Investigating the low pass-rate of CCNA1 students at the Central University of Technology

Abstract

The field of Information Technology (IT) has experienced rapid change over the past few decades. Since the late 90’s, many businesses in the IT industry begun to require certifications for specific technologies. Corporations begun to collaborate with traditional educational institutions so that they can control the quality and content of students that have the desire to learn their networking concepts. The Department of Information Technology (DIT) at Central University of Technology (CUT) adopted the Cisco program and teach students the Cisco curriculum. Cisco curriculum is the most widely used computer networking curriculum and the international standard by which professional competency in this field can be measured. The DIT has been experiencing a decline in student pass-rate and this has raised a lot of concern. Hence, the main aim of this research project was to investigate the low pass-rate of CCNA-1 students at CUT. Due to time constraints, this research examined the delivery method and the assessment method as they might influence student success. The quantitative research design allowed the researcher to collect both qualitative and quantitative data using an online questionnaire from 2015 and 2016 CCNA-1 students from the DIT at CUT, Bloemfontein campus. The questionnaire was administered to 188 students at the end of the second semester. The data was coded and analysed manually using Microsoft Excel. From the results it is very clear that students do not make time to study and they do not visit the library to expand on their knowledge. Some of the students indicated that the content they received was too much and coupled with little contact time they have with the lecturer, exacerbated the situation. 53% of the participants suggested that the delivery method must be improved.