Background: The National Certificate Vocational (NC[V]) curriculum offered by Further Education and Training (FET) colleges was introduced in 2007 to address the skills shortage in South Africa. Information Technology (IT) lecturers encountered a number of challenges in delivering lessons throughout the course, which affected the academic performance of learners. The biggest challenges identified were the lack of adequate contact hours for the course and inconsistency in the way in which final examination papers were set.Objectives: The aim of the project was to investigate the use of: (1) a knowledge portal for verifying the quality of assessments by lecturers and (2) social media to increase contact time with FET college students in an attempt to improve their academic performance.Method: The NC(V) level 3 student test scores for 2011 were compared to those of 2012. In addition to the test scores, students also received a questionnaire so as to determine their perceptions on social media usage. Lecturers also received a questionnaire on their perception of the knowledge portal.Results: The data collected from seven lecturers and 38 students indicated a 35% (from 30% – 65%) improvement in academic performance after the introduction of the interventions, that is social media and a knowledge portal; an indication of the importance of electronic media in enhancing learning.Conclusion: The research offered FET lecturers an additional method for learning and teaching in that they could use the knowledge portal to set up quality assessments for the students and social media to increase contact learning time.

Small businesses are widely regarded by national and international bodies, including the South African government, as an "engine of economic growth". However, much available evidence suggests that establishing a new small business in South Africa is difficult because of a lack of appropriate support. The project reported here set out to examine the actual support that has been available, and the viewpoints of both the support service providers and the intended beneficiaries -small business owners and managers. It was found that government-based services were predominant in the minds of small businesses and other involved parties, and that much of the interest in these services was based on use of the Internet, in the context of "e-Government". However, despite claims of success by service providers, it is found that many small businesses are not aware of available support services, and that where they are known there is scepticism about the benefits of engaging with them. Problems therefore centre around a lack of awareness of available services, and a lack of proper engagement between the parties involved.

There is widespread agreement of the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in building equitable prosperity and globally competitive economies. Effective use of these technologies, however, requires building new capacities and skills, here referred to as eskills, not only in the working force but the entire population. These skills are in very short supply all over the developing world, and are of particular concern in South Africa. In order to appropriately address this issue, South African government has taken a systematic and systemic approach, to address the matter and has developed an approach involving a number of stakeholders from all spheres of government, business, education, civil society and organized labor. That effort led to the e-Skills Summit (2010), which provided the guidelines for the creation of the national e-skills policy named the National e-Skills Plan of Action (NeSPA). This paper, based on descriptive case study methodology, brings a portrayal of that systematic and systemic approach. The paper, aimed at academics, practitioners and policy-makers, also depicts the e-skilling key success factors, expected impact of NeSPA, and the principles for monitoring and evaluation. The paper ends with a brief description of some lessons learned during the initial implementation phase of NeSPA.

Successful delivery of services and information to the public nowadays largely depends on the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT), which are transforming governments to be more accessible, efficient, effective and accountable. The pertinent literature suggests that cloud computing (CC) and technologyenabled mobile government (m-government) combined seem to be the most plausible in this regard. Hence, the plans of the Western Cape Government (WCG) in South Africa to introduce cloud computing based m-government services on the assumptions that (i) penetration of the mobile phones is almost 100% in this province and (ii) cloud computing can reduce service delivery costs and make government services more accessible and effective. Although recent studies have found that citizens and government officials in the Western Cape perceive mgovernment services supplied via cloud computing beneficial, and thus likely to be used, deriving benefits from the introduction of the CC based m-government largely still depend on a number of other factors. We have explored the impact of these factors on policy-making using two ICT benefit conceptual models: one found in the Information Management Body of Knowledge (IMBOK) and the Access-Adoption-Appropriation (AAA) model. Based on our literature review we tested our conceptual findings with two focus groups consisting of WCG officials and citizens. We found that these models, if used appropriately, can guide policy-making in this area, by leading government officials toward more effective and efficient service delivery and allow for the citizens' beneficial use of CC based m-government services. We have also acknowledged some limitation of this study as well as some recommendations for the further research.

The intersection of business and IT in an organisation requires people with diverse business- and technology-related competences and skills, commonly referred to as ‘e-competences’ and ‘e-skills’. The positioning of these competences within an IT function in an organisation is (arguably) well defined, but their place in other areas of business managerial concern in an organisation, such as business processes or organisational strategy, is still not sufficiently clear. As e-skills and e-competences are inevitably associated with the use of organisational information systems (IS), this paper reports an initial study aimed at positioning these competences and skills within an organisation from an IS perspective. The positioning was done by examining models of IS, e-competences and e-skills and identifying their possible areas of intersection, which resulted in mapping these competences and skills to the areas of managerial concern in an organisation – as seen from an IS perspective. This mapping has revealed an initial understanding of how business value, here seen as business benefits, is created by using the e-skills and e-competences (supposedly) possessed by employees throughout an organisation