Development of ICT - Case Study Example

1.0 Brief Description of the Project: The project will involve the development of ICT program within communities with limited financial power and with no electricity supply in the project area. While the Timor Leste’s capital Dili is well endowed with telecommunications infrastructure including coverage of mobile phones with some free public WiFi hotspots being available, in the rural setting of this region such infrastructure is limited. Some areas like Codo have been pointed out as having good mobile facilities but there is nothing to report about when it comes to computers and also access to internet to the general community , schools being included. The major reason that explains the prevalence of this scenario is high cost of computers and internet. In Codo electricity has only been supplied in the previous year and thus powering of computers has been a major issue in the area. In many other communities in Lautern region electricity is non existent. It is due to this lack of access to computer facilities that has resulted in recording of very poor level of computer literacy in this region. There is a great need for have educational programmes that will ensure that the youth and teachers who are within the school facilities are trained on how to use computers. Lack of technicians that can be charged with maintenance of ICT facilities is also a problem that needs to be addressed. Bearing mind the economic, infrastructural and the level of computer literacy of people in the project area the ICT projects that will need to include training which will be aimed at building capacity or having a training centre which will provide the youth with electronics repair skills. Training package on use of computers targeting the youth and teachers will be introduced. There will also be the introduction of a computer centre that will be able to run without the necessity of connection to mains electricity and a GPS mapping system meant for data collection. From the solution will need to address some important issues that will ensure its success. The cost of the ICT solution is an important factor that needs consideration. This includes the cost of computers and related accessories, cost of maintenance, the payback period and any chance of the government offering some subsidies (Colin, 2010). There is need to assess the availability of types of hardware and infrastructure where the possession of computers, smartphones and other ICT gadgets will be investigated. Cost benefit analysis of the projects to be undertaken so as to determine is the solution will be acceptable to the people and also this will increase the chance of the government partnering in the projects. The cultural aspects of the people will need to be put into consideration in the design. As a student involved participating in the project I will expect to have some benefits towards my career development but numerous huddles are expected to come on the way. Participation in the project gives me a chance to explore the theoretical knowledge acquired in class at the field level and coming up with solutions to human problem. Some of the challenges are likely to be encountered in the course of this project include communication barrier on the process of obtaining information from the local population. Participating the project involves spending time in the field where the students are likely to be exposed to some health hazards that could result from taking contaminated water, lack of access to quality meals at the field in addition to the students being exposed to unfavourable weather conditions including high temperatures at day time, very low temperatures during the night and chances of being rained on at the field. With all the mentioned challenges to be encountered by the participants this can be taken as an advantage in terms of learning how survival tactics when undertaking projects at the field. 2.0 Define the criteria for use within the Peer and Self-Assessment Process. In the course of this module it will be important to put a self/peer assessment into consideration. In order to achieve this it will be required that each of the students to perform a self assessment in addition to assessing fellow team members on the basis of their own judgement of the level of contribution and effort which will have been made by the member. Any failure of engagement in process from team members will attract a penalty. The assessment will be important as it will be used as a base of reflecting upon the team work skills within the project. Punctuality will need to be observed whenever the group members are to have a meeting. This will be in order to ensure that all the issues discussed in group meetings are received by the member in addition to members being available just in case they are required to give answers to some questions posed by other team members. All members will be required to deliver high quality work on all of the assignments allocated to them. High quality will be important in facilitating easy understanding of the project components for all the team members. It will be required of members to make available all the requested information on time in addition to the information being presented in the agreed upon formats. It will be expected of team members to have high accuracy in the presentation of the assigned work to fellow group members and they should give explanations that are satisfactory when whenever this is needed by other group members. Members who will prove helpful to other team members will earn scores from the same. Team members will be required to be good custodians of allocated resources. In this project resources like cameras and vehicles will be put into use all of which will be in the hands of team members. High discipline level will be expected from group members as this is known to contribute greatly to any group work project (Ancona, 1990). Team members are expected to be respectful and to be tactical in order to obtain information required by the team members. 3.0 Team Charter. This section gives the purpose of the team with the role and responsibilities to be played by team members being reiterated. The rules of operation, the procedures and the communication standards, the mode of reporting and decision making have also been given. 3.1 Roles to be played by team members. There will be assignment of team members with specific tasks as a way of ensuring success of the project. 3.2 Outline the Teams Operating Rules. Team members will be expected to complete assigned tasks in time so that the completed tasks can be sent a team member who will be expected to work on next task of the project. Suppose members need any clarification from fellow team mate, the request will be expected to be done at a time regarded to be convenient with late hour request and disruption of team members holiday being prohibited. During the undertaking of the project members will be required to give prompt and accurate answers with the dissipation of any information required to be done only within convenient areas where information may not be prone to leakage into wrong hands. 3.3. Procedures and Standards for Communication. Team members will use e-mail as the mode of communication while SMS will be used for alerting team members following the sending of information via email. Team members will be prohibited from making calls to team mates at hours regarded as odd like late night. Whenever team member are working on the project it will be expected that institutions or personal computers and use of public facility use will not be allowed so as to avoid project information being accessed by unauthorised people. Members will not be allowed to use abbreviations not easily understandable by other people. Team members need to be generous with any material and information that might be useful to other team members. Friendliness will be encouraged in the team so as to ensure free flow of information. 3.5. Reporting and Decision Making for a Successful Project. Team leaders will expected to treat members with respect and professionally. If a meeting is to be held the members are expected to be communicated to in advance at least 12 hours to the meeting time. The culture of checking mails regularly will be encouraged among team members as email will be the preferred mode of communication. Meetings will not be expected to be cancelled at last minute. Members who may find it difficult to attend project meetings will be required to seek permission from authority for their absence. References Ancona, D. G. (1990). Outward bound: Strategies for team survival in an organization. Academy of management Journal,33(2):334-365 Colin H. (2010). Review of the Ministry of Education’s financial management processes POVERTY REDUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN TIMOR POVERTY REDUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN TIMOR-LESTE-LESTE Read More