We ARE Doing Relevant IS Research: It\u27s The Truth

Research and teaching are closely linked in a professional academic field such as Information Systems. Research informs textbook writers. Textbooks inform students. Students practice what they learn. Research is disseminated to students/practitioners through reading assignments, class presentations and discussions, and easily accessible publications. Our field should be concerned with quality over quantity of research since good research is what we want to disseminate to practitioners

Aiding Participation and Engagement in a Blended Learning Environment

This research was conducted as a field experiment that explored the potential benefits of anchoring in asynchronous online discussions for business statistics classes required for information systems majors. These classes are usually taught using traditional methods with emphasis on lecturing, knowledge reproduction, and treatment of students as dependent learners. Course activities are typically centered on the teacher as the source of all knowledge and understanding. Moreover, student interactions are often limited to face-to-face meetings in the classroom, where students have exerted little effort towards engaging themselves. Online discussions show promise for improving students’ learning in business statistics classes. We examined and compared the impact of anchored asynchronous online discussions (AAODs) and standard asynchronous online discussions (AODs) on students’ participation and engagement in a blended learning environment. The findings show that AAODs facilitated more and better quality participation and engagement for undergraduates. AAODs were more likely to be perceived as helping increase students’ efforts. The findings provide useful insights for improving student interaction and aiding learning

Sports Analytics: Predicting Athletic Performance with a Genetic Algorithm

Existing predictive modeling in sports analytics often hinges on atheoretical assumptions winnowed from a large and diverse pool of game metrics. Feature subset selection by way of a genetic algorithm to identify and assess the combinatorial advantage for a group of metrics is a viable option to otherwise arbitrary model construction. However, this approach concedes similar arbitrariness as there is no general strategy or common practice design among the tightly coupled nucleus of genetic operators. The resulting dizzying ecosystem of choice is especially difficult to overcome and leaves a residual uncertainty regarding true strength of output, specifically for practical implementations. This study transposes ideas from extreme environmental change into a quasi-deterministic extension of standard GA functionality that seeks to punctuate converged populations with individuals from auxiliary metas. This strategy has the effect of challenging what might otherwise be considered shallow fitness, thereby promoting greater trust in output against innumerable alternatives

Determinants of Corporate Web Services Adoption: A Survey of Companies in Korea

Despite growing interest and attention from Information Technology researchers and practitioners, empirical research on factors that influence an organization’s likelihood of adoption of Web services has been limited. This study reports an empirical analysis of survey data to identify the influencing factors and demographic characteristics related to Web services adoption intention—based on whether to adopt and when to adopt Web services—from the perspective of 129 South Korean firms. The survey questionnaire respondents were an individual in each firm who typically advised the key person who would be making the decision to adopt Web services technology. The determining factors of Web services adoption were identified from both in-depth interviews with Web services experts and a literature review. The questionnaire was pretested with a pilot survey of seventy-four South Korean firms. Logistic regression was the main statistical analysis method, and the test showed significant correlation between some factors and whether to adopt. Important factors are business benefit driver (BBD), readiness (RD), and trust (TRUST)

Anchoring for Self-Efficacy and Success: An Anchored Asynchronous Online Discussion Case

In recent years, we have observed a rising interest in studying the effects of Web 2.0 technologies on student learning. We learned that human behavior can be influenced by personal and environmental factors as in Bandura’s concept of “reciprocal causation.” For business statistics students, we implemented online discussions to extend student involvement beyond the walls of the classroom, increase their effort, and enhance their success. We chose business statistics because many students struggle in this course. In the past, in our efforts to aid with this issue, when we used standard online discussions, we observed that students had difficulty navigating through those discussions. They participated strictly out of compliance and several of their comments were repeats of each other. To this end, we implemented anchored discussions to assist with the navigation issue. We examined the effects of the two forms of online discussions based on the students’ feedback in essays they were asked to write at the end of the course. Using a qualitative data analysis, students’ self-efficacy emerged as an important theme. We found that anchored asynchronous online discussions (AAODs) are more likely to help increase students’ selfefficacy than standard online discussions (AODs). Moreover, AAOD students obtained statistically significant higher exam scores than students using AODs

A Model for Measuring Knowledge Constructions of Students in Online Discussions

In this paper, we propose a conceptual idea for measuring knowledge in online discussions. The measurement we propose is based on technical terms of any ontology that students use for describing concepts related to each other. We conducted a simulation experiment which demonstrated that the relationships linking concepts affect the relationships of concepts’ technical terms, which we can use to evaluate knowledge and understanding of students

Anchored Asynchronous Online Discussions: Supporting Learning Conceptions

Online discussions show promise for improving students’ learning. We conducted two case studies to explore the potential benefits of using anchoring in asynchronous online discussions. We compared anchored asynchronous online discussions (AAODs) with standard asynchronous online discussions (AODs) on students’ experience and learning in a blended environment. Qualitative data were obtained from students based on a “take-home” essay. The students’ answers were coded and analyzed for differences using open, axial, and selective methods. We found that AAODs were more likely to be perceived as helping improve understanding, problem solving, comprehension, and social learning. AAOD students reported more enjoyable and positive experiences with AAODs. Overall, a significantly higher number of AAOD undergraduate students stated that they would like to use online discussions in future courses. The implications for this study are notable for theory and practice. AAODs can increase sharing of ideas, perspectives, and support learning conceptions

The Impact of Combining Gestalt Theories with Interface Design Guidelines in Designing User Interfaces

Software systems are one of the most important technologies that are present in every task that humans and computers perform. Humans perform their tasks by using a computer interface. Graphical user interfaces are the most common interface that developers rely on to create easy-to-use, easy-to-learn and easy-to-understand software systems so that end users can improve their performance. However, many times, developers tend to create software using their own preferences based on their skills and abilities but do not consult theories that would produce better outcomes. We conducted a study to identity whether software that is developed by using Gestalt theories combined with interface development guidelines produces better outcomes compared to software developed using developers’ current skills. Results show that for the present research, participants perceived the system that was developed using such approach had superior quality compared to another that does not. However, results should be taken cautiously