Overview

This unit aims to teach students to identify and understand issues relating to the personal and organisational application of ICT. Students will develop a sense of professional responsibility through exploring professional codes of ethics articulated by professional accrediting bodies. Students will explore a range of social, legal, ethical and business issues that ICT professionals face in their careers.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Develop and present a resolved project outcome which synthesises an understanding of ethical and socio-technical challenges faced by an ICT professional
  • Evaluate the role of standards, codes of conduct and legislative/regulatory obligations on the level of professionalism of the ICT industry
  • Review the roles and responsibilities of ICT professionals in organisations and society from a range of perspectives such as work-life balance, mentoring and life-long learning
  • Communicate effectively as a professional and function as an effective leader or member of a team

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Face to Face Contact (Phasing out)
Class
2.00 12 weeks 24
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning
1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Learning Activities (Phasing out)
Independent Learning
9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

OUA and Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Face to Face Contact (Phasing out)
Lecture
2.00 12 weeks 24
Face to Face Contact (Phasing out)
Tutorial
1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Learning Activities (Phasing out)
Independent Learning
9.50 12 weeks 114
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning
12.50 12 weeks 150
TOTAL300

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment 1Individual 30 - 40% 2,3 
Assignment 2Group 30 - 40% 1,2,3,4 
Assignment 3Individual 20 - 40% 2,3 

Content

  • Ethics and professionalism, including the philosophical foundations of professional ethics
  • Formal codes of ethics and codes of conduct and their impact on the work and behaviour of ICT professionals
  • Understanding industry drivers, ICT trends within industries and interconnectedness between industries
  • Professionals’ roles and responsibilities, professional work behaviours and attitudes
  • Business compliance imperatives, including Sarbanes Oxley, & Australian Standard 8015, and their implications and impacts on the work of ICT professionals
  • Issues in both employee and contractor relationships, including responsibilities and management issues involved in providing IT contracting services
  • Broader social impacts of ICT including life-long learning and career development for the ICT professionals

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.