ICT lessons to change – A computer scientist’s opinion

On January 15, 2012 in General, Off Topic.
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“ICT is boring” seems to be among the top of the complaints pile for A-Level students studying the subject. In response to this, Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced the traditional ICT curriculum will be dropped this September to be replaced with a more ‘rigorous computer science’ course.

Interesting. Moving away from the 15 year old structure is surely a good thing – we all know how quickly technology develops – but replacing the entire curriculum with an open-source code based emphasis doesn’t seem like a great move, in my opinion.

The opinion of a computer scientist

Excel Sheet

As a ‘Computer Scientist’ (I don’t really think of myself as one, but I have the skill-set to call myself one at times like this) I understand the importance of being able to code. But as an ‘Online Marketeer’ (more inline with my job role) I respect the importance of knowing basic (and advanced) office IT skills.

Take for example Excel. It was the primary focus in ICT, with emphasis on advanced calculations and spreadsheet design. This will be removed and replaced with basic game development in some specific language (currently under industry review).

Now, I love being able to code. But I admit it’s not exactly a ‘life skill’. The number of people I encounter who can’t use a simple excel chart, Word document or Access database is incredible. I don’t think anyone can argue that being able to write a simple program is more important than basic IT office skills.

So why are these office critical skills being replaced? What’s the proportion of A-Level students who go on into a computer science orientated career? Compare this to those who go into an office based career where tools such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint are used almost daily. I think you’ll find the later is a much higher number.

The result of changing the curriculum

Code

My expectation of changing the curriculum is that a lower number of students will take the ICT A-Level. Those that do will be more likely to proceed into a computer science degree. However, I expect this to be due to creating a more niche subject, rather than the effect of the course on it’s students.

In summary, the conversion rate of students moving into a computer specific career will increase, however the number of conversions will drop as more versatile students decide against the coding based A-Level.

If I were to have a say on the progress of the ICT course, I would suggest bringing the existing curriculum up to date (whilst maintaining the tools used). Almost an ‘ICT for an office environment’ course. In addition, an ‘Advanced computing’ course could be created, for those dedicated to software engineering and alike.

Of cause, that’s just my opinion.

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Working Professional: My First Week

On November 5, 2011 in Business, General, marketing, Off Topic.
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As some of you may know, it’s been my first week working for EvoEnergy this week. And what a week it’s been!

It all started on Tuesday, the first of the month and the first day of the new financial year for EvoEnergy. The previous day, however, had been far from tranquil. With government cuts affecting almost every sector, the FiT (Feed In Tariff) which effects Return on Investment (ROI) for solar panel installs was cut by 50%. No problems as such with that, it was forecast a long time ago. What was more of a shock to solar specialists, however, was the December 12th deadline (three months prior to expected!). Anyway, that’s probably as much (if not more than) I’m aloud to say on the subject. Needless to say, EvoEnergy sold a ton of stock on Monday and it’s been a pretty manic week for the company (all with a positive outlook, however). You can read more here.

Anyway, so my new position as Online Marketing Associate is based around the website structure / maintenance, E-Marketing and Campaign analysis. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the basics.

My own little desk space comes equipped with a lovely new laptop, 22” screen and peripherals, located to the right of the copywriter. There is also Suzy (Marketing Manager) alongside Daniella and Rachael, who make up the marketing team (headed by Tom, the Group Marketing Manager).

So, what’s it like!?

EvoEnergy is already a great company to work for; They provide tea and coffee (which is a great start) and gives the general atmosphere of the internal workings! The composition of young, skilled, professional enthusiasts makes the office a bussing place to thrive. There’s even a Kitchen area and sofas to ‘relax’ (although there hasn’t been much of that this week!).
Another great touch is the interaction and “real life” approach of the CEO, Dr. Kevin Hard, who is in and around the office regularly, and has real involvement with the office happenings.

So there is it, a bit of a review of my first “real” (excluding Thermo Fisher Scientific UK Ltd) week at work! Bring on next week (after a bit of a rest, please. Going out on “work nights” is proving a bad return on investment!

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must have apps for new or formatted pc

On September 2, 2010 in Development, General.
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Old PCAfter eventually grinding to an almost stop due to a C-Drive bursting at the sesames with unnecessary programs, today I decided to bite the bullet and format. It was a hard decision, with over 6 years (that’s 18 years in computer years) of old programs hidden away in the registry. After formatting and installing a fresh and shiny version of Windows 7 (which is a gem to install, by the way) I got to work installing a couple of must-have essentials for any self-respecting computer literate. Here’s a couple of the best.

First things first, security. I decided that to give the PC a fighting chance against all the inter-nasties out there, good Firewall and Antivirus protection was a must. For a Firewall, I went with PC Tools Internet Protection. This software and I go way back, and I used to use it back when it was JUST a firewall. (PC Tools Firewall Plus). Oh, how times have changed. This latest version comes as an all-in-one security gold-mine! Firewall, Anti-spyware, Anti-virus and Anti-spam all under one roof! It also comes with IntelliGuard which protects anything and everything internet related such as your cookies, browser and network. Best of all, there is a freeware version, meaning you can get all this for free (with a few more advanced features disabled, granted).

To back up the brilliant PC Tools suite I decided to go with a dedicated Anti-virus app. For this, I decided on AntiVIR by Lavasoft. Again, this software and I have a deep and long history, but it’s never once let me down, and acts promptly whenever a worm, trojan or virus somehow got onto the system. It’s also free and is a brilliant program. The only annoying thing about AntiVIR is the annoying splash screen which appears from time to time. However this can be disabled quite quickly and simply by delving into the registry a little. Or just Google it.

That was the security sorted, and after a quick reboot I got a grip on the social side of things. First up, Google Chrome to browse the internet, knowing I was safe and secure. Spotify was next, so I could install the rest of my programs while singing along to my favourite tunes, followed by Vuze (formally Azureus) and DropBox to transfer files from an online repository I had made with all my files and folders. MagicISO and MagicDisk completed the set (in order to mount virtual disks I had created containing more files) and I was well on my way.

Finally was the working man’s tools. The obvious was Microsoft Office, so I took the opportunity to try out my university allocated Office 2010 student edition. This install took a while, and was the perfect break required to grab something to eat (If you’ve ever formatted a PC before you’ll understand the burden of looking blankly at loading bar after loading bar). Last but not least was the Adobe Suite, containing Photoshop, Dreamweaver and the other’s, which any serious website designer designer and computer scientist should invest in.

New PC

So there you have it folks. There are always a couple of additional programs worth installing (Adobe PDF Reader for one) but that’s my run down of the apps I installed on day one. I must say, it feels good to see the amount of space on my C:/ Drive again, and the PC feels as sharp and responsive as the day I built her.

It, I mean it.

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