Developing and Enhancing ICT Skills: A Professional Practice Reflection

This report reflects on the importance of developing and enhancing ICT skills in the field of MBIS. It covers topics such as skills audit, strongest skills, skills to be worked upon, matching skills with job, and SMART goals to achieve through identified skills. The report emphasizes the need for proficiency in coding, programming, and video editing skills for a successful career in the IT field.

Professional Practice
Reflection

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................3
Skills Audit..................................................................................................................................3
Strongest skills and the reflection................................................................................................4
Skills to be worked upon.............................................................................................................5
Matching of skills with the job or career.....................................................................................6
SMART goals to be achieved through the skills identified.........................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Professional reflection writing basically deals in critical and analytical thinking, using of
evidences through personal experiences and thoughts, using of clear line of argument and also
using theoretical literature. ICT skills are becoming more useful and prominent these days
because of growing and advancing technology (Szilárd, Benedek and Ionel-Cioca, 2018). The
report will shed light on the experience as MBIS regarding the developing and enhancing of ICT
skills and the ways in which these can be used to do particular kind of job. The strongest,
weakest skills will be mentioned according to which skills audit will be developed to improve
the skills lacking.
REFLECTION
Skills Audit
Skill audit is considered as the systematic assessment of research skills and knowledge of
student. It helps in providing evidence of developing or existing competence. This can also be
referred to as needs analysis which means to identify any needs for personal or training and
development. Developing skills audit consists of various systematic steps including making a list
of skills, rating the expertise of each skills, list of jobs, identifying the skills needed for that job,
spotting any gaps between the skills having and required to do dream job, ways in which skills
can be developed, setting the deadlines and then making a systematic plan and keeping it where
it can be easily available while performing the regular activities. I consider skills audit the most
important thing as will help in establishing the existing skills and the level of expertise for those
skills. It will also help in highlighting the gaps and giving opportunity to find innovative ways
for improving and developing areas of weakness (Picatoste, Pérez-Ortiz and Ruesga-Benito,
2018). Skills audit helps in analysing the strengths and the ways in which it can help in any job.
This will also help in finding those companies which are best according to the skills. I realise that
ICT (Information and Communication technology) professionals are the people who are
responsible for conducting research, planning, designing, writing, testing, providing advice and
improving information technology systems including the software, hardware and concepts
related to particular applications. This is why; there are various skills needed in me to choose my
career in the field of ICT. These skills include understanding and application of range of
software, computer skills and applications. These further involve databases, word processing,
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spreadsheets, search engines and power points. I realise that I have basic analytical and creativity
skills but lacks in technical skills. I consider the ICT skills as the abilities which are required to
use the ICT components effectively. I realise that I have basic ICT skills such as using software
packages like Microsoft Office for creating, editing and saving documents, using search engines
like Bing or Google for searching information, making use of ICT hardware to print, scan or
copy documents, making use of digital camera to capture photos and videos footage, posting and
browsing on social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. I even know how to
send and receive information using data-sharing applications and the cloud storage systems
(Tyagi and et.al., 2020). This can be done by Dropbox or Google Drive. These are considered to
be basic ICT skills which can help me in starting my career in the field of ICT which is
Information and Communication Technology. On the other hand, I also realise that the major and
the complex skills which can help in the growth of my ICT career are lacking in me. I lacks in
some skills such as editing the images using computer software such as Adobe photoshop and
also working knowledge of languages which are used in coding such as CSS, HTML and
Javascript. I believe that in order to gain a good and rapid growth in ICT career I need to focus
on the skills which I don’t have. If I learn these skills, then I can focus on the other skills while
doing graduation or during any type of job in ICT field. ICT skills also include the skills such as
using communication technologies such as telephones, radios and televisions. These skills
already exist in me so I will not prefer investing time in enhancing these skills (Lehner, 2018). I
also believe that I also have the ability to converse with the people through different technologies
such as making video call, sending emails, using a mobile phone or tablet, searching or browsing
the internet etc. which can help me in interacting with so many people through my career. But
after having all these skills, coding by working on different languages along with making use of
computer software is equally important for gaining great experiences and results while doing
MBIS (Master of Business Information Systems).
Strongest skills and the reflection
I realise that I have some strongest skills which I developed during the graduation in ICT
in MBIS. These include online research, social media management, online collaboration, data
