Lessons Learned from the Teaching of IS Development

Abstract

Executive SummaryThe importance of information systems as a strategic resource to organizations and the amazing rate of information system technology evolution are widely recognized. As a result, undergraduate courses in this field need frequent updating to remain effective. This article presents a model to restructure the teaching of information systems. This model has received inputs from students, teachers and ex-students of our Computation Department and also from the organizational staff that interacts with our students in their training posts. These inputs help us to identify the main gaps in our curriculum and the organizational necessities that concern information systems staff. The model identifies the main areas that are the basis of our curriculum proposal, as well as the main knowledge topics to be covered. We conclude that an information systems curriculum must have an organizational emphasis as big as, or greater than the technological one. Keywords: information systems, information systems curriculum, teaching information systems, curriculum model, undergraduate courses IntroductionThis work describes our experiences over the years of teaching information systems (IS) and the lessons we have learned.We teach a course entitled "Computation and Management". The first three years of the curriculum focus on core modules and the fourth offers a set of optional modules, which aim to present emergent paradigms and technologies. After completing all the modules, students must do a six-month training post. We present them with a set of projects for them to choose. In the last few years 49% of students have made their training posts in software houses and consulting firms, 13% in industrial organizations, 12% in research organizations, 9% in the health sector, and the others in different fields.The difficulties felt by our students in their training posts help us to identify the organizational needs and the gaps in our curriculum. Organizations need IS people with technical and organizational skills to effectively conceptualize, develop and manage IS. Organizational survival is increasingly dependent on the ability to use information as a strategic and operational resource. A modern IS curriculum must reflect this need.In this work we present a model to restructure the teaching of IS. The first section describes the background and main problems of our students in information systems development. The second section describes the necessary knowledge domains to support a curriculum model which can give IS undergraduate students the necessary skills for the effective management of the information resources of organizations.

Strategies to Enhance Student Learning in a Capstone MIS Course

“…Scholars (Lopes & Morais, 2002;Neville & Adam, 2003) have highlighted the need to provide an integrated (business and information technology) experience to information technology students in a capstone course. Neville and Adam (2003) state that this enables students to develop skills that they can use immediately to "contribute to the organizations that hire them."…”

“…Neville and Adam (2003) state that this enables students to develop skills that they can use immediately to "contribute to the organizations that hire them." Lopes and Morais (2002) point out that IS courses need to be "frequently updated to remain effective" due to the nature of the Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page.…”

Strategies to Enhance Student Learning in a Capstone MIS Course

“…Designing a capstone MIS course is challenging due to factors such as the need to integrate business concepts and technology concepts & skills, the diversity of IT skills and the rapid rate of change in the IT industry. Scholars (Lopes & Morais, 2002;Neville & Adam, 2003) have highlighted the need to provide an integrated (business and information technology) experience to information technology students in a capstone course. Neville and Adam (2003) state that this enables students to develop skills that they can use immediately to "contribute to the organizations that hire them."…”