And the winner was..

1
And the winner was..
Developing Professionals Experiences of Student
Technical Specialist Volunteers at the Sydney
Olympics

• Alanah Kazlauskas and Pamela Gibbons
• Australian Catholic University

2
Some background

• Reliable information and communication technology
  is critical to the successful staging of an
  Olympic Games
• 40000 volunteers including Technical Specialist
  Volunteers (TSVs) were recruited for the Sydney
  Olympic Games
• SOCOG recruited undergraduate IT students from
  universities to be part of this volunteer
  workforce

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This pilot study

• investigated the experiences of a group of
  student TSVs in Sydneys Olympic Games
• raises further questions about the industry
  experience components of undergraduate IT courses

4
The researchers

• surveyed former student TSVs soon after the Games
  (Oct/Nov, 2000)
• reviewed student presentations about their
  experience (November, 2000)
• analysed student reports of their TSV experiences

5
The survey asked about

• why the student chose to be a TSV
• the type of work performed
• the best and worst aspects of being a TSV
• impact upon professional development
• immediate benefits
• long term benefits
• soft skills
• the relationship of the experience to coursework
• the value of the students work to the employer

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Why did the students choose to be TSVs?
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Students chose to be TSVs because they wanted.

• "involvement with the Olympic/Paralympic games"
• "supporting the Sydney Olympic Games"
• "to contribute to Australia and the Olympics"
• "to be a part of a great event and it was once in
  a lifetime opportunity"

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Students chose to be TSVs because they wanted.

• help with my course" "credit for
  my industry experience"
• "to acquire valuable skills "to expand
  my IT experience"
• "to learn how the IT industry operates on a huge
  scale" to prepare me for the real world
  the reference...
• "to get friends" to make contacts"
• "to take a break from going to classes each day "

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What type of work did the students perform in
their TSV roles?
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Student TSVs

• worked for between 9 and 60 days
• were given
• a general orientation to their volunteer
  workplace
• specific role training
• may have worked in
• Help Desk, hardware and network support or
  process testing roles
• more than one role

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What were the best aspects of being a TSV?
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Students liked
Meeting people and sharing a once in a lifetime
experience being able to talk to different
co-workers in the industry about their chosen
career path and there experiences

• meeting people

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Students liked
being able to work with others in a friendly
environment understanding how things are run in
large project like the Olympics I learnt how
to be a part of a big team I learnt how to
deal with difficult situations how to interact
with the supervisor or to my colleagues

• meeting people
• the opportunity to develop such soft skills as
• teamwork skills
• communication skills

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Students liked

• meeting people

• the opportunity to develop such soft skills as
• teamwork skills
• communication skills

Getting out and about Having fun while working

• being part of the Olympic buzz

15
Students liked
I know some ideas of how the job will be It
definitely gave me a good insight into the IT
industry and large corporations Seeing what the
real world was like Appreciating the
University life much more

• meeting people

• the opportunity to develop such soft skills as
• teamwork skills
• communication skills

• being part of the Olympic buzz

• learning about working in IT

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What were the worst aspects of being a TSV?
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Students did not like
Not very busy at times A lot of time was spent
sitting around The tasks performed can be very
repetitious I found that when there was not
much to do it could get a bit boring at times

• the boredom

18
Students did not like
Tasks mainly were consisting of data entry I
also did not get a proper 'hands on' experience
of the network as I would of liked

• the boredom
• the nature of the work

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Students did not like
Time wasn't enough! Just as you were getting
to know the people and the routines of the
organisation, the period of work experience would
end.

• the boredom
• the nature of the work
• the brevity of the experience

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Students did not like
Most of the jobs that needed to be done were
performed by the IBM people. So I didn't get to
learn as much We didn't get much opportunity
to deal with more complex tasks

• the boredom
• the nature of the work
• the brevity of the experience
• being the lackeys!

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Students did not like
No pay and very bad food and catering services
from the (catering) company Working in
difficult weather conditions ie in a tent through
cold temperatures without any heating Having
to work for free! Dealing with very rude
people. Not being able to watch the games
during your shift!!!!

• the boredom
• the nature of the work
• the brevity of the experience
• being the lackeys!
• the conditions

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What did students see as the immediate benefits
of being a TSV?
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Students felt they had benefited from

• simply being a TSV

Enjoyed working as a volunteer Pride in
being part of this event
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Students felt they had benefited from

• simply being a TSV

Assisting with my industry placement report

• completing university assessment tasks

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Students felt they had benefited from

• simply being a TSV

"Better knowledge of networks Getting on hand
study-related experience.

• completing university assessment tasks

• making links between their experience and course
  content

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Students felt they had benefited from

• Simply being a TSV

Gaining experience in IT helpdesk and technical
support fields the practical experience and the
training given by IBM Australia Know how a
network operates and how to check for different
problems

• completing university assessment tasks

• making links between their experience and course
  content

• the IT experience they had gained

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Students felt they had benefited from
The immediate benefits would be that I have a
better understanding of the IT workplace. I got
an idea of being in the workplace such as how to
interact with my colleagues and my
supervisor Work experience does give you an
insight into the workings of the IT industry.

• simply being a TSV

• completing university assessment tasks

• making links between their experience and course
  content

• the IT experience they had gained

• having a better understanding of the IT workplace

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Students felt they had benefited from
Gaining friends and professional contacts The
contacts you make can be invaluable.
Interacting with different specialists, such as
engineers, programmers, etc. Definitely the
meeting of contacts in the IT industry and the
procedures that large companies such as IBM
undertake.

