Complete thesis - Murdoch University

ill-structured problems. Solving problems that are complex and ill-structured and whichchange as problem-solving advances requires skills and strategies may not be addressed bytraditional learning models.2.3 What mastery of which knowledge?As Firesmith asserts, and other practitioners confirm, the problem with RE education is notthe lack of technical knowledge. This section examines the approaches taken by the relevantBodies of Knowledge and model curricula to describe the components of RE so that theymay be learnt, both in formal education programmes and in the few years after graduationthat the BoKs address.The BoK within a profession acts as a compilation and distillation of the information of adiscipline pertinent to practitioners of that discipline. Achieving consensus by professionalson a core body of knowledge is a key milestone in many disciplines, including that of softwaredevelopment. The BoK may come into being through a formal or industry based process(eg the Project Management Institute (2000)’s Guide to the Project Management Body ofKnowledge is an ANSI Standard (ANSI PMI 99-001-2000), while the information securityprofession (ISC 2 , 2001) has established their BoK), with the aim to identify, aggregate,standardise and maintain a description of the knowledge of the discipline.The purpose of the development of a BoK is many-fold:• licensing and/or certification within the profession may be based on working knowledgeof core or common domains within the BoK (eg CISSP Certification for InformationSecurity professionals (ISC 2 , 2001)• accreditation of curricula both within the formal or profession-based education structuremay be based on the recognition of a core BoK (eg ACS IT Professional level courseaccreditation based on relevant tertiary qualifications (Underwood, 1997) and its ownexaminations which serve as an alternative entry (Australian Computer Society (ACS),2002). The BCS ISEB ‘Diploma’ (BCS Information Systems Examination Board, 2002)also falls in this category)• continuing professional development may be based on increased competency within theareas of the BoK (eg Certified Medical Practice Executives American College of MedicalPractice Executives (ACMPE), 2002)• the structure of training courses and publications may be based on the BoK (eg Instituteof Quality Assurance, 2002)61