Architecture of the Information Systems Curriculum
From IS Curriculum
== Note: This page has not yet been modified to fully correspond to the new curriculum structure. ==
The IS model curriculum is organized at the highest level as a set of curriculum presentation areas. Each of these areas has one or more courses. Each course should be built from learning units. The learning units, described in detail in IS'97 Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems and updated continuously on the web site www.is2002.org, should focus on presentation goals that blend elements of the IS body of knowledge. Learning unit objectives provide a mechanism to assess student performance.
Each of the elements will be explained in this section starting with the curriculum presentation areas.
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Curriculum Presentation Areas
A view of the curriculum depicting the IS curriculum presentation areas is given in Figure 2. The dotted box on the top shows the prerequisite knowledge to the presentation areas whereas the dotted box on the upper right highlights the part of the program taught by faculty in other functional areas or other academic units. The other five boxes show the part of the program generally taught by the IS faculty. The figure also depicts the general sequence in which the material is acquired by students in the IS program. A description of the content for the five areas is presented in Table 3.
Courses
Courses in the IS model curriculum are the building blocks that implement the broad curriculum presentation areas diagrammed in Figure 2. The courses are labeled IS 2002.P0 through IS 2002.10. Figure 3 shows the course architecture and sequence of courses within IS 2002, including the prerequisite course IS 2002.P0. The structure is a suggested architecture and sequence with the appreciation that each university's situation is somewhat unique. In any event, this architecture allows the entire program to be completed within a scope of two years. This model will therefore fit within the broader curricula constraints of most business schools. For IS programs housed outside business, great flexibility in the sequence can be employed.
IS 2002.P0 is considered to be a prerequisite to the program. The IS 2002 curriculum assumes that students have a prerequisite knowledge of desktop computing with an elementary exposure to a suite of software applications useful for knowledge workers such as word processing, spreadsheets, email, and Internet browsing. In addition, students are assumed to also have knowledge and skill of IS technology to be a successful knowledge worker as described in the prerequisite course IS 2002.PO Personal Productivity with IS Technology. Courses are described later in the report with course title, scope, and topics. Courses are based on a threecredit semester calendar. The set of courses represents a complete model that includes all of the learning units. As a model, they are presented to provide guidance. Institutions may develop their own courses based on learning units to accommodate unique individual missions. Figure 4 presents the courses categorized based on the target groups, and Figure 5 maps them to the curriculum presentation areas.
Learning Units
A learning unit describes a set of material to be learned by students. A course is a group of learning units. Each learning unit is stated in terms of a goal, a set of objectives, and elements of the IS body of knowledge along with competency or depth of knowledge levels.
The material to be covered by a learning unit is expressed in a presentation goal. The learning unit is designed to combine elements from the IS body of knowledge. Competency levels are specified for each included element from the body of knowledge. A sequence of behavioral objectives is provided within each learning unit. These objectives are written to describe a specific competency level. The objectives form the basis for assessment of student accomplishment.
Each learning unit is specified by a goal statement that explains the purpose of the learning unit. For example, a learning unit goal might be to present topdown implementation strategies. The learning unit goal statement is elaborated by one or more learning unit objectives. These are stated as behavioral objectives defining what a student should be able to do after learning the material in the unit. The student should be able to explain, discuss, use, apply, and demonstrate central concepts. For example, a behavioral objective for a learning unit might be apply system software functions to analyze resource use and performance characteristics for an application. The learning objectives can be used by faculty to assess student achievement relative to the learning unit or by students in evaluating their knowledge.
Each learning unit has a set of topics that define the coverage for the unit. These topics consist of elements from the IS body of knowledge. The depth of coverage for each topic in a learning unit is specified by a depth of knowledge level ranging from 1 to 5 (with 4 being the highest competency level specified for an undergraduate program). A topic may be covered at a low depth of knowledge level as part of an introductory course and in more depth (higher competency) in a subsequent course. The sequencing of learning units is based on instructional design methodology derived from Gagne, Briggs, and Wager (1988).
The learning units provide the basis for detailed course design. The objective is to present elements of the IS body of knowledge to willing learners through pedagogical techniques associated with desired levels of learning. The pedagogy differs for desired depth of knowledge levels. A low level of competency may be achieved with lectures and exercises; the highest level of knowledge is achieved by active learning techniques such as projects.
Body of Knowledge
The IS body of knowledge consists of the topics to be taught at some level of competency in an IS curriculum. The IS 2002 body of knowledge is a reorganization and extension of the IS97 body of knowledge. The body of knowledge was derived from surveys of practitioners and academics and mapping of relevant topics from curricula for Computer Science and other computer related disciplines.
The elements or topics in the IS body of knowledge form the lowest level building blocks for the curriculum. The elements, with desired competency levels, are grouped under learning units and learning units are grouped into courses. The body of knowledge units are described at a detailed level at www.is2002.org.
