technologies, these skills quickly become out-of-date, while the more fundamental technologies appear to be neglected. This is expressed in the views of many industry speakers, it is assumed that an IS professional will be capable of learning new programming languages, once the method of logical thinking has been established. It is more important to develop the established fundamental technologies, and allow the professional to develop the niche skills required as they move into a specialist area, for example e-learning. The technical skills gaps that exist are focused around Microsoft Programs; including Windows/NT, MS Application skills (especially MS Access), and Networking technologies. The generic skills gaps that exist include both written and oral communication, user IT skills, industry awareness, and problem solving. The combinations of these two types of skills gaps are from literature that investigated the whole IS industry. It will be interesting to see how they compare with thee-learning sector, which you would presume at this stage to have stronger focus on generic skills. The literature that was focused one-learning highlighted all forms of communication (e.g. oral, written, and electronic) as the most important generic skills. The most important technical skills required included web related technologies and presentation or audio visual skills. The final area to look into was to see if the focus change from technical to pedagogical was visible in this study. This could not be done in the same way as the literature by repeating the study again after a 12 month period. As different approach the structure of the instrument could be written in way to allow comparisons to be made between importance levels of the three categories of skill. The main reasons cited for skills gaps in the ICT sector are a lack of skills/experience of new technologies and organisations failing to train/develop staff sufficiently to meet their needs. This in turn causes difficulty in introducing technological change. The other effects highlighted include delays in the development of new products/services and difficulties meeting business objectives. Much of the literature suggests the most obvious actions to address the problem of skills gaps would be to provide further training and increase recruitment of direct staff. These can be included in the changing of working practices. The chapter on research methods will explain exactly what instruments are used and the approach taken. The literature was used extensively to create the instruments and followed previous research to allow comparisons of the results to be made. They follow the form set out in this review; combining technical, generic and pedagogical skills. Instruments used in the literature were modified and extended for the purposes of this study. The results chapter also uses some of the literature as a source of ideas for the descriptions and highlighting the most significant findings. This is to allow direct comparison with previous studies. The main gap identified in the literature is with regard to quantifying the pedagogical skills mentioned. In Masons work the skills are mentioned but not in enough detail. In the e-learning industry the pedagogical skills will not match that of a â€Å"normal† teacher or lecturer, as there is not only a significant difference between the methods of teaching and learning, but also in content provision. The student in an e-learning environment is a researcher, which is quite different from classroom based taught learning. There are also further technical skills that are only required in this sector that need to be assessed. This study should provide the reader with an understanding of the requirements of an IS professional working in e-learning and highlight the gaps that currently exist in this sector in Berkshire. It will be of particular benefit to persons working within the industry or closely linked to it. This study can be used as a basis to start an investigation into the requirements of an IS e-learning undergraduate or postgraduate course. 3.7 Research Hypothesis Null Hypothesis is defined as ‘The state opposite to that suggested in a hypothesis, postulated in the hope of rejecting its form and therefore proving the hypothesis.’ Hence the null hypothesis for this research may be stated as H0: â€Å"There is no skills gap among Information system professionals in the e-learning sector.† The following research hypothesis is derived from the literature and will be tested using the primary research conducted by the researcher. H1: â€Å"There exists a skills gap among Information system professional in the e-learning sector† 4. Research Methodology 4.1 Introduction An appropriate research methodology is a general plan of how the researcher will go about answering the research questions considering the sources to collect data and the constraints that one might have(access to data, time, location and money, etc.). It should reflect the fact that the researcher has thought carefully about why a particular strategy/method has been employed. Data intended for almost any study can be obtained from two sources: Primary Data and Secondary Data. This chapter describes the process of method selection and justification for the method chosen. The sample selection method is described and the design of the instrument used is included. There is an introduction into how the results were analysed before the results chapter which holds greater detail. Then there is a short description of how the methods chosen could have been improved or expanded on given greater time or financial resources. 4.2 Choice of Methodology A small-scale research study of this kind can use a survey to obtain large amounts of data in a short space of time. This study has produced a statistical analysis of the skills r

