Review of Work Experience in a Bachelor of Information Technology

Pauling, J.W. and Komisarczuk, P.

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a significant work experience component within a Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) honours degree. Work experience provides students with an appreciation of the IT work place, enhances their skills with a range of industry experience and tools and provides a step towards professional accreditation. The initial experiences with the programme are outlined in this paper which discusses the combined support from the Careers Service, Student Job Search and employers to make work experience a success. Feedback from students and employers is provided in this paper indicating industry satisfaction with students, the ICT career aspirations of students, student work patterns and the change in student wages, which are gathered through questionnaires. The indications are that industry is satisfied with the quality of students in work experience, the wages for work experience have increased beyond the rate of inflation and that through the scheme flexibility work experience is gained both part and full time in almost equal measure.

Cite as: Pauling, J.W. and Komisarczuk, P. (2007). Review of Work Experience in a Bachelor of Information Technology. In Proc. Ninth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2007), Ballarat, Australia. CRPIT, 66. Mann, S. and Simon, Eds. ACS. 125-132.

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