Five Data Validation Cases

Data-validation routines enable computer applications to test data to ensure their accuracy, completeness, and conformance to industry or proprietary standards. This paper presents five programming cases that require students to validate five different types of data: (1) simple user data entries, (2) UPC codes, (3) passwords, (4) ISBN numbers, and (5) credit card numbers

A First Case Project in Visual Basic.Net: Preparing an Income Tax Return

Most commercial programming applications are considerably more complex than the end-of-chapter exercises found in programming textbooks. This case addresses this problem by requiring the students in an entry-level Visual Basic programming class to create an application that helps users prepare their U.S. income tax returns. For convenience, the forms in this project are simplified versions of some of the tax forms that a U.S. taxpayer would use to complete a real income tax return-i.e., Schedules A, B, and C, as well as a Child Care worksheet and a Schedule 1040. Although integrative in nature, the case does not require advanced programming skills, is useful as an interim class assignment, and can be completed using either VB.6 or VB.Net

Should you Allow your Students to Grade their own Homework?

Allowing students to grade their own homework promises several advantages to both students and instructors. But does such a policy make sense? This paper reports the results of an experiment in which eight separate assignments completed by approximately 80 students were first graded by the students using a grading rubric, and then re-graded by a teaching assistant, using this same rubric. The study found that the differences observed in the two sets of data were statistically significant, but (in the author’s opinion) acceptably small. The study also confirmed observations by earlier researchers that students who generously grade their work tend to fall among the lower-performing individuals in a class

A Term Project in Visual Basic: The Downhill Snowboard Shop

Most commercial programming applications are considerably more complex than the end-of-chapter exercises found in programming textbooks. This case addresses this problem by requiring the students in entry-level Visual Basic programming classes to create an application that helps users order ski equipment from a retailer. For convenience, the forms in this project are simplified versions of what users might actually see in a shopping cart application. Although integrative in nature, the case does not require advanced programming skills. However, it requires familiarity with data and control arrays, formatting, loop controls, and parsing, as well as considerable documentation. It is therefore most suitable as an integrative term project. The required tasks can be completed using either VB.6 or VB.Net

Playing Jeopardy in the Classroom: An Empirical Study

Playing TV game shows such as Jeopardy or Survivor in the classroom can be fun. But does it improve student understanding of course concepts? To find out, the author conducted eight experimental trials in five separate undergraduate information systems classes. Although he found limited improvement in student learning, the author’s experiences with the game and the results of a student survey were positive

A New Look at Earmarking

Earmarking has been both praised and denounced as a fi cal tool of state government, 1 but there appears to be little scholarly research to either support or refute the arguments put forth in the dedication controversy. This paper attempts to weigh the evidence both for and against special funding, and to suggest some long-run planning corrections which would serve as a remedy to some specific problems often encountered in t he earmarking process. Dr. Simkin is an Associate Professor in the College of Business at the University of Hawaii

The Design, Development, And Evaluation Of Database Projects In Accounting Classes

This paper describes a comprehensive database term project and several ideas that instructors can use to facilitate good projects and streamline the grading process.  The author tested the effectiveness of this assignment with an end-of-semester student survey, a comparison of group-versus-individual project performance, and an examination of his end-of-semester course evaluations.  His analyses suggest that term projects are an effective way to help students learn database concepts, and therefore should be included among the “best practices” associated with teaching database subjects

An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Collaborative Testing in an Entry-Level Computer Programming Class

In collaborative testing environments, students work together in small groups to answer examination questions. This study tested the hypothesis that group exams help student testing performance in IS classes. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of student scores on two examinations (a quiz and a formal, extensive midterm) found significantly higher group scores (compared to individual scores), and that superior group performance was particularly notable for the constructed-response portion of the midterm. Both direct observation of the group process and a survey of student perceptions about the group exam process suggested that there were (1) few of the behavioral problems often attributed to group exams, (2) objective conflict resolution, and (3) favorable student perceptions of the process itself. This paper also provides several caveats that should be considered when interpreting these findings and suggests several avenues for future research

How Well Do Multiple Choice Tests Evaluate Student Understanding in Computer Programming Classes?

Despite the wide diversity of formats with which to construct class examinations, there are many reasons why both university students and instructors prefer multiple-choice tests over other types of exam questions. The purpose of the present study was to examine this multiple-choice/constructed-response debate within the context of teaching computer programming classes. This paper reports the analysis of over 150 test scores of students who were given both multiple-choice and short-answer questions on the same midterm examination. We found that, while student performance on these different types of questions was statistically correlated, the scores on the coding questions explained less than half the variability in the scores on the multiple choice questions. Gender, graduate status, and university major were not significant. This paper also provides some caveats in interpreting our results, suggests some extensions to the present work, and perhaps most importantly in light of the uncovered weak statistical relationship, addresses the question of whether multiple-choice tests are “good enough.

Filling the Pipeline for IS Professionals: What Can IS Faculty Do?

The large increases in the number of IS majors about ten years ago have been matched by equally large decreases in IS enrollments over the last few years. The authors used a survey of over 200 students to answer the question “what can faculty do to attract more IS majors?” This paper reports our results and provides several specific suggestions for directed efforts