Why IT education requires a
rethink
Margaret White
Open University and FE lecturer
Students and teachers will not take up ICT and computing at
A-level while these subjects linger towards the bottom of league
tables, have huge syllabuses, and require (in the case of ICT) an
inordinate amount of repetitive and boring coursework which is
constantly undermined by moderators.
Why can't the examination boards split the topics altogether so
that students wishing to move on to higher education or work can
study them both in depth alongside mathematics or business studies,
for example?
ICT could contain the application of technology, including
topics such as systems analysis, systems design and decision tables
with practical work on multiuser non-Microsoft products as well as
the current simple spreadsheets and databases.
Computer science (not computing) could then be the study of the
technology itself including, for example, truth tables, Boolean
algebra, numbers, characters, protocols, assembly language,
structured and object oriented programming.
Five countries and no computing
degree
Keith Appleyard
Enterprise
architect, American Express
Following on from Darren Stephens' letter regarding scientists
in IT (Letters, 15 November), years ago when our newly-formed
enterprise architecture practice first got together at a restaurant
in New York, we found that although we were educated in five
different countries, 65% of us had a physics degree - and none of
us had a computing degree.
CIOs cannot deliver if they don't
monitor
Andy Chestnutt
Compass
Management Consulting
I read with interest Lindsay Clark's article about the failure
of IT departments to monitor and communicate their own performance
(Computer Weekly, 15 November).
It is truly astonishing after many years of being told that they
must justify their IT spend, that some IT directors and chief
information officers have yet to embrace the value of monitoring
effectiveness of their work.
If you were to ask a CIO today what their job entails, most
would say delivering their IT service as efficiently as possible -
getting the most value for their investment - is their number one
preoccupation. Making a difference by enabling business change
would be second, yet they would prefer it to be top of the
list.
However, without proper measurement they are unlikely to be
competently delivering their service and certainly won't be in a
position to prove that they are doing so, let alone be trusted to
think about the future.
The article argues that the threat of not measuring performance
lies in having major functions outsourced. I would agree with the
threat because these functions would be reduced to being a
commodity service. Further, I would argue that a bigger threat lies
in the stagnation of a company that stifles its ability to move
forward.
The CIO's requirement to demonstrate value is only half the
story. Defining and monitoring performance maps out where the most
effective improvements lie. Businesses can gain an incredible
amount of insight by focusing on the details and then arming
themselves with the information to forecast the impact of executive
decisions.
Any CIO who is able to provide this level of support to the
business soon finds that their conversations move away from a focus
on cost to that spotlight on the future. After all, the ultimate
measure of a CIO's effectiveness is how often they are consulted on
business strategy.
The abbreviated guide to what it all
means
Chetan Bhatt
I don't want to be pedantic, but having read Cliff Saran's
article on application development (Computer Weekly, 8 November) I
have finally been tipped over the edge with the explanation of UML
as "Universal Markup Language". According to my understanding, UML
actually stands for "Unified Modelling Language", so if you agree
with me could you please disseminate this news, as I have seen this
error in reporting before.
Having said that, I used to puzzle for ages over what automated
teller machines (ATM) had to do with telecommunications technology
until I found out that ATM actually stands for asynchronous
transfer mode, so maybe I am the one who has lost the plot with
what UML stands for these days!
Cliff Saran replies:
Oh dear. We've been caught by the vernaculars on this one.
Chetan Bhatt is right, although Universal Markup Language has
entered common parlance. The problem is that usage soon changes the
original meanings of phrases. Sometimes only the abbreviation means
anything to anyone. Take OEM, for example. And how many of its
customers today have any idea what IBM stands for?
E-government deadline risks short-term
fixes
Iain Pickering, Ndl metascybe
It was interesting to read about the government's strategy to
deliver its shared services vision (Computer Weekly, 15
November).
From recent research we carried out across the local government
community, it is apparent that not all local authorities will be
fully e-enabled by the e-government target completion date in early
2006.
This impending deadline is obviously a cause for great concern
among council leaders. It is also the reason behind local
authorities concentrating on implementing software that helps them
to meet their e-government target.
By employing this short-term fix, serious problems with existing
back-office applications are being masked by the implementation of
moderately capable CRM systems.
Finance will obviously always be high on the agenda of any
senior council member. It becomes an even more prominent issue when
you consider that central government funding will soon cease,
meaning further financial pressure will be applied to local
authority buyers. Again, this highlights the need for long-term
software solutions and not cutting corners to meet e-government
deadlines.
Undoubtedly, council leaders face difficulties in achieving
their e-enablement objectives. Coupled with the amount of pressure
applied internally to allocate operational budgets responsibly and
prudently, it is an unenviable task.
Clearly more direction, guidance and support is needed.