INFORMATION SYSTEMS EDUCATION JOURNAL

Information Systems

Education Journal

Volume 21, No. 2

May 2023

ISSN: 1545-679X

In this issue:

We’re happy to have another great group of papers, along with a teaching case and a teaching exercise.

The general theme of the issue is the broad topic of student skills – skills that our employers want, skills

that our students are seeking, and skills that will serve as foundations for helping our students to become

great IS practitioners, as well as great future educators. This focusing on skills for both Computer

Science and Business courses, leveraging concepts from IS, assessing mobile learning and skill

development, and learning design and development, robotic process automation, and Internet of Things.

Never a dull moment in the IS community, and there’s more to come!

4. Enhancing Learning in Business Education Utilizing Project Management

Practice and Skills

Julia Fullick-Jagiela, Quinnipiac University

Patricia Kelly, Quinnipiac University

Amy KB Paros, Quinnipiac University

Iddrisu Awudu, Quinnipiac University

Susan Riello, Quinnipiac University

14. Enforcement of Prerequisites in Computer Science

Ernst Bekkering, Northeastern State University

Patrick Harrington, Northeastern State University

38. Mid-Pandemic Impact on Mobile Learning Motivation Factors

Neelima Bhatnagar, University of Pittsburgh

Ann-Marie Horcher, Northwood University

56. A Proposal for Combining Project Based Learning and Lean Six Sigma to

Teach Robotic Process Automation Development and Enhance Systems

Integration

William H. Money, The Citadel

Lionel Q. Mew, University of Richmond

69. Teaching Case:

Alexa, Help Me Learn About the Internet of Things!

Mark Frydenberg, Bentley University

82. Teaching Case:

A Registration System for a Citywide Service Project: Design & Development

Case

Dana Schwieger, Southeast Missouri State University

.

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info

The Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed

academic journal published by ISCAP (Information Systems and Computing Academic

Professionals). Publishing frequency is five times per year. The first year of publication was

2003.

ISEDJ is published online (https://isedj.org). Our sister publication, the Proceedings of

EDSIGCON (https://proc.iscap.info) features all papers, abstracts, panels, workshops, and

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consideration after applying feedback from the Conference presentation. Award winning papers

are assured of a publication slot; however, all re-submitted papers including award winners are

subjected to a second round of three blind peer reviews to improve quality and make final

accept/reject decisions. Those papers that are deemed of sufficient quality are accepted for

publication in the ISEDJ journal. Currently the target acceptance rate for the journal is under

36%.

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and printed editions. Questions should be addressed to the editor at [email protected] or the

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editorial and review processes for ISEDJ.

2023 ISCAP Board of Directors

Jeff Cummings

Univ of NC Wilmington

President

Anthony Serapiglia

Saint Vincent College

Vice President

Eric Breimer

Siena College

Past President

Jennifer Breese

Penn State University

Director

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James Madison University

Director

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Millikin University

Director/Treasurer

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Georgia Institute of Technology

Director/Secretary

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Miami University (Ohio)

Director

Jeffry Babb

West Texas A&M University

Director/Curricular Items Chair

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Univ of NC Wilmington

Director/Meeting Facilitator

Paul Witman

California Lutheran University

Director/2023 Conf Chair

Xihui “Paul” Zhang

University of North Alabama

Director/JISE Editor

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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info

Information Systems

Education Journal

Editors

Paul Witman

Editor

California Lutheran

University

Thomas Janicki

Publisher

U of North Carolina

Wilmington

Dana Schwieger

Associate Editor

Southeast Missouri

State University

Ira Goldstein

Teaching Cases & Exercises

Co-Editor

Siena College

Michelle Louch

Teaching Cases & Exercises

Co-Editor

Duquesne University

Donald Colton

Emeritus Editor

Brigham Young University

Hawaii

Jeffry Babb

Emeritus Editor

West Texas A&M

University

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info

Enhancing Learning in Business Education

Utilizing Project Management Practice and Skills

Julia Fullick-Jagiela

[email protected]

Management Department

Patricia S. Kelly

[email protected]

Management Department

Amy KB Paros

[email protected]

Management Department

Iddrisu Awudu

[email protected]

Management Department

Susan Riello

[email protected]

Instructional Design Department

Quinnipiac University

Hamden, CT 06518 USA

Abstract

While industries compete to hire capable employees, it is essential that business education curriculum

delivers graduates who can solve complex problems and implement multifaceted solutions. This

approach to curriculum design focuses on developing project management skills to deliver an integrated,

student-centered methodology across multiple disciplines. The development of undergraduate

curriculum with a project management approach provides a framework centered on developing essential

career skills in critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Keywords: business education, project management, curriculum development, student-centered

learning, project-based instruction

1. INTRODUCTION

As industry demands trained knowledge workers

who can synthesize data, think critically, and

develop solutions, undergraduate curriculum

must evolve (Rocca, 2010). A well-designed

undergraduate curriculum within a dynamic and

rapidly evolving industry supports student

recruitment, program reputation, and prepares

students for careers (Thai, De Wever, & Valcke,

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2017). Coupled with employer expectations,

current students demand higher levels of

engagement and practical classroom

experiences. Undergraduate curriculum founded

on active student-centered learning can meet this

need and deliver increased problem solving,

stronger critical thinking, and more developed

organizational skills (Rocca, 2010;

Vandenhouten, Groessl & Levintova, 2017).

Project management skills development can help

support embedding industry tested methodology

into curriculum. This can help to provide a set of

principles to explain process and structure into

course design assignments (Morrison, Ross, &

Kemp, 2005). Implementing skills development

and project management processes can help

faculty develop interactive, and well-designed

courses.

Curriculum development throughout

undergraduate education has not done enough to

leverage the innovation of project management

practice and skills development across

undergraduate curriculum. Our goal is to share an

approach utilized effectively in our own

curriculum redesign process. We believe that this

advancement in the curriculum will better serve

business students' needs and provide structure to

project work across the curriculum. In our

classroom, students can often struggle with basic

introductory project management processes.

While certain departments such as CIS and

Management offer foundational project

management-specific courses, we have surveyed

students in introductory courses and capstone

courses to determine the overall increase in their

project management skill and application. We

propose that integrating project management

practice should be included across the core

business curriculum. As evidenced by recent

survey collections, it is imperative that we provide

foundational project management skills

development, earlier in our curriculum starting

with first-year business core curriculum.

Foundational applications of project management

methodologies can be applied consistently

throughout student course work and team

projects. Information Systems and Management

programs can be instrumental in helping to

provide context and training by offering

fundamentals of project management class

options via general education requirements to

benefit students across disciplines. The time has

come to breakdown silos and expand curriculum

access so students across majors can gain these

critical skills that apply to all professions and

industries.

Project management allocates setting goals and

meeting due dates. Emerging time management

practices can increase student efficiency and

desired outcomes. In this ever-evolving

workplace, enhancing communication skills would

benefit students and employers. Communication

within a project team is essential to project

success. Iterative project management practices

such as Agile are helping project managers

provide benefits throughout the project's

lifecycle. This trend is becoming relevant for

students to understand and value as project

management practice evolves. If faculty do not

stay current with industry practices, we feel there

is a disservice to our students’ future applications.

Project management practice often encompasses

recognizing and addressing real-world problems.

Project management includes working with a

team of various subject matter experts to

complete a common goal. Students can advance

skills to understand several aspects of project

work such as managing deadlines, allocation of

specific resources, the value of time, and the

impact on budgets and cost.

Overall, improvement of project management

skills in undergraduate curriculum, across

multiple disciplines (not just computer

information systems or business) can support

students in both academic and professional

growth. They can also develop valuable and

marketable skills that will be useful in their future

careers (Karanja & Grant, 2020).

Additionally, recent project management trends

indicate we should continue to focus on education

related to developing interpersonal skills essential

to project management practice. Creating

curriculum that includes team-based leadership

exercises can help develop these skills.

Experiential learning project-based assignments

should be integrated consistently across the

entire undergraduate degree program to improve

curriculum and to more effectively train students

to adapt and thrive amidst common business

disruptions. Karanja and Grant (2020) also

stressed the importance of real-world project

management assessments.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

As research has identified, pedagogy must align

with employer expectations of graduate skills

(Daniel, 2012). There is a growing demand for

project management courses that prepare

graduates with skills in professional

communication, critical thinking, collaborative

problem-solving, and critical reflection (Gharaie &

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Wingrove, 2020). Business classrooms allow

students to engage in an applied approach to

active learning both online and in-person (Martin

& Bolliger, 2018) which can further increase

knowledge through application, engagement, and

problem-based learning. Students must explore

challenges using data to find the root cause

analysis, generate ideas, allocate resources, and

provide innovative solutions while understanding

project management practices (Eckhardt, 2018).

Utilizing project management fundamentals can

help them do this.

These skills are particularly important in a

business school, where assessment and

accreditation factors measure course learning

outcomes and course design (Currie, 2017).

Using project management methodology in

curriculum can increase strategic and critical

analysis skills. Students learn and apply

knowledge to gain an appreciation for the

proposed gap between theory and overall

application and include critical thinking and

strategy into their mindset (Dirksen, 2015).

Reducing cognitive load can assist in knowledge

and skill retention and application (Doyle &

Zakrajsek, 2018).

The use of evidence-based pedagogies to inform

practical business application in the classroom

enhances engagement and relevance (Mitchell,

2016), while leveraging the expertise of faculty

and providing structure and support to students

(Dirksen, 2015). Project management skill

development and the use of appropriate tools

provides an opportunity to enhance structure and

application of methodologies that are empirically

supported practices in industry. The integration of

industry skills and problem-based pedagogy

prepares graduates to successfully transition

from the rigor of the academic environment to the

modern expectations of the business world

(Ewing & Ewing, 2017). Linking course learning

outcomes to industry requirements is essential

and should be ongoing in course design (Dirksen,

2015). However, curriculum must continuously

evolve, and this link should be revisited regularly

to address ongoing organizational changes and

industry disruptions while providing an efficient,

cohesive, and holistic structure (Nisula & Pekkola,

2018).

While hands-on, business focused problem

solving that transfers into real world scenarios is

commonplace and expected in the classroom

(Echkardt & Wetherbe, 2016; Ewing & Ewing,

2017), a project-based pedagogy supports

academic rigor in the business curriculum and

provides students with a platform to apply their

program learning as they prepare for the

workplace (McNamara, 2009; Vieregger & Bryant,

2019). Rosenbaum, Otalora, and Ramírez (2015)

suggest that addressing challenges to learning

can be complex and, “although practitioners want

to hire new employees with the ability to solve

real-world problems, a pertinent question to

address is the best method for heeding their

request” (p. 183). Through thoughtfully designed

real-world projects, students can demonstrate

critical thinking and adaptability in evaluating

business problems and determining the most

feasible solutions (Seow et al., 2019).

To develop a curriculum that increases higher-

order thinking, students must be exposed to the

application of how to investigate organizations,

apply knowledge to problem-solving, establish

ideas, and produce creative solutions to problems

identified (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2012). In addition,

encouraging students to organize team projects

using project management methodologies

provides them with the experience to increase

critical thinking and problem-solving skills while

fully investing in learning the course material

beyond just memorization (Kuh, 2008). They

must also have opportunities to reflect on actions

with their team members, which affirms the skills

developed during the learning process and

provides opportunities for critical personal

reflection and enhanced self-awareness (Perusso

et al., 2020). These reflective practices lay the

groundwork for the self-efficacy and change-

making skills necessary for business professionals

(Perusso et al., 2020).

Students that improve project management skills

can identify and address problems as they arise

instead of finding errors at the end. Learning

these skills in an undergraduate business

curriculum will help individuals to become more

proactive and better at decision-making.

Understanding scope management, along with

project management process will help students

with future workplace application (Salapatas,

2000). In addition, communication skills and

enhancement of team dynamics will increase

workplace efficiencies.

Our curriculum integrates consistent project

management tools integrated into each course

project, supporting literature that underscores

the importance of real-world alignment between

course projects and industry standards. For

example, successful project managers seek

support from the Project Management Institute

(PMI) for fundamental, foundational tools and

resources to aid in the execution of projects. PMI

is an international project management

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organization that delivers guidelines, resources,

networking opportunities and best practices for

the project management field. Our faculty are

actively engaged in working with PMI to support

the development of experiential learning

activities, exposure to industry speakers, and

providing guidance on careers in the project

management field. In addition, the Project

Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a

valuable resource that explains the value of

project management structure, guidelines, and

practices. This guide is valuable for faculty to

utilize when enhancing the curriculum and

introducing students to industry standards.

To complement the tools that they are exposed to

while engaging in course projects, we encourage

students to seek professional certifications in

project management, such as the Certified

Associate Project Management (CAPM), and

Project Management Professional (PMP)

certifications offered by PMI. These certifications

tie industry standards to the overall learning

experience. While PMP certifications require

extensive project experience, understanding the

competency requirements can help students to

build project experience and track hours for

future certification testing requirements.

3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Our aim is to enhance project management-

based learning and curriculum development

across our school. For the project deliverables,

students demonstrate proficiency and the ability

to use credible research to solve ongoing

challenges. We propose that the integration of

project management skill integration, fueled by

innovation and critical strategic analysis, can lead

to an increase in problem-solving capabilities for

students. We monitor learning outcomes within

projects related to problem definition, the

innovation of ideas and challenges, and problem-

solving in business and consulting using an

applied approach.

This paper outlines a structure to integrate

project management processes into course

design. Project management applications in

pedagogical design can further increase effective

collaborations and relationships with industry

leaders and support cross-functional,

interdisciplinary curriculum. Our approach

addresses the needs of employers and the

relevance for graduate application and future

employability.

4. METHODOLOGY

Student Feedback Survey

To determine the level of project management

awareness and skill development present in

undergraduate business students, we collected

online survey data regarding project

management experience and skills from 185

undergraduate students at a medium-sized

private university. No identifying data was

collected, and participation was voluntary.

Students were invited to participate in the survey

via email and recruited from two business core

classes and one senior-level course and included

various majors (e.g., international business,

finance, supply chain, human resources,

accounting, marketing, business analytics,

management, entrepreneurship, CIS, and

business minors with majors from across the

university). Survey items can be found in the

Appendix. 30.3% were first years, 27.6% were

sophomores, 21.1% were juniors, and 21.1%

were seniors. Sixty percent of respondents had

never taken courses or workshops regarding time

management, resource allocation, budgeting, or

project management. Of those who did, 21.8%

had taken only a general introduction. 50.3%

reported wanting to see more project

management content in their courses. When

asked if they were implementing project

management skills such as time management,

scope organization, milestone schedules, risk

management, etc., 55.7% reported they were in

their class projects; 20% said they were in their

student organizations; 10.3% reported they were

in their internships; and 15.7% reported they

were in their jobs. On a Likert scale from 1 (none)

- 6 (expert), 73% of respondents rated a 3 or 4.

When it came to utilizing a project management

charter or contract in their classes, 48.9% had

never used one whereas 75.1% reported using a

project schedule or plan; 76.2% had never used

a project schedule software or tool; and 79.9%

had never used a project scope statement.

Course Design

Our course design methodology is based on the

convincing argument that academia must look at

education from a different mindset, one that can

implement practical applications across multiple

disciplines. Not only do we need to implement

project management consistently throughout our

curriculum, but we must help other disciplines to

see the value. Our unique contribution is to utilize

a consistent experiential approach based on

project work to deliver curriculum consistently

across an entire program. In our approach, we

first identified ways to enhance our courses by

applying project management principles within

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course design. Second, our project approach

provides an opportunity to implement the project

management process into undergraduate

education. Third, by recognizing the importance

of skill applicability, there could be an increase in

employability factors relevant for our graduates.

Fourth, we find that project management skill

development provides a realistic, structured

approach to in-class problem-solving that helps

to make solutions real-world feasible.

When building course projects, students should

understand expectations, have clear project

learning goals, and be able to retain foundational

project management skills for future application.

Project planning requirements include developing

an understanding of the scope of work to be

completed. This consists of students

understanding the role that project management

plays in using structure to increase efficiency and

outcomes. To this end, we utilize project-based

assignments that mimic industry workloads and

ask student teams to work with clients preparing

written deliverables and client presentations.

Teams learn the value of documentation of

lessons learned and reflect upon the importance

of understanding team dynamics and execution of

work.

Project Assignment Details

In this section, we provide sample project

descriptions used in our courses to train project

management skills, allowing students to apply

that knowledge in practice.

Project Management Methods

The goals and outcomes of the student's project

work include:

Creating the project team and establishing a team

charter. The team charter identifies rules, norms,

and expectations. The team charter aligns the

project goals with a clear understanding of roles

and points of contact. Best practices could include

insight into the value of the change control

process, use of status reports, or analyzing risk

mitigation plans to keep projects on track.

There is an opportunity to use project

management techniques to create a project plan

and to schedule project activities with

deliverables and due dates. Often scheduling

software can assist with tracking deliverables and

may be covered throughout multiple courses.

Defining the project scope and boundaries

becomes a critical component of the project plan.

While this is not a new practice, understanding

the parameters necessary to keep the scope from

changing will help students value scope

management practice. While our students have

been exposed to the topic of scope management,

many did not appear to retain the introductory

content that was introduced in some of the core

classes.

Students could benefit from analyzing the work

involved in the project plan and integration of a

work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS can

help students by breaking down tasks associated

with the work and breaking it down into smaller,

more manageable parts of work activities. When

leading projects, using a WBS could help facilitate

a more organized approach to fulfilling the tasks.

Once the project is completed, it is recommended

to review the results and close the project.

Documentation of lessons learned throughout the

project will help with overall project execution in

the future. This data can be stored in a repository

for future project use. We have encouraged our

students to learn from each project experience to

enhance their project leadership potential.

Project Examples:

Introductory Management Project Based

Work

Students participate in management consulting

teams. The teams review assigned businesses

experiencing challenges. Students are evaluated

on their ability to demonstrate knowledge and

evaluation of management philosophies as they

relate to quality indicators such as identifying a

problem or challenge, research of balanced

scorecard, understanding competitors including

benchmarking, and financial statistics outlined in

an executive summary. Framing the problem is

the foundation of the course project and is part of

the project management scope statement. In the

introductory management course, students

review specific company research and metrics by

benchmarking against industry competition.

Students identify the top challenges and outline

research-supported plans to overcome those

challenges.

Operations and Supply Chain Project Based

Work

The project analysis piece in coursework focuses

on identifying and analyzing the supply chain

operations of a particular company. Students

then use data and research to provide managerial

insights. They then apply concepts developed in

class to evaluate and make recommendations.

Students are held accountable using the project

management planning and scheduling tools

outlined above to improve team tasks and

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processes. The transferrable skills that are

developed provide a solid foundation for success

in the future.

