HSO4004: ICT and HSC Skills Development - A Reflective Account

This report details the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) skills, emphasizing their importance in academic and professional life. It outlines the significance of ICT skills in today's technology-driven world, highlighting their role in enhancing a student's competitiveness and career prospects. The report includes a structured approach to ICT skills development, covering areas such as online safety, social media, mobile applications, email professionalism, assistive technology, and Zoom. Additionally, it addresses the cultivation of academic skills like PowerPoint presentation, essay writing, Microsoft Office proficiency, and grammar skills. A reflective section provides personal insights into the learning process, focusing on the need for continuous skill enhancement to meet academic and career challenges. The conclusion emphasizes the crucial role of these skills in achieving long-term success in a competitive environment. The document includes references to books and journals to support its claims.

Development of ICT
and HSC skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
ICT skills development ..............................................................................................................4
Academic skills development.....................................................................................................5
Reflection on development of skills............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the academic life it is important for an individual to develop higher secondary and ICT
based skills in order to develop a professional approach. Most of the academic institutions in the
academic life focus on development of ICT skills in order to make student more competitive.
The focus on academic skills also helps a student to deliver good presentation approach in front
of teachers and professors (Agrawal, and Mittal, 2018). In the recent times, the importance of
Information and communication technology based skills is important for a student in order to
learn major aspects and knowledge related to IT (Francis, Kadylak, and Cotten, 2019). ICT
skills also makes a student focused towards performing functions and activities related to IT in a
professional manner. The HSC skills are also important for the students in order to deliver best
performance in higher secondary education. ICT skills are also crucial for a student in order to
gain a good career growth. The application of ICT skills makes a student dynamic and improves
personality. All major professionals in academic life focus on development of ICT skills in order
to effectively use software and computer systems (Alt, 2018). This approach makes a student
unique in the organisational as well as in academic life. The development of ICT and HSC skills
together will help student to focus more on career development plan which is very much
important for the student. The major institutions of United Kingdom are also hiring trained and
skilled IT teachers in their organisation in order to teach ICT skills in a well defined manner.
These skills also helps a student to overcome various issues and challenges in academic life.

MAIN BODY
ICT skills development
ICT skills Resources Time period Importance in career
and academics
Online safety In order to develop
knowledge related to
online safety, I will
take help of internet
based videos.
6 Months This will help me in
development of cyber
security related
factors.
Social media The knowledge related
to social media will be
gained by me through
usage of internet on
frequent basis
(Kaarakainen,
Kivinen, and Vainio,
2018).
4 Months The social media
knowledge will be
helpful in increasing
my social web
awareness.
Mobile applications The knowledge related
to mobile applications
will be developed with
the help of my seniors
who are trained in IT
8 Months This will support me
to develop Android
and IOS based apps
(Tokareva, Smirnova,
and Orchakova, 2019).
Email To effectively gain
knowledge related to
email, I will take help
of IT professionals.
10 Months I will be able to send
email to different
people with
professionalism
Assistive technology This skill will be
developed by me using
knowledge related to
IT.
3 Months This will increase my
IT knowledge and its
implications.
Zoom About zoom meeting, I 2 Months I will be able to attend

will practically learn
by practising the
application.
online sessions on
Zoom in a more
efficient manner.
Academic skills development
Academic skills Resources Time period Importance in career
and academics
PowerPoint I will take help of
Online tutorials
5 Months This will help me in
development of a well
designed presentation
in the class.
Academic books Taking help from
sources developed by
Google scholar
8 Months The academic books
knowledge will
increase my mental
capability
Essay writing Take help from seniors 10 Months I will be able to write
essay on major topics
Microsoft office In order to develop
knowledge related to
MS office, I will learn
through coaching
(Pluss, 2018)
1 Year I will be able to
develop data
processing and
management.
Grammar based
skills
I will continuously
practice grammar
improvement sessions
4 Months These skills will help
me increasing my
grammar knowledge.