management queries and many more. But I consider my social management skills and online
research the strongest among all. I consider these skills the strongest because I take very less
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time in researching about any topic. I am aware of various websites and search engines which
helps me in researching about any subject or topic. I also come to know about this when I
searched about the competitors of one company which increased my information management
skills. While doing the research, I also make use of search engine research, checking sources,
crediting sources, FAQs and online forums. I also realised this during MIBS as when I was
supposed to do any assignments or any project, this skill helped me in doing all such tasks in
very easier manner without taking much time and efforts. Another strongest skill which I feel I
have is social media engagement as I helped my institution to update its social media presence. I
also made use of social media and its platforms in doing various tasks such as connecting to
many people whom I cannot meet directly, knowing about updated news online, events to be
happened in the city or institution etc. I give much of my time to social networking sites such as
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit and various other social
media groups (Birt and et.al., 2018). This is why; I become more involved in these platforms
which made me perform various tasks through the same. These skills were also used by me in
MBIS which can also help me in future and in jobs after MBIS. This can also help me in
communicating with the clients or customers worldwide through social networking sites by
analysing them through online research.
Skills to be worked upon
Though I have many ICT skills and some I have gained during MBIS but there are some
skills which I need to improve such as coding skills and also video editing through various
computer software such as Adobe photoshop etc. In today’s era, in every business, there is a
need for IT focused employees because in order to improve the customer relations the companies
need their robust presence online which can help in gaining greater profitability. I realise that I
need to be sharp in coding and need to be perfect on at-least one programming language so that it
can help in developing websites, or any application or software (Alderete, 2017). This can also
be observed by me that during MBIS I faced various difficulties in coding and also editing the
videos through software. This is why, I think that these skills are lacked in me which must be
developed and enhanced. This can be done by enrolling in the online courses, trainings,
workshops, interacting with ICT professionals etc. This can help me in working on the skills
which lacks in me.
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Matching of skills with the job or career
As I have the basic ICT skills except coding, programming and editing videos, I realise
that these skills will help me in becoming content writer, digital marketing etc. This is why
because I am best in online searching which can help me in becoming content writer and also I
am engaged in social media which can help in becoming digital marketer. I must also need to
work on coding skills so that my work in these profiles can be easier and also I can focus on the
core subject and process. The skills which I have in me will help in doing the job as Business
Associate or Business Development Counsellor who need to communicate with various
customers through social media and its platforms. So, I need to enhance my coding skills for
growing my career in IT field.
SMART goals to be achieved through the skills identified
The SMART goals which will be worked on by me in the coming 6 months will be to
learn and get proficiency in at least one programming language, to become the beginner of at
least 3 programming languages which are needed the most in today’s era and also get proficiency
to edit the photos and videos through the best computer software (Sobri and et.al., 2019). This
can be done by visiting the local library, one to one training sessions, contacting the local
education provider, free ICT skills courses, work experience placement or training at good
company, practising new skills etc. This will help me in achieving my goals towards ICT career.
CONCLUSION
The report concluded about the concept of ICT skills by sharing own experience regarding
the learning of ICT skills in MBIS. This was concluded that I have some strongest skills such as
communicating through social media, making use of search engines for online research etc. On
the other hand, I need to develop some of the skills such as coding skills, video editing skills,
making use of computer software etc. This is how; the report was a reflection for the
development of ICT skills and its importance in doing job reacted to the same.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alderete, M.V., 2017. Examining the ICT access effect on socioeconomic development: the
moderating role of ICT use and skills. Information Technology for Development. 23(1).
pp.42-58.
Birt, J. and et.al., 2018. ICT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: ISSUES FOR THE ACCOUNTING
PROFESSION1.
Lehner, F., 2018. ICT skills and competencies for SMEs: Results from a structured literature
analysis on the individual level. In The Impact of Digitalization in the Workplace (pp.
55-69). Springer, Cham.
Picatoste, J., Pérez-Ortiz, L. and Ruesga-Benito, S.M., 2018. A new educational pattern in
response to new technologies and sustainable development. Enlightening ICT skills for
youth employability in the European Union. Telematics and Informatics. 35(4).
pp.1031-1038.
Sobri, K.M. and et.al., 2019. A comparative study of school environment for students' skills
development in Malaysia and Indonesia. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. 40(1).
pp.149-154.
Szilárd, S., Benedek, A. and Ionel-Cioca, L., 2018. Soft skills development needs and methods in
micro-companies of ICT sector. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 238. pp.94-
103.
Tyagi, R. and et.al., 2020. ICT skills for sustainable development goal 4. Quality Education,
pp.435-442.
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