Senior Seminar Project-Based Work

While students are asked to think critically about

several businesses, they apply their management

program learning outcomes. As students engage

in project-based work, support and direction are

provided by instructors through the course

structure and design, alignment to program

learning outcomes, and the creation of a student-

centered environment for problem-based

learning. The project work uses several smaller

assignments where students recall their learning

to show subject understanding in preparation for

a final real-world project.

Students are given the chance to present their

learning in a presentation requiring student

teams to organize and communicate on a specific

management curriculum subject area. These

areas include forecasting, data analysis for

production demand or inventory control, quality

standard and defect analysis, bottlenecks and

process improvements, product and team

performance issues, ethics compliance, employee

retention, staffing, sourcing, recruitment,

selection, and human resources documentation.

Outcomes

Students are encouraged to think strategically

and critically. Students present their research and

findings to the class including a panel assigned to

be the acting Board of Directors. The research

and application across business disciplines allow

for valuable experiences for students. Alumni

have returned to our classrooms and have shared

evidence that the hands-on curriculum and

project management skills development in our

curriculum helped them to further their career

advancement quickly. Alumni have entered the

workforce prepared to identify challenges,

opportunities for change, and were prepared for

execution.

As supported in the literature, consistency in

project deliverables can assist students in the

retention of the knowledge, skills, and motivation

we are trying to develop. Holding team members

accountable using project management planning

tools and schedules helped to structure team

success and improve team task and interpersonal

processes. Students who engaged with a program

with this practice often demonstrated these

valuable skills. This consistent approach served

as a model for interactions and expectations in

team interactions.

5. DISCUSSION

As evidenced in our survey, not all project

management skills were present in the

undergraduate student population. In fact, the

students that took multiple courses with a specific

project management focus could articulate the

application of the skills and competencies. We

believe that threading project management

throughout multiple courses and majors will

further strengthen this critical skill development

and application.

Survey results suggest that while students are

exposed to project management processes and

techniques, they are not proficient in

implementing standard business practices. The

data demonstrates the value of the integration of

project management practice throughout

undergraduate courses across disciplines. We

cannot fully implement project management

practice and reinforcement without it being

threaded throughout several courses.

Integrating project management tools and

techniques allows students to grow both

academically and professionally in their skill

application. Programs can address the demand

for project management skills, the consistent use

of project management tools and processes in

their pedagogical design of team projects across

courses. When students see that project

management methodologies are used

consistently across courses, they can

continuously hone these skills and improve team

process effectiveness and deliverable outcomes.

When asked to analyze challenges, students must

understand the practical application of problem-

solving, project management techniques and the

consequences of team decisions.

The driver behind our effort has been ongoing

feedback from stakeholders that guide the

process improvement of learning outcomes such

as the demand for graduates with project

management skills. Our applied projects allow

students to link education to increased business

knowledge, improved team dynamics and

communication, critical thinking, and time

management. While we have made progress in

updating the project management curriculum, we

concur that we have not yet fully integrated

project management skill development across the

business curriculum. Our intent is to share the

ideas and thought processes behind the course

design to help others in the development of an

updated project-centric curriculum. While project

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management is not a new skill, we feel that it is

highly underutilized and undervalued in the

business education curriculum. We understand

that project management practice continues to

evolve, and educators must continue to enhance

curriculum along this continuum.

Practical Application

We have designed our course assignments and

experiences to be more applicable and

meaningful for our students and their future

employers. A strong body of evidence proposes

integrating feedback from stakeholders and

research theory into each curriculum discussion.

While it is common to offer a project management

curriculum in business schools, integration should

continue to be a thread throughout various

majors. The important development of project

management skills cannot be fully executed in

one or two programs to be successful across the

curriculum. Faculty and practitioners should

continue to stay current with industry trends to

support the development of curriculum and

student outcomes.

Incorporating experiential project-based learning

opportunities, such as student internships and

ongoing project work, should continue to be

included in the curriculum. These experiences will

allow students to apply their project management

skills in an academic and professional setting. In

addition, one of the most effective ways to learn

project management skills is ongoing exposure

and experience participating and leading projects.

By offering more project-based learning

experiences in the undergraduate business

curriculum, you are enhancing the experiences

and applications for your students. In addition, it

would be beneficial across the business

curriculum to identify the pathway to professional

certifications in project management such as

CAPM, while students are completing

undergraduate credits.

Student assessment measures should evaluate

not only the project deliverables but also evaluate

the team process and project management skills.

In each class outlined above, students are held

accountable using project management planning

and scheduling tools to facilitate efficient and

effective team tasks and interpersonal processes.

Team debriefs are also a critical component in

each of our classes to reinforce lessons learned

and continuously improve team processes and

outcomes. Free online tools like ITP Metrics

(https://www.itpmetrics.com/assessment.info)

can help faculty measure team processes and

facilitate team debriefs. Projects should be

experiential in nature and include the application

of key metrics critical for their future success in

the business environment. The project

management tools described outline a

multidisciplinary approach that can be integrated

across business schools and utilized as a platform

to develop an interest in lifelong learning for our

graduates.

Future Consideration

The field of project management is ever-changing

and will continue to evolve. It is important for

educators to stay up to date on the latest best

practices and techniques to ensure that the

curriculum continues to have merit. Partnering

with professional organizations locally such as

PMI (Project Management Institute) can help

ensure this goal will be achieved. Identifying

trends and updating curriculum to address

industry standards and practices will continue to

provide students with lifelong learning

opportunities.

Indeed, exposing students to experiential project

management components has increased

knowledge of factors that are often uncertain,

complex, and unpredictable. Classroom practice

of these factors has better prepared our alumni

for employability as evidenced by our job

placement rates. We continue to monitor insight

from career placement statistics and execute

assignments that allow for practical application.

The outcome of our work is that our students can

walk into an interview with a portfolio of project

deliverables that highlights not just what they

know, but what they can do.

Limitations

We evaluated the course curriculum redesign

within one university. While we believe our

project process is unique in delivering an updated

curriculum, we highlight data from our

introductory management and capstone course

that supports the claim that undergraduate

course curriculum would benefit from

enhancement of project management skills focus.

It would be beneficial to identify best practices in

course design, project management process, and

skill development for future course design

discussions across multiple departments and

various schools, outside of the School of

Business.

6. CONCLUSION

The inclusion of project management tools and

application can increase efficiency in course

design (Echkardt & Wetherbe, 2016). This

pedagogy aligns with AACSB's Impact of

Research Task Force report that argues, "By

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bringing together practitioners and academics on

focused topics, education holds enormous

potential to strengthen the linkage between

research and practice" (p. 37). Positioning

graduates with lifelong skills that go well beyond

the traditional classroom setting (Dirksen, 2015).

Experiences using project management

techniques and skills development provide

students with opportunities to enter the

workforce with hands-on experience managing

projects, working with a team, analyzing data,

and applying experiential knowledge (Eckhardt &

Wetherbe, 2016), skill sets relevant to on-the-job

requirements. This prescribed method has not

always been a practice present. Project

management tools can be consistently

implemented across the curriculum to improve

project-based student learning outcomes and

workforce readiness.

7. APPENDIX: STUDENT SURVEY

1. Have you ever taken project

management courses or workshops? If

yes, which methodologies?

a. General introduction

b. Adaptive

c. Agile

d. Kanban

e. Lean

f. PMBOK (Project Management

Book of Knowledge)

g. Prince2

h. Scrum

i. Waterfall/Traditional PM

j. None

k. Other (please specify)

2. Do you have access to project

management professional development

opportunities or training materials?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Unsure

3. Are you familiar with project

management methodologies? If so, select

the ones you are most familiar with:

a. Adaptive

b. Agile

c. Kanban

d. Lean

e. PMBOK

f. Prince2

g. Scrum

h. Waterfall/Traditional PM

i. None

j. Other (please specify)

4. Are you currently implementing any

project management skills, such as time

management, scope organization,

milestone schedules, risk management,

etc.? (Select all that apply)

a. No

b. Yes, in my class projects.

c. Yes, in my student organization.

d. Yes, in my internship.

e. Yes, in my job.

5. If you answered yes, which project

management methodologies are you

currently using?

a. Adaptive

b. Agile

c. Kanban

d. Lean

e. PMBOK

f. Prince2

g. Scrum

h. Waterfall/Traditional PM

i. None

j. Other (please specify)

6. What level of project management skills

do you feel you possess?

a. Likert scale: 1 = none; 6 = expert

7. How confident do you feel managing a

project?

a. Likert scale: 1 = not at all; 6 =

extremely

8. How many class projects have you

participated in during your time as an

undergraduate student?

9. In those class projects:

a. Did you utilize a project

management charter or contract?

i. Yes

ii. No

b. Did you utilize a project

schedule?

i. Yes

ii. No

c. Did you utilize a project schedule

software or tool?

i. Yes

ii. No

d. did you complete a scope

statement?

i. Yes

ii. No

10. Do you consider any of the following

communications, risk, resource, or

quality management at any level when

working on your class projects?

a. Yes

b. No

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Martin,  F.  &  Bolliger,  D.U.  (2018).  Engagement 
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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

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Enforcement of Prerequisites in Computer Science

Ernst Bekkering

[email protected]

Patrick Harrington

[email protected]

Mathematics and Computer Science

Northeastern State University

Tahlequah, OK 74464

Abstract

This paper describes the study of enforcement of prerequisites in the Computer Science program at a

regional university in the Southwest. Prerequisites are a significant factor in programs of study in higher

education. Allowing students to register in courses may assume that they have existing knowledge and

skills. Some programs treat prerequisites as advisory, while others consider them mandatory. In the

latter case, procedures usually exist to make exceptions in the form of registration overrides. The state

of prerequisite enforcement at our university over the years, and some factors that may have influenced

adherence to the prerequisite structure over the years, will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: enrollment, curriculum, prerequisites, scheduling, graduation.

1. INTRODUCTION

In higher education, courses may have

prerequisites and/or co-requisites to ensure that

students taking the course are sufficiently

prepared. In reality, enforcement of these

prerequisites may be difficult. For instance,

enrollment systems cannot check prerequisites

until after the semester end because course

grades have not been awarded and enrollment for

the next semester starts well before the current

semester ends (Boyer & Bucklew, 2019). A

variety of processes exist to deal with this timing

problem.

The issue of enforcing prerequisites is especially

important when the demand for a course exceeds

the course capacity. Students who should not be

taking the course (yet) take a seat that should

have gone to students who do qualify (Soria &

Mumpower, 2012).

This research will examine the compliance with

successful completion of prerequisites and

enrollment in co-requisites in the Computer

Science program where the investigators teach.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next

section, we discuss the relevant literature. Next,

we discuss the methodology of our study, data

collection, and data analysis. We end with

conclusions and recommendations.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Prior knowledge and skills needed to be

successful in a course can take multiple forms.

Prerequisites can be defined as courses or tests

that must be successfully completed prior to

registering for the target course. In some cases,

special tests are given at the start of a course to

identify students who need additional support to

get caught up. Co-requisites are courses that

must be taken at the same time as another

course. In the case of labs partnered with lecture

sections, the reason for the split is usually

administrative – multiple lab sections with fewer

students are needed to give all students sufficient

individual attention in the lab. In other cases, the

material in one course is supportive of the target

course. For instance, Discrete Mathematics may

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be co-requisite for Basic Computer Architecture to

cover Boolean logic more in-depth in the

mathematics course.

Rationale for expecting prior knowledge

Curriculum design involves combining multiple

courses into an integrated program of study.

Considering limitations of time and other

resources, programs should maximize coverage

of content while minimizing overlap. As Diamond

(1998) states:

“One of the most prevalent problems in

course and curriculum design is the tendency

of faculty to make false assumptions about

the knowledge and skills that students bring

to their courses. These incorrect assumptions

lead to failure for the students who are ill

prepared, boredom for their classmates who

are often more than adequately prepared,

and frustration for the faculty.”

Performance in advanced courses depends on

how the material in prerequisite courses is used

and evaluated (Nelson et al., 2020). Lack of

correct prerequisites and lack of continuity

between courses in a sequence are specifically

mentioned as causes of student failure (Babb et

al., 2014). “Depth of knowledge” assumes a

hierarchical structure of programs (Reynolds et

al., 2016). This is not limited to a single program

of study. If programs have more than one

concentration, two or more sequenced courses

within the concentration are required (Downey et

al., 2008).

Babb et al. (2014) propose that students must

“step-wise and incrementally, engage in the

persistent and iterative pursuit of programming”

of at least 15 out of 23 topics over the course of

the curriculum. Longenecker et al. (2013)

suggest a series of three programming courses

with database as prerequisite for the last course.

Decreasing the number of programming courses

in the early 2000s backfired, and industry

continues to demand technical skills (George &

Marett, 2019).

Prerequisites do not come without drawbacks.

Students can suffer delays in graduation, and

universities may have to offer more courses with

a deeper prerequisite structure (Reynolds et al.,

2016). For some students, it can be a reason to

select another major (Li et al., 2014). It is

therefore important to impose only prerequisites

that are necessary and effective.

Effectiveness

Much of the research on prerequisites has focused

on their effectiveness in a program’s curriculum.

The effect of prior knowledge has been tested

statistically through correlation of prior

coursework and final grades in the target course,

and by correlation with special pretests at the

start of the target course.

Examples of studies that use final grades in the

target course are Blaylock & Lacewell (2008),

Krause-Levy et al. (2020), Liao et al. (2019), and

Soria & Mumpower (2012). All found positive

relationships between prerequisites and target

courses.

Passing previous courses may not be effective.

The use of proficiency tests instead of

prerequisite courses has been described by

Rondeau & Li (2009). Instituting the test created

a backlog of students who failed the test, and the

test did not fully cover the required knowledge.

Also, not all prior knowledge can be obtained in a

single course. Blaylock & Lacewell (2010) used a

prerequisites test covering topics from multiple

disciplines to demonstrate that prior knowledge

led to better final grade results. Sargent (2013)

used proficiency tests for Intermediate

Accounting with good result. Abou-Sayf (2009)

concluded that using entrance tests in the target

course provided more accurate results than using

final grades.

Higher education has become increasingly fluid.

Whereas decades ago, students tended to

complete degrees in one institution, the last

decade has seen an increasing number of

students who transfer from community colleges

to four-year institutions to finish their degree.

Transfer agreements between schools and state

transfer guides (for instance OSRHE (2022)) help

students to combine courses from multiple

sources into a single degree. Needless to say, this

assumes sufficient similarity of course contents to

be successful. The effect of transfer guides on the

number of prerequisites taken elsewhere is small,

and mature students benefit more (Spencer,

2019). Furthermore, Catanese et al. (2018) found

no significant difference in a third computing

course between native students and transfer

students who took the first two courses

elsewhere.

Finally, some problems exist in quantitative

measurement of the effect of prerequisites.

Students are more mature in the target course,

the students in the prerequisite and target course

partially overlap, self-selection happens due to

students not following up with the target course,

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and a cause-and-effect relationship has not been

demonstrated (Abou-Sayf, 2009).

Selection process

The second main area for prerequisites research

is in the selection process. One of the first

questions in delivering courses is the issue of

prerequisite knowledge (Johnson et al., 2002). In

some cases, this is easy. Database II should have

Database I as direct prerequisite (Reynolds et al.,

2016). Computer Science II should be preceded

by successful completion of Computer Science I,

and Object-Oriented Programming (in Java)

might need the coverage of objects in C++. Model

curricula may suggest this type of sequential

prerequisites. In IS2010 and IS2020,

Foundations of Information Systems is

prerequisite for most other courses, and all other

courses must be passed before culminating

courses like the capstone course (Leidig et al.,

2019; Leidig & Salmela, 2021).

Other prerequisites may be less intuitive. Some

courses have non-sequential prerequisites from

other disciplines. For instance, some

programming courses may need the logical

thinking from specific Mathematics courses.

White found that prerequisites are needed to

develop the proper cognitive style in order to be

successful in Visual Basic programming (2012).

In a follow-up study, White and Sivitanides

suggested that freshman level mathematics

courses are good indicators for success in Visual

Basic (2003). To fully understand the issues

round technology-based entrepreneurship, a

course on information systems in business is

essential (Jones & Liu, 2017).

Level of enforcement

Registration systems contribute to the problem of

skipping prerequisites (Wilkerson et al., 2019). As

mentioned before, course registration systems

have difficulty enforcing prerequisites if

registration for a future semester is allowed

before grades in the current semester have been

posted. Several solutions to this dilemma exist.

First, universities may use conditional enrollment

pending successful completion of the

prerequisite. Second, appropriate staff can issue

overrides. Academic advisors may have

permission to issue an override if transfer courses

have not been posted in the transcript system

yet, and faculty may override enrollment blocks

in courses they teach if they deem the

prerequisite unnecessary for specific students.

Departments can give overrides for courses in

their department. An example of this process can

be found at OSU (2021) . Third, enrollment

without prerequisites may not be blocked. Course

descriptions may merely mention prerequisites,

and students can not notice or ignore them. In

that case, it would be up to faculty to check

transcripts before or at the start of the course.

Finally, the university may only open enrollment

after grades in the current semester have been

posted. This pushes enrollment back compared

with early registration and is unattractive from an

administrative point of view. Soria & Mumpower

(2012) describe their university’s switch to an

automated, mandatory prerequisite enforcement

system and found that it led to better academic

outcomes.

The need to check grades does not exist for co-

requisites. If the course has been taken before it

is available in the transcript system, and if not

must be taken in the same semester as the

target course. Registration systems could check if

the co-requisite is covered and either disable

registration until it is met or issue a warning that

the co-requisite course must also be registered.

In closing, student compliance with prerequisites

and co-requisites is a multi-faceted issue. The

literature indicates that they are effective, gives

some guidelines for their selection, and that they

may not always be followed. We have not been

able to find literature indicating how often they

are skipped, and that is the focus of this study.

3. METHODOLOGY

This section describes the methodology of

measuring compliance with successful completion

of prerequisites and enrollment in co-requisites

for the Computer Science program.

Online university systems

Students register on Banner and transcripts can

be checked on DegreeWorks.

Course registration system

The Banner system (Ellucian Company LP, 2022a)

is a comprehensive suite that includes student

course registration and instructor functions like

generating course enrollment listings and grade

entry. Enrollments are synchronized nightly with

the course management system BlackBoard. The

gradebooks in BlackBoard contain the student

identifiers for each course.

Registration overrides may be customizable by

the university, allowing different users and

groups different permissions. At our university,

overrides for undergraduate courses can be

issued by faculty, department, and academic

advisors (Figure 1). Prerequisites are not listed as

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a reason. Academic advisors contact faculty for

prerequisite overrides. This typically happens

between Software Engineering and its target

Capstone course.

