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.
