2022 EDSIG Proceedings: Abstract Presentation
Redesigning CIS 100:
Solving Business Problems with Information Technology: A Project-Based Learning Approach
William (Bill) VanderClock
Bentley University
Mark Frydenberg
Bentley University
The introduction to information technology course at many business universities often includes an overview of computing concepts and an emphasis on Microsoft Office, or other productivity tools. This paper describes the process, pedagogy, and proposals for a new CS 100 course, entitled Solving Business Problems with Information Technology.
The goal of the course is to develop students’ skills for solving business problems with information
technology and using computing tools to improve personal productivity. CS 100 introduces information technology skills necessary for operating a small business and understanding how information technology benefits all organizations. Through hands-on exercises, readings, class discussions, homework assignments, and group projects, students will learn to identify and use IT resources for personal and professional problem solving, with a focus on how IT enables modern businesses to operate. Students will gain a fundamental understanding of digital technology and the implications of hardware, software, cloud and networking decisions on related business operations. They will use productivity software to create, modify, and present business documents, and develop an intermediate level of proficiency using Excel. Students will explore emerging technology trends such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual/augmented reality and the Internet of Things and their impact on conducting business. This unique personal/practical/small business perspective provides a focus to the project-based learning pedagogy to be employed in the design and delivery of the course.
The course material proceeds with two parallel tracks: technology concepts and Microsoft Excel. Excel exercises often refer to the concepts being discussed to reinforce them in a business context. For example: specifying hardware for a small business and using Excel to calculate the cost, adding analytics to a website, and then evaluating that data in Excel charts and graphs; configuring Amazon Echo devices when learning about the internet of things.
The course will be designed to be friendly to transfer students and will have common exams to ensure consistency across all sections despite as many as 12 different instructors teaching 20 sections per semester.
This course will have to change every year, if not every semester. Technology keeps changing and the course must be designed with a modular approach that enables modification based on student-feedback, latest technology developments, and new lab activities designed.
CS 100 will be offered for the first time during the fall 2022 semester, with about 700 students enrolled across 20 sections. The authors intend to survey students at the start and end of the semester as a way to ascertain their technology literacy skills prior to the course and the extent to which they met the course objectives at the conclusion of the course.
Wednesday at 12:35 pm