Be an ‘Appy’ Department Chair

Without a doubt, higher education has been impacted by recent technological changes. Faculty, students, and administrators are facing challenges and opportunities related to the spread of social media; the ubiquity of smart phones and tablet devices; and, the growth of wireless communications

Simulation Readings Series SIMULA’s Place in Simulation History

Citation: McHaney, Roger, Simulation Readings Series: SIMULA’s Place in Simulation History, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KansasSIMULA (SIMulation LAnguage) is a computer programming language that was conceptualized, designed, and created at the Norwegian Computing Centre in Oslo by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. Originally, SIMULA was intended to facilitate development of models for complex real world systems. It contained elements of both a standardized system description and a programming language. With system concepts based on Nygaard's experience working with operations research projects in the early 1950's, SIMULA was implemented as a discrete event computer simulation language. Initial constructs were influenced by symbolic notation used in the 1950's to construct flow diagrams representing system operation and rules governing system behaviors [1]. Early foundations for SIMULA first appeared in 1961. By this time, Nygaard had developed a fragmentary set of ideas that relied on Monte Carlo techniques to represent random variation in the occurrence of delays experienced by customers passing through a network of processes. These processes consisted of a queue portion and a service portion. The service portions were constructed with a series of statements governing the action of passive entities or customers that used these stations. Customers were created at a given station and after completing service, would be transferred to the queue of another station. After obtaining and completing service there, the process would be repeated. These transfers would continue until the customer had traversed the network and left the system. The timing and sequence of these stations would determine the number of customers that could be served over a period of time [2]. Although Nygaard had experience with computers, he did not have sufficient knowledge to develop his own programming language. He recruited software expert Ole-Johan Dahl to help him move SIMULA from theory to implementation. In the spring of 1962 Nygaard and Dahl released the first formal proposal for SIMULA. They decided that the best way to make it a real programming language was to link it to an existing, strong language. ALGOL 60, a popular programming language in Europe at the time was selected and SIMULA was developed as an extension, which allowed discrete event simulation construction. Later, SIMULA was expanded and re-implemented as a full-scale general purpose programming language. Although SIMULA has never achieved wide usage, the concepts developed within the language have been highly influential on modern computer programming. SIMULA has been credited with introducing objectoriented programming concepts like classes, objects, inheritance, and dynamic binding [3]. SIMULA's primary use is to develop computer models of systems such as ticket counters, production lines, manufacturing systems, and concurrent processing of computer programs. Today a wide variety of discrete event computer simulation software packages, such as GPSS/H, SIMAN, and ProModel, are used to create similar applications [4–8]. For further reading on simulation in general see Robinson [9–11]

Gender and Collaboration in M-Learning: A preliminary analysis

This study provides an overview of a quasi-experimental study in a secondary school context where students learned course content using class material in either text or video form on mobile devices. Gender was examined as a critical factor with motivations arising from disparities in STEM subject gender balances. T-tests were applied in order to understand the impact of various attributes on outcomes such as number of times material was revisited, duration of experience, and performance. This study provides empirical evidence suggesting women supported with video material spend more time in the application than men. The results are helpful to direct future research regarding the design and implementation of learning in secondary school settings and may help remove gender disparities found in STEM subject and career areas. This study is part of a broader effort to understand gender disparities in STEM related areas

Recruitment Of Hispanic Students Into MIS Curricula

This paper provides several suggestions Hispanic student recruitment and retention in MIS or other business curricula. Cultural considerations like allocentrism and familialism are discussed along with the situation at K-State

Undergraduate Quality Management Project: Motorcycle Manufacturer Vendor Rating System

A major motorcycle vendor, based in the U.S. Midwest, is the world’s largest custom V-Twin motorcycle manufacturer and domestically the second largest motorcycle manufacturer behind Harley-Davidson.  This project describes the process used used by a K-State undergraduate distance learning student to design and develop the initial version of a vendor rating system. Ideas for the project were derived in part from existing commercial systems and in part from interviews with different individuals in the organization. The project used concepts taught and discussed in a distance education version of a quality management course offered through Kansas State University but exceeded class expectations. The project was developed with Microsoft SQL, T-SQL, C# and Crystal Reports coding using Microsoft Visual Studio.  The initial version of the program is now in use

