IT and society: IT and job content.

IT and job content

We've examined the likely impact of IT on employment numbers, and on the kinds of jobs that are going to be available in future. But what will those jobs be like? Will they be monotonous jobs requiring few skills, involving perhaps the repetitive input of data on a computer terminal? Or will the computer itself do all the boring bits, leaving human workers to concentrate on the creative, problem­ solving side?

Let's examine what's happened in the past as a result of technological advances. Some jobs have indeed been de­ skilled, and become extremely monotonous. One only has to compare the kind of jobs that are done in a furniture factory today with the work of master craftsmen in the past to realize that this is the case. Other jobs have become much more interesting, as computers have enabled people to take on a wider range of responsibilities and acquire a wider repertoire of skills.

In fact, just as the new technology can improve the general quality of life (see last section), so it is able to improve the general quality of jobs. If, in an organization, jobs are mostly negatively affected by the introduction of new technology, then this is probably the fault of the way in which the technology has been applied, not of the tech­nology itself. Job design is the name of the game, and organizations that apply it improve not only the quality of jobs, but also the morale of staff, and the levels of motiv­ation and commitment.

Many jobs in factories and offices are based upon the production-line approach to work. In this, the tasks are split into small elements, and each worker undertakes just a few of those elements. This is also called the scientific approach to work, as it can result in high levels of efficiency; workers do not spend time moving from one task to another, training needs are minimal, and so on. The cost, though, is reduced morale, alienation of the worker from his/her work, and so on.

Job design aims to improve the quality of jobs by adopting what's called the whole-task approach. In this, each worker carries out every part of a task. This is not as technically efficient as the scientific approach, and it requires more training, but the benefits of increased motivation etc. may outweigh this. Certainly, it is a more humane way of organizing the work force.

To compare the two approaches, imagine a small sales office. Under the production-line approach, one person may be responsible for taking all the orders, another may be responsible for all the invoicing, a third may be responsible for ensuring orders are filled, and so on. Under the whole­ task approach, one person may be responsible for all these tasks for a customer of a certain type or located in a certain geographical area, another may cover the full range of tasks for a second group of customers, and so on. That way, each member of staff can become familiar with the needs of his/ her customers, is fully responsible for ensuring the customer receives his order and is properly invoiced, etc. And although more training is required, the benefit is that one person can look after another's job in an emergency, and staff acquire a wider range of skills and so are more suitable material for promotion.

The computer and other automatic equipment accentuate the effects of these two approaches. If tasks are broken down on a production-line basis, the computer will reduce the range of operations that have to be performed still further. If the whole-task approach is adopted, the com­puter, by automating the mindless parts of the task, can have the effect of allowing the job to encompass an even greater range of responsibilities.

IT and training

Technological advances demand an increasingly well-edu­cated work force. As we've said, jobs may require a wider range of skills than ever before, and the rate at which they change and progress requires a greater sophistication and flexibility. Training is becoming an increasingly important element, and most workers will require retraining several times in their working lives, as old jobs disappear and new ones emerge.

Traditional education and training courses, in institutions such as colleges of further and higher education, aim to meet this need. However, they have some drawbacks:

• There are too few courses available, owing to the high cost of laying them on. A typical figure for a college course is £20 per student-hour.

• Many potential students are not able to attend the courses that are provided, either because they live too far away, or because the courses are held at times that are not convenient to them.

• Many feel apprehensive about returning to a classroom situation after years away from a formal teaching environment.

IT offers a solution to this in the form of computer-based training (CBT). With this, costs can be as low as £2 per student-hour, the materials can be available at places and times that suit the individual student. Many CBT courses can be taken at home. Increasingly, the materials are becoming available over telecommunications networks, and students can get in touch with tutors by the same means. The extension of the optical fibre network and other broad­ band telecommuications links such as satellite will facilitate this. For example, the Europa satellite broadcasts several hours a day of educational and training materials.

Besides these economic advantages, well-designed CBT material can give much better results in terms of improved learning and understanding.

• Because a CBT lesson can be taken by hundreds or thousands of students, much more effort can be put into its production than can be justified for a teacher-centred lesson aimed at 20 or 30 people.

• Modern technology allows the designer of the material to apply the most effective type of presentation, whether text, image, audio, etc.

• The interactive nature of the technology enables the learner to take his own route through the material, and to instantly check his understanding.

CBT material will often use a multimedia approach, and may incorporate interactive video (see page 164). It will certainly include computer software and lesson material, as well as some material in printed form (if only to explain how to use the system).

It will consist of a number of computer-based lessons, each one lasting, typically, between 15 and 20 minutes. A lesson may be broken into several learning episodes, each of which consists of:

• The learning material, which may take the form of text and graphics displayed on the computer screen or pre­ sented via some other medium.

• Questions on the learning material, which are displayed on the screen and which the learner has to answer by typing at the keyboard.

• Feedback displayed on the computer screen, telling the learner whether he or she has answered correctly and giving help and further information if required.

• Scoring, meaning that the computer gives marks accord­ing to the correctness or otherwise of the learner's responses, and stores them so that the learner and the

tutor can assess performance.

• Branching, meaning (a) that the computer routes the learner through the lesson material on the basis of performance (so that, for example, learners exhibiting poor performance re-do the lesson or are routed to appropriate remedial material); and (b) that the learner is able to exercise some degree of control over his route through the material, by being presented with choices at appropriate points.

CBT is normally produced using a special kind of computer programming language called an authoring language (see page 164). This provides facilities for:

• Entering text for displaying on the computer screen.

• Matching the learner's responses to questions against those anticipated by the author.

• Scoring.

• Branching.

Even with these and other software tools, producing CBT is a time-consuming and skilled task. It often involves subject­ matter experts, writers, programmers, and possibly other media specialists such as graphic designers. Typically, one hour of learner material takes between 30 and 100 hours to produce. The pay-off is that, like a book, the material can be used over and over again by a large number of people, resulting in a low cost per student-hour.