Assessment item 3 - Report
Objectives
Please refer to the UnitProfile to see how this assessment item relates to the UnitLearning Outcomes.
This assignment is designed to stimulate critical thinking outside of the classroom by requiring students to write a formal academic report. You will need to follow the ARE process described in chapters 2 and 3 of Your Business Degree2 (prescribed textbook for COIT20249) to analyse the assessment task, research relevant information and evaluate the information you find. This information should be used to write an academic report in which you present your findings or outcomes and make recommendations for future practice Professional writing and writing reports are described in chapters 4 and 5 of Your Business Degree2.This assessment task will assess your skills in critical thinking, researching information, forming an opinion, academic writing, logical ordering of ideas and your ability to support your arguments with quotes from literature. These objectives will be measured by the 'closeness of fit' to meeting the assessment task, assessment requirements and marking criteria.
Please note that there is a wealth of material available on the Moodle Unit website that you should use to help you through the process of searching for and gathering relevant information, evaluating that information and writing your report.
Assessment Task
Students are required to write an academic report as per the format outlined in chapter 5 of the textbook. The report must follow the CQU APA referencing style.
The report is to be based on the following case study scenario about network and information security technologies.
Almost all businesses use the Internet these days to offer various services to their customers. Some of these activities require collecting user/customer information including commercial transactions and exchange personal and/or sensitive information. While the internet is a very convenient option for both businesses and for customers, there are also risks associated in using the internet. Some of these risks are related to the potential for unauthorised access of information of customers; ranging from personal details and financial records to their online login details. Recently, there have been numerous incidents where hackers have accessed user information which have then been used for various purposes. There have been instances of ransomware and other malware attacks, and even publishing confidential client details leading to highly difficult situations for customers of some organisations. As a result, information and network security is becoming more and more important for organisations though improved security means additional costs for small organisations which do not command big budgets.
You have recently completed your postgraduate degree in the information systems/technology field of an Australian University. You are now working as the Research and Technology Assistant to the ICT manager of a small software organisation based in Melbourne. Your organisation was established less than 5 years ago. It develops and customises applications specialising in information and network security area. The clients of your organisation are mostly in the major cities of Australia and range from small to medium size organisations. At present, your organisation undertakes projects to develop applications in-house or to customise off-the shelf software in agreement with larger vendors. Your organisation's current business scope is limited to that of development of applications. It is now exploring options to expand the business in the next five years to other branches within ICT, and to all parts of Australia and even overseas if possible.
One future option is to diversify the business into providing ongoing information and network security services to businesses that have an online presence. That will require managing the online security of those organisations; security of their websites and client databases. However, the Business Development Manager of your organisation has revealed that the potential client organisations for this new line of business could include online gambling organisations as well as small pharmaceutical and hospitality industry organisations.
There are some concerns among your executive management team that not all the potential client organisations may be engaging in socially acceptable ethical businesses. Yet, there is another school of thought within the management that your organisation must be more concerned about the bottom line (economic aspects) rather than the triple-bottom line aspects (social, environment and economic) aspects at this point in your organisation's business life cycle.
Your ICT Manager has been asked by the CEO of your organisation to investigate the possibility of this expansion. He (your ICT Manager) has requested you to undertake preliminary research and draft a report that he can finalise and submit to the next Executive Management meeting.
Your research and the subsequent report should cover the following tasks:
1. Definition/s of information and network security and the most up to date developments in the field. This investigation must consider different types of applications used in various industries and in different parts of the world. As a minimum, assess three information/network security applications currently in the market and their uses. Your report should not just focus on generic technology descriptions only but must identify actual examples of both information and/or network security solutions. Consider any success/failure factors. Research must focus on both Australian and global aspects in different industries.
2. Based on the findings from the previous section, propose how you can use these applications to expand your organisation in the next five years. Discuss whether the organisation should focus on customising off-the-shelf applications as you have found, or develop products in-house to provide the ongoing security maintenance services to client organisations.
