Information Systems Curriculum Research Articles

Sustainability education in information systems’ curricula: A conceptual research framework

AbstractIn recent years, “sustainability education” in Higher Education has become an increasingly popular topic among researchers driven by the constant calls for the research community to contribute novel research that can aid in building a sustainable world. The objective of this paper was to explore how sustainability concepts have been integrated in Information Systems (IS) curricula, to determine the state of knowledge in this area and provide guidance for future research. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage scoping review process, the current landscape of sustainability in IS classrooms is mapped and key themes and factors which were found to influence sustainability education in IS are identified. Eight databases were searched for relevant papers published on this topic. Fifteen articles were selected and deemed high quality for a thematic analysis. As a result, nine themes emerged from the thematic analysis, and key research gaps and directions for future research are presented. The findings show that there is currently no unified approach to sustainability education in IS. This paper presents the themes in a novel conceptual research framework which can guide the incorporation of sustainability concepts in IS education. In addition, the framework can be used as the basis for future research in this area.

Teaching Case: Read to Win: Using the Game-based System Design Framework to Gamify a Summer Reading Program

The use of gamification for organizational initiatives, such as increased foot traffic and customer engagement, is on the rise. Given this, recent information systems graduates may find themselves on project teams aimed at making decisions about gamification efforts. Currently, information systems curriculum doesn’t typically address the use of specific frameworks to design and document requirements for a game-based information system to meet a business need. This teaching case exposes students to the use of the Game-based System Design Framework in combination with the Game-based System Design Diagram to enhance student learning around the design and documentation of a gamified information system. This case could be used in an undergraduate or graduate program in either a systems analysis and design or a capstone course. The use of this case assumes that students have a basic understanding of business requirements gathering and project scope statements. Additionally, in order to develop a solution to this case, it must be used in conjunction with the article “All Work and All Play? A Framework to Design Game-based Information Systems” (Barber et al., 2021).

Research on the Reform of Management Information System Curriculum Based on the Concept of OBE

Research on the Reform of Management Information System Curriculum Based on the Concept of OBE

Exploring Information Systems (IS) curricula: a semantic analysis approach

Purpose Today’s in-demand skills may not be needed tomorrow. As companies are adopting a new group of technologies, they are in huge need of information technology (IT) professionals who can fill various IT positions with a mixture of technical and problem-solving skills. This study aims to adopt a sematic analysis approach to explore how the US Information Systems (IS) programs meet the challenges of emerging IT topics. Design/methodology/approach This study considers the application of a hybrid semantic analysis approach to the analysis of IS higher education programs in the USA. It proposes a semantic analysis framework and a semantic analysis algorithm to analyze and evaluate the context of the IS programs. To be more specific, the study uses digital transformation as a case study to examine the readiness of the IS programs in the USA to meet the challenges of digital transformation. First, this study developed a knowledge pool of 15 principles and 98 keywords from an extensive literature review on digital transformation. Second, this study collects 4,093 IS courses from 315 IS programs in the USA and 493,216 scientific publication records from the Web of Science Core Collection. Findings Using the knowledge pool and two collected data sets, the semantic analysis algorithm was implemented to compute a semantic similarity score (DxScore) between an IS course’s context and digital transformation. To present the credibility of the research results of this paper, the state ranking using the similarity scores and the state employment ranking were compared. The research results can be used by IS educators in the future in the process of updating the IS curricula. Regarding IT professionals in the industry, the results can provide insights into the training of their current/future employees. Originality/value This study explores the status of the IS programs in the USA by proposing a semantic analysis framework, using digital transformation as a case study to illustrate the application of the proposed semantic analysis framework, and developing a knowledge pool, a corpus and a course information collection.

MaCuDE IS Task Force: Final Report and Recommendations

This Phase III report of the Management Curriculum for the Digital Era (MaCuDE) disciplinary task force on information systems (IS) synthesizes the main findings of the project’s two earlier phases. Based on the synthesis, this report formulates the task force’s recommendations (Phase III) for future IS curricula and graduate competencies associated with Big Data Analytics (BDA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). During the MaCuDE project, the task force—collaborating with the Association for Information Systems leadership on education—first (Phase I) surveyed a sample of representative universities to examine the status of IS education in the digital era. During the next phase (Phase II), the task force interviewed industry leaders regarding their information systems education needs with a focus on emerging BDA and AI needs. This report builds on Phase I and Phase II results and associated feedback from project stakeholders and outlines an IS curriculum framework that identifies projected competency levels for key IS competency areas (both new and changing) within the main IS program types related to BDA and AI education (undergraduate and graduate programs; IS programs, other business programs, and non-business programs) in the coming decade. The report also highlights critical policy issues that need to be resolved to successfully implement the proposed IS curricula changes addressing BDA and AI needs.