Figure 1 - Types of overrides

Transcript system

DegreeWorks (Ellucian Company LP, 2022b)

allows selecting single students based on their N

number (a unique number unconnected with

other identifiers such as social security numbers)

but also has a search function that includes

searching on majors and minors. The results of

each search are displayed in a popup window with

name and N numbers.

The frequency of synchronization between grade

entry on the Banner system and the transcripts in

Degreeworks is not known but assumed to be

frequent since both packages are sold by the

same company. The “historic audit” dropdown

shows multiple snapshots during the semesters,

and the “date refreshed” field can be used to

refresh the current transcript on the fly.

Transcripts show all required courses for the

program of study, the semester when taken or

scheduled, the course grade status, and special

notes for course transfers and substitutions.

Sample (anonymized) transcripts for are shown

in Appendix A.

Prerequisites in the CS program

The Computer Science program has multiple

courses with prerequisites or co-requisites. Some

are sequential, such as Computer Science I and

Computer Science II which even use the same

textbook. Other courses are non-sequential, such

as Object Oriented Programming and Software

Engineering. The course content in the

programming course is not used directly in the

target course, but the intent is to ensure that

students have sufficient programming

background to start preparing for the Capstone

course. A complete listing of common courses

with prerequisites is provided in Table 1. Some

courses with prerequisites in the course catalog

are seldom or never offered, and we ignored

those. We also omit courses restricted to

instructor permission only.

Course

Prerequisite/co-requisite

CS 2014

Computer

Science I

Applied Mathematics (co) or

College Algebra (co) or

ACT >=23

and computer proficiency

CS 2163

Computer

Science II

Computer Science I with C

minimum

CS 3033

Object

Oriented

Programming

Computer Science I with C

minimum

CS 3173

Basic

Computer

Architecture

Computer Science II (co)

and

MATH 3023 Discrete

Mathematics (co)

CS 3343

Computer

Operating

Systems

Basic Computer Architecture

CS 3403

Data

Structures

Computer Science II with C

minimum and

MATH 3023 Discrete

Mathematics

CS 4343

Database

Management

Systems

Computer Science II and

MATH 3023 Discrete

Mathematics

CS 4203

Software

Engineering

Object Oriented

Programming with C

minimum

CS 4233

Capstone

Software Engineering

Table 1 - Courses and prerequisites

Based on prerequisites in required courses, the

program has a critical path to graduate in four

semesters after General Education requirements

have been met. The critical path is shown in

Figure 2. In all three versions, completing the

upper division courses in four semesters is only

possible with the sequenced prerequisites

Computer Science I, Object Oriented

Programming, Software Engineering, and

Capstone (Professional Development in CS).

This critical path was shortened about six years

ago. Before the change, the prerequisite for

Object Oriented Programming was Computer

Science II, not Computer Science I. The critical

path at that time had a length of five courses with

Computer Science I, Computer Science II, Object

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Oriented Programming, Software Engineering,

and finally the capstone course. Even though we

felt that Computer Science II was a better

prerequisite for Object Oriented Programming

than Computer Science I, we decided to shorten

the path. This demonstrates that some of the

considerations in the use of prerequisites are

political as noted by Abou-Sayf (2009).

Figure 2 - Critical Path in CS

Course rotation

The CS program is offered on two campuses. In

the past, courses were only offered face to face

(f2f) on alternating campuses. With the advent of

powerful online meeting tools like BlackBoard

Collaborate and later Zoom, courses were

increasingly split in two sections, with one section

f2f and the other online concurrently. This allowed

students to take courses each semester

independent of their main campus, and the

course rotation is shown in the first image in

Appendix B.

Starting with the Fall 2021 semester, the course

offerings were reduced to once a year, regardless

of campus. Faculty could select the campus for

the f2f section and stream the course to the other

campus. The faculty with doctoral degrees were

reduced from five to three by releasing two

faculty on the tenure track and not replacing

them. The road map with implicit course rotation

is shown in the second image in Appendix B.

The road map for CS shows that CS courses are

spread over four years and eight semesters. In

our program, approximately half of the CS majors

complete all four years at our university, but the

other half consists of transfer students from

community colleges. For those transfer students,

and students who do not declare CS as their

major until after completion of their General

Education courses, students can combine the

major and minor courses for the first and second

years in the appropriate semesters, as well as

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combining the third and fourth years. For all

students though, most of the required courses are

offered only once a year. This complicates proper

course selection for our majors.

Scraping web data

All course registration data and all transcripts are

accessible online at the university website. One of

the current popular tools for collecting online data

is a combination of the Python programming

language and the Selenium module to automate

user actions in web browsers (Chapagain, 2019).

The Scrapy module (Zyte, 2022) is faster due to

multithreading but does not render JavaScript

and is not very user-friendly. BeautifulSoup

(Richardson, 2015) needs additional modules for

sending requests and parsing HTML pages.

Selenium is easy to use, sends its own requests,

and can pull data that is only available when

JavaScript is loaded (Grimes, 2022).

4. DATA COLLECTION

We filtered the transcript system on Computer

Science majors and copied the list of students to

a text file. Student identification numbers are in

the format Nxxxxxxxx, where x is a digit. The N

numbers were extracted with regular

expressions, and we used Python scripts with

Selenium to download transcripts and test scores.

Transcripts and test scores were saved with

corresponding random numbers for file names

and identifying information in the files was

removed. Finally, we used Python scripts with

Selenium and BeautifulSoup to extract the data

we needed in csv format.

The csv file was used as the data source for the

analysis spreadsheet. Separate tabs for each

course reviewed extracted the data for the

prerequisites and co-requisites and used lookup

tables to convert semesters to sequential

numbers. The semester numbers of prerequisites

and co-requisites were compared with the

number of the target course to check if they fell

before or with the target course and stored in

true/false format. Separate lookup tables were

used to check for passing grades in prerequisites

and co-requisites and stored in true/false format.

Formulas with AND() and OR() were constructed

to check if all rules were met.

We filtered first on target courses being taken,

and then on meeting all the rules. Finally, we

assigned categories for the reasons. Figure 3

shows an example for Basic Computer

Architecture, which has two co-requisites with

passing grades of D.

Figure 3 - Categorization

Finally, the data were summarized on a separate

tab by semester and categories in tabular and

graphical format for analysis.

5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

We will now discuss the CS major courses. We will

start with a brief description of the course and its

requirements, followed by the results and our

interpretation. Appendix C shows graphs for the

number of times requirements were not met, the

occurrences relative to the total times the course

was taken in the semester, and a breakdown of

the reasons. The historical rate mentioned is the

rate of unmet requirements over the history of

the program, based on all available transcripts.

Computer Science I is the introductory

programming course. The course presents the

basics of programming in C++. Two Math courses

can be taken as a co-requisite, or students can

qualify with an ACT of 23 or higher. All students

must have computer proficiency. The course has

a substantial number of students who do not

meet the requirements. The historical rate is

17.8%. One of the prerequisites is usually taken

before the course, but a substantial number of

students fail the MATH course. The main reason

for failing the requirements is not taking them,

with a strong second not passing when taken

before. Very few students fail to get a passing

grade when taken concurrently.

Computer Science II presents more programming

in C++. In contrast to Computer Science I, it has

a low historical rate of 4.1%. The course has

Computer Science I with a minimum of C as a

prerequisite. The majority of students not

meeting it are transfer students from a

Community College who either failed to get a C or

took the courses concurrently.

Object Oriented Programming is taught in Java.

The prerequisite is Computer Science II, which

has to be passed with a C. The historical rate is

extremely low at 2.5%, with more than half

related to transfer students who fail to get a C or

taking the prerequisite late.

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Basic Computer Architecture presents the

theoretical foundation of computers, including the

basic hardware components and an introduction

to assembly language. It has two courses that can

be taken before or concurrently. The historical

rate is 11.5%. About twice as many students fail

to pass Discrete Mathematics as Computer

Science II.

Computer Operating Systems follows Basic

Computer Architecture, its only prerequisite. The

course presents topics like concurrency,

processes, and threads. The historical rate is

lower at 7.9%. Both courses are taught in

opposite semesters and taking the prerequisite

two semesters later generally delays graduation.

Data Structures introduces both common data

structures and algorithms used in Computer

Science. The historical rate is 8.6%, of which

more than three quarters is caused by not passing

Discrete Mathematics and the rest by failing to

pass Computer Science II or both.

Database Management Systems presents

multiple forms of databases as storage and

retrieval tools for data. It has a historical rate of

10.8%, with two thirds due to not meeting the

Discrete Mathematics requirement and one third

not passing Computer Science II.

Software Engineering presents the software

development process including requirements

analysis, modeling, and testing. Combining this

course with previous programming courses

prepares the students for the integrative

Capstone course. The historical rate is higher

again at 14.7%, with only a very minor part due

to failing the prerequisite. The remainder is

evenly split between taking the courses

concurrently and taking the prerequisite after the

software engineering course.

The capstone course has students develop an

individual integrative project of their choice. The

historical rate for not meeting the Software

Engineering prerequisite is 16.0%, with virtually

all due to taking the capstone and its prerequisite

concurrently.

Table 2 presents a summary of the historical rate

of unmet requirements. The rate appears to vary

based on three factors. First, courses with

Mathematics prerequisites tend to have higher

rates. This is true for especially Computer Science

I. Second, sequential courses tend to have lower

rates. This is true for Computer Science I and II

(4.1%), Computer Science I and Object Oriented

Programming (2.5%), and Basic Computer

Architecture and Computer Operating Systems

(7.9%). Finally, courses later in the program tend

to have higher rates. We attribute this to the

pressure to graduate on time.

Course

Sequential

Percent

Unmet

Computer Science I

no

17.8%

Computer Science II

yes

4.1%

Object Oriented

Programming

yes

2.5%

Basic Computer

Architecture

no

11.5%

Computer Operating

Systems

yes

7.9%

Data Structures

no

8.6%

Database

Management

Systems

no

10.8%

Software

Engineering

no

14.7%

Capstone

no

16.0%

Table 2 - Historical Rate of Unmet

Requirements

6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Our analysis shows a significant level of failing to

meet requirements for courses in our Computer

Science program. As involved faculty members,

the results do not surprise us. We do see this as

an opportunity to take actions that alleviate this

problem.

The tools used for this study can be converted to

multiple proactive tools. We can generate lists for

academic advisors with students needing to take

the specific courses in the following semester.

These lists can be used in advising sessions, to

contact students proactively by email or text

message, and to check courses needed against

actual enrollments. The same lists can be used by

the department to estimate demand for the next

semester so an adequate number of course

sections can be scheduled. Finally, we can

generate faculty lists with checked prerequisites

and co-requisites at the start of the semester to

maximize the enrollment of eligible students by

eliminating non-eligible students.

Finally, our study does not address the effect of

unmet prerequisites on student performance in

the target course. We plan to make this a

separate study.

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Appendix A – Sample anonymized transcripts

Graduated student

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Ongoing student

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Appendix B – Course rotations

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Appendix C – Results by Course

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Mid-Pandemic Impact on

Mobile Learning Motivation Factors

Neelima Bhatnagar

[email protected]

University of Pittsburgh

Greensburg, PA 15601 USA

Ann-Marie Horcher

[email protected]

Northwood University

Midland, MI 48642 USA

Abstract

The study examines the motivating factors driving mobile information systems use (MISU) for mobile

learning. The primary objectives include comparing attitudes of students and faculty towards the

influence of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived playfulness (PP), and perceived enjoyment (PE) on

MISU. Additionally, the influence of personal innovativeness (PI) on PU, PE, and PP is also assessed. The

previous study examined these attitudes prior to the pandemic. This study focuses on the attitudes

existing mid-pandemic, when new strategies toward m-learning were by necessity applied much more

broadly than at any other time historically. The method used is a survey of quantitative constructs.

Research contributions, limitations, and implications for future research are also discussed. Though

student participants felt perceived usefulness led to mobile learning use mid-pandemic, faculty did not.

Furthermore, neither group felt perceived usefulness yielded perceived usability.

Keywords: motivation, mobile learning, pandemic, m-learning, COVID-19

1. INTRODUCTION

Organizations of all types have benefited from the

development and use of information systems

("Measuring Digital Development Facts and

Figures 2021," 2021). With the explosion of

mobile applications, also known as mobile

information systems, new uses are emerging.

One such application of mobile information

systems is mobile learning, referred to as m-

learning hereafter. M-learning has found its ways

in the corporate world for employee training and

development, and in higher education for

teaching and student learning. However, m-

learning has historically not seen the same extent

of usage as distance learning and e-learning,

often attributed to technological limitations.

Motivational factors, though, may also contribute

to the slow adoption of m-learning. But

quarantine on a global scale produced a new level

of motivation. With schools no longer in person,

participation in learning required online

interaction. If the problems of m-learning usage

are not well understood and addressed, then

usage may possibly decrease and the

opportunities inherent in m-learning may be

missed. Extant literature includes numerous m-

learning studies explicitly focused on student use

and perceptions of m-learning. Faculty members,

on the other hand, have not been the focus of

many studies, despite the integral role that

faculty motivation likely plays in the use of m-

learning. In this study the attitudes of both

faculty and student are examined mid-pandemic

and compared to a previous study on attitudes

pre-pandemic (Bhatnagar, 2019).

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In the literature several key themes are evident

regarding the intersection of the pandemic and

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the evolution of m-learning. This section

discusses those key works, the definitions used in

the context of the study, and theories that have

previously been used to determine attitudes. The

literature points to the validity of the approach

and the importance.

The pandemic shaped key trends on usage of the

Internet. Though mobile broadband usage was

originally expected to peak at 85 percent in 2020,

instead now 95 percent has access to a mobile

broadband network ("Measuring Digital

Development Facts and Figures 2021," 2021). In

spite of this coverage, blind spots persist in rural

areas. In developing countries, the cost of

connecting to mobile broadband remains high,

which restricts access.

M-learning mainly involves the use of mobile

devices and wireless technologies (Pereira &

Rodrigues, 2013) for training, learning, and

teaching purposes (Sarrab, Elgamel, & Aldabbas,

2012) and this is the definition that was used in

the context of this research study. Eteokleous and

Ktoridou (2009) referred to m-learning as a

successor of e-learning. They defined e-learning

as learning that takes place with the use of digital

electronic tools and media. The relationship

between these similar concepts is diagrammed by

Pereira & Rodriguez (2013) and shown in Figure

1.

E-learning moved from being part of the informal

education system to mainstream in learning

delivery ("78 Essential LMS and eLearning

Software Statistics: 2022 Data Analysis & Market

Share," 2022). Widespread acceptance of online

learning is expected to continue post-pandemic.

Cloud-based Learning Management System

(LMS) have enabled the rapid adoption of the

technology. The millennial population in the

workforce is also a driver in the increased use of

m-learning tools.

Some studies have started tracking the

pandemic’s impact on m-learning. In the study of

m-learning for medical education, the importance

of connecting stakeholders (both students and

faculty) and using meaningful interaction with m-

learning was exposed (Kalantrion et al., 2022).

A study of online learning students in Macao

suggests that learning motivation, even in the

case of forced adoption of online, is key to

success (Zhang, Lam, & Su, 2021). A study of m-

learning in the less developed country of Libya

points out the importance of good Internet

connectivity to acceptance even during the forced

adoption caused by the pandemic (Maatuk,

Elberkawi, Aljawarneh, Rashaideh, & Alharbi,

2022).

Though the steps for making radical changes in

organizations have been previously studied

(Cameron & Green, 2019), most organizations did

not have the option of controlled change during

the pandemic. The typical mitigating actions that

would have cushioned the migration to m-

learning such as leading communications,

satisfying needs for emotional security, etc.

(Weiss & Li, 2020) were abbreviated at best.

Furthermore, the assault of change was felt not

just on learning, but in all aspects of existence.

Various theories have been used to explore

attitudes and experiences related to m-learning.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is

frequently used in industry and in university

settings (Buabeng-Andoh, 2021). The m-learning

paradigm has even inspired the Mobile

Technology Acceptance Model (MTAM) which adds

personal innovativeness and usefulness as

constructs driving adoption (Yuan, Tan, Ooi, &

Lim, 2021). In a study focused on pedagogy and

motivation, a combination of Bloom’s taxonomy

and Malone and Lepper’s Taxonomy of Intrinsic

Motivations for Learning was used as the study

framework (Troussas, Krouska, & Sgouropoulou,

2022).

Similar to Bhatnagar (2019), perceived

usefulness and perceived playfulness has been

Figure 1: Illustration of the evolution

of learning models (Pereira &

Rodrigues, 2013)

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used to explore student acceptance and rejection

of the mobile learning apps (Al-Bashayreh,

Almajali, Altamimi, Masa’deh, & Al-Okaily, 2022).

This study was created very early in the

pandemic. It was noted in future directions in Al-

Bashayreh et al. (2022) that though pre-

pandemic conditions validated the relationships

between playfulness and intent to use, the

pandemic created an atypical situation where

acceptance may have been forced on students.

3. THEORY

As seen in Al-Bashayreh et al. (2022), the

influence of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

factors on mobile information systems use

(MISU) was tested. Intrinsic motivation factors

assessed included perceived enjoyment (PE) and

perceived playfulness (PP). One extrinsic

motivator factor was assessed, perceived

usefulness (PU). Additionally, the influence of

personal innovativeness (PI) on PU, PE, and PP

was also assessed.

The central research question that emerged from

the current state of m-learning research was how

to determine effective use of mobile devices in

the context of mobile information system

applications such as m-learning. Exploring how to

integrate m-learning effectively (Crow, Santos,

LeBaron, McFadden, & Osborne, 2010; Lam, Yau,

& Cheung, 2010) is an important issue that lacks

understanding (Eteokleous & Ktoridou, 2009) and

is a major barrier for its use. It is not enough to

look only at how mobile devices can be

integrated.

Previously Hwang (2014) looked at personal

innovativeness as it related to usage of Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) systems. The factors of

PU, PE, and PP were proposed to predict eventual

system usage. This model was adapted as shown

in Figure 2 to predict Mobile Information Systems

Usage (MISU) based on PI, PU, PE, and PP. This

lead to the first research question.

RQ1: What are the motivating factors driving m-

learning use?

The goal was to examine which if any of the

motivating factors of PU, PE, and PP were

impacting MISU. Therefore, the following

hypotheses were tested using the proposed

theoretical model in Figure 2 to answer RQ1.

H

0

1: PU, PE, and PP positively and significantly

influence MISU.

H1a: PI will positively and significantly influence

PU.

H1b: PI will positively and significantly influence

PE.

H1c: PI will positively and significantly influence

PP.

