Pre-Planning and Design

A common issue is how much time should be spent on the early stages of a project, before development and implementation begins on a requirement that has not been fully specified. A number of activities can provide valuable input to the design process and engage key stakeholders to ensure that the needs are fully understood. Aspects include:

Example: Survey and Focus Group

Professional Development and Accreditation Study

Background

A study into the provision of training, staff development and accreditation for IT/IS support staff was conducted in 2006. The study investigated the nature and extent of continual professional development and formal accreditation provided for the UCISA (Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association) community.

Survey

Working with the Staff Development Group (SDG) of UCISA, Netskills conducted an online survey of over 300 staff, 25 in-depth interviews, produced three case studies and interviewed providers of professional development and accreditation.

The survey was created in consultation with key stakeholders to ensure the appropriateness of questions, and was publicised using a range of mailing lists. UCISA members were encouraged to complete the questionnaire together with a range of individuals subscribing to various JISC mailing lists. Additionally the survey was publicised to all JISC Regional Support Centres. Paper based flyers were also distributed at a number of relevant conferences to encourage individuals to complete the questionnaire. In total 300 responses were acquired and recorded.

Staff completing the survey included senior managers, computing officers, trainers and educational technologists.

Focus Group

In addition to the survey and telephone interviews, two focus groups/discussion forums were held. These were hosted by both Netskills and UCISA SDG representatives. Initial survey results were presented to the audiences, allowing for comment and discussion of data presented. To allow a wide range of relevant staff to attend, the first forum was held at the 2006 Institutional Web Management Workshop at the University of Bath on the 14-16th June with a similar event at the UCISA SDG-TLIG Conference in Cambridge held on the 5th July 2006. At the conference Netskills Consultant Trainer Paul Trueman presented preliminary results from the first hundred responses.

These results help to highlight the current trends and concerns of ICT staff in regards to continuing professional development, commented Steve Gough from Reading University.

The presentation was followed by a successful and informative discussion session led by Netskills and UCISA staff. Both events were well received, adding valuable data to the overall survey.

After examining the results of the survey and telephone interviews, three organisations/individuals were approached for a final interview to review in greater depth issues relevant to the overall study. These more in-depth interviews helped clarify some of the main issues highlighted from the data collated from the survey. The interviews were documented in the form of case studies.