COBOL on Broadway: an Innovative Approach to Teaching Programming Concepts

Students often have a difficult time grasping programming concepts the first time they are exposed to a programming language. This paper shows how role-playing can be used to demonstrate COBOL programming logic to students. The students role-play parts of a COBOL program to participate in the execution of the programming statements. “Seeing” how the program executes and data is stored seems to enhance the students’ understanding of the program

Mobile Electronic Commerce: What Is It? Who Uses It? And Why Use It?

When individuals and businesses conduct transactions electronically over a network using mobile devices, they have participated in mobile e-commerce. The advantages and disadvantages of mobile e-commerce are presented in this paper. This is followed by a discussion of who is using mobile e-commerce and why they are using it. Information is also presented on how to be successful with mobile e-commerce

A Pilot Study of Virtual Teamwork Training

The purpose of this research was to combine ideas from virtual team learning theories with technology acceptance research to identify factors that contribute to the acceptance and use of electronic collaboration technologies. An overview is provided of a model for incorporating virtual teamwork training and identifying factors that contribute to the use of an electronic collaboration system. Additionally, theoretical constructs of the research model, including the research questions and hypotheses for the study, are included. A pilot study was used to test the reliability of the instrument. The results of the pilot are described. Finally, the paper concludes with the proposed data analysis methods

The Importance Of Certification For Information Technology Professionals

In almost every Information Technology (IT) magazine, there are advertisements or articles from vendors emphasizing the importance of certification for their products. However, there is little or no evidence indicating the actual importance of certification to a career in Information Technology. This study seeks to determine which certifications, if any, are important. A survey was mailed to 550 members of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP). These individuals indicated the importance of certification in various areas to their careers, to the careers of the IT employees they supervise, and to the careers of new IT graduates. Preliminary results will be available in June

A REVIEW OF MODELS: VIRTUAL TEAMWORK TRAINING MODEL AND UTAUT

As the demand for virtual teams increases, faculty members should examine various strategies for teaching students to become successful working in virtual teams. By incorporating virtual team learning theory and technology acceptance research, faculty can develop such strategies. An examination of a virtual team learning theory and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is provided. This paper combines virtual team learning literature with technology acceptance research identifying a need for future research to help faculty better understand how to prepare students to work virtually in a global environment

Workplace Surveillance and Employee Privacy: Implementing an Effective Computer Use Policy

Organizations face growing liability with regard to employee use of electronic resources. To mitigate the risk of liability, companies must develop and implement a computer-use policy outlining proper use of organizational electronic resources. This paper examines critical aspects of computer use policies, including: clearly explaining reasons for the policy, applying the policy to all employees including all levels of the organization, and indicating zero tolerance for offensive, harassing or discriminating communications. Finally, the paper identifies the implications of a computer usage policy

The Link among Strategic Planning, Curriculum Management, and Assurance of Learning: One School’s Experience

Schools need effective processes to make certain there is a clear linkage among strategic plans, execution of the goals and objectives related to strategy, and the assurance of learning activities that demonstrate accomplishment of the plan. This paper describes the experiences and learning of one business school over a four-year period in establishing a clear linkage among strategy, execution, and measurement. Key components of success include credibility and trust between faculty and administration and a commitment by faculty members toward continuous improvemen

Gauging ADA Compliance in the 21st Century Business Internet: A Pilot Study

This paper explores issues of accessibility in Web design, including the applicability of various federal statutes such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. A pilot study of six private sector websites is completed to gauge the effectiveness of current accessibility standards as interpreted from the ADA and Section 508. Evaluating these sites shows that even after 25 years, sites still have accessibility issues

Measuring the Accessibility of the U.S. State Government Web Sites

Web accessibility has become an important issue since the dramatic rise in the use of the Web. Web accessibility deals with overcoming barriers users with disabilities face when trying to access information on Web sites. The U.S. has passed laws relating to Web accessibility to improve the usability of the Internet for disabled users. Technical advancements have improved assistive tools such as page readers for users with disabilities, but accessibility requires more than assistive tools. Web page design causes many accessibility problems. This study examines the accessibility of the home pages of the official government Web sites of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on the assumption that government Web sites should be an example for other organizations to follow regarding Web accessibility. However, nearly a third of the home pages tested did not meet the most fundamental requirements for Web accessibility. Fixes for many of these accessibility problems require rather minor adjustments to underlying page code

Integrating Technology to Achieve a Measurable Level of Learning

The purpose of this paper is to detail the barriers to the integration of technology in US school systems. The harriers experienced by both individual teachers and to school systems as a whole are discussed. Student barriers, such as computer skill levels or poverty, are also discussed. In addition, this paper explains how technology should be used and the measurable benefits of doing so. Measurable benefits reported in the literature include increased performance on measures of reading comprehension, writing, components of IQ, transfer to novel tasks, and grade point average. Closing comments focus on how technology integration must be an ongoing process in order to become a successful endeavor