As a part of this analysis, consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of your solutions and the various riskswith respect to the solution/s you propose. The Report must focus on security and technology aspects as a priority, and propose potential solutions to overcome any disadvantages/risks identified in your analysis. Additionally, explore the ethical, social and legal considerations that your organisation should consider as a part of the proposed strategy where some of the clients may not engaged in strictly ethical businesses. Discuss some proposals to address these concerns and make relevant recommendations.
Your analysis and proposed solutions in task 2 should provide three to five recommendations at the end of your report. Make sure that the specific recommendations at the end of your report have been evaluated as a part of your report discussion.
The report should be at a strategic level and must not consist of highly technical details as most of your readers are not from an information technology background.
Assessment item 4 - Portfolio
Objectives - This assignment is designed to develop a portfolio of resources that you can use during your degree. The compilation of your Portfolio is progressive throughout the term. Please refer to the UnitProfile to see how this assessment item relates to the Unit Learning Outcomes.
Portfolio Items
PORTFOLIO 1: Annotated Bibliographies for Assessment 3 - Report
Task: Assessment 3 (COIT20249 Report) requires students to use at least 10 recent references. At least 6 of these must be academic references which are peer reviewed and/or textbooks. See Assessment 3 specifications for further details.
Use the ARE and Triple R framework you learnt in Weeks 2 and 3 to research and select 5 Academic references you would use for your Assessment 3 (Report) - do not use the references you used for PA 3 in Week 6. All references must be from the last 5 years (dated 2012 onwards) and must be selected using the Triple R framework.
PORTFOLIO_2: Reflective Writing
Task
All COIT20249 students complete their Presentations (Assessment 2) between weeks 5 and 9. Most of the students will complete the presentation as a Group while some of you (Distance students) will complete the presentation as an individual assessment. If you are an internal student, write reflectively about your group experience as a part of this assessment. If you completed the presentation as an individual assessment, reflect about the experience as an individual presentation; explain the reason for not being in a group if you are an internal student. Students discuss this portfolio item in Week 7 but will write it about two weeks later if you are not presenting before week 7. All students must plan to submit the assessment at the end of Week 12.
Reflect on your experience of completing your Presentation (Assessment 2 COIT20249 in Term 2, 2017) using the reflective writing technique you learnt in Week 7. See above paragraph to determine whether you should write about your group experience or your individual presentation experience.
Describe the experience including your contribution for the outcome. Demonstrate what you have learnt from the experience, describe how you would handle assignment presentation differently in the future, and evaluate the positives and negatives of the experience (e.g. reading and reflecting on developing and delivering a presentation. Reflect on the Group process if you are an internal student. If you are an internal student but did not present in a group for some reason, focus on why you presented individually and how you can be a group member in future. Distance students should write about their experience in developing and delivering online presentations. Discuss your options with your local lecturer if necessary.
Your submission should cover the three key points on reflective writing (see below). This should be approximately 450words.
The key points to consider when writing reflectively are:
1. You need to demonstrate what you have learned from a particular experience not just describe what happened.
2. There is no right or wrong answer-reflective writing is about what you learned from the experience.
3. Ask yourself the following questions and give your responses in your writing: Why did X happen? What did I do in X situation? What were the positive and negative outcomes in the situation? How might I do things differently next time? What have I learnt and how does this knowledge contribute to my development?
PORTFOLIO 3: Responding to an Ethical Scenario
Task - In week 9 you learnt about making decisions in various ethical situations. Understanding who you are and how you relate to others in both your personal and work life can make you aware of the values that are important to you as well as the values that you may need to work on to improve your professional standing. This portfolio item is designed to make you think about how to respond to an ethical scenario as a good ICT professional. As you are training to be an ICT professional you should refer to the ACS Code of Ethics and/or ACS Code of Professional Conduct in your response. It should be approximately 400 words.