Illustration 1: ICT skills graphics, 2022

Reflection on development of skills
I understand that, for me there is a strong need of learning different type of skills in order
to make myself more dynamic and professional. This will also help me to develop a focused
approach and strategy related to career life to make a good impression. The development of the
skills is essential for me as there is a need of developing dynamic personality. I am focusing on
learning hard and soft skills in order to develop a good approach in my academic life. My
communication skills are weak, so I will first focus on developing my communication skills. I
will put more emphasis on IT skills in order to gain essential knowledge related to information
and communication technology. The ICT skills will be developed by me in a short period of time
in order to face different consequences and challenges in academic life (González, .and Muñoz-
Repiso, 2017). I will also learn leadership skills in order to lead a team in a more precise manner.
I will majorly consider, democratic leadership style in order to formulate major decisions related
to different situations. In order to be more competitive, I will also develop time management
skills as these skills play a major role in management of routine tasks. The time management
skills are important in order to develop a focused approach in management of day to day tasks in
social and academic life. I will also develop decision making skills as I think the decision
making skills are most important for an individual in order to take major decisions related to
academic and career based life (Hinostroza, 2018). All major institutions put a major emphasis
on these skills in order to develop effective approach in management related tasks and functions.
I will use resources that are available online and will take help of my teachers as they are very
humble. In order to make myself focused and attentive, I will also develop problem solving
skills. This will help me in finding out solutions for the major problems in a short period of time.
Problem solving skills will also help me to find out optimum solutions for the problems that
occur in social as well as in academic life. The development of all skills in a set period of time
will help me to lead the competition in more specified manner. I am now also focusing on my
team management skills in order to manage teams in more advanced manner. I will develop my
coordination skills in a well defined manner to increase coordination related to a particular
project. This will help me in management of the project and also help me to manage my team
members according to timeline. Professional skills will be also developed by me in order to gain
knowledge related to professionalism and it will be helpful for me in career life.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that in the academic life, it is very much
crucial for a business entity to develop different skills. Development of ICT skills is now in
major demand due to rapid spread of information and technology all over the world. This report
concludes the achievement of several skills in order to develop a precise approach in academic
life. This discussion also concludes the development of HSC and ICT skills for long term success
of the individual in competitive world.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agrawal, A.K. and Mittal, G.K., 2018. The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st
century: ICT as a change agent for education. Multidisciplinary Higher Education,
Research, Dynamics & Concepts: Opportunities & Challenges For Sustainable
Development (ISBN 978-93-87662-12-4), 1(1), pp.76-83.
Alt, D., 2018. Science teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning, ICT efficacy, ICT
professional development and ICT practices enacted in their classrooms. Teaching and
teacher Education, 73, pp.141-150.
Francis, J., Kadylak, T. and Cotten, S.R., 2019. Aging in the digital age: Conceptualizing
technology adoption and digital inequalities. In Ageing and digital technology (pp. 35-49).
Springer, Singapore.
González, Y.A.C. and Muñoz-Repiso, A.G.V., 2017, October. Development of computational
thinking skills and collaborative learning in initial education students through educational
activities supported by ICT resources and programmable educational robots.
In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for
Enhancing Multiculturality (pp. 1-6).
Hinostroza, J.E., 2018. New challenges for ICT in education policies in developing countries:
The need to account for the widespread use of ICT for teaching and learning outside the
school. ICT-Supported innovations in small countries and developing regions, pp.99-119.
Kaarakainen, M.T., Kivinen, O. and Vainio, T., 2018. Performance-based testing for ICT
skills assessing: a case study of students and teachers’ ICT skills in Finnish
schools. Universal Access in the Information Society, 17(2), pp.349-360.
Pluss, M., 2018. Loreto 5: Transitioning beyond learning technologies. Independence, 43(2),
pp.48-50.
Tokareva, E.A., Smirnova, Y.V. and Orchakova, L.G., 2019. Innovation and communication
technologies: Analysis of the effectiveness of their use and implementation in higher
education. Education and Information Technologies, 24(5), pp.3219-3234.