ICT80008: Reflection on Professional Issues in IT Course, Semester 1

This report presents a comprehensive reflection on a student's experience in the ICT80008 Professional Issues in IT course. The student details their initial motivations and goals for enrolling in the course, highlighting the transformative impact of information technology across various sectors such as e-learning, e-commerce, and healthcare. The report outlines how the student has taken ownership of their learning through extensive research, group participation, and engagement in activities. The student also discusses the importance of professional education, its benefits in building confidence, and preparing individuals for the job market. Memorable learning experiences, including the exploration of artificial intelligence and robotics, are described. The report further explores the roles of ICT professionals, including data analysis, network administration, and software development, and how these roles positively influence future career aspirations. The student also delves into professionalism, continuing professional development, and the advantages of ongoing learning in the IT field. The report concludes by emphasizing the application of ICT in different sectors and the importance of staying updated with the evolving landscape of information technology.

NDUSHY
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Table of Contents
Part A..............................................................................................................................................2
Section A......................................................................................................................................2
Section B......................................................................................................................................3
Section C......................................................................................................................................5
Section D......................................................................................................................................5
Part b...............................................................................................................................................7
Professionalism and continuing professional development.........................................................7
Continuing professional development.........................................................................................7
Advantages of Continuing Professional Developmen.................................................................8
Illegal and unethical issues relating to misuse of computers and the internet.............................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Part A
Section A: Goals and motivations
I decided to enroll in Information Technology course with a number of motivations and goals
that I needed to achieve at the end of the course. I got motivated in various ways and some of the
motivations were;
 The world is rapidly turning into technology-oriented place and with the knowledge of
technology gained from studying professional issues in it I could benefit make life easier
to me and people around me
 I have also seen how much information technology has been of benefit to various
professional areas which include (Anaya, 2013);
 E-learning
Information technology has made learning in institutions easier since online
learning has been brought into practice. Students can also gain more
knowledge from the internet through the use of Google (Clark and Mayer,
2016). The management of the institution is also easier since students case
access any information regarding their grades from an online platform thus
reducing paper use.
 E-commerce
Businesses have been made convenient by the use of technology since
conferences can be held online one doesn’t have to travel to the destination
and also advertisement of products can be done online (Mahadevan, 2009).
 Government services
Various government services also can be accessed through an online platform
this has reduced queuing of lines in government offices.
 Industrial and research services
The internet has offered different platforms for industrial research and also
where industries can get various products i.e. Marketing.
 Health services

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Technology has made activities in hospital easier, it is used in diagnosis and
research on medicines and different diseases.
 I was also motivated by the fact that most employing companies nowadays need a person
with adequate computer skills as a skill at hand.
 A computerized world is fun to live and this motivated me to take this course so that I can
have a better knowledge of the growing technology.
Enrolling in professional issues in IT I also had goals that I needed to me achieve after
completing the course which includes:
 I need to gain the ability to solve various problems by using the knowledge and the
different ideas from the computing departments to come up with the solutions to different
hazards
 By studying this unit, I will be able to efficiently analyze a situation and come up with a
system to take care of various tasks at hand.
 My other goal is to learn how to evaluate emerging issues and to extract knowledge from
different fields so as to make liable decisions.
 To acquire knowledge and skills that will help me educate other scholars on IT fields.
When I enrolled into PIIT I knew it will go hand in hand my goals since I read what knowledge
the unit offers and the skills I will gain by the end of the unit course and I realized they are just
the skills I need to achieve my goals.
The unit has made me think of majoring so much into the Information Technology, field since
the field is growing every now and then thus needs us to do a lot of research on different issues
basing on the fields.
My aspirations and plans have actually not changed rather they have become more diverse since
the knowledge from the unit has open my mind to more ideas
Section B: How have taken Ownership in learning the Unit
I have gone an extra mile of doing more research on this topic to get more knowledge on the
unit. I have visited different sites on the internet which have given me various ideas and
knowledge and I have also evaluated the ideas different information from the materials that have

