ITx 2018 Speakers

Keynotes and Speakers for ITx 2018

Check back often - more speakers are being added regularly


David Skelton

Assistant Head of School for Schools of Business, Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT)

David Skelton has taught on the Bachelor and Master degrees in the Computing School on a wide variety of IT subjects including IT Management and E-Business.

He has a portfolio of work-integrated learning research investigating the graduate transition, and have tracked students through their internships and out into their first careers over a number of years.

From Reference-desk to Help-Desk: The crossover between library services and information technology

Thursday 2:30pm - 3:00pm, CITRENZ Conference (CITRENZ 2 Room)

New technologies have had a major impact on academic libraries, and none more so than those in the New Zealand Institute of Technology and Polytechnic (ITP) sector.

This paper begins by identifying six key technologies trends that have had an impact on academic libraries. These are examined in the context of the academic library and the following questions are raised; how has technology changed the academic library space, library services and the role of the academic librarian? In addition, the research also focuses on what support for technology is provided by academic librarians to students.

To further provide evidence of technology change library managers and library staff from New Zealand ITP libraries were surveyed. This data was analysed to find common themes and patterns of the effects of technology.

The research and the data were combined to form a discussion about the changes that had occurred due to the identified technologies, and the impact technology had on the academic library space, librarian role and library services.

However, this paper focuses on the discussion and conclusions that arose from the larger research project. A model was developed that is a visual representation of this study. This research may add value to the New Zealand ITP Library sector and IT Services departments and concludes by suggesting further research is warranted as new technologies develop speeding up the crossover of these two traditional services.

Postgraduate Study at Polytechnics in NZ: Where We Are? What are the Challenges? Where do we go?

Friday 11:30am - 12:40pm, CITRENZ Conference (CITRENZ 1 Room)

The panel will discuss the postgraduate programmes at NZ polytechnics from two perspectives: domestic and international.

The discussion for both programmes for domestic and international students will include types of the programmes (PhDs, Masters, Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas) and the research component in these programmes.

We will discuss what we are doing, how well we are doing, our challenges and where do we want to go from here.

In particular, the discussion will cover the needs of students both domestic and international and our challenges to meet them. From the international students’ perspective, the panel will discuss the educational, cultural and technological challenges that these students are faced with.

The research environment and the challenges for the academics involved in the postgraduate study, as well as a possibility to collaborate, will be discussed.