An E-Portfolio Assessment Management System (EAMS) can be an innovative tool that provides students with flexible opportunities to demonstrate the acquisition of skills and abilities in an outcome-based institution. The system has been developed and used for the past ten years to create, reflect, revise, and structure students’ work. It is a repository management system that facilitates collecting, sharing, and presenting artifacts of student learning outcomes via a digital medium. Therefore, it provides students with flexible opportunities to demonstrate the acquisition of skills and abilities to demonstrate growth of achieving learning outcomes. The rationale of the EAMS is to allow students to demonstrate competences and reflect upon experiences to improve their learning and career readiness; hence, they are accountable for their learning. The system was built around two defined set of learning outcomes: institutionally agreed upon set of learning outcomes, and learning objectives that are related to major requirements. The purpose of this study is to analyze students’ perceptions and attitudes when using an e-portfolio to support their employment opportunities. The participants were 217 students in the College of Technological Innovation. The students reported that the developing of e-portfolios was extremely helpful. The results showed that students have positive opinions about using e-portfolios as a beneficial tool to support their readiness for employment; they believe an e-portfolio increases their confidence to find a job in the IT field because it can allow them to showcase artifacts that demonstrate competencies and reflect upon experiences, and they can provide their supervisors during their industrial training with an e-resume that includes views of their actual work of what they have learned and are able to do when they complete their degree. Employers then can review e-portfolios to select prospective employees work readiness skills; hence, graduates are more likely to obtain a job in their workplaces. In conclusion, students do like the idea of e-portfolios when it is presented to them as a career showcase rather than a process for documenting learning. A career center can use e-portfolios as a tool to help students find a job. Furthermore, our analysis and evaluation uncovered learning issues involved in moving from the traditional approach of learning toward an integrated learning system that can be used after graduation.

Big data management is a reality for an increasing number of organizations in many areas and represents a set of challenges involving big data modeling, storage and retrieval, analysis and visualization. However, technological resources, people and processes are crucial to facilitate the management of big data in any kind of organization, allowing information and knowledge from a large volume of data to support decision-making. Big data management can be supported by these three dimensions: technology, people and processes. Hence, this article discusses these dimensions: the technological dimension that is related to storage, analytics and visualization of big data; the human aspects of big data; and, in addition, the process management dimension that involves in a technological and business approach the aspects of big data management.

Courses on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) largely differ in the conception of the role of the course in the program, in the topics to be included, in emphases, in the instructional strategies that are employed, and more. This paper describes the design and implementation of a HCI course for students of the Management Information Systems department in our college. Students’ intermediate and final homework assignments were analyzed to provide feedback for the course design. Quantitative analysis showed high correlation between the quality of the requirement analysis performed by the students and the quality of the final interface prototype, and also that the quality of design alternatives that were considered by the students can be a good predictor for the quality of the overall interface design. Qualitative analysis of students’ submissions showed the need for practicing skills required in users’ studies, especially conducting interviews and observations. Implications from these and other findings are discussed.

The significance of ICTs in supporting socio-economic development in developing countries is inevitable. As academics of information systems in developing countries, we cannot ignore the need for teaching and building the capacity of our students to become knowledgeable and skilled in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) practice and discourse. Furthermore, it is vital to equip our students with the ability to apply their discipline knowledge in addressing some of the ICT discrepancies in current ICT4D practice in their own context. I introduced and teach the ICT4D module to the Honours level course at my university in South Africa. This paper explores the factors that have influenced and shaped the development of the ICT4D module curriculum in the South African context I teach in, using a qualitative ethnographic lens and theoretical study. This provides a practice lens to motivate for and support the introduction of an ICT4D module in tertiary curricula in developing countries.

Simulations have been shown to be an effective tool in traditional learning environments; however, as distance learning grows in popularity, the need to examine simulation effectiveness in this environment has become paramount. A casual-comparative design was chosen for this study to determine whether students using a computer-based instructional simulation in hybrid and fully online environments learned better than traditional classroom learners. The study spans a period of 6 years beginning fall 2008 through spring 2014. The population studied was 281 undergraduate business students self-enrolled in a 200-level microcomputer application course. The overall results support previous studies in that computer simulations are most effective when used as a supplement to face-to-face lectures and in hybrid environments.

This study examines diverse information media in order to identify those formats that are most suitable for consumption via handheld mobile devices, namely, smartphones and tablets. The preferences of the users are measured objectively by analyzing actual data of their relative use of handheld mobile devices and personal computing (PC) desktop devices, including laptops and notebooks, for consumption of information presented in various formats. Our findings are based on Google Analytics pageview data of five course Websites during a period of three semesters, by 11,557 undergraduate students. M-learning contexts were chosen, since in a learning environment the interests of information providers (i.e., the instructors) are in accord with those of the information consumers (i.e., the students), whereas in commercial settings there may be conflicts of interests. Our findings demonstrate that although about 90% of the pageviews were via PC devices, the rate of smartphone use for consuming learning content in diverse information media is gradually increasing as time goes by, whereas the rate of tablet use for these purposes is stagnant. The most promising direction for smartphone development, emanating from the findings, is online video content.

