First reflection:-

The study of computer implications have always been my interest and plan to turn it into my career, the subject ITGS is just that, because of this I decided that i would do my Extended essay on ITGS. During one regular day in our school while browsing the internet on my chromebook I came across a pop up which says “this site is blocked as it is in the category of entertainment” and many students complaining about how even useful content is blocked. This triggered an question in my mind that how effective are the policies and the efforts made by the IT department for safe use of IT devices in the school which led me to my RQ “How effective are the efforts made by schools IT department to ensure responsible computer use and security policies?”. I have decided to use my school for my primary research where I interviewed the head of the IT department and conducted a survey of students ranging from grade 5-12 and use various websites for my secondary research. I also used my personal experience as a source of knowledge.

Second reflection:-

As my research progressed I had to change the way the survey was being conducted and changed it as no personal data like Email ID was collected and change the questions to make them less intimidating. As the research progressed i came to know that not only the IT system is the problem but the end user and the stakeholders are as well. Which turned out to be very vital for the investigation. Both primary and secondary research was quite successful as the surveys and interviews gave me the stakeholders perspective and the websites and forums gave me information about the flaws in the system.

Third reflection:-

During the entirety of my research it was troublesome in finding reliable sources of information, but with the help of my supervisor I was able to overcome this issue. Before starting with the draft I had created a spreadsheet with all the sources and what information to take from each of them. This helped me stay organised and well prepared for the draft. Which led to a well structured and fairly bias free final draft. As the research and analysis progressed i was able to learn multiple new concepts about the IT systems, about the users and as well as the differing perspectives of different stakeholders related to the IT system and was able to get a deeper understanding overall. If I had to conduct this research again i would include the perspective of the teachers as well, which would allow me to get an insight about how the system operates form the administrative perspective.