Information Systems Academic Program Assessment: A Comparison Of Objective And Subjective Approaches

Developing program assessment instruments and methodologies is a common problem in higher edu-cation. This paper reports on a study that compared an objective instrument against a subjective in-strument for measuring program learning objectives. The results indicate that at least four of the sev-en learning objectives apparently are being measured by the objective instrument

A Preliminary Study of Industry\u27s Use of the Internet

Internet use by business has grown dramatically in the past two years, but little serious research has yet been published on this phenomenon. This paper reports on an exploratory study of 35 persons who are knowledgeable of the Internet use in their organizations. It was found that Internet use was fairly widespread and used predominantly for marketing applications. While security was viewed as a serious concern, business need and cost were perceived to be more important in deciding to use the Internet

The IS Undergraduate Curriculum: Predicting Student Outcomes In An Upper Division Programming Course

Academic performance of students is a primary factor in student attrition.  Being able to reliably predict academic success would facilitate improved advising for academic program and course selection.  This study examines several predictor variables and assesses their value in predicting course performance in an upper division computer programming course in an undergraduate business-based Information Systems (IS) degree program

Factors That Impact Student Performance in a Course Sequence

On-line courses have become an important component of the delivery of courses in all areas of education. The validity of online delivery is challenged if Web students perform poorly in subsequent major courses. This paper investigates the effect of mode of delivery and other factors on the level of success, failure, potential, and limitations of web delivery in course sequences. This study was conducted on a two-course sequence in the Computer Information Systems Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver. The result of this research identifies important factors impacting student success in this two course sequence

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Online Delivery In Prerequisite Courses On CIS Majors Course Sequence

On-line courses have become an important component of the delivery of courses in all areas of education. The validity of online delivery is challenged if Web students perform poorly in subsequent major courses. This paper investigates the level of success, failure, potential, and limitation of on-line delivery in the CIS area at MSCD. The result of this research will provide a framework for developing a methodology for this kind of study, allowing academic institutions to evaluate the success and utility of online courses

Metabolomics demonstrates divergent responses of two Eucalyptus species to water stress

Past studies of water stress in Eucalyptus spp. generally highlighted the role of fewer than five “important” metabolites, whereas recent metabolomic studies on other genera have shown tens of compounds are affected. There are currently no metabolite profiling data for responses of stress-tolerant species to water stress. We used GC–MS metabolite profiling to examine the response of leaf metabolites to a long (2 month) and severe (Ψpredawn < −2 MPa) water stress in two species of the perennial tree genus Eucalyptus (the mesic Eucalyptus pauciflora and the semi-arid Eucalyptus dumosa). Polar metabolites in leaves were analysed by GC–MS and inorganic ions by capillary electrophoresis. Pressure–volume curves and metabolite measurements showed that water stress led to more negative osmotic potential and increased total osmotically active solutes in leaves of both species. Water stress affected around 30–40% of measured metabolites in E. dumosa and 10–15% in E. pauciflora. There were many metabolites that were affected in E. dumosa but not E. pauciflora, and some that had opposite responses in the two species. For example, in E. dumosa there were increases in five acyclic sugar alcohols and four low-abundance carbohydrates that were unaffected by water stress in E. pauciflora. Re-watering increased osmotic potential and decreased total osmotically active solutes in E. pauciflora, whereas in E. dumosa re-watering led to further decreases in osmotic potential and increases in total osmotically active solutes. This experiment has added several extra dimensions to previous targeted analyses of water stress responses in Eucalyptus, and highlights that even species that are closely related (e.g. congeners) may respond differently to water stress and re-waterin

Freshmen Expectations of Information Systems Careers versus Their Own Careers

College student interest in career as information systems (IS) professionals has declined dramatically in recent years. If continued, this trend could have a profound effect, both on academia and industry. One possible explanation for this decline is that students hold negative perceptions of the workstyle associated with the positions held by IS graduates. A study of freshman business majors was conducted which compared their perceptions of IS workstyle to their own expected careers. The study showed that compared to their perceptions of IS jobs, they expected their own jobs to involve substantially more human interaction and less direct involvement in the implementation of computer technology. The results suggest a need for: (1) a more proactive strategy to market the IS career both inside and outside the classroom, and (2) some creative approaches for the placement and content of programming activities in both the major and the career