Requirements elicitation is the process through which analysts determine the software requirements of stakeholders. Requirements elicitation is seldom well done, and an inaccurate or incomplete understanding of user requirements has led to the downfall of many software projects. This paper proposes a classification of problem types that occur in requirements elicitation. The classification has been derived from a literature analysis. Papers reporting on techniques for improving requirements elicitation practice were examined for the problem the technique was designed to address. In each classification the most recent or prominent techniques for ameliorating the problems are presented. The classification allows the requirements engineer to be sensitive to problems as they arise and the educator to structure delivery of requirements elicitation training.

An algorithm learning tool was developed for an introductory computer science class in a specialized science and technology high school in Japan. The tool presents lessons and simple visualizations that aim to facilitate teaching and learning of fundamental algorithms. Written tests and an evaluation questionnaire were designed and implemented along with the learning tool among the participants. The tool’s effect on the learning performance of the students was examined. The differences of the two types of visualizations offered by the tool, one with more input and control options and the other with fewer options, were analyzed. Based on the evaluation questionnaire, the scales with which the tool can be assessed according to its usability and pedagogical effectiveness were identified. After using the algorithm learning tool there was an increase in the posttest scores of the students, and those who used the visualization with more input and control options had higher scores compared to those who used the one with limited options. The learning objectives used to evaluate the tool correlated with the test performance of the students. Properties comprised of learning objectives, algorithm visualization characteristics, and interface assessment are proposed to be incorporated in evaluating an algorithm learning tool for novice learners.

Internship courses, unlike others, are multi-pronged because they require coordination at different levels. Typically, a faculty member coordinates the communication and implementation at each level to achieve the desired outcomes. We call the position that this faculty holds the “internship coordinator”. For the work of the internship coordinator to be successful, he/she may need to synchronize the work of the internship with all parties involved. Failure to coordinate at one level or another may affect the work of other parties involved in completing the internship for the students. This paper explains the experience of an internship program at the computer science department (COSC) at Indiana University Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). We focus on the work of the internship coordinator for this program and his work to communicate and coordinate to successfully implement the internship experience for the students. We first discuss the theoretical foundation that led to the development of internship programs in academia and then elaborate on the multiple levels of the role of the internship coordinator in completing the internship experience for the students.

The number of online resources available for teaching and learning in higher education has been growing enormously during the last decade. A recent development is the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and of Open Educational Resources (OER). The result is a huge number of videos that are available on line. Can these videos enrich learning? As a pilot study we added sixteen videos to an existing introductory course in Human-Computer Interaction. This course is mandatory in the Bachelor programs Computer Science and Information Science (second year). Watching the videos was optional for the students. The videos originated for the most part from the MOOC Human-Computer Interaction, produced by Stanford University. We offered this course to a pilot group of eight students. The educational context was problem-based learning in distance education. The videos were welcomed by all of the students and were found to be useful in their learning process. The students watched the videos intensively and appreciated them very well. A main reason for the students to be positive about the videos was that they liked to alternate reading texts and watching videos.

Many higher education institutions are moving towards blended learning environments that seek to move towards a student-centred ethos, where students are stakeholders in the learning process. This often involves multi-modal learner-support technologies capable of operating in a range of time and place settings. This article considers the impact of an Audience Response System (ARS) upon the ongoing development of an Information Systems Professional course at the Masters level in the College of Business at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. The course allows students to consider ethical issues faced by an Information Systems Professional. Given the sensitivity of some of the topics explored within this area, an ARS offers an ideal vehicle for allowing students to respond to potentially contentious questions without revealing their identity to the rest of the group. The paper reports the findings of a pilot scheme designed to explore the efficacy of the technology. Use of a blended learning framework to frame the discussion allowed the authors to consider the readiness of institution, lecturers, and students to use ARS. From a usage viewpoint, multiple choice questions lead to further discussion of student responses related to important issues in the unit. From an impact viewpoint the use of ARS in the class appeared to be successful, but some limitations were reported.

This paper describes the employment of a Personal Response System (PRS) during a Decision Analysis course for Management Information Systems (MIS) students. The description shows how the carefully designed PRS-based questions, the delivery, and the follow-up discussions; provided a context for eliciting and exercising central concepts of the course topics as well as central skills required for MIS majors. A sample of PRS-based questions is presented along with a description for each question of its purpose, the way it was delivered, the response rate, the responses and their frequencies, and the respective in-class discussion. Lessons from these findings are discussed.

