What a Difference a Year Makes

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What a Difference a Year Makes
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Overview...
Overview

• Rationale
• Issues
• Location, Location, Location
• Course Content
• Research Method
• Key Indicators
• Questionnaire
• Findings
• Summary
• Questions

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Research focus...
Rationale

• Challenge
• Maintaining an effective, up to date IS Curriculum

• Attracting students
• Engaging students
• Diverse in age, social background
• Meeting industry needs
• New emerging occupations
• Competitive in the market place

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Location, Location
ISsues

• Variable Fees
• Traditional versus New University
• Reputation of X and Y Professor
• Different terminology
• MIS/Informatics/BIT/BIT
• League tables
• Staff to student ratio
• Position of IS Computing, Informatics, Business
  School?
• Level undergrad, postgrad

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Course Content
ISsues

• School Curriculum
• Not sure what IS students expect
• Aim at diversity or standardisation
• Core options
• Intellectually stimulating
• Fads
• Bandwagons
• Fun
• Creativity and Innovation
• Community

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Key Indicators ...
Research Method

• Historical perspective
• Competitor Analysis
• Job Market Employers
• IS Research
• IS Academic Community
• Students

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Research Method...
Research Method

• Industry 276 54 (20) respondents
• 2004 IS Academics 19 (30) respondents
• 2005 IS Academics ??? 33 (??) respondents

• Interpersonal and Management Skills
• Organisational Knowledge
• Systems Development Knowledge
• Specialist Knowledge
• Technical Knowledge
• Web Development
• Databases

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Interpersonal Skills...
Findings

• Industry Very Important
• Oral communications
• Teamwork
• Analytical skills
• 2004 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Analytical skills
• Oral communications
• Written communications
• 2005 Academic Extremely Important
• Analytical Skills
• Critical Thinking
• Collaborative Skills

• Top three form 14
• Majority of attributes seen as more important
• Exception - communication skills

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Organisational Skills...
Findings

• Industry Important
• Privacy Issues
• Business Functions
• Business Environment
• 2004 Academic Very Important Important
• Business functions
• Organisational behaviour
• Business environment
• 2005 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Ethical Issues
• Organisational Behaviour
• Business Environment

• Top three from 10
• Generally the attributes seen as more important

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Systems Knowledge...
Findings

• Industry Important
• Testing Strategies
• Define scope and objectives of projects
• Systems Operation and Maintenance
• 2004 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Define scope and objectives of projects
• Evaluate feasibility
• E-R diagramming
• 2005 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Define scope and objectives of projects
• Evaluate feasibility
• E-R diagramming

• Top three from 22
• Similar views and little change in the academic
  responses
• Exception HCI and Legacy Systems more important

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Specialist Knowledge...
Findings

• Industry Important
• Information Security
• Disaster Prevention/Recovery
• Quality Assurance
• 2004 Academic Important
• Information Security
• Customer Resource Planning
• ERP
• 2005 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Information Security
• Decision Support Systems
• Knowledge Management

• Top three from 18
• Major changes
• Risk Management up from 8th 4th
• Quality Assurance up from 11th 5th
• CRP down from 2nd to 10th

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Specialist Knowledge...
Findings

• Industry Important
• Information Security
• Disaster Prevention/Recovery
• Quality Assurance
• 2004 Academic Important
• Information Security
• Customer Resource Planning
• ERP
• 2005 Academic Extremely Important Very
  Important
• Information Security
• Decision Support Systems
• Knowledge Management

• Top three from 18
• Major changes
• Risk Management up from 8th 4th
• Quality Assurance up from 11th 5th
• CRP down from 2nd to 10th

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Technical Knowledge...
Findings

• Industry Important
• Microsoft Office Extremely important
• Outlook/Exchange
• Microsoft Project
• 2004 Academic Important
• Microsoft Office Extremely important
• Macromedia Dreamweaver
• HTML Editors
• 2005 Academic Very Important Important
• Microsoft Office Extremely important
• Microsoft Project
• Oracle

• Top three from 14
• Significant reduction in level of importance for
  thee majority of the attributes.

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Web Development ...
Findings

• Industry Important
• DHTML/HTML
• Java Script
• 2004 Academic Important
• DHTML/HTML
• Java Script
• 2005 Academic Important Somewhat Important
• XML
• Java Script

• Top three from 12
• Very similar views in relation to order of
  importance.
• Level of importance significantly lower

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Databases ...
Findings

• Same order of importance
• 1. Access
• 2. Oracle
• 3. SQL Server
• 4. My SQL
• 5. DB2

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Programming ...
Findings

• Top five

• Additional Comments
• dont need a programming language
• Any just the notion of what programming is

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Additional Comments ...
Findings

• Industry
• Main attributes for graduate- Reliable turns
  up for work consistently Discreet can handle
  office situations Realistic is in the real
  world Trustworthy and leave him to get on
  with job unsupervised
• 04 Academic
• good theoretical underpinning in computer
  science and an appreciation of the human
  factors/issues in IS/IT usage
• 05 Academic
• Principles not products

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Summary...
Summary
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Thank youBarbara HowellQuestions?
Thank youBarbara Howell Questions?