Figure 2: Proposed Theoretical Model adopted from Hwang (2014)

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H2a: PU will positively and significantly influence

MISU.

H2b: PE will positively and significantly influence

MISU.

H2c: PP will positively and significantly influence

MISU.

The second research question looks at what is

being included in MISU. Particularly in the mid-

pandemic timeframe, the range of activities

included in m-learning expanded drastically, as

did the participating population in comparison to

pre-pandemic. This reality incited the second

question.

RQ2: How is m-learning being used for teaching,

learning, and training?

RQ2 was answered via four questions in the

survey instrument. These can be seen in

Appendix A & B.

The hypotheses, graphically displayed in Figure 3,

were tested using the theoretical model (Figure

2) to answer both research questions via the

survey instrument. PI will positively and

significantly influence PU, PE, and PP (H1a, H1b,

H1c) and PU, PE, and PP will positively and

significantly influence MISU (H2a, H2b, and H2c).

4. METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

Institutional Review Board approval was received

at the primary investigator’s institution prior to

commencing the study. An online survey was

created using Qualtrics and analyzed using

Structural Equation Modeling. The questions

replicated those used in a study of pre-pandemic

attitudes towards mobile learning (Bhatnagar,

2019). The survey also contained questions to

help understand how m-learning is being used for

teaching and learning. For details, please see

Appendix A (Faculty Survey Instrument) and

Appendix B (Student Survey Instrument).

Participants were contacted via email and

requested to participate in the study. Whereas

the previous study focused only on faculty

teaching in the disciplines of computer science,

information systems, and business at 60

institutions of higher education (both public and

private) who are members of the Association of

American Universities (AAU) in the United States,

this study was expanded to also include students.

Faculty and students at a regional campus of an

R1 university in western Pennsylvania along with

international students at a European university

took the survey. This provides a sample set with

wider cultural representation.

The initial email was sent to a total of 959

undergraduate students, 16 graduate students

and 186 faculty. A reminder email was sent after

one week to 979 undergraduate students and 187

faculty. Additional students had been added to

the shared email list in the time since the initial

email, so more students were contacted in the

reminder. The response rates for both faculty and

students were significantly low at 9% and 4%

respectively.

The data was first cleaned by removing blank

records, and incomplete responses. The data was

then coded. Microsoft Excel, SPSS and SmartPLS

were used for the data analysis.

In addition to the questions of the original survey

(Bhatnagar, 2019), a measurement of usability

was also taken using the System Usability Scale

(SUS) metric. The importance of student

satisfaction during the pandemic forced adoption

(Uthman & Ahmed, 2022) seemed to be a critical

factor. Usability measures like SUS indicate how

users feel about the experience of using the

system. Though previous studies of the effect of

Computer Anxiety (CA) had not shown a direct

relationship between CA and the intention to use

(Ball & Levy, 2008), studies during the pandemic

have shown otherwise (Alsubaie, Alzarah, &

Alhemly, 2022). The amount of change induces

technostress which means more attention needs

to be paid to the student and faculty experience.

The reliability and validity of SUS has been

documented by 20 years of SUS Scores (Sauro,

Figure 3: Conceptual Map of the

Research Model

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2011). Reliability refers to the consistent

response to the items. SUS detects differences in

smaller sample sizes (as few as two users) and

generates reliable results. Validity refers to

whether an instrument measures the target,

which for SUS is perceived usability. SUS has

been shown to effectively distinguish between

unusable and usable systems and correlates

highly with other questionnaire-based

measurements of usability. These characteristics

combine to make SUS an improvement to

commercial alternatives and home-grown

questionnaires (Sauro, 2011). The SUS provides

a comprehensive measure in addition to the

dimensionality measures of the original

instrument.

The discussion of key results is divided into two

sections. The first section provides a comparison

of the results between the pre-pandemic and mid-

pandemic findings. The second section looks at

the student data results.

5. COMPARISON PRE/MID PANDEMIC

RESULTS FOR FACULTY

SPSS was used to perform pre-analysis data

screening. Outliers, or extreme cases, in the data

were evaluated for all datasets using both the

univariate and multivariate techniques. Since the

data was coded on a 7-point Likert scale, a visual

inspection of the data showed no univariate

outliers. With 24 items, the degrees of freedom is

24 and the critical value for chi-square at p<.001

equals 51.179. For the current study, the analysis

called for the elimination of one case, but it was

not removed. In the pre-pandemic study six cases

had to be removed since the Mahalanobis

distance was greater than 51.179.

Structural model analysis was done in two parts.

The measurement model focuses on internal

consistency reliability, convergent validity, and

discriminant validity. The structural model is

assessed by evaluating collinearity, the

significance of path coefficients, the level of R

2

values, the f

2

effect size, the predictive relevance

(Q

2

), and the q

2

effect size (Hair Jr, Hult, Ringle,

& Sarstedt, 2013).

Measurement Model

Internal consistency reliability is measured by

evaluating composite reliability and Cronbach’s

alpha. Composite reliability ranges between zero

and one. The higher the number, the higher the

composite reliability. Cronbach’s alpha greater

than 0.8 are good. The model showed strong

internal consistency reliability for both the pre-

pandemic and mid-pandemic studies.

The two most common measures of construct

validity are convergent and discriminant validity.

Any reflective indicator whose outer loading is

below 0.4 should be removed. However,

indicators with outer loadings between 0.4 and

0.7 should be further analyzed by looking at the

impact on composite reliability and average

variance extracted (AVE) before any elimination

takes place (Hair Jr et al., 2013).

In the pre-pandemic study, MISU7 had an outer

loading of -0.358, in this study it is 0.044. Since

Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Results for Faculty

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it is below 0.4, it should be removed. PP1 and PP2

have outer loadings between 0.4-0.7, 0.681 and

0.697 respectively (in the previous study with

0.641 and 0.495 respectively). These were

further examined by looking at the impact on

composite reliability and average variance

extracted (AVE) before their elimination. As was

the case in the previous study, composite

reliability, Cronbach’s alpha, and AVE are greatly

improved by removing MISU7, PP1, and PP2.

These three indicators were removed prior to

completing the remainder of the analysis. The

indicator reliability is the squared value of an

indicator’s outer loading.

Discriminant validity is assessed by examining

the indicator cross loadings and the Fornell-

Larcker criterion. In both studies these were met

without any issues.

Structural Model

The structural model is assessed by evaluating

collinearity, the significance of path coefficients,

the level of R

2

values, the f

2

effect size, the

predictive relevance (Q

2

), and the q

2

effect size

(Hair et al., 2013). These are discussed next.

SPSS was used to assess collinearity. Collinearity

involves examining tolerance levels and the

variance inflation factor (VIF). Tolerance levels

below 0.2 and VIF above 5.0 are indicators of

collinearity. In both studies the results indicate no

collinearity issues.

Structural model path coefficients should be

between -1 and +1. Coefficients that are close to

+1 represent a strong positive relationship, -1 a

strong negative relationship, and close to zero a

weak or nonsignificant relationship (Hair et al.,

2013). Since the hypotheses for the study are

unidirectional, this implies a one-tailed test. In

the pre-pandemic study, two of the paths were

not significant, from PE to MISU (rejecting H2b)

and from PP to MISU (rejecting H2c). In this study

besides these two, the path from PP to MISU is

also not significant (rejecting H2a).

The coefficient of determination, R

2

,

value ranges

from 0 to 1 and there is no agreed upon value for

an acceptable R

2

value (Hair et al., 2013).

However, Hair et al. stated that values of 0.75

(substantial), 0.50 (moderate), and 0.25 (weak)

can be used as a rule of thumb. Based on the

results, MISU, PE, PI, and PP had weak predictive

accuracy in the pre-pandemic study. In this

study, PI did not appear in the results and the

remaining constructs have a moderate predictive

accuracy.

According to Hair et al. (2013), effect size (f

2

)

values of 0.02 (small), 0.15 (medium), and 0.35

(large) are the effect sizes that should be used to

evaluate the structural model. In the previous

study, PI had a large effect on PE, a medium

effect on PP. and a small effect on PU and PU had

a small effect on MISU. In this study, PI has a

large effect on PU, PE, and PP whereas PU and PE

have medium effects on MISU and PP has a small

effect on MISU.

Blindfolding is a method used to calculate

predictive relevance (Q

2

). Q

2

indicates the

model’s predictive relevance (Hair Jr et al.,

2013). Assessment of Q

2

uses the same values

for small, medium, and large as f

2

. While the pre-

pandemic study showed the model to have some

predictive relevance, even if minimal, in the

current study the model has a stronger predictive

relevance.

Just as f

2

effect size is used to assess R

2

values,

relative impact of predictive relevance can be

compared by means of the measure to the q

2

effect size (Hair Jr et al., 2013). The equation to

calculate the q

2

effect is seen below.

(Q

2

included – Q

2

excluded) / (1-Q

2

included)

The values of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 show small,

medium, or large predictive relevance. MISU is

the endogenous variable. By removing each of

the latent variables (PE, PU, and PI) one at a time,

and calculating the predictive relevance,

determines the effect size of each latent variable

on the endogenous variable. In the previous

study it was determined that all predictor

variables had a very small effect size. In this

study, PE and PU have a medium effect size while

PP has a small effect size. Table 1 summarizes the

Figure 4: Faculty age range

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findings of the mid- and pre-pandemic data

results for faculty.

Faculty Demographics

In the current study, analysis of the faculty

demographics showed that the survey was

completed primarily by females (56%) in the age

ranges shown in Figure 4. Overwhelmingly 81%

have earned doctorate degrees and teach in

disciplines other than Information Systems,

Business, and Computer Science. The disciplines

in which participants obtained their higher degree

was wide ranging. All participants (100%) teach

at the undergraduate level. It was interesting to

find that 31% of them teach on-campus (i.e. in-

person, face-to-face) and hybrid in spite of the

pandemic.

The average number of years of teaching

experience is 22 years and the average number

of years in higher education is 20 years. A

majority are employed full-time (75%) and teach

at a public university (94%). The average years

of teaching on-campus are 19, online 5, and

hybrid 3. Most are not on tenure track (62%).

Pre-Pandemic M-Learning Uses

The uses of m-learning (which address RQ2)

showed that 18% of the participants using m-

learning (n=87) used four of the five options

provided: in-class and out-of-class activities,

online and hybrid course. Around 8% used one or

more combinations of the options provided. The

types of activities being used for m-learning in

teaching were wide ranging. See Appendix C for

the types of activities surveyed.

Of the 87 participants who identified themselves

as users of m-learning, three (3%) stated that

they had been using m-learning for less than one

year, 55 (63%) started using m-learning between

1 to 6 years ago, seven (8%) between 7 to 10

years, and 22 (25%) had started using it over ten

years ago. Seventy-six (87%) use it anywhere

from several times a day to 3-5 days a week. The

remaining 11 participants (or 12%) use it less

frequently. Sixty-three (72%) of the 87

participants stated that they felt moderately or

very comfortable using m-learning.

Teaching resources provided on a mobile device

resulted in 61 combinations of choices. The top

three choices accounted for 17% of the resources

used. These include using a combination of

lecture PPT slides, audio, and video recordings,

print content, eBooks, hyperlinks to course-

related reference material, and Blackboard. Some

participants also provided information on other

resources provided to students on a mobile

device. The most commonly listed system was

Canvas.

In general, most participants (86%) expressed a

level of satisfaction in using m-learning that

ranged between somewhat to mostly satisfied.

Hardware used for m-learning primarily includes

generic laptops, phones, video cameras,

computers, and e-readers. Next would be all the

Apple products (iPhone, iPad, mac, MacBook).

The predominant software used is Canvas. Others

used are wide-ranging (Bhatnagar, 2019).

Mid-Pandemic M-Learning Uses

Faculty are currently using m-learning for all of

the following options (in various types of

combinations): in-class and out-of-class

activities, online course, hybrid course, as well as

for professional development/training. All 16

participants started using m-learning over a year

ago, eleven (70%) have been using it between 1

to 6 years, two (12%) have been using it between

7 to 10 years, and the remaining three (18%)

have been using it over 10 years. Sixty-two

percent use it anywhere from several times a day

to about once a day. Twenty-five percent use it

3-5 days a week, twelve percent use it 1-2 days

a week, twelve percent use it every few weeks or

less often, and only six percent has never used it.

Two new questions were added to the survey. The

first asked if participants were given a choice

other than mobile learning during the pandemic.

Thirty-seven percent said yes, and sixty-three

percent said no.

Of those that stated they were not given a choice,

all participants stated that they did not choose to

not teach to avoid mandatory mobile learning.

Almost seventy percent stated they are

moderately or very comfortable in using m-

learning. Teaching resources provided on a

mobile device resulted in 14 combinations from

the choices that were provided. Some of these

choices included lecture PPT slides, audio, and

video recordings, among others. A majority

(87.5%) expressed a level of satisfaction ranging

from neither satisfied nor dissatisfied to

somewhat satisfied. Participants were asked to

identify how frequently they engaged in various

types of activities using their mobile devices to

support teaching. See Appendix C for a

breakdown of the responses. In a follow-up

question most participants (68%) said they did

not engage in any other activities using mobile

devices to support teaching.

Hardware used for m-learning primarily includes

phones and laptops. Canvas is the learning

management system used at the regional campus

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where the survey was administered and chosen

by majority of the participants. There were a

myriad of other software programs identified,

some discipline specific.

6. MID-PANDEMIC STUDENT RESULTS

As discussed earlier, students were added to the

study for the mid-pandemic study. In the

conditions of the mid-pandemic, it was felt

student results, though not part of the previous

study, were also relevant. This section analyzes

the student data.

Measurement Model

There were no outlier cases with a value greater

than 51.179 that had to be eliminated. The model

showed strong internal consistency reliability for

all constructs except PP. Convergent validity

analysis showed the outer loadings for PP1

between 0.4 and 0.7 and below 0.4 for MISU7 and

PP2. As such composite reliability, Cronbach’s

alpha, and AVE greatly improve by removing

MISU7, PP1, and PP2. These indicators were

removed before proceeding the remainder of the

analysis. Indicator cross loadings and the Fornell-

Larcker criterion were met without any issues

indicating no issues with discriminant validity.

Structural Model

Analysis of the constructs showed collinearity

issues with PP in terms of tolerance and VIF.

Based on the structural model and path

coefficients, two of the paths were not significant,

from PI to PE (rejecting H1b) and from PP to MISU

(rejecting H2c). The coefficient of determination

(R

2

) values for PE, PI, and PP indicate weak

predictive accuracy. In terms of effect size (f

2

),

PU and PE have a large effect on MISU, PI has a

medium effect on PE, PU, and PP, and PP has a

small effect on MISU. Blindfolding and predictive

relevance (Q

2

) showed that the model does have

predictive relevance. Effect size (q

2

) indicates

that all predictor variables have a medium to

large effect size.

Student Demographics

Analysis of the student demographics questions

shows that the average age of the participants is

20 years old. The survey was completed by more

females (48%) than males (46%). A majority of

the students were undergraduates (78%) and

19% were graduate students. The graduate

students were primarily pursuing business

degrees while the undergraduate students

represented a variety of disciplines such as

business, management, biological sciences,

information technology/cybersecurity, nursing,

psychology, among others. Some of the

disciplines were listed as double majors.

7. DISCUSSION

Several important conclusions emerge from the

analysis. The results of the study related to the

hypotheses are shown in Table 2.

Pre/Mid Pandemic (Faculty)

In both the pre-pandemic and the current study,

PI did positively and significantly influence PU, PE,

and PP. This led to accepting H1a, H1b, and H1c.

Hwang’s (2014) research had explored testing

the impact of personal innovativeness of IT (PIIT)

on the intrinsic motivation factors perceived

enjoyment (PE) and perceived ease of use (PEOU)

and the extrinsic motivation factor of perceived

usefulness (PU) as it related to the use of ERP

systems. Hwang arrived at similar conclusions

with PIIT influencing PE, PEOU, and PU. In the

context of both studies, the fact that PI positively

and significantly influences PE, PU, and PP implies

that the participants are willing to try using new

technologies, such as mobile information

systems, because they find these systems to be

useful, enjoyable, and like interacting with these.

Also in the pre-pandemic study, PU was found to

positively influence MISU, but this is not the case

for the mid-pandemic study. Prior to the

pandemic, this implied that participants are using

mobile information systems (m-learning) because

they find m-learning to be useful for teaching and

student learning. Even earlier studies of the

impact of PU on IS continuance intention using

Blackberry hardware showed PU positively

impacted IS use (Chen, Meservy, & Gillenson,

2012).

For the mid-pandemic, in spite of perceived

usefulness, the participants did not find that a

motivator for MISU.

Third, in the previous study, PE and PP did not

influence MISU which meant that using mobile

Table 2: Summary of Hypotheses

(Faculty)

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information systems for m-learning was not

perceived to be enjoyable or interesting to use or

that enjoyment and playfulness were not the

reasons that would influence using mobile

information systems, such as m-learning. This is

also true for the current study.

Fourth, based on R

2

and Q

2

values, the model has

a weak predictive accuracy and minimal

predictive relevance, whereas in the current

study, the model shows moderate predictive

accuracy and a strong predictive relevance.

Fifth, in the pre-pandemic study, the f

2

of PE and

PP has no effect on MISU, which also confirmed

the rejection of H2b and H2c while the other

effect sizes confirm accepting H1a, H1b, H1c, and

H2a. In the current study, there were no f

2

values

which had no effect on MISU even though the

structural paths indicate that H2a, H2b and H2c

should be rejected.

Lastly, in the previous study the q

2

effect size

showed little to no significance for PE, PU, and PP

while in the current study the significance is small

for PP and medium for PE and PU.

Mid-Pandemic (Student)

As seen in Table 3, the student results matched

the faculty response for H1a, H1c and H2c. The

effect of PI on PE was rejected by the students

(H1b). Unlike the faculty in the mid-pandemic

result, the effect of PU and PE on MISU were

accepted.

Table 3: Summary of Hypotheses (Student)

The students do feel enjoyment will encourage

MISU. But they do not feel that playfulness will

encourage MISU. Considering that these results

were obtained in a time period where adoption of

MISU was mandatory due to the pandemic,

students may be expressing a frustration with the

lack of options.

SUS

Examining the SUS data from both the faculty and

student revealed the perception of a lack of

usability in the m-learning applications. Analysis

of the SUS data typically yields a letter grade of

A-F. The participants rated the usability of m-

learning at a solid D, or barely acceptable.

This finding is interesting, in light of the contrast

between student and faculty results for perceived

enjoyment. Student results did support that PE

positively influenced MISU. Faculty results did

not. But neither rated the usability of m-learning

favorably. Once again, this points to the

technostress induced by the intense and rapid

implementation due to COVID-19 (Uthman &

Ahmed, 2022). The stress on both faculty and

students did not make them feel m-learning

systems were usable.