Aquaporin-1 Essay -- Biology Aquaporin

Background Most modern biology textbooks will tell you that low-molecular-weight molecules like CO2, NH3 (ammonia), and urea cross cell membranes by simple diffusion. Some scientists postulate, however, that specific pores mediate this transport. A recent study conducted to further this hypothesis examines expression of the water channel aquaporin-1 (AQP-1) and its enhancing affect on CO2 permeation into cells. Why would scientists challenge the traditional simple diffusion theory? Two strong points of evidence led to this experiment: First, many cell membranes have a very low permeability to small molecules: The outer membranes of some gastric glands allow very little CO2 to enter the cell, while most frog egg cells have membranes that act as virtual barriers to the harsh materials present in their environment. If the simple diffusion theory is correct, diffusion of small molecules into cells should be an unregulated process. If diffusion is an unregulated process, how could some cells have a lower permeability to small molecules than others? Second, scientists have already found membrane proteins that facilitate the entrance of water and urea: While the UT2 protein enables transport of urea past the cell membrane, an entire class of membrane proteins called the aquaporins enable the permeation of water into cells. If small molecules enter the cell by diffusion, why would the cell have extra mechanisms to facilitate their entry? Any Questions? Q) What's this diffusion thing you keep talking about? A) Particles randomly flow from areas of high concentration (a lot of particles) to areas of low concentration (not many particles) until they are evenly dispersed. If you've ever put a normal cell in a c... ...ially exciting opportunity to manipulate gas transport rates lies in cancer research, where inhibiting the transcription of AQP-1 could be the key to killing cancer cells . Cancer cells release more CO2 than most other cells, so stopping these cell's abilty to extrude the gas to their environment would result in cell death. This example is one of many uses for the manipulation of gas transport, however, and the opportunities are endless. The idea that gas transport is actively mediated by the cell is a huge paradigm shift from the traditional belief that transportation is uncontrolled. Further studies (Cooper and Boron, Am. J. Physiol. In press) have proven the conclusion drawn from this experiment, and the search for pores that mediate transport of specific gasses has already begun. The diffusion dogma has been destroyed, and the textbooks will be re-written.

Rip Van Winkle and Romanticism :: Rip Van Winkle Essays

Rip Van Winkle and Romanticism    In the world of literature, there are many types of writing that an author can take to express his ideas. Their topics can be explained through life experiences, biographies, poetry, or other forms of literature. One of the forms that authors use is Romanticism. There are many qualities that define the different viewpoints of Romanticism.   Rip Van Winkle, “Thanatopsis,” and “The Cross of Snow” are all examples of writing from the period of Romanticism.        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rip Van Winkle is a story written by Washington Irving.   This was a story mainly about a lazy man who did not want to do any type of work, at home or at work. He was said to be useless on his farm, his land and property falling to pieces.   Irving says, “The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor”(p. 156 1st paragraph), which was just one of Irving’s many uses of inflated language.   Madame Van Winkle would always nag on Rip constantly, to do work around the house and possibly even help to raise their children.      Perhaps the nagging of his wife and his dread of labor is what Rip escaped from when he spent a good amount of his time at the village’s small inn in town.   “Here they used to sit in the shade, through a long lazy summer’s day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling endless sleepy stories about nothing.” (p.157) Even in the security of his peers, his wife would track Rip down, and scold all the men for being among each other, instead of being at home with their families.   These surprise visits are what led to Rip’s escape into the Kaatskill Mountains.    After wandering with his gun and his close companion Wolf, Rip tracks himself into the upper parts of the Mountains.   Soon after, Rip comes across a stranger who was carrying what looked like a keg of liquor.   So with the help of the Hollands, which is Dutch Gin, and a whole day of hiking, Rip fell into a deep, solemn slumber.   But when he woke up, he did not know how long he had slept or where both of his companions had gone off too.   He rises from his spot, and with his aged gun, he heads back to town, trying to find an excuse for his angry wife as for why he had been gone for so long.