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
given me a different perspective on how to approach issues in Information Technology. I have
also joined groups in social media platforms made up of different IT scholars thus educate us as
by sharing knowledge on the platforms, I have also acquired knowledge and also shared what I
research with my fellow colleagues (Steffens, 2013). We engage in activities twice a week by
looking for problems in our society and discussing on various solutions to be offered and by
doing this we bring our ideas together and come up with a major solution and associate with
companies that face these problems and we give them the solutions to try out if they work. I have
also been engaging in fun activities organized by the different organizations where we were
educated and I was engaged in activities. As a member of the team, I ensured sound performance
in our team by;
 Talking to our team leader and asking him to identify the different skills
people have in our team so that we can share the skills and knowledge that we
have.
 Also asked my fellow team members to be kind enough to assist and also ask
for help when necessary
 I also requested my team members to be available at any time they are
requested to attend workshops.
 In case one has an idea that can help the group I encouraged them to share
with the other group members
For my team to work better I could provide different materials with information of what we are
tackling so as to get more info on what to do.
I could have helped others in our team by (Jarvis, 2010);
 Assisting where I can when asked to
 I could also go benchmark in other groups and get more ideas on how to solve the
problem at hand
 I would empower and inspire my team members
 I would optimistic on ideas are given by the members and be determined to implement
the idea

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Section C: Importance value of professional education
Professional education is often meant to meet the needs of the job industry it has an importance
which includes (Dunphy, 2014);
 It enables personalities to get the skills needed so as to work in a certain organization
efficiently
 It helps in building confidence when one is doing a certain job since one knows he/she
has the required skills hence no one can underline his abilities
 It gives you an added advantage since no one will compete with you since the skills you
have are difficult to be copied by anyone
 It makes one an employee that is wanted by every employer since you have the skills
required
 Makes planning easier having employees with skills makes activities in the organization
run smoothly since they all know what to do
 With professional education one gets some good salary since the knowledge you have has
to be appreciated
 The service given to client will be efficient making an organization known for better
services
A unit of professional education can prepare me by;
 Educating me on how to solve issues in an organization in case am in a managerial
department
 It educates me on how to associate with a colleague
 It gives me skills on how to solve problems efficiently and fast to avoid damages.
Such a unit has outlined what skills different people in an organization needs and by the skills
outlined I could practice them and get the value I need so as to find it easier and convenient
when in the job industry

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Section D: Memorable moments of learning PIIT
Learning PIIT has given me memorable experiences by engaging in different fun activities
during the time of my study this moment included (Zeng, Leung, Liu and Hipster, 2009);
 Dealing with different machines in PIIT was interesting. I find it fascinating since the
machines are used for purposes that seemed almost impossible to me before I visited the
place but with technology they were made possible. (Zeng, Leung, Liu and Hipscher,
2009);
 Artificial intelligence is also part of PIIT and robotics have come in handy in various
sectors since the robots have been trained to emulate human capabilities making working
simpler and watching them work is an incredible experience
 In the various organizational activities, I attended I had memorable experiences by seeing
the wonderful things people can do using computers and the different systems they have
come up with to solve problems (Tarhini, 2016).
 Visited industries providing different services with different machines that use
technology to make work easier in the industries and it was incredible how the internet of
things has made things simpler
Section E : Role ICT Professionals
The roles of ICT professionals include (Ruivo, Santos and Oliveira, 2014);
 An ICT profession analyzes data evaluates it and gives back feedback needed
 An ICT profession can also be a network administrator one that sets up different network
and also does different configuration
 An ICT profession also offers information security to organizations ie setting up
biometrics where only authorized users are allowed to get access to information in an
organization
 ICT profession can also teach different ICT skills such as a professor in programming.
 One can also be a software developer one who designs software meant to accomplish a
certain task
 One can also be an operation analyst this is one who figures out problems associated with
ICT.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
These positively affect my future work since I have diverse opportunities that I can major in to
employ the various skills I have gained during my education. I can be a network administrator, a
business analyst, an ICT manager, a professor, a system analyst, and the list goes on.
Part b
Professionalism and continuing professional development
In this chapter, we get to know the different professional areas that use technology to make work
easier and also advantages of Continuing Professional Development (VarlejS. and Walton,
2009).
ICT has been used in different sectors including Health sectors, Agricultural sectors, Industrial
sectors, Learning sectors, Transport sectors
 Agricultural sectors
Technology has been used in agricultural sectors to predict weather conditions to check
soil moisture and also in farming machines
 Industrial sectors
It is used to do various research in industries on chemicals to use
 Health sectors
It is used in operating life supporting machines
 Learning
It is used in electronic learning where students get to study online.
 Transport sectors
It is used in the transport sectors to operate transportation machines ie aircraft.
Continuing professional development
It refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge, and experience
that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond any initial training(Craft,
2012).
Features of a Continuing Professional Development process

