Guest Editorial:

NACCQ 2006 Conference Workshop Reports

05:01
June 2007

Alison Young, Unitec, New Zealand
ayoung@unitec.ac.nz
Tony Clear, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
tony.clear@aut.ac.nz

Young, A. & Clear, T. (2007, Jun), Guest editorial: NACCQ 2006 Conference Workshop Reports. Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 5, Issue 1. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from

It has been a regular practice for some years now to precede the annual National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ) conference by a day on which a variety of workshops take place. These workshops began with a curriculum and professional development focus, and have progressively extended into support for research within the sector. Such support has included a regular postgraduate-forum for students, and has provided a convenient meeting point for national and international NACCQ joint research projects.

At the 2006 conference, at which we held an IT Career Perspectives Forum linking industry, secondary and tertiary sectors, the workshops further extended into a linking/planning role with other groups interested in ICT skills and capability development.

This special issue of the Bulletin presents the reports from selected workshops, in order to give visibility to this special area of the NACCQâ€™s work. The issue leads off with a provocative introduction to 'Second Life' as a multi-user learning environment (MUVE). Contributed by invitation by the prominent New Zealand academic Clare Atkins, this article presents her experiences within a new frontier in virtual worlds based upon Web 2.0 technologies. Clare proposes a future domain for engaging learning opportunities, aimed at the multitasking digitally literate students entering the tertiary system, and one to which educators need to give serious thought. Readers may wish to contemplate whether or not 'Second Life' offers answers to at least some of the issues raised at the workshops reported here. Then follow three separately edited sections, each preceded by a note by the sectionâ€™s editor responsible for coordinating the write-up and editing of the materials for their section.

The first section of the issue brings reports from the SoDIS workshop, profiling developments in this international project into ethical risk assessment using Software Development Impact Statements. In the second section, in-depth reports from the BRACELet workshop are presented, reviewing developments in this multi-institutional multi-national study of novice programmers. The final section reports on ICT and the Environment, reflecting upon industry and secondary sector perspectives on the discipline and challenges facing its practice. The issue concludes with two book reviews (by Mark Caukill and by Brian Cusack respectivley).

Therefore in our respective roles from 2006 as conference chair and chair of the NACCQ Research & Support Working group, we are pleased to introduce this special issue of the Bulletin in which the reports from selected workshops and panel sessions are presented.

But to finish on a sadder note, we would like to pay our deep respects to the memory of two BACIT authors and colleagues who passed away recently in an untimely fashion, and to acknowledge their contributions:

Professor John Hughes (-2006):

BACIT 3(1). John was awarded posthumously the ACM SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education [http://www.sigcse.org/about/awards.shtml]. Tributes to John have been posted by IFIP, the AUT School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, The Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (IICT) at UTS, The Australian Computer Society among others, and can be viewed at the links below:

http://www.aut.ac.nz/schools/computing_and_mathematical_sciences/our_successes/

http://www.ifip.or.at/IFIP_MEMORIES/HUGHES.htm

http://www.ict.uts.edu.au/news.htm

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/3725/107/

Dr Trevor Craig, (-2007):

BACIT 4(2). This short biography of Trevor profiles his professional life. After completing an MSc in Statistics and Mathematics at Massey University in New Zealand in 1986, and a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Sydney in 1998 Trevor Craig took up a teaching position at the Sydney Institute of Technology, where he taught mathematics to students studying for various trade qualifications. This environment and his involvement in amateur radio encouraged his interest in the use of electronic equipment and computer software as teaching aids. He took this interest a step further in 2001 by taking up a position teaching English at a polytechnic in Daegu, South Korea. At that time, he enrolled in an MA in Applied Linguistics, via distance learning, at the USQ in Queensland, Australia. In the same year, he also completed an RSA CELTA certificate at the British Council in Seoul, South Korea. Since returning to New Zealand in 2004, he had been teaching freshman mathematics and statistics at Wollongong College, a University of Wollongong, Australia enterprise, located in Auckland [ http://www.itc.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=86 ].

Copyright © 2007 Alison Young and Tony Clear
The author(s) assign to NACCQ and educational non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant a non-exclusive licence to NACCQ to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web (prime sites and mirrors) and in printed form within the Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology. Authors retain their individual intellectual property rights.

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