Designing the spreadsheet-based decision support systems course: An application of Bloom's taxonomy

Abstract

Decision support systems (DSS) have played an important role in organizations for many years. As DSS continue to be developed for industry applications, a number of business programs in universities offer a specialized course aimed at helping students better understand and develop DSS systems to support decision making. Spreadsheet software coupled with an application programming language can serve as a useful DSS generation software package for such courses. To help students develop their technical skills for spreadsheet-based DSS, the principles underlying Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives can serve as a guiding framework for instructional design. This article describes how Bloom's taxonomy has been used to support the design of two different DSS courses, an undergraduate course and an MBA course. Student survey data collected over the past four years from students enrolled in nine sections of the DSS courses are reported. Based on the survey findings, as well as the instructor's observations, it appears that a teaching strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy offers a worthwhile framework for instructors who teach a spreadsheet-based DSS course.