Using a Wiki to Collaborate on a Study Guide

This paper introduces an end-of-semester assignment to create a study guide for the final exam. This assignment helps with two objectives of an introductory Management Information Systems course: collaboration and using Web 2.0 technologies. We argue that to truly understand collaboration, students must learn more than what collaboration is, they must see it work on a task that is meaningful to the student. The exercise provides a meaningful task that cannot be done by a single student; however, it can be done effectively by many students working together. As they work on the task, they are using a Web 2.0 technology, the wiki. They finish this assignment feeling more comfortable with the technology, and having seen it work. This assignment fits in with a learner-centered education model. The instructor facilitates learning by students in a collaborative method. The learning outcome moves from knowledge acquisition to knowledge integration

Transient Permanence

There are few places where the tenacious dichotomy of copy and original deconstructs itself more forcefully than in the trajectory we refer to as classical sculpture. This process is intrinsic to the assumed origins of the classical and the idea of the antique original, and despite the existence of celebrity pieces such as the Venus de Milo, the Laocoön, or the Farnese Hercules, objects that crowds have lined up for centuries to see in Paris, Rome, and Naples, respectively. Few statues can be authorized as first, original versions: the history of classical sculpture is as much a history of the serialized original as of the serial copy, as Salvatore Settis and his team exquisitely displayed in the concurrent exhibitions Portable Classic and Serial Classic at the Prada Foundation in Venice and Milan in 2015. While the Milan edition revolved around seriality, materiality and surface, the Venice exhibition displayed antique repetitions through scale, miniaturization and portability. Hackneyed conceptions of origins and originality collapsed in the line–up of a Farnese Hercules series in Palazzo Corner della Regina on the Grand Canal, and in the numerous antique variants and derivatives of iconic statues such as the Discobolus and the Crouching Venus in Milan. Entering these two spaces was a profound bodily experience of the repeatability, versatility, and adjustability of the classical tradition.Existen pocos ámbitos donde la obstinada dicotomía entre copia y original se deconstruya con más vehemencia que en la trayectoria de la denominada escultura clásica. Se trata de un proceso intrínseco a los asumidos orígenes de lo clásico y a la idea del original antiguo, a pesar de la existencia de piezas célebres como la Venus de Milo, el Laocoonte o el Hércules Farnesio, veneradas por el público durante siglos en París, Roma y Nápoles, respectivamente. Pocas estatuas pueden ser consideradas una versión original y primigenia: la historia de la escultura clásica es tanto la historia del original seriado como la de las copias en serie, tal como evidenciaron en 2015 Salvatore Settis y su equipo en dos refinadas exposiciones simultáneas en las sedes de Venecia y Milán de la Fundación Prada: “Portable Classic” [Clásicos portátiles] y “Serial Classic” [Clásicos seriados]. Mientras que esta última reflexionaba acerca de la seriación, la materialidad y la superficie, la de Venecia mostraba repeticiones antiguas que jugaban con la escala, la miniaturización y la portabilidad. Las manidas preconcepciones sobre los orígenes y la originalidad se venían abajo ante una serie de Hércules Farnesios alineados en la Ca’ Corner della Regina junto al Gran Canal, y ante las numerosas variantes y reformulaciones de esculturas paradigmáticas como el Discóbolo y la Afrodita agachada en Milán. El acceso a estos espacios generaba una profunda experiencia corpórea de la repetitividad, versatilidad y adaptabilidad de la tradición clásica

Writing IS Teaching Tips: Guidelines for JISE Submission

JISE has a lengthy history of inviting the submission of Teaching Tips for publication consideration in the journal. Past submission guidance for Teaching Tips has consisted of asking contributors to document the teaching experience and indicate what has worked, and not worked, in its execution within a journal page constraint of one to five pages. Over time, and with increased senior editor attention to the academic rigor of the journal, the editorial board and reviewers have exhibited more demanding expectations for the publication of Teaching Tips. Additionally, the kinds of Teaching Tips that are applicable to our information systems discipline have evolved into a recognizable set of characteristics that can be used to guide future authors of such articles. To encourage Teaching Tip submissions, the purpose of this article is threefold: (1) to provide potential authors with guidance for writing Teaching Tip manuscripts; (2) to provide reviewers and editors with advice for accepting manuscripts for publication; and (3) to contribute to the body-of-knowledge for the reflective practice of information systems education

Visualizing IS Course Objectives and Marketable Skills

Course and learning objectives are important tools for setting goals, navigating the course, and measuring performance. Unfortunately, when multiple interrelated objectives are presented as a list of statements, students perceive them as having little utility and tend to misunderstand or ignore them. To increase students’ attention to course objectives, to help them understand the arc, structure, and valuable outcomes of the course, and to engage in active learning, we propose an approach to presenting course objectives in a visual form. The evidence suggests that visualized objectives increased students’ interest in understanding them and provided aids to instructors to better explain how various components of the course fit together and translate into marketable skills. We recommend practical steps for visualizing objectives in any course and present examples of visualizations in two IS courses – “Enterprise Architecture” and “Systems Analysis and Design.

Using Activity Diagrams to Model Systems Analysis Techniques: Teaching What We Preach

Activity diagrams are used in Systems Analysis and Design classes as a visual tool to model the business processes of ‘as- is’ and ‘to-be’ systems. This paper presents the idea of using these same activity diagrams in the classroom to model the actual processes (practices and techniques) of Systems Analysis and Design. This tip accomplishes three things: (1) helps students better understand the purpose of drawing activity diagrams, (2) illustrates how useful activity diagrams are in understanding and communicating techniques and business processes at both high and low levels, and (3) teaches the various systems analysis and design practices and techniques in a creative manner that visual learners will appreciate

Play Ball: Bringing Scrum into the Classroom

Scrum has become a widely-used framework for technology development in both private industry and the government. As a result, Information Systems recruiters and executives have recently been placing a focus on students with Scrum knowledge. Unfortunately, current System Analysis and Design textbooks provide cursory attention to Scrum. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to suggest a starting point for teaching Scrum at the university level by presenting a classroom exercise (Ball Game) that can be used as a means for learning Scrum in more detail. This tip accomplishes three things: (1) introduces students to Scrum concepts with an engaging and memorable exercise, (2) provides a means for teaching students about estimation, and (3) offers an approach that allows students to witness firsthand how self-organized teams inspect, adapt, and evolve

Invited Paper: Ingredients of a High-Quality Information Systems Program in a Changing IS Landscape

This paper describes James Madison University’s undergraduate major in Computer Information Systems as an example of a high- quality Information Systems (IS) program and discusses our planned evolution in the context of the rapid changes of technological, business, and social factors. We have determined what we consider to be five essential ingredients of what makes JMU’s program a high-quality IS major. These are: (1) building an integrated, rigorous curriculum with a strong technical foundation; (2) developing a vibrant community of faculty, students, alumni, employers, and community service organizations; (3) respecting and supporting pedagogical scholarship; (4) committing to continuous improvement and assessment; and (5) accreditation. We believe these ingredients will continue to be highly relevant as the IS discipline moves forward, but also that curriculum content will need to adjust to meet changing demand. We discuss the increasing relevance of topics such as analytics, security, and the cloud to the IS curriculum and their implications for pedagogy, accreditation, and scholarship. We hope that sharing JMU’s experience, insights, and future directions will be useful to JISE’s readership