The Open Software movement serves as a landmark and a starting point for many “open-something” initiatives, such as Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC). However, under a pragmatic point-of-view, many of its basic principles are not considered specially when dealing with the above mentioned initiatives: common, industry-standard OER and MOOC lack a considerable set of really open features in a way that deviate the sense of the “O” letter – for Open – in its acronyms. Considering this, the present paper presents a systematization of these concepts around the general principle of openness. There will be discussed some strengths, challenges, and drawbacks in adopting openness as the key for OER and MOOC for Education in 21st Century.

The paper reviewed the emerging roles of the 21st century librarians, charged with the responsibility to manage repository services across libraries in present-day information technology environment. Librarians need to be trained and empowered with requisite skills and knowledge needed for successful management of the ICT driven repository initiatives that the 21st century demands. Literature was reviewed on the roles and responsibilities of librarians, training needs and opportunities, career path and recruitment of librarians, and community support necessary for effective and efficient implementation and management of repository initiatives. This entails the ability to comprehend trends and change patterns which are essential for providing research focused and user-friendly models in open repository services that are based on thorough analytical understanding of the challenges of emerging trends. To achieve this requires the training and retraining of librarians to reposition them as information specialists in their career path. The role of the library as an integral part of its social environment is to educate the community about the existence of an open repository by building partnership with community-oriented research centres through seminars, workshops, symposium, training, and awareness programmes. The study recommends that librarians should strategize and collaborate with researchers to make open repository an essential research tool.

Agile global software development (AGSD) is an increasingly prevalent software development strategy, as organizations hope to realize the benefits of accessing a larger resource pool of skilled labor, at a potentially reduced cost, while at the same time delivering value incrementally and iteratively. However, the distributed nature of AGSD creates geographic, temporal, socio-cultural distances that challenge collaboration between project stakeholders. The Cloud Computing (CC) service models of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) are similar to the aspirant qualities of AGSD as they provide services that are globally accessible, efficient, and stable, with lower predictable operating costs that scale to meet the computational demand. This study focused on the 12 agile principles upon which all agile methodologies are based, therein potentially increasing the potential for the findings to be generalized. Domestication Theory was used to assist in understanding how cloud technologies were appropriated in support of AGSD. The research strategy took the form of case study research. The findings suggest that some of the challenges in applying the agile principles in AGSD may be overcome by using CC.

One of the key attempts towards a collective African vision is the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). Barnard and Vonk (2003) report that “53 countries have been urged to implement ICTs in three crucial development arenas: education, health and trade”. While NEPAD and other initiatives have contributed to the provision of ICT infrastructure with positive results as seen in the growth of Internet uses, the disparities in development across Africa are enormous. The challenge to Higher Education Institutions in Africa has been summarised by Colle (2005): “central to creating digital resources and academic infrastructure is the question of universities’ relevance to the world around them, and especially to the challenge of being an active player – ‘an anchor of a broad-based poverty alleviation strategy’ in an increasingly knowledge-based economy”. It can be inferred from Colle that the activities of HEIs in Africa ought to be geared towards contributing to the realisation of the Millennium development goals.

This longitudinal, quasi-experimental study investigated students’ cognitive personality type using the Myers-Briggs personality Type Indicator (MBTI) in Internet-based Online and Face-to-Face (F2F) modalities. A total of 1154 students enrolled in 28 Online and 32 F2F sections taught concurrently over a period of fourteen years. The study measured whether the sample is similar to the national average percentage frequency of all 16 different personality types; whether specific personality type students preferred a specific modality of instructions and if this preference changed over time; whether learning occurred in both class modalities; and whether specific personality type students learned more from a specific modality. Data was analyzed using regression, t-test, frequency, and Chi-Squared. The study concluded that data used in the study was similar to the national statistics; that no major differences in preference occurred over time; and that learning did occur in all modalities, with more statistically significant learning found in the Online modality versus F2F for Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving types. Finally, Sensing and Thinking (ST) and Sensing and Perceiving (SP) group types learned significantly more in Online modality versus F2F.

This paper reports on the educational aspects of an information systems work-integrated learning (WIL) capstone project for an organization which operates to alleviate homelessness in the Australian non-profit sector. The methodology adopted for the study is Action Design Research (ADR) which draws on action research and design research as a means for framing a project's progress. Reflective insights by the project stakeholders, namely, students, academics, and the non-profit client, reveal a curriculum at work through internal features of the organization; personal features of the participants and features of the external environment. Preliminary findings suggest that students in a WIL project for a non-profit are highly engaged, especially when they become aware of the project’s social value. As well, the improvement of professional skills and emotional intelligence by students is more likely in real-life practice settings than in other less authentic WIL activities, equipping graduates for the workforce with both strong disciplinary and generic skills. Win-win-win synergies through project collaboration represent worthwhile outcomes to education, industry and research.