In addition, the 81% of the faculty participants

were not teaching the more technological

subjects of Information Systems, Computer

Science, or Business. The low usability score may

also be affected by lesser expertise in technology.

8. CONTRIBUTIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND

FUTURE RESEARCH

Contributions

The results achieved from the study are valuable

and provide significant contributions to the body

of knowledge. The research helped 1) identity

motivation factors driving the use of mobile

information systems for m-learning, 2)

understand how m-learning is being used for

teaching, learning, and training. The research

extends prior research on m-learning which has

been deficient in understanding faculty use of m-

learning.

No prior research studies were found that looked

at motivation factors for the use of m-learning

and were limited on understanding faculty use

with most research focused on student use.

Research on information systems use is ample

but research focusing on mobile information

systems use is limited or nonexistent. Finally,

research on motivation to use m-learning during

forced adoption due to a global health crisis is

non-existent. This is the unique contribution of

this research to the fields of Human Computer

Interaction/User Experience (HCI/UX),

Information Systems, and M-learning.

Limitations

Limitations of both the pre-pandemic and mid-

pandemic studies include the limited participants

who were contacted to participate in the study,

affecting the generalizability of the studies. The

mid-pandemic study had a specific window of

time to gather results before conditions shifted

again. Additionally, the low response rate and

self-reporting by participants completing an

online survey may have introduced bias in the

Hypotheses

Construct

Result

H1a

PI → PU

Accept

H1b

PI → PE

Reject

H1c

PI → PP

Accept

H2a

PU → MISU

Accept

H2b

PE → MISU

Accept

H2c

PP → MISU

Reject

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responses received.

Future Research

Given the limited scope of the study, it is evident

that more research is needed. It should also be

expanded to include more institutions of higher

education and additional disciplines. Non-

response rate and the generalizability of the study

must also be accounted for. Grounding the study

in other information systems theories that may

better explain use or non-use is also suggested.

This would allow investigating other factors

beyond PI, PU, PE, and PP, such as resistance to

use. Finally, as suggested by Ball and Levy

(2008), research on methods to encourage

instructors in the use of emerging technology

would benefit both the researchers and

practitioners. Such research could address the

technostress (Uthman & Ahmed, 2022)

experienced by both students and instructors.

It is hoped the results of this study may be

compared to future research that repeats these

questions in a post-pandemic world. In the future

study the constructs PP1, PP2, and MISU7 (as

seen in Figure 1) should not be included because

composite reliability, Cronbach’s alpha, and AVE

are improved when they are removed. Further

comparison of the data to a reality without forced

adoption may reveal insights on motivations. The

forced adoption may be a key factor in motivation

and user satisfaction.

9. CONCLUSION

The data for motivating factors shows some

differences between faculty and student attitudes

towards m-learning. Some shift in perception is

also shown based on pre-pandemic to mid-

pandemic. As the situations surrounding the

implementation of m-learning continue to shift, it

will be of interest to see how this influences the

attitudes of faculty and student. Information

System (IS) educators should be aware of the

negative attitudes towards perceived usefulness

and perceived usability of m-learning systems.

10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The portion of this research that took place at a

European university was supported by the U.S

scholar program through the Fulbright

commission. The authors would also like to thank

the participants for providing data in a timely

manner to allow analysis at this unique point in

m-learning usage.

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Weiss, P. G., & Li, S.-T. T. (2020). Leading

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Yuan, Y.-P., Tan, G. W.-H., Ooi, K.-B., & Lim, W.-

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Qualitative Research on the Online Learning

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during the Pandemic. Paper presented at the

2021 5th International Conference on

Education and E-Learning, Virtual Event,

Japan. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145

/3502434.3502470

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

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APPENDIX A

Faculty Survey Instrument

1 Which of the following best describes YOUR use of m-learning at your current institution? Please

check all that apply.

For in-class activities

For out-of-class activities

For an online course

For a hybrid course (combination of in-class

and online)

For professional development/training

Scale for items 2 through 6:

[1] strongly disagree, [2] disagree, [3] strongly disagree, [4] neither agree or disagree, [5] slightly

agree, [6] agree, [7] strongly agree

2 Personal Innovativeness (PI) - "willingness of an individual to try out any new information

technology." (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998, p. 260)

PI1. If I hear about new information technology, I will look for ways to experiment with it.

PI2. Among my faculty peers, I am usually the first to try out new information technologies.

PI3. In general, I am not hesitant to try out new information technologies.

PI4. I like to experiment with new information technologies.

3 Perceived Usefulness (PU) - "degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would

enhance his or her job performance." (Davis, 1989, p. 320)

PU1. Using m-learning makes it easier to teach.

PU2. Using m-learning enhances my teaching effectiveness.

PU3. Using m-learning gives me greater control over teaching.

PU4. I find m-learning to be useful in my teaching.

4 Perceived Enjoyment (PE) - "extent to which the activity of using the computer is perceived to be

enjoyable in it's own right, apart from any performance consequences, that may be anticipated."

(Davis et al., 1992, p. 1113)

PE1. Using m-learning is fun.

PE2. Using m-learning is enjoyable.

PE3. Using m-learning is very entertaining (pleasant).

PE4. Using m-learning is interesting.

5 Perceived Playfulness (PP) - "the extent to which the individual finds the interaction intrinsically

enjoyable or interesting." (Moon & Kim, 2001, p. 219)

PP1. When using m-learning, I will not realize the time elapsed.

PP2. When using m-learning, I will forget the work I must do.

PP3. Using m-learning will give enjoyment to me for my teaching.

PP4. Using m-learning will stimulate my curiosity.

PP5. Using m-learning will lead to my exploration.

6 Mobile Information System Use (MISU) - involves the use of mobile devices to use an information

system to "...carry out tasks and activities on the job for which the information system is designed to

support" (Sun & Teng, 2012). Examples would include using learning management systems such as

Blackboard and Banner.

MISU1. I use mobile information systems on a regular basis.

MISU2. I will continue to use mobile information system in the future.

MISU3. I intend to continue using mobile information systems.

MISU4. I want to continue using mobile information systems rather than discontinue.

MISU5. I predict I will continue using mobile information systems.

MISU6. I plan to continue using mobile information systems.

MISU7. I will stop using mobile information systems in the future.

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7 Rate each of the following statements:

[1] strongly disagree, [2] disagree, [3] neither agree or disagree, [4] agree, [5] strongly agree

I think that I would like to use mobile learning frequently.

I found mobile learning to be simple.

I thought mobile learning was easy to use.

I think that I could use mobile learning without the support of a technical person.

I found the various functions in mobile learning were well integrated.

I thought there was a lot of consistency in mobile learning.

I would image that most people would learn to use mobile learning very quickly.

I found mobile learning very intuitive.

I felt very confident using mobile learning.

I could use mobile learning without having to learn anything new.

8 How long ago did YOU start using m-learning?

Less than 1 year

1-2 years

3-4 years

5-6 years

7-8 years

9-10 years

More than 10 years

9 How often do YOU use m-learning? Please check all that apply.

Several times a day

About once a day)

3-5 days a week

1-2 days a week

Every few weeks

Less often

Never

10 Were you given a choice other than mobile learning during the pandemic?

Yes

No

11 Did you choose to not teach to avoid mandatory mobile learning?

Yes

No

12 What is your level of comfort in using m-learning?

Very uncomfortable

Moderately uncomfortable

Slightly uncomfortable

Neutral

Slightly comfortable

Moderately comfortable

Very comfortable

13 Which of the following teaching resources do YOU provide on a mobile device? Select all that apply.

Lecture PPT slides

Audio recordings (e.g. recordings of lectures, school information)

Videos (e.g. course-related, recordings of lectures, school information)

Print content

Ebooks

Flashcards and other interactive educational games

Hyperlinks to course-related reference material

Blackboard

Other: please specify

14 Rate your level of satisfaction with the use of m-learning.

Completely dissatisfied

Mostly dissatisfied

Somewhat dissatisfied

Neither satisfied or dissatisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Mostly satisfied

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Completely satisfied

15 How frequently do you engage in the following activities using your mobile device(s) to support

teaching?

[1] Never, [2] Rarely, [3] Occasionally, [4] Sometimes, [5] Frequently, [6] Usually, [7] Always

Emailing students

Emailing colleagues

Texting students

Texting colleagues

Posting grades

Posting to discussion boards

Accessing course site

Accessing library resources

Accessing social networking

Ordering textbooks

Searching the internet

Providing tutoring services

Preparing lessons

Conducting seminars

Collecting content for coursework

Reading ebooks

Taking pictures or making videos to include in

your courses

As a follow-up to the previous question, do you engage in any other activities using your mobile

device(s) to support teaching?

Yes, please specify:

No

16 What technologies do you use for m-learning (hardware, software)?

17 To which gender identify do you most identify?

Male

Female

Transgender female

Transgender male

Gender variant/non-conforming

Not listed

Prefer not to answer

18 Please indicate your age group

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60-69

70-79

80 and over

19 Your number of years of teaching experience:

20 Your number of years in higher education:

21 Your academic rank

Lecturer

Instructor

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

Professor

Emeritus

Other: please specify

22 Please indicate highest education level achieved.

Master's

Doctorate

Professional degree: please specify:

Other: please specify

23 Please indicate the discipline in which you obtained your highest degree:

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24 Please indicate your program area/discipline in which you are currently teaching:

Information Systems

Business: please specify

Other:

25 What college level are you teaching?

Undergraduate

Graduate

Both undergraduate and graduate

26 Do you teach courses for students? Select all that apply.

On-campus (in-person, face-to-face)

Off-campus (purely online)

Hybrid (on-campus and online)

27 How long have you been teaching on campus? (i.e. in-person, face-to-face) courses?

28 How long have you been teaching online courses?

29 How long have you been teaching hybrid courses?

30 Do you teach full-time or part-time?

Full-time

Part-time

31 Please indicate the type of university you are currently affiliated with.

Public

Private

32 What is your tenure status?

Currently hold tenure at this institution

Currently on tenure-track at this institution

Not on tenure-track at this institution

Tenure is not available at this institution

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APPENDIX B

Student Survey Instrument

Scale for items 1 through 5:

[1] strongly disagree, [2] disagree, [3] strongly disagree, [4] neither agree or disagree, [5] slightly

agree, [6] agree, [7] strongly agree

1 Personal Innovativeness (PI) - "willingness of an individual to try out any new information

technology." (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998, p. 260)

PI1. If I hear about new information technology, I will look for ways to experiment with it.

PI2. Among my student peers, I am usually the first to try out new information technologies.

PI3. In general, I am not hesitant to try out new information technologies.

PI4. I like to experiment with new information technologies.

2 Perceived Usefulness (PU) - "degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would

enhance his or her job performance." (Davis, 1989, p. 320)

PU1. Using m-learning makes it easier to learn.

PU2. Using m-learning enhances my learning effectiveness.

PU3. Using m-learning gives me greater control over learning.

PU4. I find m-learning to be useful in my learning.

3 Perceived Enjoyment (PE) - "extent to which the activity of using the computer is perceived to be

enjoyable in it's own right, apart from any performance consequences, that may be anticipated."

(Davis et al., 1992, p. 1113)

PE1. Using m-learning is fun.

PE2. Using m-learning is enjoyable.

PE3. Using m-learning is very entertaining (pleasant).

PE4. Using m-learning is interesting.

4 Perceived Playfulness (PP) - "the extent to which the individual finds the interaction intrinsically

enjoyable or interesting." (Moon & Kim, 2001, p. 219)

PP1. When using m-learning, I will not realize the time elapsed.

PP2. When using m-learning, I will forget the work I must do.

PP3. Using m-learning will give enjoyment to me for my learning.

PP4. Using m-learning will stimulate my curiosity.

PP5. Using m-learning will lead to my exploration.

5 Mobile Information System Use (MUSE) - involves the use of mobile devices to use an information

system to "...carry out tasks and activities on the job for which the information system is designed to

support" (Sun & Teng, 2012). Examples would include using learning management systems such as

Blackboard and Banner.

MISU1. I use mobile information systems on a regular basis.

MISU2. I will continue to use mobile information system in the future.

MISU3. I intend to continue using mobile information systems.

MISU4. I want to continue using mobile information systems rather than discontinue.

MISU5. I predict I will continue using mobile information systems.

MISU6. I plan to continue using mobile information systems.

MISU7. I will stop using mobile information systems in the future.

Scale for question 6:

[1] strongly disagree, [2] disagree, [3] neither agree or disagree, [4] agree, [5] strongly agree

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

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6 Rate each of the following statements:

I think that I would like to use mobile learning frequently.

I found mobile learning to be simple.

I thought mobile learning was easy to use.

I think that I could use mobile learning without the support of a technical person.

I found the various functions in mobile learning were well integrated.

I thought there was a lot of consistency in mobile learning.

I would image that most people would learn to use mobile learning very quickly.

I found mobile learning very intuitive.

I felt very confident using mobile learning.

I could use mobile learning without having to learn anything new.

7 To which gender identity do you most identify?

Male

Female

Transgender female

Transgender male

Gender variant/non-conforming

Not listed

Prefer not to answer

8 I am a (n)

Undergraduate student

Graduate student

If I am a (n) = Undergraduate student

9 What is your level?

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior

10 What is your age?

11 What is your major?

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APPENDIX C

Mid-Pandemic Faculty M-Learning Activities Usage

* See section 5 for a detailed discussion of Appendix C

Activity

Never

Rarely

Occasionally

Sometimes

Frequently

Usually

Always

Email students

1

3

1

5

1

4

Email

colleagues

1

3

0

6

1

4

Text students

5

4

2

4

0

1

Text colleagues

2

4

0

3

6

0

1

Post grades

3

2

3

2

0

3

Post to

discussion

board

3

6

1

0

Access course

site

0

4

0

2

7

0

3

Access library

resources

2

1

5

3

0

Access social

networking

2

0

1

7

2

Order

textbooks

7

2

1

Search internet

0

1

3

5

6

Provide tutoring

services

6

5

1

3

1

0

Prepare lessons

4

1

2

4

1

2

Conduct

seminars

7

2

1

4

0

2

0

Collect content

for coursework

2

4

2

Read eBooks

2

3

2

4

1

3

1

Take pictures

or make videos

for course

2

4

2

0

Other (please

specify)

5

11

0

Table 1: Mobile Device Use for M-Learning Activities for Teaching

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

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A Proposal for Combining Project Based Learning

and Lean Six Sigma to Teach Robotic Process

Automation Development and Enhance Systems

Integration

Dr. William H. Money

[email protected]

Department of Management and Entrepreneurship

Tommy and Victoria Baker School of Business

The Citadel

Charleston, SC 29409 USA

Dr. Lionel Q. Mew

[email protected]

School of Professional and Continuing Studies

University of Richmond

Richmond, VA 23173 USA

Abstract

This paper proposes a Project-based team instruction methodology with open-ended projects to teach

students critical analysis, design and implementation steps of developing Robotic Process Automation

(RPA) for information systems. The use of project-based learning is appropriate for teaching RPA

analysis and design with lean Six Sigma tools because of its experimental approach and documentation

of logical steps needed to learn how to implement RPA successfully. The approach systematically

documents work currently performed and defines future actions of the process while ensuring significant

benefits are achieved with the RPA enhanced process. This methodology is important because the

application of RPA is not commonly taught in Management Information System (MIS) programs. MIS

students may not understand the significance of combined methodology, RPA tool, and usefulness of

RPA until they enter the workforce where RPA is rapidly becoming available and easier to implement.

The lecture sessions and exercises are valuable because it is easy to communicate the value of RPA in

terms of time, quality, volume of transactions, etc. using Lean Six Sigma analytic approaches. The

exercises involve hands on activities to make this learning experience interesting for students to readily

associate the theoretical process improvement agreement and visualize the practical value of RPA

enhanced projects. The paper discusses the need for process changes (and new development

approaches) in organization to match the properties and functions within enterprise systems and ERPs

that has led to criticism of the enterprise systems. This criticism is attributable to the ERPs’ many sub-

functions and operations that have limited adaptability and reduced functional and operational flexibility.

The RPAs require limited prior knowledge of ERPs or their sub-processes for the improvements that are

made in the performance of the organization. Thus, students do not have to “learn” how these enterprise

or ERP systems operate to make changes or task improvements. This paper presents a project-based

methodology and design approach focusing on development of RPAs that help students learning how to

make the improvements using the RPS tools. The students learn that projects can deliver significant and

tangible benefits to organizations while engaging students in key activities of the analysis, design and

development process from a low code-no code perspective.

Keywords: Robotic Process Automation, Six Sigma, Project-based, PBL, Process

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

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1. INTRODUCTION

This paper proposes a Project-based team

instruction methodology for information systems

education using RPA. The discussion proposes

that a Project-based methodology can be used to

combine Learn Six Sigma and Robotics Process

Automation in an educational program. The

education value is to enable students to integrate

systems and improve wok processes without low-

code or no-code tools. It also provides a

literature-based history of the relevant concepts.

The objective is to improve students’ education

by teaching them how to advance performance

with analysis using lean six sigma techniques.

These techniques are applied to document and

target needed system improvements and

integration. Students can learn how to deliver

great benefits by performing functional system

tasks and enhancing operations as part of a PBL

development project.

RPA may be loosely defined as using software

technologies designed to facilitate devising and

managing software robots to behave like humans

when interacting with systems and software.

Here, we discuss how Lean Six Sigma and Project

Based Learning (PBL) synergistically add value

when combined to teach students RPA concepts.

Information Systems Integration

Systems integration is a critical part of enabling

the paradigm of using Lean Six Sigma and PBL to

yield value to development projects and

operations. Although it may be seen as a side

topic, a prerequisite for efficient collaboration

within and between organizations units is this

integration of information systems. Although it is

often viewed as simple from a holistic standpoint,

the inability of systems to interoperate remains a

consistent problem in the enterprise. As

information systems proliferate, opportunities for

IT systems integration have increased greatly,

and these must be leveraged to add value.

However, difficulties with integration continue,

due to a lack of systems interoperability and data

definition and formatting related problems.

Despite intensive research on integration issues,

organizations continue to encounter significant

challenges. Schmidt, Otto, & Österle (2010)

developed a research framework, categorizing

concrete integration cases from business

practices.

This framework was developed by examining

integration cases from the literature. The work

proposed 9 problem categories and 21 integration

problems plaguing those efforts. The authors

suggest that detailed problems inhibiting

integration vary by business segment, goals, and

roles. Semantics, data object heterogeneity, data

value mismatches and attribute differences also

affect these problems. The conclusion from this

work and the literature is that there are many

open integration challenges in the Information

Systems discipline (Schmidt, Otto, & Österle,

2010).