MaCuDE IS Task Force Phase II Report: Views of Industry Leaders on Big Data Analytics and AI

This paper represents the Phase II report of the Management Curriculum for the Digital Era (MaCuDE) disciplinary task force on information systems (IS). Aligned with the current work of the AIS (Association for Information Systems) and ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), we focus on the current and future industry driven educational needs and requirements posed by big data analytics (BDA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and related innovations. In this report, we probe and report on the views of industry leaders regarding BDA/AI education needs. We conducted 18 rich semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of industry leaders situated around key changes and issues related to workforce demands in digital transformation and associated educational needs. We performed a grounded theory based analysis of key themes in reported education needs. We note the shifting meaning of AI and BDA phenomena and identify three main organizational level needs for the digital era - capability improvement and transformation, decision-making strategies and tactics, and changes in operations or products - and connect them to three individual professional competencies necessary to deliver them: fundamental environmental competencies, data information and content, and system design competencies. Based on the analysis we outline several novel competency-based IS curriculum recommendations for the master's and undergraduate level IS education.

Quantum Computing and IS - Harnessing the Opportunities of Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies have a high potential for impact and are worthy of attention by the Information Systems (IS) community. To date, the IS discipline has not been able to be a leader in the research and teaching of emerging technologies in their early stages arguably because: (1) IS researchers often lack knowledge of the foundational principles of such emerging technologies, and (2) during the emerging phase, there is insufficient data on the adoption, use, and impact of these technologies. To overcome these challenges, the IS discipline must be willing to break its own disciplinary research boundaries to go beyond software applications and their related management issues and start studying emerging technologies before they are massively adopted by industry. In this paper, we use quantum computing as an exemplar emerging technology and outline a research and education agenda that will help IS harness the opportunities quantum computing offers. We propose that IS researchers rigorously investigate emergent technologies through collaboration with researchers from other disciplines. We also see a role for IS researchers in the scholarship of emerging technologies and in the process of introducing emerging technologies into IS curricula.

Schedule Implementing the Modified Euclidean Distance Method in the Course Planning of the USN Kolaka Information Systems Curriculum

Scheduling is needed to anticipate the clash of lecture hours for lecturers in teaching. Some things that need to be considered when arranging a lecture schedule are lecturers, rooms, courses, hours, and days. In this study, the scheduling system uses the Euclidean Distance method by modifying the algorithm. The aim of this study is to prove the Euclidean distance method in the course planning system in universities. In general, to obtain data that will be used in the scheduling system, observations, interviews and bibliographic studies are carried out. From the research results, the lecture scheduling system using the Euclidean Distance method can be used in the scheduling system, especially lecture scheduling. This is proven, that the lecture scheduling system using the Euclidean Distance method does not have a schedule for lecturers who teach more than one course at the same time (collide).

Evaluation of a technical information systems module for distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeIn the wake of the pandemic (COVID-19) throughout the United States, many educators had to promptly switch to online modality to continue to provide education to students with safety through physical distancing requirements. This study mainly focuses on delivering an Information Systems module aligned with the information systems curriculum model during a pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used data collection techniques from student assignments and course tasks. These data are used for the purpose of academic assessment for the Information Systems program. The student performance is assessed on a 5-point scale (1 being low and 5 being high) for the synchronous and the asynchronous tasks related to the course. The authors compared the student performance during the pandemic to the pre-pandemic semester.FindingsThis study revealed that the technical module of an information systems course can be successfully delivered during a pandemic in a remote session. However, the authors found that there is a decline in the student performance in synchronous tasks and asynchronous tasks. But the decline of the student performance in the synchronous tasks is greater than that of the asynchronous tasks. The result of this study helps the Information Systems program with their assessment and to improve their course delivery during a pandemic.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors examine the delivery of a technical module in the field of information systems via online learning models. The authors particularly examine the synchronous and asynchronous online learning models in the delivery of the technical module. The lessons learned from transitioning to the online modality can help universities better prepare for the future during unprecedented times.

