Computer Information Systems

Abstract: Computer literacy has evolved from writing simple BASIC programs to using desktop productivity applications. The shift from mainframe to personal computer brought about the need to rethink computer literacy courses to introduce basic skills and familiarity using desktop ...

Students use computer software to accomplish many tasks that are part of their daily routines. This paper describes an innovative approach to teaching an introductory technology course in which students who had some previous experience expanded their knowledge ...

Mashups, the combining of data from multiple sources into a single web application, are popular Web 2.0 constructs, but are often difficult to create without previous programming skills. This paper describes how Microsoft Popfly, a platform for visually building ...

Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the availability of mobile devices and applications. Lower prices and increased capabilities have contributed to the popularity of these handheld computers among students and faculty, especially on college campuses where wireless Internet access is prevalent. This study explores the use of Pocket PCs to enhance teaching and learning of technology concepts in a first year "Introduction to Technology" course at a business college. By creating learning spaces and activities for integrated, experiential mobile learning, students learned about technology by using it rather than reading about it from textbooks. At the same time, their use of technology provided a context for applying knowledge from other domains. This paper describes the various learning spaces that integrate the use of mobile devices both inside and outside of the classroom to introduce course topics. The course focused on teaching integrated tools, not discrete topics, to prepare students to use mobile technology to figure out how to accomplish specific tasks. In addition to an increased facility with technology, students became more organized outside of class, maintaining their schedules and tasks, exchanging information between laptops and hand held devices and finding uses for wireless Internet access. The Pocket PC became a useful tool not only to complete students' coursework but also as part of their daily routines. To measure their learning and attitudes about technology, students in the Technology Intensive sections (using Pocket PCs) and those in Standard sections were surveyed at the beginning and end of the semester and given a common final exam. On average, the students using Pocket PCs scored at least as well if not better than those not using them. Students were surveyed one year after the taking the course regarding the extent to which they use still use their Pocket PCs for other course work and daily life management tasks. The results, from student surveys taken over three consecutive semesters, show a consistently high rate of continued usage one year later.

As students operate increasingly in digital environments populated by social media tools, they need to leverage them effectively to access online resources and stay connected to the physical environments which they inhabit. This paper reports on a practitioner research project to reconfigure a traditional Computer Information Systems (CIS) tutoring lab at a business university into the "CIS Sandbox." The physical facility launched with an aligned online presence intended to engage students and contribute to their learning about CIS topics. The paper presents the rationale, design, and implementation of these collaborative tools, and their impact on the students' and tutors' educational experience. Qualitative analysis from interviews with Sandbox staff and quantitative analysis of data from a preliminary survey suggests that creatively drawing upon collaborative tools and methods enables the integration between physical and virtual spaces.

This paper describes the implementation and results of a cross-cultural pairing between college students in the United States and Romania who worked together over the period of one month to create a multimedia presentation that shared their learning about topics of multimedia and cul- ture. Students could use any web-based collaboration tools of their choice, including email, instant messaging, voice

Current web applications are increasing in popularity because of their browser-rich interfaces and ability to incorporate information from a variety of sources. This paper presents a simple photo sharing application and enhancements to it using Web Services and ASP.NET AJAX in order to illustrate some of the implementation details of Web 2.0 applications on a very small scale. Early in

Students use computer software to accomplish many tasks that are part of their daily routines. This paper describes an innovative approach to teaching an introductory technology course in which students who had some previous experience expanded their knowledge by interacting with different types of software applications, and by analyzing their roles in relationship to those applications. Students purchased Pocket PCs to use along with their laptops for this course; no printed text books were used. This active-learning approach enabled students to learn the traditional course topics in a way that made them relevant and engaging. Additional benefits included students creatively using their Pocket PCs for both personal and educational purposes, allowing them to apply the technologies they learned in the classroom to the con- texts of their own lives.

Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the availability of mobile devices and applications. Lower prices and increased capabilities have contributed to the popularity of these handheld computers among students and faculty, especially on college campuses where wireless Internet access is prevalent. This study explores the use of Pocket PCs to enhance teaching and learning of technology concepts in a first year "Introduction to Technology" course at a business college. By creating learning spaces and activities for integrated, experiential mobile learning, students learned about technology by using it rather than reading about it from textbooks. At the same time, their use of technology provided a context for applying knowledge from other domains. This paper describes the various learning spaces that integrate the use of mobile devices both inside and outside of the classroom to introduce course topics. The course focused on teaching integrated tools, not discrete topic...

The Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal published by EDSIG, the Education Special Interest Group of AITP, the Association of Information Technology Professionals (Chicago, Illinois). Publishing frequency is six times per year. The first year of publication is 2003.

Search engine optimization (SEO), the promoting of a Web site so it achieves optimal position with a search engine's rankings, is an important strategy for organizations and individuals in order to promote their brands online. Techniques for achieving SEO are relevant to students of marketing, computing, media arts, and other disciplines, and many college courses have begun to include SEO as part of their curricula. This paper describes an exercise for learning about SEO that mimics a popular online event known as an SEO contest. Contest participants implement a variety of SEO techniques in order to achieve the top position for an assigned word or phrase in a search engine's results. This paper also examines the learning benefits that such an exercise provides.

The Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal published by EDSIG, the Education Special Interest Group of AITP, the Association of Information Technology Professionals (Chicago, Illinois). Publishing frequency is six times per year. The first year of publication is 2003.

Computer literacy has evolved from writing simple BASIC programs to using desktop productivity applications. The shift from mainframe to personal computer brought about the need to rethink computer literacy courses to introduce basic skills and familiarity using desktop productivity applications. While these skills remain important, the recent shift of applications and data from the desktop to the Web has brought about another stage in the evolution of computer literacy education to the extent that today’s students not only need to be “computer literate” but also “Web literate” or “Web 2.0 literate.” Computer literacy courses retained the old concepts, but had less time to cover them because of the need to introduce new concepts. This paper examines approaches to teaching first year college introductory technology courses and suggests practical exercises and skills required for today’s students to be Web 2.0 literate.

From their presence on social media sites to in-house application data files, the amount of data that companies, governments, individuals, and sensors generate is overwhelming. The growth of Big Data in both consumer and enterprise activities has caused educators to consider options for including Big Data in the Information Systems curriculum. Introducing Big Data concepts and technologies in the classroom often is reserved for advanced students in database or programming courses. This paper explores approaches for integrating Big Data into the Information Systems curriculum, and presents a sample lesson for presenting basic Big Data concepts to first year students in a general education Information Technology course. As the need for IT professionals with Big Data skills will continue to increase, including these topics in a general education technology curriculum is especially pertinent.

As the use of web logs (blogs) becomes increasingly popular, many faculty members have incorporated them into college courses to engage students in discussing course materials, to foster a sense of community, and to enhance learning. This study, conducted at a business institution, introduces blogs as a tool to help students prepare for meaningful classroom discussion. The authors assigned a similar blogging exercise in three different courses—expository writing, e­commerce, and government­­in order to introduce students to the use of blogs in their disciplines. This study finds that by completing the required readings and then posting discussion questions and reflections on topics of interest to which their classmates can respond­­essentially beginning the conversation prior to the class session­­students become more engaged in the course material. This exercise requires students not only to read the required course materials but to engage with them critically in order to move beyo...

Augmented and virtual reality applications bring new insights to real world objects and scenarios. This paper shares research results of the TalkTech project, an ongoing study investigating the impact of learning about new technologies as members of global communities. This study shares results of a collaborative learning project about augmented and virtual reality and their applications in a variety of businesses and industries. In the TalkTech project, students from universities in the United States and Romania, collaboratively work together to research the use of augmented and virtual reality in an assigned industry, create original augmented reality artifacts, communicate and share their findings with their international partners. The authors evaluate the TalkTech project through the lens of the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) framework as a pedagogy to enhance student learning about augmented reality and improve their digital skills. The paper also...

This paper presents student projects analyzing or using blockchain technologies, created by students enrolled in courses dedicated to teaching blockchain, at two different universities during the 20182019 academic year. Students explored perceptions related to storing private healthcare information on a blockchain, managing the security of Internet of Things devices, maintaining public governmental records, and creating smart contracts. The course designs, which were centered around project-based learning, include self-regulated learning and peer feedback as ways to improve student learning. Students either wrote a research paper or worked in teams on a programming project to build and deploy a blockchain-based application using Solidity, a programming language for writing smart contracts on various blockchain platforms. For select student papers, this case study describes research methods and outcomes and how students worked together or made use of peer feedback to improve upon dra...