Impact of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation on Higher Education

The objective of this paper is to discuss the future of higher education in the AI age

Theoretical Foundation for Relationship Construct in Information Modeling --Relation Element Theory

Information modeling is a critical process in software development. One of the key constructs in information modeling is the relationship construct. Though commonly used, the relationship construct is poorly defined and lacks a strong theoretical foundation. The objectives of this research are to define and classify the various relationships based on a theory in linguistic known as the relation element theory. This paper describes the theory, relates the theory to the relationship construct, and discusses the implication of the theory on the relationship construct

Xcert Software, Inc.

The case on Xcert Software, Inc., illustrates the operational and strategic issues encountered by a startup IT company in the Internet security business. Xcert faces difficulty in a number of areas: (1) finances, (2) future direction and leadership, (3) organizational structure, experience and size, and (4) marketing. This is a discussion case that introduces students to the competitive world of Internet business and provides them an opportunity to discuss and debate the myriad issues facing the founders of Xcert

Website Design: The Concepts of Informational and Computational Equivalence

“To the end users, the user interface is the system.” This slogan has been widely used in human-computer interaction field to stress the importance of user interface design. In the Internet and electronic commerce area, the website is not only the system, but it also projects an image of the organization in cyberspace. The design of websites is central to businesses as they create the first impression of organizations to visitors. For a virtual organization, the website is also the only medium that visitors rely on to form their impression of the organization. In this paper, we look at theories and frameworks from cognitive psychology, particularly the Informational and Computational Equivalence theory, and investigate their implications on website designs. A weaker version of the theory, Weak Informational and Weak Computational Equivalence, is also proposed

Impact on Open Source Software Performance: A View from Social Structure

Open source software (OSS) has drawn increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers in recent years. However, few empirical studies have investigated the interaction process of OSS teams during OSS development. This research has two primary objectives. The first is to study the social structure of OSS teams. The second is to investigate the factors impacting the social structure of OSS teams as well as the effects of the social structure on OSS performance. Based on the social structure and social network theory, and group-related theories, this paper first presented a general research framework, then discussed research methodology, and finally describes a two-phase study plan. By exploring the relationships between group characteristics, social network, and OSS performance, the study contributes to the enhancement of knowledge on OSS development from the social structure perspective

Community banking in the e-business era

This paper reviews how existing and potential uses of Internet technology can generate a competitive advantage for rural community banks. To do so, it offers a framework for analyzing Internet technology investment decisions. Organizations in this segment of the banking industry are often more removed from centers of technology and have traditionally been more conservative in their approaches to information technology (among other things). Banking Associations have developed in the U.S., such as the Independent Bankers Association, to try and help community banks coordinate marketing, legislative, and other issues that they have in common. The use of Internet technology can and will have a great strategic impact on the operations, management, and marketing for these banks and their associations. After a review of current technologies and their uses, the paper will identify specific opportunities for inter-, intra-, and extranet applications that could be used to enhance the internal and external competitive factors of these more isolated businesses and their associations. The paper will then present a framework for evaluating investment decisions in this new technology

A Semiotics View of Modeling Method Complexity - The Case of UML

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the standard modeling language for object oriented system development. Despite its status as a standard, UML’s formal specification is fuzzy and its theoretical foundation is weak. Semiotics, the study of signs, provides us good theoretical foundation for UML research as UML graphical notations are some kinds of signs. In this research, we use semiotics to study the graphical notations in UML. We hypothesized that using iconic signs as UML graphical notations leads to more accurate representation and arouses fewer connotations than using symbolic signs. Since symbolic signs involve more learning efforts, we assume that expert users of UML will perform better with symbolic signs than novice users. We created an open-ended survey to test these hypotheses. The qualitative analysis of the survey process can help us gain in-depth understanding of the complexity of modeling language graphical notations. In addition, the introduction of semiotics in this research helps build a solid theoretical foundation of IS modeling method research

Online Education During and After COVID-19 Pandemic

Even before COVID-19, online education is already experiencing high growth and adoption (Erickson & Siau, 2003). Whether it is language application, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tool, or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19. In this unprecedented and uncertain time, most people are encouraged to study at home and work from home. On one hand, there are many challenges to online education, especially with the sudden transition. Many instructors and students have little or no training in online education. Other issues such as insufficient bandwidth and missing hardware and software are common. On the other hand, this presents an unforeseen and golden opportunity for a wider student population to experience online education. This will likely change the perception of students on online education and may trigger a wider online education adoption after the pandemic. There are many nice features with online education: (i) Removing the limitation of learning space and time. Online education is open to all people wherever they are and whenever they want to study; (ii) Synchronous teaching provides more opportunities for online students to participate in real-time interaction and to communicate with off-online students. Asynchronous education provides course scheduling flexibility and allows students to progress according to their understanding, mastery of course materials, and internalization of knowledge; (iii) Providing more people with access to education and promoting educational equity. Students from poor areas and developing countries have the opportunity to access high-quality education resources in their countries or any parts of the world at an affordable price (Siau, 2018); (iv) Big data and artificial intelligence can analyze the outcomes of pedagogical activities (Wang & Siau, 2019). This improves the quality of teaching; (v) Students have access to more materials when learning online, such as electronic resource databases at the school/national/public library and Google Scholar; (vi) Better experience with online education because of the availability of comprehensive course materials. For example, arts and science education courses on how to live a healthy life and how to manage time. Online education has its shortcomings as well: (i) Difficult to establish a sense of belonging in an online class which may not be designed to cultivate collective consciousness by emphasizing individual activities; (ii) The learning process requires students to have high self-discipline because they can be easily distracted and attracted by social chats, news, and games; (iii) Lack of emotional engagement between teachers and students, and between students. For those who have access to the right technologies, they can capitalize on the advantages of online education to improve learning efficiency. Although online education is a trend, it is not the only form of future education. With the COVID-19 pandemic, online education is thrust into the limelight and serves a key role during the pandemic. Undoubtedly, online education will become an integral component of education after the pandemic