Increasing Retention in First-Year Systems Analysis Through Student Collaboration Using Real World Examples

It is important for subjects teaching students the topic of Systems Analysis to maintain currency with industry trends, and for teachers of these subjects to maintain close relationships with students’ potential employers. The study presents a qualitative analysis of text responses from IS/IT students in one subject to open-ended questions concerning the introduction of a scaffolded small group problem based learning (PBL) task and the introduction of guest lectures. The results indicate that both of these enhancements to the subject have improved the learning experiences of students. These methods can be applied in other ISD subjects; it is envisaged that enhanced student experiences will also be obtained through such applications