Analysing responses of Year-12 students to a hands-on IT workshop: Implications for increasing participation in tertiary IT education in regional Australia
STEM Education
; 3(1):43-56, 2023.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-2316551
ABSTRACT
Two hand-on workshops on social media apps were conducted for the Year-12 students from two schools, one from a regional city and the other from a remote community, in a computer laboratory on the Rockhampton campus at Central Queensland University before the COVID-19 pandemic. The school in the regional city offered a specialist Digital Technologies Curriculum (DTC) to students in Years 11 & 12 whereas the remote school did not offer a similar DTC to students in Years 11 & 12. Statistical analyses of the students‟ responses to two casual questions during the workshop indicated that firstly the hands-on activities improved all students‟ general IT knowledge, and secondly the Year-12 students from the regional city were more determined to undertake tertiary IT education than the students from the remote school. Therefore, it is recommended that a mandatory specialist DTC for students in Years 11 &12 in ALL schools should be included in the national curriculum in the future. Implications of these findings on improving the participation rate of post-secondary education in Australian regional communities are also discussed in this article. In particular, regional universities can play a unique role in producing "IT allrounders” to meet the needs of the regional communities through collaborations with governments, secondary schools, regional industries and businesses. © 2023 The Author(s).
Full text:
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Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Language:
English
Journal:
STEM Education
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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