• simply being a TSV

• completing university assessment tasks

• making links between their experience and course
  content

• the IT experience they had gained

• making new friendships and professional contacts

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Students felt they had benefited from

• Working on the Olympic project means working in
  big teams and this greatly helps your
  communications skills and confidence.
• Helped me become a more confident person in this
  industry as I have a bit of experience behind me

• simply being a TSV

• completing university assessment tasks

• making links between their experience and course
  content

• the IT experience they had gained

• making new friendships and professional contacts

• gaining confidence in their own IT related
  abilities and improving their communications
  skills

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What short term benefits did the students hope to
gain?
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Students hoped to
Able to claim exemption for university
subjects Help me with my current course

• gain credit for their current course

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Students hoped to
That I will be able to relate my industry
experience to my university work and hopefully
everything will come together and make more
sense. Now when I do a subject at university
I hopefully won't question as much as to what
good this will do us in the real world. I hope
that I can relate my theoretical studies to what
I learnt during the practical experience as a
TSV.

• gain credit for their current course

• make linkages between their experience and their
  course

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Students hoped to
Assist in finding casual employment in the IT
section Probably I can do another help desk job
for another company because I have experience
from this job Using TSV experience to gain
employment

• gain credit for their current course

• make linkages between their experience and their
  course

• gain employment as a result of their experience

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What long term benefits did students hope to gain?
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In the long term, students hoped to

• receive recognition of involvement in the Olympic
  Games

Recognition of my participation at the Olympic
Games in the IT area
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In the long term, students hoped to
Help me to decide which aspect of the IT
industry I want to be involved with. Assist
in building a confident IT background for my
career after university studies. Increase
knowledge in the IT area For long term I don't
hope much from my help disk experience because in
future probably I don't want to apply a job as
help desk person

• receive recognition of their involvement in the
  Olympic Games
• develop a better understanding of the IT
  workplace

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In the long term, students hoped to
A fulfilling (IT) career I hope that the long
term benefit will be that I get a job when I
finish Uni. Hopefully the TSV experience will be
an advantage compared to others who have not done
any sort of work experience. To keep all the
contacts I've made and find employment with one
of them.

• receive recognition of their involvement in the
  Olympic Games
• develop a better understanding of the IT
  workplace
• improve their employment prospects

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How did students perceive their professional
development to have been affected by their TSV
experience?
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Students felt that they had
I learnt more in the two training days than
working at the actual events. I have also
learned a lot of technical skills. Sort of,
because we do get training for whatever we have
to do in the Olympics.

• learnt about IT

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Students felt that they had
I learnt how to deal with difficult situations
and try to help users when they need technical
advice. It has given me an insight into what
the jobs are like in the IT industry "My TSV
experience has enabled me to gain knowledge in
roles such as process tester, quality control as
well as help desk operator Developing ideas to
new systems and environments Do the task/job
regularly and do it well.

• learnt about IT

• learnt about the IT workplace

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Students felt that they had

• learnt about IT

The fact that I can now say I have done work
experience with IBM at the Olympics greatly
boosts my opportunity of finding suitable
employment. I now have some experience under
my belt. Given some hands on experience.

• learnt about the IT workplace

• applied their existing knowledge

• gained experience

42
How did students perceive the TSV experience to
have effected their soft skills?
43
Students rated their TSV experiences as
facilitating

• considerable improvement in their ability to
  communicate verbally
• significant improvement in their
• ability to negotiate with coworkers and with
  supervisors
• thinking/decision-making skills and their problem
  solving skills
• improvement of their
• personal organisation, resourcefulness and
  versatility
• knowledge of the IT workplace
• ability to make links between their experience
  and their coursework
• no significant benefit to their written
  communication skills

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Students rated their TSV

• experiences as having the greatest impact of the
  experience to be upon their ability to cooperate
  with others and their teamwork skills
• activities as being of importance and value to
  their employer, whether working on helpdesk/ user
  support, as Hardware/Network support, or in
  Systems Analysis

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This pilot study suggests that participants

• had a positive experiences as TSVs
• have a greater appreciation of the importance of
  soft skills
• were able make new connections between their
  coursework studies and the IT workplace
• see worthwhile industry experience as critical
  for their employment prospects

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Two other students comments.

• Industry experience is a very important part of
  the University Course and everyone should do it.
  
• The problem with Industry Experience is that it
  can be inconsistent, some people may get good
  employers to work with while others will get
  employers who don't care and can be relegated to
  performing mundane tasks such as data entry.

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and.

• Some people are often frustrated (in their
  attempts) to find paid work because employers are
  looking for people with experience. Of course to
  gain experience, people must work.

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This pilot study raises further questions about
...

• the attributes of an effective workplace
  experience for IT undergraduates and the
  providers
• current industry experience programs used by
  Australian tertiary institutions for IT
  undergraduates
• the effects of workplace experience in the IT
  field on the students' learning, providers, the
  university - course development, the IT industry
• the effects of the provision of workplace
  experience opportunities for IT undergraduates on
  the provider, on the student, on the
  university/program/course, the profession

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Answers to these questions will assist

• the professional development of IT undergraduates
• universities to improve the IT undergraduate
  curriculum
• the IT industry to provide mutually beneficial
  experiences for undergraduates
• the IT industry by providing it with experienced
  new graduates

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• Alanah Kazlauskas and Pamela Gibbons
• Australian Catholic University