Data Modeling Education: The Changing Technology

Data modeling is a difficult topic for students to learn. Worse yet is the fact that practitioners, who look to academia for methods and techniques to perform such model building have found little on which to standardize, although many techniques exist. Entity relationship (ER) modeling was developed in order to help database developers visualize their (relational) database design with its data stores and internal relationships. This technique was certainly an important step forward, yet data collected over the past 11 years would indicate database developers are still having difficulty learning, assimilating, and using design techniques (cf. Blaha, 2004). Confounding the issue is the arrival of the object-oriented paradigm. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) was introduced in order to speed, simplify, and clarify design of systems. Portions of the UML are derived from ER modeling and are useful in merging the front end portion of the system with the back end data storage so a picture of the entire system can be viewed by the designer. While providing functionality that ER modeling lacks, the UML approach to data modeling also leaves some developers indecisive and confused as to which technique to use in practice. The same indecision appears to haunt the academic world. So how should data modeling be taught? In order to shed light on this question, we asked contributors to focus on whether this new system of modeling (the UML) yields a better understanding of the database design to the extent that better database designs result. We detected a buzz in the literature and in the IT world that a dichotomy of opinion over this question exists, and so this special issue was born. Educators need to air their opinions, facts, and results and discuss this controversial topic to encourage refinement in this important area. We hope that research ideas can be generated and practitioners informed that this topic is being addressed in academia. As expected, the contributors to this issue provided a dichotomy of opinion but surprisingly, their experiences and opinions moved the issue in a direction far different than what we could have predicted. We now provide you with insight into this poignant topic by presenting this special issue

Deception Detection: An Exploration of Annotated Text-Based Cues

Do embedded textual cues in asynchronous communication affect deceptive message detection? The expanded use of social media and rich media applications in business make this an important issue. Prior research indicates deception commonly occurs in all forms of communication and people have difficulty detecting its use. Asynchronous online communications are no exception and offer users a variety of media choices which may complicate deception detection, particularly if the sender has strategically selected a channel intended to disguise their intentions. The current study investigated whether embedded, non-verbal cues in common media forms found in asynchronous online venues influenced deception detection. Drawing on media synchronicity theory, results suggest embedding non-verbal cues in the form of annotated text can enhance deception detection. Overall, the findings suggest managers must be wary of sender motivations, which can influence message veracity, particularly in low synchronicity environments where media is subject to edits and manipulations

Academic Integrity: Information Systems Education Perspective

Academic integrity receives a great deal of attention in institutions of higher education. Universities and colleges provide specific honor codes or have administrative units to promote good behaviors and resolve dishonesty allegations. Students, faculty, and staff have stakes in maintaining high levels of academic integrity to ensure their degrees’ value and preserve respect for their institutions. Often, these efforts result in disparate local dialogs and various approaches to create and maintain cultures of integrity. Despite this, academic integrity receives relatively little attention in the academic literature. Several underlying reasons may exist. First, people generally do not want to reveal dishonest actions and this makes research difficult. Second, students come from a variety of backgrounds and cultural settings with different perspectives on academic integrity; some from high school environments with differing views on academic integrity. This context has resulted in the growth of information services and software products designed to structure and enable academic integrity activities and compliance. However, taken by themselves, these services provide only a partial solution. The current special issue is set against this dynamic backdrop and seeks to bring necessary discussions into the open, particularly for those teaching and researching in areas related to information systems. Our special issue offers a venue where research and practice come together in the voices of our contributors. Specifically, our articles include perspectives of academic integrity in online courses; using reflective methods to reduce plagiarism; giving voice to values as a means of promoting ethical actions; and general perspectives on a large-scale academic integrity program