Leaving home Essay

Note: I think u should define the authors definition of obligation and loyalty in the introduction or ur understanding of their definitions in terms of ur thesis cuz sometimes its hard to understand the difference b/w the two..and that shouldn’t really happen cuz that is the focus of ur essay Red: corrections (make sure u read the sentence wit read stuff cuz the whole sentence had to change sometimes) Blue: comments Yellow highlight: erase those things (not needed) Leaving home is a difficult choice for any individual to make. A decision of this caliber contains conditions of no obligation, enforced obligation, and obligation in conflict with loyalty. Under these circumstances, a citizen’s loyalty to his/her country ceases to make sense, which is supported by Shklar’s article, â€Å"Obligation, loyalty, exile†. Judith Shklar, in her essay has evidently analyzed the argument of ‘obligation, loyalty and exile’, in regards to emigration. Though there are many unconditional matters to be questioned, the focus of this essay will be on the in my interest to structure (structure of wat, exile?) and define the chosen reasons for exile argued in Shklar’s article. â€Å"In ordinary talk the two words loyalty and obligation are generally used interchangeably as if they were identical†, but it is Shklar’s argument â€Å"that it is important not only to keep them apart but to go on to make clear the distinctions between obligation, commitment, loyalty, allegiance, and fidelity†. (Shklar, 182) This essay will support her argument and show how both obligation and loyalty are both principle elements that force a person to exile. Obligation is defined as rule governed conducts and â€Å"political obligation specifically refers to laws and law-like demands, made by public agencies.† (Shklar, 183) When thinking of obligation, one may connect it with loyalty. Many individuals come to the conclusion that obligation exists where there is loyalty, but another view argued by Shklar argues is that it is more rational to ‘keep them separate’. Through her extreme examples of exiles such as ‘limiting case’, Shklar’s arguments are adequate and evident. (I don’t think u need this sentence, if u want it there, it needs to be reworded-try to maintain one tense-usually present tense) It is an individual right to feel protected by his or her own country, a right for a sense of belonging, and, most importantly, mainly a the right to be protected. With regards to obligation and exile, it is common practice to one would question the importance of justice. â€Å"Injustice not only cancels obligations and undermines loyalties, however resilient the latter may seem; it also engenders the conflict between obligation and the effective ties that bind us†. (Shklar, 197) Hence, if this statement is true,(don’t say this ur trying to prove ur thesis, by saying if, ur argument weakens-ur arguments have to be strong) it is reasonable to conclude that justice arises with the presence of both obligation and loyalty. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain justice due to the rise in swindle, cheating, and lying in government strategy. Betrayal to state and irrational obligation has become another reason why an individual would exile from his or her country. (this sentence doesn’t really flow with the essay at this point, but maybe if u reword it, itl work-but seems like its another agrument in itself) Enforcement of law, where forced obligation becomes unbearable, may also lead an individual to exile. The author portrayed this reason of exile through an example of a French army man, Traifis. Traifis was accused of passing secret’s to German’s and was convicted and charged accordingly. Through all of this, he still became loyal to obey (wrong word-wat r u trying to say?-protect?) his country, though in reality he was betrayed by his own state. The author finds it difficult to understanding how one could still be loyal to a country without feeling obligated. (this needs to be explained more-the definitions of the 2 cuz its hard to understand the difference at this point, or how they do/don’t relate to eachother) His obligation ceased, and he signed up with the army again; this shows that his loyalty is greater than the feeling of obligation. This is a case which Shklar would describe as â€Å"crazy†. (don’t need this sentence) It is important to note how Shklar stresses that â€Å"obligation is a reasoned answer†. If one cannot come up with a reasoned answer as to why he or she should obey, then there is no place for obligation to exist. (this is good to put in ur intro to describe the meaning of obligation in the eyes of the author†¦if not, put it in the beginning of this argument, it’ll help the reader understand ur argument better) An important point to note is that those who leave home do not necessarily disobey the state, but rather the state has disobeyed them. As one’s right to feel safe is taken away, the insecurity drives the citizen away from his or her own land. Shklar uses more specific and extreme cases to strengthen her argument that it is the degree of injustice and cruelty that many ordinary people have been through in the past, and unfortunately many more are victims of same examples today. (u need a more strong concluding sentence and I think u should only uses this lsat point if u give an actual example from the article-if its just a point within her essay, don’t say it’s a specific extreme case-maybe say that she is strong to point out that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) Government conduct is only one of the driving factors of exile, for emotional attachment plays a large part in an individuals actions as well. (this is to tie in the two arguments together, as for the beginning of the sentence, that’s wat I understood of the first argument, if its wrong, then change it†¦.jus wanted to give u a idea for a concluding sentence) The emotional attachment to loyalty varies that from obligation. Sklar points out that â€Å"[t]he emotional character of loyalty also sets it apart from obligation. If obligation is rule driven, loyalty is motivated by the entire personality of an agent. Political loyalty is evoked by nations, ethnic groups, churches, parties, and by doctraines, causes, ideologies, or faiths that form and identify associations.