The ACM/AIS IS2020 Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems: A Joint ACM/AIS Task Force Report

The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Association of Information Systems (AIS) along with the ISCAP EDSIG, recently released a joint taskforce report IS2020: A Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems. In this paper, the co-chairs of IS2020, the latest Information Systems curriculum guidelines, provide their insight on the problems presented with existing guidelines, illustrate the issue, and share their opinions that led to the release of these latest guidelines.

Information Systems Curriculum Analysis for the MaCuDE Project

This paper represents a report on the first phase of the Management Curriculum for the Digital Era (MaCuDE) disciplinary task force on information systems (IS). As its final goal, the MaCuDE project intends to recommend changes to business curricula based on the influence of digital technologies on business transformation, specifically, the widespread use of big data analytics (BDA) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the organizations. In this report, we focus on describing the current status of both undergraduate and graduate IS curricula in business schools. Aligned with the most recent curriculum development work that the Association for Information Systems (AIS) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) have conducted, we highlight the growing importance of the BDA and AI topic areas in IS curricula. Based on the MaCuDE project survey conducted in early 2020, we summarize the core digital topics and tools that the programs covered based on a sample of global IS departments from 17 undergraduate programs and 23 graduate programs.

The Rise of NoSQL Systems

Transaction processing systems are primarily based on the relational model of data and offer the advantages of decades of research and experience in enforcing data quality through integrity constraints, allowing concurrent access and supporting recoverability. From a performance standpoint, they offer joins-based query optimization and data structures to promote fast reads and writes, but are usually vertically scalable from a hardware standpoint. NoSQL (Not Only SQL) systems follow different data representation formats than relations, such as key-value pairs, graphs, documents or column-families. They offer a flexible data representation format as well as horizontal hardware scalability so that Big Data can be processed in real time. In this review article, we review recent research on each type of system, and then discuss how teaching of NoSQL may be incorporated into traditional undergraduate database courses in information systems curricula.

Predictors of Perceived Learning Outcomes, Satisfaction, and Continued Use Intention in SAP ERP-Enabled Courses

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems allow businesses to achieve high performance through distinctive capabilities and are one of the fastest growing areas within information systems. Many universities have adopted ERP in their management information systems (MIS) curriculum to increase the marketability of their students. Drawing on the IS success model and several constructive learning theories, this study develops a model that is predictive of students' continued ERP software use intention, satisfaction, and perceived learning outcomes. SAP is the ERP system used in this study. Business students at four mid-sized state universities in the United States were surveyed. The universities are members of the SAP University Alliance. There were 373 usable responses. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to empirically test the model. The findings indicate that student motivation, perceived instructor support, and ERP system quality are strong predictors of student satisfaction, and learning outcomes. Student motivation and ERP system quality, but not perceived instructor support, are also significant predictors of continued use intention.

How to Program a Chatbot – An Introductory Project and Student Perceptions

Aim/Purpose: One of the most fascinating developments in computer user interfaces in recent years is the rise of “chatbots”. Yet extent information system (IS) curriculum lacks teaching resources on chatbots programming.. Background: To better prepare students for this new technological development and to enhance the IS curriculum, we introduce a project that teaches students how to program simple chatbots, including a transactional chatbot and a conversational chatbot. Methodology: We demonstrated a project that teaches students how to program two types of simple chatbots: a transactional chatbot and a conversational chatbot. We also conducted a survey to examine students’ perceptions on their learning experience. Findings: Our survey on students’ perception of the project finds that learning chatbots is deemed very useful because chatbot programming projects have enabled the students to understand the subject better. We also found that social influence has positively motivated the students to learn chatbot programming. Though most of the students have no prior experiences programming chatbots, their self-efficacy towards chatbot programming remained high after working through the programming project. Despite the difficult tasks, over 71% of respondents agree to various degrees that chatbot programming is fun. Though most students agree that chatbot programming is not easy to learn, more than 70% of respondents indicated that they will use or learn chatbots in the near future. The overwhelmingly positive responses are impressive given that this is the first time for the students to program and learn chatbots. Recommendations for Practitioners: In this article, we introduced a step by step project on teaching chatbot programming in an information systems class. Following the project instructions, students can get their first intelligent chatbots up and running in a few hours using Slack. This article describes the project in detail as well as students’ perceptions. Recommendations for Researchers: We used UTAUT model to measure students’ perception of the projects. This study could be of value to researchers studying students’ technology learning and adoption behaviors. Impact on Society: To our best knowledge, pedagogical resources that teach IS students how to program chatbots, especially the introductory level materials, are limited. We hope this teaching case could be of value for IS educators when introducing IS students to the wonderful field of chatbot programming. Future Research: For future work, we plan to expand the teaching resources to cover more advanced chatbot programming projects, such as on how to make chatbot more human-like.

Topics for the Accounting Information Systems Course: A Dual Perspective Approach from Educators and Employers

ABSTRACT Researchers have studied which topics to address in the Accounting Information Systems (AIS) curriculum since the 1980s. Although previous studies have identified several core topics, they have noted that the rapid pace of technology calls for continued research. This study extends prior research by surveying and comparing the views of employers and AIS educators. Even though educators consistently rated the AIS topics higher in our survey than employers did, we find a general agreement between the two groups as to the relative importance of the topics. Educators and employers concur on core AIS topics, including spreadsheet skills, internal controls, and transaction processing/cycles and general ledger reporting. This is consistent with past research. On the other hand, the following areas have gained prominence among educators and employers: Sarbanes Oxley, encryption, SQL, ERP systems, Internet communication systems, and e-commerce. The findings of this study will assist AIS faculty in determining which content will be the most relevant to accounting majors.

Validation of Curriculum Design Information System Model

<p>Information system (IS) is important to institution of higher learning (IHL) especially in the domain of curriculum design. Without the support of IS, curriculum design in IHL is time-consuming, error-prone and much effort need to put in by curriculum designers. Although there are numerous IS developed in curriculum design domain for the past few years, there is still lack of specific IS curriculum design model found in IHL. This study aims to propose an IS model which provide guidance during curriculum design process. Model validation phase begin with development of prototype which explains the process of creating a prototype according to the proposed model. The study collected 80 responses from the survey and the study resulted that the IS model is useful and able to reduce time, error and effort during curriculum design process.</p>

Information systems security job advertisement analysis: Skills review and implications for information systems curriculum

ABSTRACTThe authors' focus was the assessment of skill requirements for information systems security positions to understand expectations for security jobs and to highlight issues relevant to curriculum management. The analysis of 798 job advertisements involved the exploration of domain-related and soft skills as well as degree and certification requirements. Domain-related skills comprised the largest part of the results (16 of the top 20 skills) with the top three related to networks, standards, and policies. The most often found soft skill related to teams or teamwork. Implications for information systems curriculum are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

Enhancing project management course outcomes using an experiential learning approach

Project management skills have become increasingly important for information systems (IS) professionals. Like most skills, project management skills are developed through practice. This paper describes an innovative solution for integrating a structured project into an information systems curriculum project management course. The innovation applies best practices drawn from the experiential learning literature to the design of a course project. Our solution enhances students' project management knowledge and provides opportunities to apply that knowledge to develop project management skills. The paper presents the underlying theory, describes how that theory is incorporated in the project, provides and discusses the actual project so that others may use it as-is or adapt it to their courses, presents excerpts of students' reactions and concludes with several suggestions from the authors.

IS Curriculum Models, Course Offerings, and Other Academic Myths/Hopes

In 2010, the “IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs” was released as a joint project between the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Association for Information Systems (AIS). This set of guidelines was meant to provide guidance regarding the core content of the Information Systems curriculum that should be present everywhere. However, just how present is the recommended curriculum? We investigate 509 AACSB-accredited schools in the United States to determine the penetration of IS 2010. The results show that while some of the recommended courses are found in high concentration, others have not received as much traction.

Integrating Geospatial Technologies in Fifth-Grade Curriculum: Impact on Spatial Ability and Map-Analysis Skills

ABSTRACTThis study explores the effects of geographic information systems (GIS) curriculum on fifth-grade students' spatial ability and map-analysis skills. A total of 174 students from an urban public school district and their teachers participated in a quasi-experimental design study. Four teachers implemented a GIS curriculum in experimental classes over six weeks while three teachers continued with regular teaching in control classes. Both groups completed pre- and post-tests measuring spatial ability and map-analysis skills. Students in the GIS classes demonstrated more growth over time in spatial ability and map-analysis skills than did their peers in the control classes.