It can be seen from this discussion that while

there are many blocks and challenges to

integration, there are also an increasing number

of opportunities to foster improved integration,

and it is essential to consider these as we help

students develop skills using Lean Six Sigma and

RPA.

Low-code/ and No-code Tools

Low-code/no-code development approaches are

terms that describe the uses of software tools and

templates to integrate system and process

operations. No-code/base-code tool platforms

may be guided platforms with a drag-and-drop

process or more automated incorporating

machine learning services. (Villegas-Ch, García-

Ortiz, & Sánchez-Viteri, 2021). Low-code and no-

code approaches employ visual software

development tools and environments. Robotics

Process Automation (RPA) tools are categorized

among the low-code/no-code approaches. These

tools allow developers and end-users to select,

drag and drop application components. The

components are then connected with the

applications to create enhanced applications or

augment programs with previously unavailable

functionality.

The RPA technology may be seen as an evolution

of the low-code/no-code environments developed

following the Computer Assisted Systems

Engineering (CASE) tool failures of the 80’s and

90’s (Kuhn, 1989; Dias, 2017). RPA became a

development alternative because few case tools

were successful for complete database application

generation. The case tools were costly and

difficult to implement and maintain, requiring

extensive training for developers and systems

maintenance personnel (Schmidt, 2006). Jones

(2002) notes that as much as 70 percent of CASE

tools were not being used by the end of the first

year.

This generally accepted software failure figure

(believed to be based on the 1994 Standish Chaos

study) has been questioned by Glass (2005). He

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argues that the failure rate is assessed from

varying perspectives such as cost over runs,

functional performance, etc., and that the true

rates are even lower. Regardless, there is no

question that failure rates during this period were

sub-optimal.

RPA’s no-code characteristics and drag/drop

technology are similar to other low-code/no-code

development environments such as Mendix, a

low-code Model Driven Development (MDD)

platform that also grew from the Computer CASE

tools of the eighties and nineties.

Tools like these enable system development to

occur at higher levels of abstraction, generating

fully functional applications from a model driven

environment (Hailpern & Tarr, 2006). The higher

levels of abstraction are achieved by automating

and simplifying development steps using the

context of domain models. The tools employ

templates, generate code, and in many cases,

generate fully functional applications.

Hyun (2019) provides a useful example of this

approach with a discussion of an environment-

based low-code and no-code execution platform

and an execution method that combines hybrid

and native apps, offering the advantages of each.

The environment enables the use of iPhones,

Android devices, and operation templates. The

development platform is a visually integrated

environment that enables drag and drop

components by non-technical developers. The

environment to construct modules can be

dynamically loaded when called. The system

provides functionality for authentication, user

authorization, commerce, messaging, social

publishing, and vision.

Early releases of RPA sought to minimize coding.

Many of these tools are approaching a high level

of ease of use today. However, it is marketing

jargon to say that they are truly low code or no

code. The users of the early RPA tools were

required to incorporate logic and instruction

programming to complete the automation

process. Avoiding marketing jargon, the low-code

RPA automates straightforward processes

through a drag & drop user interface that

executes a user’s activities. Coded bots can still

complete more complicated or complex

processes. The low/no code tools are presently

used to complete and automate standard work

tasks, such as Excel operations, email responses,

report creation, and authorization recoding. Full

no-code RPA is currently not available or in use.

However, user prototyping and testing of RPA

tools can assess readily the ease of use and

amount coding required. Progress toward a more

complete low-code/no-code target environment

is being made.

Although the low-code/no-code development

approach has become an increasingly important

factor and tool for current software development

challenges, it is not always adopted. Global trends

do not always represent the popularity, adoption,

and use of the low-code/no-code development

approach. This was assessed in the Slovenian

environment with regard to one specific toolset,

Power Automate. The results showed that use of

this low-code/no-code development approach in

Slovenian organizations is low because of limited

usability and functionality concerns (Beranic,

Rek, & Heričko; 2020).

The need for RPA is couched in the integration

required to improve legacy systems regardless of

the environments available for system

operations. The movement of systems to the

cloud, combined with integration difficulties,

promulgates the lift/shift approach of cloud

migration. In this migration approach,

information systems and applications are

migrated into a cloud environment without

making process changes even when systems are

moved into cloud environments with available

resources (Engelsrud, 2019).

As seen in cloud-computing adoption, many large

organizations are struggling to obtain the full

value of the migration to the cloud. This is

because the cloud migration (especially lift/shift)

simply moves information systems to the cloud

without the integrating functions and possibly

transforming processes with new strategies

needed to obtain full cloud value. Utilities can

simplify the packaging, migration, and

deployment of applications for the cloud whether

the target is AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, or

other cloud infrastructure.

However, without improvements or resolving

process integration concerns associated with

systems integration, taking legacy applications

and moving them to the cloud does not

automatically yield the benefits that cloud

infrastructure and support systems can provide,

because the work processes are still not

integrated. The information technology

architectures that are the result of these

migrations may be complex, difficult to manage,

and costly (Bommadevara, Del Miglio, & Jansen,

2018). It is critical that systems not be simply

migrated to the cloud, but that work processes be

integrated to the cloud infrastructure.

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A PBL educational approach is an appropriate

teaching method for students who must learn

about cloud migration and how to integrate

systems. As PBL is implemented in the classroom,

students design, build and employ solutions to a

problem through a hands-on, collaborative

methodology. The true objective is to improve

performance with analysis using lean six sigma

techniques to document and target system

improvements that will deliver great benefits by

performing functional system tasks and

improving operations as part of the PBL

development project.

2. EDUCATION FOR INTEGRATION

To foster integration in their PBL projects,

students must understand the underlying

importance of the work and the task performed in

the processes to integrate systems. In large

projects and organizations with decentralized

work packages and task areas, it is important to

integrate properly the various outputs to provide

the customer with a coherent deliverable.

MIS students who join organizations that design

and support information systems see first-hand

how the work performed by organizational

information systems is subdivided into segments

for system execution, functional performance and

completion. This concept – the division of labor

(specialization) is evident in the segmentation of

systems that are consistently used by various

divisions, departments, and offices of

organizations.

The individual tasks contribute to productivity

increases by focusing effort on the tasks and data

used by each functional area. For example, in the

field of manufacturing, use of business

applications has expanded significantly over the

years. This expansion has increased both the

availability and volume of planning and execution

information for managers and decision makers.

The information enables decision makers to

assess and monitor performance at all levels of

the organization. Developed applications let end

users obtain predefined management reports

including information needed for managerial

execution. The information is of significant value

for strategic planning, increased productivity,

reducing service cycles, reducing product

development cycles, reducing marketing life

cycles, and increasing the understanding of

customer’s needs, thus facilitating business and

process reengineering (Sharma, 2012: 553). This

breaking up of work elements is essential to

delivering large projects. However, the breaking

up and decentralization make it difficult to

assemble and integrate tasks for a coherent

deliverable to the customer.

Managers and organizations remain faced with

the significant task of assembling and integrating

the divided work elements to produce the output

desired by the customer. Further, managers must

deal with migrating into business and

organization environments that lead to changes

in the data, knowledge information systems and

business strategy.

To gain the greatest benefit from information

systems, one must also understand the

relationship between knowledge and information

system strategies, and their overall impact on

firm performance. It is important that the

dynamic capabilities of knowledge strategy and

planning result in necessary changes in systems

to enable dynamic and innovative capabilities to

be developed.

Findings from a study of 234 Brazilian companies

support this logical argument. It finds

performance is positively impacted through

alignment between knowledge strategy planning

and information systems strategy. Managers

must recognize that the work of the firm is

dynamic, and that alignment between

information systems and the strategic actions of

the organization is important to success

(Yoshikuni, Galvão, & Albertin, 2021). It can be

deduced that knowledge and information system

strategies must also be reconciled and integrated.

Research and improvement attempts have

focused on business processes supported by

information systems (and the data, information,

and knowledge derived from the systems) for

many years. Business has been designing and

integrating processes as business and industrial

organizations evolve to offer systems that are

more complex, with useful data, insights, and

knowledge for decision makers. The systems also

seek to meet the information requirements of

highly complex stakeholder demands and

governance regulations.

It is therefore important for students entering the

workforce to understand these concepts in order

to integrate work segments and processes so the

information presents a coherent whole from a

holistically consistent system.

How to Integrate Systems in the Age of

Processes and Computerized Information

Systems

Porter and Millar (1985) discussed linkages

between computerized information systems and

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the integration mission, and projected a future

role that information technology would play in the

value chain. They argue that information

technology and information that businesses

create would enable management to employ this

information in executing work processes. These

combined factors provide an advantage derived

from the information-processing component that

executes steps required to capture, manipulate,

and channel the data.

This support enables managers to perform the

value chain activity. The data handling

improvements they describe are attributable to

barcodes for error handling reductions, databases

for knowledge and experience storage,

management of services with data, improved

weather satellite data uses, financial analysis

through data, transfer of data between suppliers

and manufacturers, data for improved designs for

manufacturing coordination, uses of office

support data, and communication data.

The value chain framework addresses the role of

computer information systems in achieving

helpful integration. White and Person (2001)

suggest this as a framework for integrating a

firm’s activities within a supply chain. They

recognize the requirements for integrating

customer service activities into the decision-

making process of manufacturing organizations.

These authors also discuss the dynamic nature of

the organization, and argue that just-in-time

computer systems and new product process

combine with information technologies to provide

the mechanisms for integration of the various

supply chain task activities.

The tasks and processes are conceptualized as

frameworks containing steps in a sequence. The

processes have many components, agents, and

outcomes.

The many authors and managerial perspectives

indicate that difficulties with the integration of

organizational processes have always been

challenging. As these references summarize,

within the last 40 years, information systems

implemented with electronic technology through

computer information systems and electronic

data processing technologies have been

“inserted” into this essential mission of

attempting to manage processes and their data,

and improve the coordination and integration of

the work within and between organizations. As

Schmidt, Otto, & Österle (2010) discuss, this

“levied” integration requirement for information

systems is a prerequisite for efficient

collaboration within and between organizational

units that results in substantial tasks.

Information systems have grown and become

ever more complex to meet the needs of large

organizations. The large category of enterprise

information systems has become standardized

with more carefully pre-defined data and

processes to meet broadly the needs of many

large organizations, and for wider marketability.

This tendency to force process changes on

organization (to match the properties and

functions within enterprise systems) has led to

criticism of the enterprise systems. This criticism

is attributable to their many sub-functions and

operations that have limited adaptability and

reduced functional and operational flexibility.

Information systems such as Enterprise Resource

Planning systems are caught in this dilemma. It

is exacerbated by the large enterprises and

matrix structures of originations that utilize

federation (decentralized control and local unit

development of some functionality) as their

information systems implementation approach.

The standardized enterprise systems are thus less

flexible and adaptive, and the decentralized

enterprises are incapable of exchanging and

making information available in many instances.

This creates a situation where managers lack

visibility into the results of processes, or where

data from one process are simply not accessible

to another work unit. A large adaptive enterprise

requires information systems to meet a business

strategy that can deliver information visibility

across the enterprise, and that are flexible for use

in new and innovative ways (Evgeniou, 2002).

Thus, integration is critical for the large

enterprise.

General Problem with Major Applications

The need for change after implementation was

addressed by Gattiker, & Goodhue, (2005). They

offer the theory, supported by their research, that

because these systems include data and effect

greater process integration, an ERP will be a

relatively better fit, requiring fewer changes,

when interdependence is high and differentiation

is low among/between the subcomponent of the

company using the ERP. If differentiation is high

at the subunit level of the organization (business

function or location, such as a manufacturing

plant) ERP customization will be required.

Further, the amount of time since ERP

implementation will increase the need for further

customization (supported by a large number of

manufacturing plants).

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A comprehensive discussion of ERP systems

published by Sheik, & Sulphey (2020) discussing

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) failures and

limitations over the past 20 years indicates that

implementation is still difficult, and changes after

implementation are still required. It identifies the

reasons for failures documented in numerous ERP

studies. The literature recognizes many types of

failures associated with information systems

project implementation, planning, management

support, culture and management process.

The work is useful because it notes that even

overcoming these issues does not assure success

for an ERP system or the organization seeking to

obtain value from this effort. These authors

discuss the tendency of organizations to

underestimate the efforts needed to handle

change in the organizations. In these initial

implementations, ERP systems can affect any

functional area of the company's basic business

model, and require systemic modifications.

Integration is required.

In discussing the problems in large scale ERP

implementations, research studies of integrated

supply chains show that effective operations and

integration are achieved by linking information

from suppliers, partners and customers within

and across national borders. This can be by

implementing information technologies and

systems such as ERPs to facilitate the desired

level and details needed for integration. There are

cases of successful and unsuccessful

implementations. The principal reason for failure

is often associated with poor management of the

implementation process (Sheik, & Sulphey,

2020).

This paper identifies the different types of issues

that can arise and require adaptation for ERP

systems within a large manufacturing

organization. The core issues to confront for

successful implementation of enterprise

information system according to this case study

were addressed by piloting a small portion of the

enterprise implementation to assess and

demonstrate how business principles, processes,

procedures, role definitions and behaviors (as

well as software, hardware and data transfers)

would influence the organization.

The initial problems experienced in the attempt to

go live included user authorization and clearance

levels, work routing and tracking (via cards),

incorrect data values existing between the legacy

systems and the new system, incorrect inventory

levels and WIP data, and incorrect MPR

transactions (Yusuf, Gunasekaran, & Abthorpe,

2004). They conclude that adaptation is

necessary throughout the development lifecycle.

User Developed Apps and Desktop Tools

Proliferate with Increased Workforce

Mobility

Development frameworks are necessary. Large

enterprise systems and changes are not the only

forces driving information systems today. User

empowerment, education, and the widespread

use of technology have influenced the

organizational end user. Workers are not afraid to

develop apps and seek to access information

needed in their work activities through user

development and the widespread proliferation of

desktop tools.

Coronado, Mastrogiovanni, Indurkhya, & Venture

(2020) addressed this increasing demand for

tools and expansion of interest in user developed

information systems. Individuals in social

situations will trust robots (automated programs

performing a work function or task) to execute

work in industries and in scenarios where the

robot is directed by an information system

(perhaps some form of AI) to interact with

humans. These authors surveyed user

development environments that might foster

application development involving robots with

social capabilities, features that could support

social research goals, and serve professional

employees not educated or trained in more

traditional programming languages and

techniques.

The work identified and assessed sixteen

programming environments with modeling

approaches, Component-Based Software

Engineering, and web technologies. The research

found that few of the environments enable end

users to be independent from high-tech support.

Their work calls for objective and comparative

evaluations, usability studies, and design

validations of the tools for designing working

applications. Engaging robot-based applications

requires the availability of usable, flexible and

accessible development frameworks that can be

adopted and mastered by practitioners who are

truly adult end users.

3. METHODOLOGY

This educational experience applies a Project

Based Learning (PBL) approach to the learning

experience. In project-based learning the

instructional focus is student-centered. The

experiences are based the principles that (1)

learning is context-specific, (2) learning

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processed actively involved those learning, and

(3) goals are reached through social interactions

and Knowledge sharing (Jalinus, Nabawi, &

Mardin, 2017, September; Cocco, 2006). It is

considered to be a particular type of inquiry-

based learning where the context of learning is

provided through authentic questions and

problems within real-world practices

The learning experience is agile based. It involves

an introduction to the requirements for changes

and adaptations for enterprise information

systems, data and process integration, and the

continued need for user developed applications

that work in the desktop environments and in

mobile applications. In this paradigm, use of Lean

Six Sigma in the analysis and development

sections of the PBL project adds value and

improves integration.

Analysis: Lean Six Sigma Designs Steps for

Value

The goals of improving flexibility and supporting

operations have contributed to the Six Sigma

approach to process improvement and selecting

changes to implement in organizations. It is a

strong foundation for improvements and

innovations because it involves doing the work

better and actually improving the work to be

accomplished in many instances. It is applicable

to processes used to produce products and

services, expand markets, and deliver operational

performance. The work focuses on customer

needs, detailed data analysis and facts about

performance levels, errors, and required actions.

Analysis of organization results derived from the

application of Six Sigma programs show

improvements in broad-based innovation and

financial performance. The key characteristics of

these approaches include an improvement -

innovation vision based on data (from customers,

insights, and analytic studies), clear objectives,

organizational commitment to the change

objectives or vision, alignment across the

organization, training, and target processes to

demonstrate the Six Sigma program.

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of lean methods

(analysis, documentation, and analytic tasks that

are performed within the organization) and Six

Sigma approaches that organizes the tasks in an

understandable and executable fashion. Lean Six

Sigma utilizes knowledge (from the experience of

many organizations that have followed the

approach), methods designed to elicit specific

data and understanding of activities and

operations, and tools derived from operational

improvement research and implementations.

The lean portion of the approach targets cost

reductions through process optimization. The six-

sigma portion focuses on meeting customer

needs and stakeholder expectations. It seeks to

improve quality, via measurement and defect or

error elimination. This is accomplished by both

eliminating the opportunities for errors in a

process and improving the steps, materials, and

performance of a task. The simultaneous goals

are to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency

(Byrne, Lubowe, & Blitz, (2007).

There are five major steps in a lean six-sigma

process as shown in table 1. It is labeled

“DMAIC”, an acronym for the five sequential

phases: Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-

Control. These phases flow logically from defining

a problem through implementing solutions. The

changes introduced are directly associated with

causes (George, Maxey, & Upton, 2004).

Step

Name

Value

Design

Review, validate charter; define:

customer, problem, benefits

sought, financial objectives, plan,

schedule

Measure

Build value stream map, inputs,

operational definitions, data

collection plan, measurements,

process capability, measure gate

Analyze

Determine critical inputs, potential

root causes, reduce root cause list,

estimate root cause effects on

outputs, prioritize root causes

Improve

Develop potential solutions,

analyze and evaluate solutions,

develop “To-Be” value stream

map, develop pilot solution,

confirm attainment of project

goals, develop full scale

implementation plan

Control

Implement mistake proofing,

SOPs, training. Set process

controls, implement solution and

on-going process measurements,

develop opportunities to apply

project lessons, transition to

monitoring control office

Table 1. Summarized Lean Six Sigma Steps

Analysis Results: A New Process Design

The result of the analysis using the steps outlined

is a process that will perform more effectively and

efficiently. Further, the approach and tools

employed document the pre – post outcome

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metrics that will be used to demonstrate to

stakeholders that there are real benefits and

improvements from the process changes.