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
 It needs to be a documented process
 It needs to be implemented by you not your boss
 You should learn from experience
 Set the objectives and goals of development
 Have informal and formal learning
Advantages of Continuing Professional Development
 It ensures an employee is in the same standard as the people he/she works within the
same department
 It ensures that one keeps and also adds on the knowledge that is needed to deliver
optimum service to customers and society (Campbell et al., 2010).
 It ensures relevance in that one’s knowledge and skills is what is required in the field as
of that time
 It helps the body of knowledge to grow within your field of specialization
 It ensures confidentiality in individuals where one can boldly communicate
 It gives a deeper understanding of what it means to be a professional.
 It contributes to improved security, sustainability and proper economical goals that are to
be achieved in a certain organization
Illegal and unethical issues relating to misuse of computers and the internet
Internet is a platform that provides various information and communication platforms
An ethical issue refers to an issue that affects society. Ethical issues relating to computer and
internet include (IM and CHEE, 2011);
 Fraud
It involves using a computer to illegally extract money from people who use the internet
for business purposes
 Theft of data

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
It involves stealing information from an organization and using it to destroy the
organization
 Hacking and cracking
It involves getting access to a certain system for malicious purposes
 Misusing office computers
It involves using an organization's resources to perform activities that are prohibited by
the organization
 The eruption of social behavior
People misuse the internet by searching for things that go against social behavior an
example being downloading pornographic videos
 Piracy
It involves unauthorized making use of another person work
 Spamming
It is the practice of sending messages that have malware and also fake links of websites
often done in emails. Fake bulk messages from organizations are sent to a large group of
people
 Computer malware
Most criminals use viruses to get access to certain information or just to destroy
information in a certain organization an example is Trojan horse these viruses are spread
through removable devices and the internet
Various steps have been taken to reduce these issues
 Use of encryption to prevent hacking and cracking so as one fails to get unauthorized
access
 Copyrights protection to be implemented to prevent piracy
 Use of biometrics to avoid unauthorized users from getting information from
organizations
 Use of antivirus to curb viruses.
The following topics have had a positive impact on me. I have realized that they are so many
opportunities in the field of information technology that I can endeavor in. Almost all issues
affecting the world today can be solved using technology. The various legal and ethical issues

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
have also become one of the reasons why am motivated to venture into the field of ICT to help
find more solutions that could help curb them.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
References
Anaya, L. (2013). Realizing the Benefits from Enterprise Information Systems: A Sociomaterial
Perspective. Procedia Technology, 9, pp.473-479.
Campbell, C., Silver, I., Sherbino, J., Cate, O.T., Holmboe, E.S. and International CBME
Collaborators, 2010. Competency-based continuing professional development. Medical
Teacher, 32(8), pp.657-662.
Clark, R.C. and Mayer, R.E., 2016. E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines
for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Craft, A., 2012. Continuing professional development: A practical guide for teachers and
schools. Routledge.
Dunphy, J. (2014). Importance of workplace knowledge and graduate resilience. Focus on
Health Professional Education: A Multi-Professional Journal, 16(1), pp.31-45.
IM, E. and CHEE, W. (2011). Quota Sampling in Internet Research. CIN: Computers,
Informatics, Nursing, 29(7), pp.381-385.
Jarvis, F. (2010). Deliver the Gaols. Probation Journal, 21(1), pp.28-30.
Mahadevan, B., 2009. Business models for Internet-based e-commerce: An anatomy. California
management review, 42(4), pp.55-69.
Ruivo, P., Santos, V. and Oliveira, T. (2014). Data Protection in Services and Support Roles – a
Qualitative Research amongst ICT Professionals. Procedia Technology, 16, pp.710-717.
Steffens, P.R., 2013. A model of multiple-unit ownership as a diffusion process. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 70(9), pp.901-917.
Tarhini, A., 2016. The Effects of Cultural dimensions and Demographic Characteristics on E-
learning acceptance. arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.01492.
Varlejs, J. and Walton, G. (2009). Strategies for regenerating the library and information
professions. München: Saur.
Zeng, H.Z., Leung, R., Liu, W. and Hipscher, M., 2009. Physical education in urban high school
class settings: Features and correlations between teaching behaviors and learning
activities. Physical Educator, 66(4), p.186.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY