The impact of ICT on an adult in employment

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ICT Report 3b        Haaziq Farook   10o

The impact of ICT on an adult in employment

Seku Sisulu is an ICT teacher at Preston Manor High School.  His job includes teaching ICT to the year groups 7 to 10 observing a syllabus given by the school’s chosen exam board.  He uses ICT technologies to assist him at school, while travelling and also at home.  Due to his requirement to prepare future lessons at home, he would need to utilize his personal computer and either email or use a data key to access his files at school. He uses his palm handheld computer to do various things at work and at home; e.g. take the register, make to-do’s or uses it as an address book.

He also uses email and his mobile phone to keep in contact with his colleagues and his boss at work.

How do the technologies mentioned above meet the adult’s needs?

Mobile Computing – Palm Handheld Computer/PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)

Seku Sisulu uses his Dell Axim X30 PDA to assist him at home as well as at work.  For instance, he can keep track of things using the PDA’s “to-do” application which would remind him of things he had to do at various points throughout the day.

Personal

Need

Seku Sisulu tends to forget his wedding anniversary; and other things at work, e.g. an important staff meeting slipping his mind. You can quite easily understand why he needs an efficient system in reminding him of such events.

Without the technology

Mr Sisulu would have to use post-its and write notes which could easily get lost or misplaced; also he has to carry pens. Another problem is that he must remember to look at his notes and reminders; so no matter what, he has no choice but to remember using his own mind.

How the technology meets his needs

This is why he needs his PDA. His PDA proves to be far more efficient, organised, not to mention portable than a “pin-up” note board at home/work which he can’t carry around with him. He can have an alarm to remind him of important dates several days prior, or on the day. Another advantage for using a PDA as an organising system is that he would not have to worry about carrying a pen with him – the stylus, which is included with the PDA, serves as the perfect tool for working with the touch-screen interface; and, of course, does not need ink.

Evaluating how the technology meets his needs

The PDA is much more practical than the conventional pen and paper. Since he does not have to use his mind to remember that he has notes/reminders to look at, he would be more relaxed and be able to attend to other situations to a better degree.

Work-Related

Need

Mr Sisulu needs to take attendance in the morning and afternoon at school, to keep register of presences, absences, and lates. The register is a legal document which is compulsory to be filled out.

Without the technology

Mr Sisulu must use the conventional register; mark in the presence of people using different colour pens. This would be frustrating because when a pupil is seemingly absent, but then comes in late, he must use tippex carefully to rectify the absence with a late mark.

How the technology meets his needs

Therefore, at work, Seku Sisulu uses his PDA to call the register and keep a record of the presence of pupils in each of his classes. There are a number of benefits which the PDA holds over the conventional register book; one of which is the effortless access of each class – rather than flicking through pages in a register book, Seku Sisulu only has to look through a categorised list of classes, and click on the desirable one. Additionally, he is removed of the inconvenience of switching to a different-coloured pen to mark an absence; one simple click and the job is done.

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Evaluating how the technology meets his needs

Taking attendance can easily be regarded as a miniscule task at work with his PDA. At the end of the day/week, he can then transfer the records via USB (the most common method), the schools WLAN using the PDA’s integrated Wi-Fi port, or Bluetooth to his computer (if available) where he can store the data in the appropriate area in the school network. One minor problem for him is battery power and the fragility, but since he would not usually find himself in a situation where he would be likely to drop ...

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