4. RPA: IMPLEMENTING THE AUTOMATION

The objectives of this learning experience are to

deliver students a clear understanding of the

technology and methods. Students will

understand the actions and sequence of steps

needed to apply lean six sigma methods and RPA

tools that enhance processes and information

systems. The lessons focus on RPA tools (after a

full analysis) and use various product offerings to

provide a hands-on set of educational exercises.

This section discusses RPA and how the tools

implement the designs documented. It also

provides an overview of the tools that will be used

in the exercises.

Robotic Process Automation

This paper argues that Robotic Process

Automation (RPA) is a recent improvement

(evolving in the past ~10 years) in computer

information systems. This technology is applied in

organizations to achieve integration between

systems and to perform mundane and repetitive

tasks without altering or modifying the

information systems that are the targets or

sources of the data required. RPAs execute rule-

based, routine, and predictable tasks in

combination with structured, understood, and

stable data in a semi-automated and automated

manner. (Primer, 2015).

RPA Functionality and Operation

How does RPA perform integrative and productive

tasks? RPA moves data and information

seamlessly between systems and processes. RPA

technology can be implemented across many

functions. It is a practical linkage technology for

many different process focused tasks (definable,

repeatable, and rules-based). It can be optionally

executed at the explicit direction of employees

and can therefore assist them in their work. RPA

can assist with diagnosing when decisions are not

always clear (the data do not legitimately fit) and

the business rules-base is not complete for all

situations (present and those introduced by

business changes). In these instances, the “error”

or unaddressed states can be recorded and

handed directly by the user. New “rules” or

actions can be added to the RPA automation to

handle the situation when it is encountered in the

future.

RPA has multiple operating modes. It can function

in attended mode where an employee “triggers”

the bot for day-to-day operations or

automatically with the employee watching for

exceptions and alerts (correct execution or failure

to execute). The bot can also function in an

“unattended mode” on a server based on user-

determined triggers such as a date and time. For

example, a bot could be programmed to trigger

automatically to execute at 12:00 a.m. on Friday,

or when 1,000 cases have been received in a

queue. Thus, the RPA bot can serve as an

independent automated process that does not

demand human intervention in order to execute a

work process. It can make or execute a decision

if all the data and rules are clear and the outcome

decisions are predetermined.

RPA is very adaptive and fits many situations

because of its internal capabilities. The RPA has

several essential features that provide it

competencies beyond those found in code written

for scripting, screen scraping, and sequential

process management. 1) RPA development

utilizes straightforward dropping and dragging via

icons that represent steps in a process. RPA

process code is then produced automatically

without extensive programming, computer

training or expertise. 2) The RPA bot accesses

data produced by other computer systems or

programs. It emulates exactly how an employee

accesses this data (because the bot is created to

do just this task). 3) RPA has important security

and operational controls.

The RPA assumes only that logon ID and

password of the user. This is required to access

what is normally seen or obtained by the worker

from the target or other system’s presentation

layer. Therefore, the RPA bot is non-interfering or

invasive for organization work beyond the explicit

instructions executed by the bot’s design. 4)

Finally, RPA is a secure and scalable technology

that executes on the enterprise-protected

platform. It can be configured, audited, and

managed at the enterprise or organizational level

that utilizes this technology.

The output of a bot appears to be the product of

code that functions “like a macro,” but with more

capabilities, options, and functionality that is not

restricted to an application like Word or Excel. It

can be visualized as a very smart, tireless, and

sophisticated desktop assistant. The bot appears

as a powerful worker or “aid” that performs

scripting and screen scraping (record and replay),

acts quickly, and is able to record (without error)

what it is doing. The bot replicates the assigned

task repeatedly (tirelessly) – like a true robot. It

is trained by watching a user’s selections (of data

or decisions), recording mouse clicks, matching

inputs from the keyboard and completing the

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process as the user does. However, the bot is not

intelligent – and does not know why it is doing

this work since it only performs the assigned set

of actions when called upon. (Madakam,

Holmukhe, & Jaiswal, 2019; Peláez, & Kyriakou,

2008; Schmitz, Dietze, & Czarnecki, 2019).

RPA Products

Product

Provider

Product name and

Description

Power

Automate

Power Automate is a business

tool (Microsoft code) that

automates business processes,

sends task reminders, move

business data between systems

on a schedule, connects data

sources or and publicly available

APIs, can automate tasks on a

local computer.

Automation

Everywhere

Automation Anywhere consists

of three core components – Bot

Creator (drag and drop method

to create rule-based

automations), Control Room

(hub for RPA robots start,

paused, stop, or scheduling),

and Bot Runner (run robots.

provides the end-to-end status

of the bot’s execution back to

the control room). The core

components are used in tandem

to build and deploy a successful

automated workforce.

UiPath

UiPath offers complex and

highly featured automation for

more complex automation

products (standalone end user -

not integrated, hosted – on

premise, cloud) corresponding

to the user deployment

requirements. Products include

two development environments

– Studio and StudioX (with

limited capabilities),

automations called assistant

(bots), and an Orchestrator for

management and control of the

assistants. The cloud and hosted

product link together and can

exchange data when installed as

Automation Suite.

Table 2: RPA Tools

There are a number of RPA products available in

the market today. Three examples of these tools

are provided in Table 2 to help students, readers

and businesses understand the varying

capabilities that can affect the choice of a tool for

specific industry and target process. Students can

use the prosed methodology with any of the tools.

However, the ability of the tool to perform more

complex task automation will depend upon the

capabilities and functions available in a specific

tool.

5. Project Based Learning (PBL)

EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

What is Project Based Learning (PBL)?

Project-based learning (PBL) is a learning

experience that engages students in experiential

activities. The students are able to learn and

develop skills while working in teams. This

teaching approach stresses real-world projects

that can be understood readily and have

significance for the students. Larmer &

Mergendoller (2010) propose the project be a

task that matters and one that the students will

want to do well. The project must be well

designed and well implemented to serve its

educational purpose.

Larmer & Mergendoller (2010) propose seven

essential characteristics for these PBL

experiences. The criteria listed in Table 3 are

conceptual ways of engaging students in the

exercise.

Table 3: Essential Exercise Characteristics.

Amaral (2021) described how projects taught by

using the PBL approach could have different

goals, and actively involve students so they get

their hands dirty. This work notes that students

might learn and discover skills and materials

required to complete the project. They will also

reassess their learning process at the end of a

project.

Value of PBL

The project technique is effective in imparting the

1

A Need to Know

Relevance of the information

2

A Driving Question

How to improve, reduce,

speed up, etc.

3

Student Voice and Choice

How to reduce tedium,

improve situation, minimize

errors),

4 21st Century Skills

Collaboration,

communication, sharing

5

Inquiry and Innovation

Gathering information,

alternatives, suggestions for

improvement

6

Feedback and Revision

Critiques, reviews,

examinations of project work

7

Publically Presented Product

Exhibit and present the

solution

(Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010)

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educational understanding and hands-on learning

experience to students. Alacapınar (2008) assess

how the delivery of a course using the project-

based learning technique affects student opinions

on cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains

using questionnaires and semi-structured

interviews. The results report on project

technique effectiveness. The interview feedback

results are that the project technique enhanced

student creativity, helped them acquire high-level

information, target domain skills, appreciation of

group work and collaboration, and that separation

into groups during the work consolidated affinity,

trust, and friendship.

How PBL Works for Lean Six Sigma and RPA

The projects used in the class sessions apply the

seven essential project design elements as a

framework. The interesting and relevant problem

is how to complete the work required of an

administrative assistant in demanding situations.

The situations are those where the work is

tedious, repetitive, with manual steps, error

prone and required to have very high accuracy.

The work may also require display, moving (copy

or cut/paste), reformatting and/or validating

data submitted by emails, and through

spreadsheets, and audits with summary

reporting.

The project is meaningful for students because it

is work derived from real world tasks, and

essential to the job and eventual promotion. The

project deliverable is a working system utilizing

the RPA tool.

Appendix A lists the steps a student will execute

to complete the analysis, design, and coding of

an automation (bot) using two different RPA

tools. The first exercise provides the steps for the

use of Power Automate, a simpler and easier to

use RPA tool with basic product features. The

second exercise utilizes UiPath Studio to perform

the task. This tool has more features and

functionality. Appendix B lists the task actions a

student will execute to complete an RPA project

with straightforward output objectives. Appendix

B task actions can be perfumed with either tool.

6. CONCLUSIONS

This paper describes the use of project-based

learning to teach design skills for RPA

development to management information system

students. A Project-based team instruction

approach is followed using open-ended projects

to teach students critical analysis, design, and the

implementation steps of developing Robotic

Process Automation (RPA) for information

systems. It describes why the project-based

learning method is appropriate for teaching RPA

analysis and design, and uses lean Six Sigma

tools to perform the analysis needed to support a

low-code/no-code development project. Lean Six

Sigma is an important analysis step because of its

analytical approach and complete documentation

of logical steps needed to understand how to

select and implement successful RPAs. The

general issues considered in the design of class

sessions emphasize the use of Lean Six Sigma

and RPA in improving organization tasks.

Consideration of the literature on the application

of PBL suggests many skills, including problem

solving, task design innovation, group-work and

collaboration skills desired by employers can be

improved with this approach. The paper discusses

factors involved in the development of problem-

based leaning (PBL) sessions, and summarizes

exercises planned for the educational experience.

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That Influence University Learning with Low-

Code/No-Code Artificial Intelligence

Techniques. Electronics, 10(10), 1192.

White, R. E., & Pearson, J. N. (2001). JIT, system

integration and customer service.

International Journal of Physical Distribution

& Logistics Management, 31(5), 313-333.

Yoshikuni, A. C., Galvão, F. R., & Albertin, A. L.

(2021). Knowledge strategy planning and

information system strategies enable

dynamic capabilities innovation capabilities

impacting firm performance. VINE Journal of

Information and Knowledge Management

Systems, 52(4), 508-530.

Yusuf, Y., Gunasekaran, A., & Abthorpe, M. S.

(2004). Enterprise information systems

project implementation: A case study of ERP

in Rolls-Royce. International journal of

production economics, 87(3), 251-266.

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8. Product Appendix A

Product Exercise - Simple Exercise – Power Automate.

Tool Action Summary:

• Sign up and obtain Documentation. Sign up and sign in - Power Automate

• Power Automate, you can explore a diverse set of templates and learn about the key features

for Power Automate. You can get a quick sense of what is possible and how Power Automate

could help your business and your life.

• Analyze the desired process, to find an appropriate template (e.g., templates for sending you a

text message, adding Twitter leads, backing up files...)

• Analyze the tasks and set conditions that trigger the flow and the action that result from that

event (adjust, add, or delete actions).

• Select an appropriate flow type based upon the Lean Analysis (cloud flow, desktop, business

process, etc.

• (Optional) Examine code by viewing code generated for all actions and triggers (for a clearer

understanding of the data that's being used by triggers and actions) [Action or trigger > Peek

code].

• Select a connector. Connectors are proxies or wrappers around an API that allows the underlying

service to talk to Microsoft Power Automate. A user connects to build their app and workflow

from software as a service (SaaS) connectors. This connects apps, data, and devices, etc.)

• Test and validate that the new actions and data were created.

• Execute or Run the new workflow. After creating and tested a desktop flow, run it from an event,

schedule, or button.

• Manage the flow in Power Apps > select Flows in the left navigation pane

Product Exercise – Complex Exercise – Power Automate.

• Install the UiPath Studio (development tool) from UiPath, or local network.

• Enter required information (name device ID – if not present, > Activate

• 2. Open and select a project, activity (press a key, enter a number, etc.) and sequence

(combined task) designation.

>Choose from: Plan, Simple (template/flow hart – for different sequence of activates), Agent

(shortcut for improvement), Transactional (uses states – e.g., loading, execute shut-does – not

moving until all tasks for the project are completed

• Build the project. Create a name,

Add a function (record, scrape, user event, value), >Run, test

Scrape (screen or web), user event (keyboard or mouse entry). Set variables

Create file (separate parts of the automation)

Activity – drag and drop into the activity program (pane).

• Domains (7) – UI domain – keyboard, mouse. (drag/drop activates according to the project

logic),

• User events (triggers); orchestrator – depending upon edition; system (delete, open); condition

programs (fi. Else); workflow - sequencing

• Properties – set addresses, locations

• Control bar – Used to create the components for variables, arguments, imports.

• Create an automation.

• Test and install in production

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9. Project Activity Appendix B

1. Create file output from Excel (Task assignment, Excel file, output required)

2. Create email upon task completion. (Task assignment, Excel (or other source file), email

message - output required)

3. Create message of data arrival, update file. (Trigger for automation, Excel (or other record

file), email message - output required)

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Teaching Case

Alexa, Help Me Learn About the Internet of Things!

Mark Frydenberg

[email protected]du

Computer Information Systems Department

Bentley University

Waltham, MA 02452, USA

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of objects that can exchange data with other devices also

connected to the Internet. One of the most common consumer examples of IoT is home automation, as

a variety of smart devices, including doorbells, lightbulbs, thermostats, and refrigerators are now

available which users can control remotely using mobile apps or smart speakers. In this hands-on

activity, students will apply their basic skills in accessing wireless networks and using mobile devices to

connect an Amazon Echo smart speaker to a home network, configure smart plugs to communicate with

the Echo, and develop routines to interact with the smart plugs, smartphones, and other smart devices.

Keywords: Internet of Things, Amazon Echo, Automation, Digital Literacy, Active Learning

1. INTRODUCTION

The Internet of Things makes it possible to

connect devices in everyday objects, often

equipped with software and sensors, to send and

receive data over the Internet. Devices have an

IP address allowing them to connect to the

Internet, usually through a wireless network,

enabling communication between other

connected devices. A smart device is one that can

connect to the Internet.

An Amazon Echo (“Echo”) is a smart speaker

developed by Amazon that is commonly used in

homes to perform automated tasks and control

smart devices. Echo devices are widely available

in a variety of formats, including audio speakers

(Echo Dot), video displays (Echo Show), devices

to connect additional sensors (Echo Flex), and

devices for use in vehicles (Echo Auto).

Echo devices use the Alexa intelligent personal

assistant service to respond to a user’s voice

commands, that typically begin with the wake

word, “Alexa.” Users commonly interact with

Alexa to set alarms and timers, perform Internet

searches, play music, manage lists, and obtain

current news and weather information. Alexa

skills are software modules that perform tasks

such as playing games, setting timers and

reminders, and listening to music or audio books.

Alexa routines are sequences of tasks that you

can configure to perform in response to a voice

command.

Echo devices can connect to several smart

devices to perform home automation tasks, such

as turning on and off lights and adjusting

thermostats.

In this lab activity, you will interact with the

Internet of Things by connecting an Echo device

to a wireless network. You will control smart

devices using mobile apps and voice commands,

and create skills and routines to automate tasks,

add capabilities, and perform actions when

triggered by specific events.

If you do not have access to an Echo or Alexa-

enabled device, you can use the Alexa mobile app

on a smartphone or tablet to complete the steps

in this activity that specifically do not refer to

configuring or interacting with an Echo device.

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Learning Objectives

By completing this lab activity as part of your

information systems / technology literacy course,

you will be able to:

• Define what is meant by the Internet of

Things (IoT)

• Describe how to accomplish home

automation using connected devices

• Control smart plugs or devices using a

smart phone and the Alexa personal

assistant app on your Amazon Echo

• Identify sources of data and providers

that can share data over the Internet.

• Create routines with Amazon’s Echo to

automate home tasks

• Describe the role of a home network in

connecting devices

• Explain the role of APIs (application

programming interfaces) in sharing data

2. THE AMAZON ECHO

INTERNET OF THINGS LAB ACTIVITY

Prerequisites

While no programing knowledge is required to

complete this activity, several digital literacy and

information technology skills are required:

• Create, edit, and share a document on

Google Drive or OneDrive

• Capture and share screenshots from a

computer or mobile device

• Transfer files from a mobile device to a

laptop using cloud storage

• Create a video using your computer or

mobile device

• Connect a computer or mobile device to a

wireless network

• Locate a device’s MAC and IP address

Preparing For The Activity

You will work in teams of three or four to

complete the activity. Each person in your team

will have a different role, so decide who is going

to do what. It is fine to change roles throughout

the project so each person can experience more

than one role.

• Reader: Reads the instructions aloud at

each step for the group to discuss and

conduct

• Recorder: Summarizes the group’s

conversation about each task or

discussion question in the lab report

• Connector: Downloads apps to smart

phone, connects and configures devices

• Multimedia Producer: Records video,

photos, and gathers screenshots and

other multimedia as required

Your group will create a shared online document

or presentation to contain your screen shots and

answers to several discussion questions. Your

group also will create a short video and post it to

Flip, a collaborative video recording and sharing

platform, to demonstrate that your connected

devices and routines function correctly when you

speak voice commands. (Visit http://flip.com.)

You can work together on the project, but each

student should reflect their own learning and then

answer the open-ended questions individually.

Also consider the technology skills you used when

completing is activity.

Complete these steps before working on this

activity:

• Read this description before coming to

class so that you will be familiar with the

steps required. Doing so will save time

when you work on this in class!

• Identify three or four group members

• Create a lab report document on Google

Drive or OneDrive as directed by your

instructor. Share it with your instructor

and the members of your group.

Equipment

Your instructor will provide the equipment as

shown in Figure 1, for your use during this lab

activity:

• An Echo Dot smart speaker

• A smart plug (outlet)

• A light switch socket

• A lightbulb

Figure 1. IoT Lab Equipment

You will also need a laptop and smartphone. You

will need access to the network name and

password on a wireless router.

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3. COMPLETE THE LAB ACTIVITY

To complete this lab activity, you will accomplish

these tasks:

• Install the necessary apps on your phone

• Connect your Echo as a device on a

wireless network

• Set up a smart plug with an app on your

phone to turn on/off a light

• Set up Amazon Echo to turn on/off a light

using a voice command

• Create a routine for Alexa to follow

• Interact with and respond to external

data or events using If This Then That

• Bonus: Use Amazon Blueprints to create

custom skills

Set Up Your Phone

One person in each group, the “Connector”,

should download and install the mobile app for

the smart plug, and the Alexa app on their phone.

Install the Alexa app on your phone so you can

configure your Echo device. If using GoSund

smart plugs, download the SmartLife App. If

using Amazon brand plugs, you can use only the

Alexa app. Figure 2 shows the icons for the apps

to locate in your app store:

Figure 2. Alexa and SmartLife App icons.

If using other third-party smart plugs, download

the app associated with those plugs.

Create an Amazon Account

If a member of your group already has an Amazon

account, please feel free to sign in with your

personal credentials that you use with your own

Echo. After the completion of this lab activity, you

will remove the Echo device used for this project

from your account.