Scenario:
You are currently working as a trainee database administrator in the same organisation where you are studying for a qualification. You are working hard to pay your fees and study expenses while managing your personal finances as well with an annual income below the average wage in Australia. A few weeks ago, you were undertaking some maintenance work in the student and finance databases of your organisation. While doing that you found that your organisation has given a lucrative scholarship to a student who you do not think as having the required level of academic performance to receive that scholarship. You have access to the marks of the students undertaking the same study units as this student and yourself. The scholarship guidelines clearly state that eligibility for the Scholarship is based on academic performance. Some of you think that the parents of the student who has received the scholarship may know some senior staff in your organisation. You are not happy that you and the other high performing students who also have financial concerns have lost the opportunity to lighten your financial burdens that impact on your studies while you believe that a potentially less deserving student has benefited due to personal links. You can do nothing and continue with your maintenance work as required, or report your concerns to your supervisor, or inform the other students about what you uncovered and even go public with this information. You are clearly unhappy with the situation as you believe your employer has not done the right thing but wondering what to do since you work in that organisation.
Write about 400 words (in 2 - 3 paragraphs) outlining how you will respond to this ethical dilemma - do not explain the situation again. Consider your options in this hypothetical scenario. What will you do in this situation? Will you tell your friends and/or go public with this information, or will you inform your manager about your dilemma and ask for advice? Or will you take any other actions? Explain what you will do and the reasons for your actions,referring to the ACS Code of Ethics and/or the ACS Code of Professional Conduct. You must correctly reference the document/s in APA style.
PORTFOLIO 4: Successful Completion of COIT20249
Task
This portfolio item requires you to justify that you have successfully achieved the UnitLearning Outcomes and to provide feedback about your experiences with the Unit. The responseshould have two parts and should not be longer than 2 A4 pages.
Part A - Justification
The Unit Profile provides a list of Learning Outcomes you are expected to have achieved after completing this Unit.
From the UnitProfile:
On successful completion of this Unit, you will be able to:
1. Describe the basic principles and importance of effective interpersonal communication, active listening and reading for meaning.
2. Demonstrate teamwork skills.
3. Communicate ideas effectively both verbally and in written form using appropriate language.
4. Create and deliver effective oral presentations.
5. Argue the importance of ethics, codes of behaviour, and societal, privacy and legal issues within the ICT industry.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of common work practices and values operating in the Australian workplace.
7. Assess how ICT can be used to improve organisational processes.
8. Evaluate the application of emerging technologies to communication and collaboration.
Write a reflective analysis that demonstrates you have satisfied all eight(8) learning outcomes that are listed in the UnitProfile for COIT20249 Professional Skills in ICT (they are listed above). Justify how the work you have completed this term has satisfied all eight (8) UnitLearning Outcomes. Please note it is important that you JUSTIFYhow you have satisfied the UnitLearning Outcomeswith examples. Do NOT just summarise the Unit content and/or assessment items OR define the UnitLearning Outcomes.
In short paragraphs, respond under the following themes (use relevant headings) and refer to relevant Learning Outcome/s from the above list. Use examples from the assessments you have completed in this Unit and/or the competencies you have achieved after completing the Unit. You might refer to some Unit Learning Outcomes more than once in your response. This part should be 1 to 1.5 A4 pages (approximate guideline).
1. Describe an example where you used interpersonal skills along with listening and verbal communication skills effectively.
2. How did you use reading skills to effectively develop an academic document?Provide an example.
3. Provide an example of using your teamwork skillsduring your presentation. Provide specific examples of what you did and which teamwork skills used. What other skills from the above list did you use in this situation?
4. Provide an example of an assessment where you discussed the importance of ethical behaviours, and social, privacy and legal aspects within the ICT domain. Explain how this task helped you to understand ethical behaviours, and social, privacy and legal aspects within the ICT domain.
5. Discuss how you learnt the skills to work with staff and/or students from different cultures and demonstrate the knowledge of cultural diversity. Use example/s from COIT20249.
6. Describe how you learnt to evaluate ICT technologies to improve organisational processes. Give an example of an assignment/topic and the technology from COIT20249.
7. Describe two examples of communication and collaboration technologies you learnt after completing this Unit. Briefly explain how each of these technologies could be used in an organisation and their potential benefits.
Part B - Feedback
Write two things you liked about this Unit and provide the reason or reasons you liked them. Also describe two suggested improvements to the Unit and justify why they would improve the Unit. This could be around half an A4 page in length (guideline only).
I only need portfolio 1 from Assignment 4.
Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar