THE ROLE OF TEACHING PROGRAMMING AND PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES IN IS PROGRAMS

This panel will discuss the role that education in programming languages and practices does and should play in information systems programs

The Impact of Mobile Technology on Small Service Businesses

This research explores the potential impact of the smartphone as a disruptive technology for small service businesses such as plumbers, painters, and similar businesses. This research postulates that use of mobile technology in these businesses is primarily restricted to phone calls and text messages with limited impact on business processes or operations. The research further postulates that this impact is limited due to a perception of these users that there is little the device can do for them. To address these questions, we will use a Design Science Research (DSR) approach to 1) conduct structured interviews with small business owners to establish the need for mobile technologies to affect business processes and operations, 2) demonstrate that a mobile app for scheduling and tracking can be helpful to these businesses, and 3) create and implement such an app in one or more of the businesses and track its performance longitudinally

Virtual IS Conference for HS Students

IS job growth will continue to outpace supply through 2030. According to BLS (2019), computer occupations are expected to grow by 404,099 jobs over the next 10 years with interest among K-12 students unable to keep up. The problem becomes exacerbated by the language used to promote IS careers in K-12 schools: Coding and Computer Science. In Northeast Wisconsin, the NEWConnectIT event reaches students to showcase the broad range of careers and educational pathways in IT, while attempting to break the “coding only” stereotype surrounding computer science

Building Collaboration Networks and Alliances to Solve the IT Talent Shortage: A Revelatory Case Study

As companies increasingly face challenges finding sufficient numbers of skilled IT workers, regions around the country have attempted different strategies to address the gap. In Northeast Wisconsin, the primary strategy has been the formation of a formal organization, the NEW Digital Alliance, charged with attracting, developing, and retaining IT workers in Northeast Wisconsin, funded by local companies and universities. In this paper, we will explore collaborative networks and the innovative effect they have on solving the IT talent pipeline challenge in a specific geographic region. Specifically, we explore the role of collaboration maturity and present a new comprehensive framework that may help understand and direct new regional collaborative efforts. The findings suggest that an alliance of business, education, and economic development partners can move a region forward in ways that are difficult for single players to achieve. We find that the Northeast Wisconsin region has been able to achieve coordination between K-12, higher education, and employers to improve on awareness of the problems that each part of the talent pipeline is facing. With an increase in collaboration maturity, the organization was able to relatively easily transition to virtual activities as well as assemble new constellations of collaborative efforts in short order when faced with the COVID-19 crisis

Workshop: Building Collaboration Networks to solve the IT Talent Pipeline Shortage: Where are the Women?

As companies increasingly face challenges finding sufficient numbers of skilled IT workers, regions around the country have attempted different strategies to address the gap. In Northeast Wisconsin the primary strategy has been the formation of a formal organization, the NEW IT Alliance, charged with attracting, developing, and retaining IT workers in Northeast Wisconsin, funded by local companies and universities, and employing a full-time director. At the same time, a large number of other organizations have worked on various initiatives to help solve the problem. Many of the initiatives in the region have recognized the lack of female participation in IT and have focused on attracting more women into IT

Growing Computer Science and Information Technology Education in K-12: Industry Demand and Ecosystem Support

Demand for IT skills has grown dramatically in the last decade. Companies have realized that they need more people to fill roles in their IT departments, and modern life increasingly relies on being able to navigate digital environments and use digital tools. Many school districts have responded to these demands by attempting to increase their offerings of computer science and information technology coursework. In this paper, we describe one region’s effort to support K-12 schools in increasing digital skills for all students and the pipeline of IT professionals. We describe three approaches taken by three school districts to respond to these efforts in collaboration with local industry and other institutions. One school district partnered closely with local higher education institutions to offer early college classes, another focused on providing robust computer science courses of their own to high school students, and the third focused on developing broad digital skills especially at the grade school level (K-8). We argue that the collaboration maturation of efforts in the region allowed school districts to expand computer science offerings more easily and to use regional partnerships to increase the likelihood of being successful with their efforts

Teaching User Interface Design: An Important Addition to the Information Systems Curriculum

Information Systems programs have focused on educating future developers in analysis, design and programming. However, in most of these programs, design is overshadowed by the programming and analysis aspects of the curriculum. The interface is specified by the instructor to be implemented by the students, with little attention to how that interface should work for the users. The result is programmers that develop systems, which users find difficult to use to perform their jobs. Poor user interface design has a significant impact on user productivity and error rates, and an increased need for user support. In this paper, we (1) examine problems caused by poor interface design, (2) describe characteristics of good design, (3) describe a course on interface design, and (4) describe the results of teaching the proposed course

Comparing Test-Driven Development and Pair Programming to Improve the Learning of Programming Languages

This article explores student perceptions of the impact that test-driven development (TDD) and pair programming has on their ability to learn programming. In particular, we examine how test-driven development compares to pair programming in student’s perceptions. The basis of the study is a survey of students who have completed two programming courses that use the C# programming language and use both pair programming and test- driven development techniques to support learning of object-oriented programming. The results indicate that both pair programming and TDD are considered helpful by students but TDD is seen as the more valuable practice

Fitting Mobile in the IS Curriculum

In this research in progress paper we examine how the trends towards an increasingly mobile future might be reflected in the undergraduate IS curriculum, and some of the challenges faced in making such a move. This paper is based on the discussions around redesigning the IS curriculum at UW Oshkosh, which are taking place this spring (2012). As such, this research is in very early stages and we are looking for feedback and insight from the MWAIS community

Wiki or Word? Evaluating Tools for Collaborative Editing and Teamwork

Many college courses involve group work where teams of students are asked to create a report as the final result of a collaborative effort. The creation of such a shared document often causes students great trouble in coordinating the effort. In this paper we describe two approaches to supporting students in collaboratively creating and editing a report for an introductory course in information systems. One group of students used MS Word with Track Changes turned on combined with emailing the document between students. A second group was provided a Twiki site where they were able to create the report. Preliminary analysis shows that students found the Word and email combination more useful and easier to use than the wiki environment in completing the project