ICT Sustainability Courses Available in 2017

The ICT Sustainability on-line course (COMP7310) will not be offered at the Australian National University (ANU) in 2017. The course is being revised and it is planned to offer new versions, for undergraduates and postgraduates, from 2018. In the interim, students, can enroll in a version of the course, Green ICT Strategies (COMP 635), at Athabasca University (Canada).

Also, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) will run their version of the course Green Technology Strategies, for groups of eight or more students. Other institutions are welcome to make use of the open access course materials, to offer their own version of the course. Open Universities Australia are also offering "Green Technology Strategies", however this is also run by ACS and depends on receiving sufficient students to be run.

The course was originally designed for ACS in 2008 and then adapted for ANU and Athabasca. It has been offered each year since then by ACS, OUA, ANU and/or Athabasca. Suggestions and contributions for the new courses would be welcome.

Identifying the Education Needs of the Business Analyst

Deborah Richards and Mauricio Marrone surveyed members of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) about what skills were important for business analysts. They report in "Identifying the Education Needs of the Business Analyst" (2014) that soft and  business skills are important alongside technical skills. They suggest that and "green" skills should be added to this. It would be interesting to see a follow-up study of how well Australian higher education provides courses for these areas. Recently I was teaching Sustainable IT at the ANU, at the same time as Business Analysis for the ACS Virtual College. Both online courses, they emphasise soft and business skills, in that students have to be able to explain their analysis and recommendations in terms their employer can understand.

Reference

Richards, D., & Marrone, M. (2013). Identifying the Education Needs of the Business Analyst: An Australian Study. Australasian Journal Of Information Systems, 18(2). doi:10.3127/ajis.v18i2.803