Learning Outcomes for a Business Information Systems Undergraduate Program

The author Joelle Elmaleh was publishing under the name Joelle Ducrot. </p

Integrated Curriculum for a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems Design (BISD 2010)

Commentators on Information Systems (IS) education have urged the IS community to develop new and alternative IS curricula. The IS 2002 model curriculum has recently been revised. The new IS 2010 curriculum guidelines for undergraduate degree programs in Information Systems [Topi et al. 2010] has a curriculum structure to accommodate the education of several different professional roles within IS. This paper identifies one such role, the Business Information Systems Designer. It presents and argues for a new, integrated Bachelor of Science curriculum for Business Information Systems Design (BISD 2010) to educate for this role. The proposed curriculum focuses on the design and use of IS in business and has a strong design focus. The education focuses on developing and training a set of capabilities that enables the Business Information Systems Designer to participate in the design of business and IS in concert. Some examples of capabilities are communication and presentation skills, business and industry understanding, and high-level modeling. Consequently, the curriculum adopted a capabilities-driven pedagogical model in order to train specific skills. The paper presents the BISD 2010 with its specific expected learning outcomes, structure, and pedagogy, and also how the students should be able to fulfill the learning outcomes. The proposed curriculum differs from much of the current IS model curriculum discussions in a number of respects: (1) it is built on a notion of design, design science, and design as a profession, (2) it is based on a capability driven pedagogical model, (3) the curriculum is modeled for a European higher education context and the Bologna accord, and (4) it is not a model curriculum, but a specific, comprehensive, and ambitious curriculum for a degree program

“Brick & Mortar” Education and “Real World” Experience: Assessing HRM Alumni Perceptions of their Early Professional Development

In this research we examined the extent to which three distinct human resource management (HRM) undergraduate programs provide coverage of the 13 core content areas specified by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and explored the usefulness of various ways of learning including their undergraduate coursework, an internship, and previous work experience as related to early professional development. Based on perceptions of HRM alumni, the findings reveal that the three curricula provided significant differences in levels of proficiency in seven of the core areas and in perceived usefulness of the learning methods. Implications for HRM curriculum development and students’ professional development are discussed

Information Systems Undergraduate Degree Project: Gaining a Better Understanding of the Final Year Project Module

The place of an individual project in the final year of Information Systems (IS) undergraduate degrees at UK universities is well established. In this paper we compare the final year project modules at four UK universities: the University of Brighton, the University of South Wales, University of West London and the University of Westminster. We find that the aims of the projects are similar, emphasising the application of the knowledge and skills from the taught element of their course in a complex development project, often including interactions with a real client. Although we show in this analysis that projects serve a similar purpose in the IS degree courses, the associated learning outcomes and the assessment practice varies across the institutions. We identify some gaps in the skills and abilities that are not being assessed. In further work we are planning to consult final year students undertaking their projects and their supervisors, in order to gain an understanding of how project assessment criteria are actually put to use

Web assisted teaching: an undergraduate experience

The emergence of the Internet has created a number of claims as to the future of education and the possibility of dramatically changing the way in which education is delivered. Much of the attention has focussed on the adoption of teaching methods that are solely web-based. We set out to incorporate web-based teaching as support for more traditional teaching methods to improve the learning outcomes for students. This first step into web-based teaching was developed to harness the benefits of web-based teaching tools without supplanting traditional teaching methods. The aim of this paper is to report our experience with web-assisted teaching in two undergraduate courses, Accounting Information Systems and Management Accounting Services, during 2000. The paper evaluates the approach taken and proposes a tentative framework for developing future web-assisted teaching applications. We believe that web-assisted and web-based teaching are inevitable outcomes of the telecommunications and computer revolution and that academics cannot afford to become isolated from the on-line world. A considered approach is needed to ensure the integration of web-based features into the overall structure of a course. The components of the course material and the learning experiences students are exposed to need to be structured and delivered in a way that ensures they support student learning rather than replacing one form of learning with another. Therefore a careful consideration of the structure, content, level of detail and time of delivery needs to be integrated to create a course structure that provides a range of student learning experiences that are complimentary rather than competing. The feedback was positive from both extramural (distance) and internal students, demonstrating to us that web sites can be used as an effective teaching tool in support of more traditional teaching methods as well as a tool for distance education. The ability to harness the positives of the web in conjunction with more traditional teaching modes is one that should not be overlooked in the move to adopt web based instruction methods. Web-based teaching need not be seen as an all or nothing divide but can be used as a useful way of improving the range and type of learning experiences open to students. The Web challenges traditional methods and thinking but it also provides tools to develop innovative solutions to both distance and on campus learning. Further research is needed to determine how we can best meet the needs of our students while maintaining high quality learning outcomes

The First-Year Gateway Experience: A Groundbreaking Model

Based on calls for a paradigm shift in higher education, which have appeared in the literature for years (Barr &Tagg, 1995; Tagg, 2003, Bryant University transformed its first-year experience into an innovative model, The First-Year Gateway). Informed by research from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education, the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ Liberal Education for America’s Promise, and the Wabash National Study, a group identified five learning outcomes: effective communication, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, diversity awareness, and information literacy. Key to this undertaking was faculty development, and utilizing assessment data to improve curricular design and learning outcomes. The result is an interdisciplinary 13 credit first-year program developed to foster a successful transition into Bryant University. Launched in fall 2012, assessment data was gathered to determine whether common learning outcomes were achieved. Faculty embedded student success goals into their courses, which are designed to foster purposeful adjustment to higher education. Preliminary assessment indicates institutional gains in retention, academic standing, and student and faculty engagement during the implementation year. The new model, based on Wenger’s community of practice (COP), created opportunities to discuss pedagogy. Most importantly, the model fostered faculty’s deeper understanding of first-year transitions

Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education

Curriculum of Industrial Engineering program must accomplish the requirement that graduates have the ability to design, develop, implement, and improve integrated system that include people, materials, equipment and energy. However, it is not easy to implement a curriculum that fosters such competencies. One of the strategies to achieve that is using an innovative learning media, so that the problem-based learning (PBL) can be accustomed. In this paper, we design a web-based enterprise resources planning. It is aimed to capture the real problem of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in bottled drinking water industries. The integrated system can be illustrated as ERP application that designed by using free open source software (FOSS). This research aimed to utilize the application to improve teaching methods in IE education. The result of the research can be used to improve the competencies of IE students, especially the abilities to identify, formulate, and solve the activities of the business process improvement in SMEs. Keywords Industrial engineering education, FOSS, innovative learning media, problem-based learnin

B2C Mass Customization in the Classroom

The purpose of this article is to describe an internet-based mass customization assignment in Operations Management/Supply Chain Management classes where students utilize the Web site of a company that offers a customized product. Students evaluate the user interface, judge the value proposition of the product they demonstrate, and discuss issues of product design, process design and scheduling, inventory management, Supply Chain Management, marketing, and competitors. The students learn about mass customization from both the producer\u27s perspective and the consumer\u27s perspective. Through their own research and the class presentations students are able to develop a better understanding of the implementation requirements and challenges of mass customization. The assignment is highly interactive and has been successfully used in Operations Management and Supply Chain Management courses at under-graduate and graduate levels and at multiple universities. In addition, practitioners interested in implementing a mass customization process can use the assignment as a brainstorming or benchmarking exercise

Core Competencies for Undergraduate Community-Engaged Researchers

Undergraduate community-engaged research (UCEnR) is a growing trend which VCU has proactively pursued by providing grants for UCEnR projects and assimilating UCEnR into interdisciplinary curricula. However, a definitive sense of core competencies for undergraduate community-engaged researchers has not yet been established. To that end, this literature review answers the question, What skills should UCEnR students have