Requirements Analysis and Implementation

This case deals with issues related to conversion of a mostly manual information system to an electronic information system where the new system significantly changes the way users interact with the system. The case focuses on the elements of analysis and design, followed by implementation and results. This case provides scenarios and settings that may be used for role plays and group discussions to highlight the importance and the need for following the accepted systems analysis and design steps in the analysis, design, and implementation of IT systems.

Education Balanced Scorecard for Online Courses

This case presents a best-practice in higher education, whereby a balanced scorecard approach was used to assess the effectiveness of a distance education (online) course in an accredited business degree program at an Australian public university. The assessment rubric was created by applying the concept of the balanced scorecard (from management science) to measure student performance, satisfaction, as well as content and delivery effectiveness. Performance was derived from the course grades while a validated survey instrument was utilized to gather estimates of all other factors from the students. One of the key lessons-learned in the case was that rather than reinvent the wheel, it was better to reuse accreditation surveys designed for the classroom to assess online courses and leverage the management science philosophy of measuring more than just performance to evaluate program success. Similar scorecard concepts have already been applied in U.S. universities, thus their differences with this case are also discussed.

Sharing Insights

The case presents an analysis of the postings of a group of online teachers from a Mexican public university as they confront the challenges and rewards of their day-to-day teaching activities. They commented on their problems and accomplishments in a discussion forum during one semester. The problems included academic-administrative issues, difficulties of students in the appropriation of the platforms and the self-regulation of their learning, time management, negotiation and penalization of tasks delayed, and other pedagogical concerns to the lack of institutional support. The findings suggest that the problems that online teachers face share specific characteristics and, according to the teachers, are mostly due to the pedagogical relationship being technologically mediated. Through the analysis, the author hopes to illustrate the complex technological, organizational, and cultural issues that accompany online teaching and learning, and how the institution and the individual teachers dealt with them.

Lab Development for Delivering Information Systems Courses Online at Small Campuses

In this case study, you will encounter some of the issues of lab development for delivering lab-based information systems courses online. Many small campuses have very limited budget or no budget at all for the computer lab specifically designed for information systems majors. Sometimes, even with new computers purchased, very few people know how to set them up for lab-based information systems (IS) courses. What are the software and hardware requirements for getting the lab online? How much will it cost? Where can you find resources for the lab development? To ensure quality teaching on IS-related topics, you have to deal with these issues. This case study will discuss how to create a lab that allows students to get hands-on practice for courses such as network management or database processing online with a shoestring budget.

A Case of an IT-Enabled Organizational Change Intervention

This case study documents an organizational change intervention concerning the implementation of a novel information technology at a university-owned research foundation (URF). It evidences the disparate expectations and reactions by key actors toward the change event, marking a mismatch between a new paradigm required by the new technology and existing information technology practices. Drawing upon change management and management information systems (MIS) literature, the authors discuss the perceived change management issues hindering the change process at URF. The discussion is tempered by a theoretical lens that attempts to integrate the literature bases drawn upon in this research. In particular, resistance from in-house IT specialists was observed as the strongest force obstructing the novel IT implementation. This study offers a forum to stimulate both researchers and practitioners to rethink the necessary elements required to enact change, especially with respect to novel IT implementations.

The UAB Virtual Campus

The university is currently involved--within Europe--in a process of coordinating higher education for adaptation to the new ECTS European credits, which implies changing from a teacher-centred model (teacher conveys knowledge) to a learner-centred model, a real challenge. Since 1996, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has been carrying out the “Campus Virtual de la UAB” project. This platform fulfils several roles that aim at providing an answer to this challenge: it provides support to face-to-face teaching; it encourages teaching innovation; it promotes the creation of learning materials; it fosters communication; it favours monitoring of the learning process; it favours self-learning and self-assessment; and it enables blended teaching experiences. This chapter will focus on how to use the communication and discussion functionalities between teachers and students, between students themselves, and on monitoring of the students’ learning process.

Developing a Learning Organization Model for Problem-Based Learning

This case describes the initiative to develop a learning organization model to support the pedagogy of problem-based learning (PBL) as an approach to conduct teaching in the author’s undergraduate curriculum development. Specifically, an organizational scenario is described to support introducing the PBL method of course delivery. This is based on an action research depiction on some of the experiences and issues involved in conceiving and developing a Web-based course-support environment called REAL (Rich Environment for Active Learning). This case then deliberates on the idea of setting up a Center for PBL Research as an important mechanism of institutional innovation. This center could be considered as an essential effort to encourage individual organizational units within the university to provide suitable electronic services toward the realization of a virtual university. The dilemma of this effort, however, remains the emergent changes of organizational behavior in education, which is essentially subjective, eclectic, individual, context-specific, and often one-off, making it traditionally the most difficult to support with technology.

The Adjunct’s Role in Delivering Quality Online Instruction

Efforts to promote the distinctiveness of online programs in an increasingly competitive market have led to a focus on instructor expertise and instructional quality. The part-time instructor, who is most often charged with facilitating online courses, is commonly viewed as a liability to the integrity of the instructional process. However, little is known about the true nature of the motivations or competencies of this group of instructors. Most often, they are perceived as a homogeneous group with similar motivations and levels of expertise. This case challenges this notion by focusing on a single instructor categorized as a full-time, professional adjunct and is characterized by her colleagues as highly skilled. The case participant describes challenges and best practices that support her in providing quality instruction. These best practices subsequently are discussed as strategies to inform decisions upon which marketing efforts are dependent.

Critical Issues in Evaluating Education Technology

This chapter highlights some issues that are critical in evaluating technology in education such that it will be implemented to meet educational goals, and it will also serve as a spotlight for policy makers and educators to make a worthwhile return on their technology investment. Schools and institutions of learning invest heavily on technology before establishing clear plans on how it will be integrated into teaching and learning to achieve educational goals. Even though many studies have reported positive impact of technology on students’ learning, few studies have been carried out to investigate whether the investment on technology in schools have been commensurate with the investment. Particularly, needs assessment on both students and teachers’ technology needs is often ignored before technology implementation. Educators and policy makers need to consider certain evaluation issues before committing huge budget percentages into technology. It is crucial to ask what can technology do that cannot be done without it, what percentage of the institution’s budget should be invested on technology, how should technology be integrated in the curriculum to achieve educational goals, and lots more before investing on educational technology to avoid resource wastage. Thus, this chapter highlights these critical issues in the light of a study conducted on the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in Malaysian secondary school (Adedokun, 2008). The research investigated some concerns that culminated from the integration of ICT in the instruction of English, mathematics, and science in Malaysia among which are: Can the teachers deliver? Do they have the strong will to deliver? Are there adequate facilities for them to carry out this new task? Do they possess the necessary skills for them to be able to deliver? Does the government provide adequate training on the integration of ICT in subject content? Are the students prepared for the change in the medium of instruction? What is the present situation in schools with regards to the use of ICT? And is better teaching and learning achieved with the integration of ICT?

ERP Implementation in Higher Education

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems long have been known as systems that bring integration to numerous business activities within complex organizations. However, in today’s contemporary organizations, ERP systems are becoming a standard information system, irrespective of size and nature of the business. This case focuses on the implementation of an ERP system in higher education. The case covers the key stages of implementation. Particular emphasis is placed on the selection of the ERP system and the organizational dynamics involved. The implementation of the first two modules and the views of users are discussed. The depth of the case can enable managers to understand the complexity of an ERP system selection and the organizational issues involved. The analysis of the case sheds light on the activities involved in ERP projects and what to expect during the implementation stage.