NACCQ Newsletter

November 2004

The following items, in no particular order, represent some of the activities undertaken by the hardworking members of your executive and the working groups during the last few months.

1. Research Colloquium 21 – 22 September 2004, held at WinTec
2. 1 ST Round of Degree Moderation
3. FIT “Fluency in IT” Meeting Outcomes: November 9th 2004 Te Pania, Napier
4. Computing Qualification Shortages – Nationally Coordinated Marketing Campaign
5. NACCQ Qualifications – 10 th Edition of the Blue Book
6. NZQA Computing Unit Standards 4 and Above – NZQA Plan to Exit

Item 1 - Research Colloquium 21 – 22 September 2004, held at WinTec

Twenty-six people attended this very successful research colloquium conducted by the Research & Support Working Group, the aim of which was to introduce selected research concepts to those relatively new to research. There were two streams, one for getting started in research and one for research leadership.

The colloquium was convened by Alison Young (Unitec New Zealand) and Tony Clear (AUT) and the presenters were Clare Atkins (NMIT), Tony Clear (AUT), Dr Sam Mann (Otago), Alison Young, Carmel McNaught, and Andy Williamson.

Item 2 - 1 ST Round of Degree Moderation

Three Institutes; CPIT, EIT and Unitec participated in the first round of Degree moderation, which has now been completed. All NACCQ member institutions are invited and encouraged to use the system. Alison Young from Unitec New Zealand said “we are very pleased with the system and will continue to use it”.

The NACCQ Executive Committee would like to thank Steve Corich for facilitating the process as the Degree National Moderator.

Item 3 - FIT “Fluency in IT” Meeting Outcomes: November 9th 2004 Te Pania, Napier

FIT is the name given to a project group, which was initially formed through the efforts of Faye Langdon, AUT’s Business Relationships Manager, and Judy Speight (ITTWRKZ consultant). NACCQ was invited to become involved back at the beginning of October, when Faye contacted Garry Roberton and established a sharing of common goals and the potential for NACCQ to play a pivotal role.

The main objective of the project is to ensure that ICT is included in the secondary school curriculum at year 12 and 13 and to align the secondary curriculum with tertiary pathways and with industry requirements.

The breakfast meeting in Napier was planned to coincide with the “TUANZ Broadband Reloaded” event held in Hastings , which was attended by a number of NACCQ members of the FIT group, including Garry Roberton, Frank March and Janne Ross. Other ITP/tertiary members attending included Andy Blackmur CPIT, Graham Bidois and Faye Langdon AUT (with apologies from Tony Clear).

Some of the main points included:

• The meeting observed that recent DoL statistics indicated a 20% increase in the availability of ICT positions while Universities and ITPs report a fall of 20% in ICT graduate numbers.
• A more specific and shorter term milestone “to ensure ICT was included in the secondary school curriculum by December 2005” was proposed and agreed.
• It was decided that the best way to progress the objective was to gain industry and government to fund a one year project to deliver ICT as a curriculum option.
• A number of new parties have expressed interest in the project including:
  David Barker and Kelvin Beadle, Cisco, Frank March and Paul Alexander, MED, Hanna Frederick, Smart Manukau, Fred Alvrez, Te Runanga O Te Rarawa, Karen Threadwell, Department of Labour, John Hine, University of Victoria, Derek Wenmoth, Ultralab, Maurice Alford, Lytton High, Sue West, Auckland University, and Janet Mazenier, Telecom

Item 4 - Computing Qualification Shortages – Nationally Coordinated Marketing Campaign

ITP NZ and your executive have agreed to promote ICT qualifications and programmes offered by NZ ITPs through a national marketing campaign, coordinated by ITP NZ’s Helen Walshaw (Communications).

I will be in contact with all member institutions later this week to specify how you may help promote computing and IT in your regions. However, note the actions and the (very tight) timeframe in the outline of the plan agreed to by ITP NZ and NACCQ below:

Notes:

1. I believe thatWeltec is already cooperating with Helen over the ‘hero’ angle for the NZ Women’s Weekly.
2. Refer Appendix A for NACCQ advert.

