Integrated Curriculum for a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems Design (BISD 2010)

Abstract

Commentators on Information Systems (IS) education have urged the IS community to develop new and alternative IS curricula. The IS 2002 model curriculum has recently been revised. The new IS 2010 curriculum guidelines for undergraduate degree programs in Information Systems [Topi et al. 2010] has a curriculum structure to accommodate the education of several different professional roles within IS. This paper identifies one such role, the Business Information Systems Designer. It presents and argues for a new, integrated Bachelor of Science curriculum for Business Information Systems Design (BISD 2010) to educate for this role. The proposed curriculum focuses on the design and use of IS in business and has a strong design focus. The education focuses on developing and training a set of capabilities that enables the Business Information Systems Designer to participate in the design of business and IS in concert. Some examples of capabilities are communication and presentation skills, business and industry understanding, and high-level modeling. Consequently, the curriculum adopted a capabilities-driven pedagogical model in order to train specific skills. The paper presents the BISD 2010 with its specific expected learning outcomes, structure, and pedagogy, and also how the students should be able to fulfill the learning outcomes. The proposed curriculum differs from much of the current IS model curriculum discussions in a number of respects: (1) it is built on a notion of design, design science, and design as a profession, (2) it is based on a capability driven pedagogical model, (3) the curriculum is modeled for a European higher education context and the Bologna accord, and (4) it is not a model curriculum, but a specific, comprehensive, and ambitious curriculum for a degree program.

An Analysis of Undergraduate Information Systems Curricula: Adoption of the IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines

“…Academic IS departments face the continual challenge of keeping curricula up-to-date to address evolving business demands. Studies of skills required by IS professionals emphasize the need for continual reassessment of IS educational curriculum and regular updates to curriculum content, concepts, and principles [Athey and Plotnicki, 1991;Brookshire, Hunt, Yin, Crews, 2007;Carlsson, Hedman, and Steen, 2010]. Over the years, IS educators have developed a series of IS model curricula to assist programs with curriculum design and implementation [Davis, Gorgone, Couger, Feinstein, et al, 1997].…”

“…This model was motivated in part by significant contextual changes in industry and academia that required greater flexibility in the IS curriculum. For example, many IS programs consisting of fewer than ten courses had difficulty implementing the stringent ten-course requirement in the IS 2002 model curriculum [Brookshire et al, 2007;Carlsson et al, 2010;Foltz and Renwick, 2011;Gorgone et al, 2005;Plice and Reinig, 2007;Salisbury, Huber, Piercy, and Elder, 2004;Topi, Valacich, Kaiser, Nunamaker, et al, 2007;Vician, Garfield, Hoffer, Prescott, et al, 2004]. Due to AACSB accreditation standards, the IS 2002 model curriculum ten-course requirement left little room for alternative elective courses within IS programs.…”

Toward a Model Undergraduate Curriculum for the Emerging Business Intelligence and Analytics Discipline

“…It introduces a formal educational methodology that supports curriculum design while maintaining the flexibility to create degrees and define a variety of career tracks for professional roles in IS. Carlsson, Hedman, and Steen (2010) show an example application of some of its elements in their proposal for an undergraduate curriculum in business IS design. Building up courses for BI/BA curricula from mapping knowledge areas and units into topics, coverages, and learning objectives will allows curriculum designers to systematically articulate both content and skills.…”

The Content of Professional Training of Future Informatics Specialists in Kazakhstan: Process of Developing Educational Program

“…It is worth noting that this document is primarily focused on the US, and is based on the knowledge and perspectives of the late 90s, early 2000s, and much has changed in the field of IT. Increased interest was seen in mobile and web applications, e-business systems, ERP systems, wireless communication systems, social networks and Web 2.0 [2]. In Kazakhstan, at the moment, the information society is booming: web services have been developed, such as e-government (http://egov.kz), the number of users of mobile applications, mobile banking, Internet of things are increasing.…”