† (Shklar, 184). Thus, loyalty is deeply affective and not primarily rational. (Shklar, 184) These are all characters that enhance a person’s beliefs and values, and are very essential to one’s personality, and, most importantly, affect the person’s judgment regarding loyalty. The above mentioned characteristics also give the individual a sense of ‘identity’ (if this is a quote from the article, it needs to be referenced). As the author argues, â€Å"political loyalty may survive, but not obligation to obey the law. That is why I assumed that exiles have no obligation to the country that expels them illegally and unconstitutionally†, demonstrating how loyalty exceeds obligation. (Shklar, 190) If the state refuses to oblige to citizens responsibility, then in return the citizen is not ‘obligated'(don’t use quotes-maybe italisize or bold for affect-only try to use quotes for direct ones, otherwise it gets confusing) to obey its state. The tension of loyalty arises as the terms nationalism, betrayal, fear of its own state, and most importantly ‘exile’, are questioned. The physical and emotional abuse of state being the push factor of your exile, makes one’s belonging to his/her own country meaningless, and makes the ‘other side’ (wat is the other side?) seem more prominent. If one is loyal to a country, one may choose to stay, though on the other hand, obligation would not last as long as loyalty. Though it may seem easier to exile (maybe u should use flee the country or something, exile doesn’t seem to fit) without feeling obligated to his or her state, but the choice is still difficult to make. When loyalty is questioned, one becomes very pessimistic of his or her own conclusions, as loyalty is a feeling that is not reasoned, but is not irrational. Leaving home is not an easy choice for any individual to make, this point has been now stated several times in this essay and has a stronger meaning than one may think. (I don’t think u need this sentence to start of this paragraph) Leaving home can be described by the word exile, which can be defined as: â€Å"someone who involuntarily leaves the country of which he or she is a citizen.† (Shklar, 187). Exile can be caused by poverty, fear, war, betrayal of politics and/or injustice. All these elements in one’s mind can be judged by the religion of obligation and loyalty. Suffering the threat of exile can sometimes be worse than a soldier taking off to fight in war. My parents also faced a great obstacle which lead them to face the fear of exile. The life story of my parents that has taken place from country to country, Pakistan to Norway, and Norway to Canada. At a young age, my parents moved from Pakistan to Norway in hope for a bright future. Though they were both loyal to their home country, they felt no obligation to stay and change its unstable political state. My mother joined my father after he had established a business and home, and as years passed they both became good citizens of Norway, and my mother joined the government working for the immigration department. Aside from their own professions, they were both journalists working for their own small community in the city of Oslo. As they worked closer with the state, the feeling of belonging became more uncomfortable. This was a kind of state which did not appreciate your religion and/or culture. Hence, Norway can be described as a very nationalist country. At the age of seven, I was sent to live with my aunt in Pakistan to start school there. It was not the knowledge of math or science that was better, but the knowledge of my religion and culture that was very important to my family. Living in a Caucasian (another word for white) society, my parents were scared that I would not be able to interact with the people that surrounded me due to the difference in our religious and cultural beliefs. As the separation (separation from wat?) was starting to become difficult, my parents were forced to search for another solution. As a child, I cannot recall finding it very difficult to fit it (use another word for fit in-its too casual), but as years passed, I realized the ‘ugly truth of being an outcast’, and started noticing little incidents where I was treated different then the rest of the group. My parents had always known this reality, but chose to stay silent, thinking it may be ignored. It became more visible when my teacher started behaving different. I was a good student, and when my participation was greater than the rest of the group, I was simply asked to leave the class. As I left, I left with great pain and humiliation. My parents were well settled with a prosperous business and a good life within our home, though the outside reality of life was very constrained. Though they were fortunate in wealth, they were less fortunate in freedom of expressing their own identity. The struggle to seeking an ethnological society led to a search for a better land, where freedom to be oneself was considered as an important right. This is how I ended up in POL81A at the University of Toronto. My parents packed up everything they had worked hard for over the last twenty-four years and migrated to Canada. Being able to attend Friday prayers at mosque or celebrate Eid with joy or simple things like being able to say â€Å"I am Muslim†, were characteristics that mattered the most for my family. Being able to live in an environment of tolerance, acceptance and multiculturalism is like living in peace after war. It is important to note that my parents always obeyed the state, but they lost their loyalty as they lost their identity. The restricted conditions which forced my family to hide their identity, forced us to exile into a strange country, but in hope for a promised land. Politics has formed its behavior into a universal religion, where its faith depends on loyalty and obligation. Comments: ur last argument was very well written†¦.and made up very well might I add 🙂 neways, I hope my comments help, cuz sometimes I really didn’t no how to change some if without really knowing wat the article was about. Good luck!