The Plan

In the first instance try for a local paper “hard” news story, secondly for local community newspaper story and thirdly for local community newspaper “advertorial”, plus National magazine article (NZ Women’s Weekly).

Time: mid Jan 2005

Preparation

1. Collect facts/hard data on the shortages – national statistics with evidence of what this means. (Collect and present these facts as though you were talking to a parents’ evening at local secondary school.
   Assume no prior knowledge of ICT careers or even what the words mean.)
2. National employers groups/individual companies - quotes of where the shortages are, what they mean
3. The same facts for your region; i.e. regional statistics. Regional comments from employers to back up the story
4. Describe your courses
   (Do they mean getting a job using computers to communicate information, what does communicating information mean. Do they mean fixing computers, do they mean programming for computers. Be quite specific about the sort of jobs they lead to using words commonly used by laypeople.)
5. Describe the range of jobs with ICT qualifications.
   (An example of a low end, mid, and top end job that you might get with an ICT qualification. Describe the job in a way that a 15 year old with no work experience could interpret. Describe a typical working day)
6. Graduate Example
   (Find a national/local graduate with a job that you can expand on and use as your “hero” story. Use the list of questions listed on my first paper as a guide)
   Use one of the “hero” stories for a NZ Womens Weekly story and aim for national coverage with a human interest story also in mid January.
7. Describe why you’d do an ICT course at an Institute of Technology or Polytechnic. What are the advantages over a university or PTE course? How are they different?

Actions:

NACCQ

1. Collect the stats and data to describe the shortage and what that means
2. Describe the range of courses you offer and the sorts of jobs they lead to
3. Find a local “Hero” to personalise the information
4. Research what has already been covered in your local dailies to see whether a “hard” news story is on or not
5. Research the cost of an advertorial in papers
6. Approval from CEO – budget if need to use advertorial?
7. Involve own Marketers

ITP New Zealand

1. Assistance with putting the information together into a sample pack of information including a national and/or local “hero” story.
2. Writing/promoting NZ Womens Weekly
3. The advantages of doing the courses at an ITP
4. What an ITP education is about
5. Scripting a short and long version advertisement to be used for multi purposes depending on your budgets.

Timeframe

Realistically the final material needs to be “ready to go” by the 17 December which means it needs to be all collected in its entirety and with me by 13 December. (That’s so I can work on a magazine article and also give any assistance – if you want it - with local stories).

So that gives you just over a fortnight from now to collect the hard facts, source local information, do any costings, involve your own marketers, CEO etc.

Note: I would see my role as providing any assistance you as a group, or individuals, may need in writing generic ads/ stories etc but not in organising local contacts, placements, deadlines etc. I am available to actively help you up until 17 December.

POSSIBLE FOLLOW ON ENDORSEMENT

Use the NZ Innovation Festival* to zero in on the ICT courses all round the country in the ITP sector. (Launch date – 27 April and running around the regions for the following 2 months)

Promotions through local secondary schools with open days, “shop floor” demos in local supermarkets, bank foyers, or other public place with high foot traffic.

Build on a national campaign which could be kicked off in Wellington using our 3 x local ITPs in a concentrated block.

Note: *ITP New Zealand took part in the inaugural festival this year in June with a display of innovations from 8 x ITPs around the country to an audience at Parliament. Guests included politicians, government agencies, educationalists, community leaders and ITP supporters.

Item 5 – NACCQ Qualifications – 10 th Edition of the Blue Book

This is now with ITP Quality, having progressed through ITP NZ’s QMS, as course owner.

NACCQ hope to have final approval before the end of December.

Item 6 – NZQA Computing Unit Standards 4 and Above – NZQA Plan to Exit

It would appear that no organisation, apart from an initial expression of interest by the ETITO, has offered to become a computing ITO to look after these computing unit standards.

There is only about two weeks left before NZQA will have to exit from being responsible for these unit standards (NZQA will retain responsibility for generic computing unit standards), which means that the computing unit standards level 4 and above will gradually disappear as they reach their expiry date.