Open the Alexa app. If no one in the group has

an Amazon account, create a new Amazon

account for this activity (which you can delete

later). You should not need to provide a credit

card or phone number. Search for instructions

online for how to set up an Amazon account

without having to provide a credit card.

Configure the Smart Plug

These steps describe how to configure a third-

party smart plug using its app installed from the

Google Play or Apple App Store.

Connect your phone to the wireless network on

your router. (If you are configuring the router

yourself, set an SSID and password. If your

instructor is providing one router for the entire

class, use the SSID and password provided. Do

not connect to the 5G Network.

Open the app associated with your smart plug.

For GoSund plugs, open the SmartLife app. For

Amazon plugs, use the Alexa app; for other third-

party plugs, follow similar steps using their app,

Create a new account in the app using the same

credentials as the Amazon account. In the app,

allow permission for the app to access your

location, then identify the device (“socket/wifi”)

you want to add to the network, as shown in

Appendix I, Figure 5.

Enter the wireless network name and password to

connect the device to the network. Then follow

the instructions on the app to set up the plug as

shown in Appendix I, Figure 6. You will need to

press and hold the RESET button on the plug,

watch for a blinking light, and then check the app

to ensure that the plug connected to the Wi-Fi

network.

Note: When doing this step in a classroom with

other groups at the same time, make sure that

only one group’s plug is in set-up mode at a time

(The RESET button is blinking). Otherwise, the

app will connect to all plugs that are in set-up

mode. If one team is setting up their plug, wait

until they have finished, and then proceed with

configuring yours (by pressing the RESET button

for 5 seconds again).

Once connected, plug the light switch containing

the lightbulb into the smart plug. Test turning on

and off the light switch using the app, as shown

Appendix 1, Figure 7.

To verify the plug has an IP and a MAC address,

click ‘Mini Smart Plug’ in the app, click the pencil

icon in the top right, then click Device Settings to

see the IP and MAC address.

Set Up Amazon Echo

Install the Amazon Alexa app to your phone if you

do not have it already or sign out from your

personal Amazon account.

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Press and hold the action button on the Echo Dot

(the solid circle button) until an orange ring

appears putting you in setup mode.

Follow steps in Alexa app to configure the device.

In the Devices tab, click the ‘+’ button in the top

right corner. Click Add Device, locate Amazon

Echo and your model. Select the wireless network

and enter its name and password. Follow the

prompts to choose a language, set the device’s

location, and skip through any introductory offers

or videos that appear while configuring the

device. in your home. See the screenshots in

Appendix 1, Figure 8.

Set Up Echo To Work With The Smart Plug

In your smart plug’s app, select the device, and

look for a third-party control option. Select Alexa

and sign in with your Amazon credentials to allow

access.

In the Alexa app, click Devices, click the ‘+’

button to add a device, and select the brand of

your plug. Click Discover Devices, and Alexa will

look for devices and connect to the plug. Note:

For GoSund plugs, choose SmartLife (not

GoSund).

Give the device a name (such as “Red Light”).

Speak the command to ask Alexa to turn on or off

the Red Light and verify that it works.

Set Up A Routine

A routine is a set of steps to perform when you

speak a trigger word, such as “good morning.”

You might have Alexa perform several actions in

sequence, such as turn on the light and play

music, news, traffic, or weather when you say

“good morning.” Follow the instructions at

https://www.amazon.com/alexa-routines/ to

build your own routine. Then save and test your

routine.

Automation with If This Then That

If This Then That (ifttt.com) is a web-based or

mobile development platform that allows you to

build automation applets that connect data from

different sources without writing any code. IFTTT

hosts more than 700 apps and services to

integrate data from social media sites, a few of

which are shown in Figure 3.

You can access IFTTT in a browser or by installing

the IFTTT app from Google Play or Apple’s App

Store. The free plan allows you to create up to

five applets. One person from each group should

install the IFTTT app on their phone and create an

account.

Figure 3. IFTTT Services

To create an applet, select a trigger condition (“if

this”) that needs to be true for the associated

action to run. For example, you can check if the

light connected to your smart plug is turned on.

Next, create the action (“then that”) to run when

the trigger condition is true. Select “Phone Call”

and enter your phone number to create the action

to call your phone when the trigger condition is

true. IFTTT will verify your phone number by

calling it and sending you a code to enter.

Test the applet by asking Alexa to turn on the

light and wait momentarily for your phone to ring.

Follow the steps in Appendix 1, Figure 9 to create

an applet that calls your phone when the light is

turned on.

Using this as an example, make your own applet

using IFTTT.

You should be able to configure your Echo and

smart plug and create a routine and an

IfThisThenThat applet during one 60-minute class

period. After completing these tasks, create a

short video introducing your group members, and

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demonstrating the voice commands, routines,

and applets that your group created.

Create Your Own Alexa Skills With Amazon

Blueprints (Extra Credit)

Alexa skills are applications that run within the

Alexa app. Amazon provides an on-line tool called

Amazon Blueprints to simplify the process of

creating skills to leave messages for people at

home, play quizzes, flashcards, and games, tell

stories, create custom news briefings, and more.

You can select a template for the application type

you wish to create, such as a multiple-choice

trivia quiz, and then add the information that you

would like to use in your game. After testing your

skill, you can share or publish your skill so others

can use it. For an additional challenge, use

Amazon Blueprints to create your own Alexa skill.

Try this in class if you have time or complete it

outside of class.

Visit https://blueprints.amazon.com/, as shown

in Figure 4, to create your own Alexa skills by

selecting and customizing one of the templates.

As you complete your skill, consider the steps

involved in creating, testing, and deploying it, and

how they relate to publishing software.

Clean-Up

If you are no longer going to use the Echo and

smart plug devices, remove the devices from your

Amazon account. In the Alexa app, select the

Echo device and deregister it from your account.

Remove the smart plug from your account.

In the Smart Life app, select the plug and remove

the device.

Uninstall any unwanted apps that you added to

your phone for this activity.

Reset your Echo device to factory settings. For 2

nd

Generation Echo devices, press the microphone

on/off and volume down buttons at the same time

until the light ring turns orange. Steps may vary

for other models of Echo devices.

In addition to the video showing that your devices

worked properly, create a lab report document

online and share it with your group members and

your instructor. Your lab report will contain three

sections: screenshots, group responses, and

individual reflections.

Figure 4. Amazon Blueprints

4. LAB REPORT

Screenshots

Add (at least) these screenshots to your group’s

lab report. Provide a caption or brief description

of each.

1. Showing the IP and MAC addresses of

your smart plug

2. From the smart plug app, showing your

plug is connected your wireless network

3. From the Alexa app, showing your plug is

connected to your Echo.

4. From the Alexa app, showing the steps in

your routine

5. From IfThisThenThat, showing the steps

to configure your applet

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Group Responses

With your group, discuss and write responses to

these questions:

1. What is the approximate cost of a smart

plug such as the one you are using?

Provide a link to where you can purchase

one.

2. What are the MAC and IP addresses of the

smart plug?

3. Why do you have to set up the plug

before connecting it to the Echo?

4. To which wireless network are you

connected?

5. Why do you need to be on 2.4Ghz rather

than 5 GHz?

6. How are advances in 5G technology

impacting the use of IoT?

7. Describe the role of APIs (application

programming interfaces) in sharing data,

and the services whose APIs you used in

this activity. Why would companies

provide access to their data through

APIs?

Individual Reflections

Each student should answer these questions

individually.

1. Have you previously used a smart

speaker or connected smart devices to it?

2. How might you use a smart speaker and

smart devices in your room or home?

3. What other devices have you seen or

used that are connected to the Internet?

4. What concerns do you have about the use

of IoT related to privacy and security of

your data?

5. What did you learn by completing this

activity? Did anything surprise you?

6. Did you run into any technical problems

while completing this activity? What

happened, and what steps did you take to

you troubleshoot the problems? Were you

able to resolve these issues?

7. How might we improve this activity?

Discuss your responses with your group.

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Appendix 1. Additional Figures

Figure 5. Steps to add a Smart Plug to a Wireless Network

Figure 6. Steps to Configure a Smart Plug using a Mobile App.

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Figure 7. Turning on and off the light using the Smart Plug app.

Figure 8. Steps to Connect Amazon Echo to a Wireless Network

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Figure 9. Steps to Create an If This Then That Applet

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Appendix 2. Creating a Skill with Amazon Blueprints

This Appendix describes steps for creating a skill with Amazon Blueprints. You can run Amazon Echo

skills using any Echo-enabled device or the Alexa app on your mobile device.

Visit http:://blueprints.amazon.com. Select the blueprint you wish to customize. In this example, select

Flashcards in the Learning & Knowledge section. Next, click Make Your Own. See Figure 10.

Figure 10. Create the Flashcards Skill

Add the topic and information for the flash cards. See Figure 11.

Figure 11. Add Topic and Information

Click Experience.

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Enter information to customize the greetings, sounds, and feedback for users of this skill. See Figure

12.

Figure 12. Add Customizations

Name your flashcard set. See Figure 13.

Figure 13. Name Your Flashcard Set

Click Create Skill to create the skill. This may take a few moments. See Figure 14.

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Figure 14. Create Your Skill

Say “Alexa, open internet flashcards” or “Alexa, start internet flashcards.” to test your skill using your

Echo device or the Alexa app on your smartphone or mobile device.

You can edit the skill at any time using Amazon Blueprints.

You can decide who has access to your skill, as shown in Figure 15.

• Keep your skill private so only the devices on your home network can access it

• Click Share with others to get a link to share by email or on social media sites so your friends

and followers can access your skill

• Click Publish to Skills Store to publish your skill to the Alexa Skills Store for anyone to find, use,

and review.

Figure 15. Share and Publish Your Skill

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Appendix 3. Resources

This appendix contains information about resources described in this lab activity.

Websites

• Amazon Alexa (web interface to Alexa app with limited functionality): http://alexa.amazon.com

• Amazon Blueprints (for creating skills): https://blueprints.amazon.com

• Flip (collaborative video recording and sharing): http://flip.com

• If This Then That (automate apps and devices): http://ifttt.com

Apps

Install these apps on your mobile device. They are available from Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

• Alexa

• Flip (collaborative video recording and sharing)

• If This Then That (automate apps and devices)

• SmartLife (for controlling GoSund brand smart plugs)

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Teaching Case

A Registration System for a Citywide Service

Project: Design & Development Case

Dana Schwieger

[email protected]

Department of Management

Southeast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, USA

Hook

Baker Street Church is faced with an unexpected yet wonderful problem. Recent publicity has turned

their small service activity into a community-wide event rendering their volunteer management system

obsolete. They are seeking help in developing a database that can handle their growing list of projects

and volunteers.

Abstract

Many small organizations sponsor events and activities that could benefit from the data management

and reporting capabilities provided through a centralized database. However, many of those

organizations do not have the budget to afford a commercial solution or an on-going subscription to a

cloud-based solution for a small scope event with limited frequency use. The case focuses upon a service

project volunteer management system for recording, managing, and reporting on volunteers and the

service projects they are doing. The case provides a realistic scenario that can be used in a systems

analysis and design, database development, or graduate level management information systems course.

Multiple assignment options are provided allowing instructors to select an assignment based upon course

material coverage. Suggested assignments include the development of process modeling diagrams such

as a data flow or swim lane diagrams and database design and development artifacts.

Keywords: Teaching case, Database design, Process design, Swimlane diagrams

1. CASE SUMMARY

Baker Street Church in Whispering Hills, Missouri,

is hosting their second annual “Day of Blessings”

event for the community. The outpouring of

interest has been more than they had anticipated.

They are facing the impossible task of matching a

mountain of volunteers to an equally

overwhelming pile of service projects. The event

has outgrown the capabilities of their spreadsheet

and sticky-note matching process that was used

the previous year. They seek the assistance of a

local MBA student to help them develop a

database solution to fill the gap.

2. CASE TEXT: A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE

Mike Green, pastor of Baker Street Church in

Whispering Hills, MO, stared at the unending list

of new email in his Outlook In box. The deadline

for submitting service project ideas for their “Day

of Blessings” initiative was hours away and the

thought of matching the community projects and

needs with volunteers was daunting.

The Day of Blessings initiative was relatively new.

The event got off to a slow start the previous

year, so he was not expecting much of a turnout

this year either. However, a local personal

interest story, with roots in last year’s initiative,

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was making current news headlines and the

outpouring of interest was overwhelming. The

church phone lines had been ringing nonstop with

people suggesting projects to do and volunteers

wanting to help with this year’s event.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the

door. Jenny, the church administrative assistant,

had a stack of papers and messages. “Mike,” she

said, “you kind of have that ‘deer-in-the-

headlights’ look about you. I think what I’m about

to give you is just going to add to it.”

“More projects?” Mike asked as he motioned for

Jenny to come in and be seated.

“Yes, more projects AND volunteers,” Jenny said

emphasizing the ‘and’ in her reply. “It’s a good

problem to have.”

“I totally agree with you on that,” Mike said, “but

matching all of the people to the projects without

accidentally leaving something or somebody out

is going to take more time than we have

available. I don’t know how we’re going to be able

to get it done. Last year, we had a small stack of

projects and volunteers. We were able to use

spreadsheets and different color sticky notes to

get projects and people matched. I don’t think it

will be that simple this year. With that many

people involved, we’re going to have to do a lot

more communicating, generating reports, and

handling logistical issues. It would be nice if we

had some sort of registration and reporting

system to help us with this project. I’m sure there

are some out there, but we don’t have time to go

through the budget approval process to get the

money approved to research, purchase, learn,

and setup a new system before the big event.”

Jenny thought for a moment and offered, “There’s

a new MBA student in our class for college-aged

students who stopped by the church office the

other day. He asked if there were any computer-

type requests in the list of Day of Blessings

projects that he could volunteer to do. I took

down his name and number and told him I would

get back to him. I’ll give him a call to see if he

can help us with this. I can check your schedule

and arrange a meeting if it sounds like something

he can do.”

3. THE MEETING

Jenny was able to arrange a meeting with David,

the new MBA student, for early the next day.

David arrived at Mike’s office ready to take notes.

“Pastor Mike,” David said as he stuck out his hand

in greeting, “it’s good to see you today. This

project came just at the right time! I’m supposed

to design and build a database for my

management information systems course at

school. The deadline to submit a project idea is

almost here. What Jenny told me about the

system you are needing sounds like it will work

for my project. Could you go over the steps of the

process and the data needs with me so that I can

take notes to figure out what you need and to put

something together to turn in for my class?”

“Of course, David,” Mike said as he motioned

towards a chair in his office. “I hope this works

out for both of us. Just to give you a little

background, last year was the first time that we

ever hosted the Day of Blessings event. With all

of the hard things going on in our community, we

thought it would be good to do something nice for

everyone and to try to bring the community

together a bit. Although the event involves people

of all ages performing community service projects

over an eight-hour period of time on a Saturday,

there’s a lot of work that takes place behind the

scenes in planning, coordinating, and carrying out

the event.”

Service Project Examples

“In preparation for the upcoming service day,”

Mike said, “we ask the church congregation if they

are aware of, or have any ideas for, service

projects that we can do as a church. We also

contact various local organizations and agencies

to see if there are any projects that they might

have for us to do too.

“Organizations are welcome to submit more than

one project. Some examples of projects that we

did last year include purchasing and installing

playground equipment at a local private school,

painting a mural in the play area of a local public

school, helping an older couple in church paint

their house, building a ramp for a person who

would soon be coming home from the hospital,

making and delivering food baskets in a lower

income area of town, taking lunch to our local fire

department, and buying gift cards for our local

police station.

“The projects range from needing just a couple of

people with any skill level to multiple people with

specific skills. We also have a certain amount of

money allocated in our church budget to pay for

the supplies needed for the event activities, so we

try to stay within our budget.”

Service Project Data

“As you would guess,” Mike continued, “in order

to carry out all of those service projects, there’s

a lot of data that we have to collect about the

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activity besides the service project name and

description. We also need to have a contact name

with contact information such as the organization,

email, phone, and address; the address at which

the activity will take place; the amount of time

the project will require; the number of people

needed to perform the project; the skills needed

to perform the project; the supplies and quantity

needing to be purchased for each project; project

supplies provided that will not need to be

purchased; the actual cost and number of

supplies purchased for each project; the date the

supplies were purchased; and the estimated

amount of time needed for the project with the

requested people.”

“Bob, the Facilities Director, and I will use the

supply list report to purchase all of the supplies

before the big day. We will need to record the

date when purchases are made, the quantity of

each item purchased for each project, and the

amount paid. We should also include the name of

the vendor from whom the supplies were

purchased so that we will have this information to

reference if something needs to be returned and

for future supplies. Once the purchases are made,

I will give the receipts to Jenny, and she will be

able to enter the purchase details into the system

and store the receipts in the folder she keeps for

this event.”

Volunteer Data

“In order to carry out all of those projects,” Mike

said, “we need to have volunteers. Last year, we

created a catalog of projects including the project

name, description, location, contact, estimated

time commitment, as well as the number of

people needed. The catalog was posted to the

church’s website along with a downloadable form

that volunteers could fill out and give to the

church office with the name of the project they

were interested in, special skills they offered,

their name and address information, gender, age

category, volunteer type (church or community

member) as well as their willingness to take the

lead on a project. Due to the short timeframe in

which our projects were completed, volunteers

could only sign up for one project. That restriction

applies for this year too.

“We didn’t have a lot of projects or volunteers last

year, so we just created a spreadsheet for each

project and volunteer list and kept them at the

lobby welcome desk.

“We didn’t know what to expect this year. We

anticipated a little growth, but nothing like what

we are experiencing. Thanks to the local media,

this year is a different kind of animal. Last year,

one of our service projects involved repairing the

roof of an unemployed single mother and helping

her get some bedroom furniture for her kids. After

getting to meet her and learn of her plight, one of

the volunteers hired her to work at his business.

She has just blossomed in her role with the

company. During a ‘person on the street’

interview about the current state of the economy

by the local news media, she told them her story

and now it seems like the entire community wants

to get involved helping others. Thus, our need for

a database.”

“I see,” David paused and then jotted down more

notes. “What kind of reports do you think you’ll

need throughout the process?”

Reports

“Well,” Mike replied, “the first type of report we

will need is the catalog of service projects so that

we can make everyone aware of the projects

available and their details. Speaking of projects,

we would also need to have a ‘shopping list’

providing a compilation of all of the supplies that

need to be purchased for each of the projects

before the day of the event. This would need to

be printed in order of supplies needed as well as

include the name of the project for which it will

be used. On the day before the event, we could

use that same report as a check-off sheet to make

sure that each project had the supplies.

“We would also need a volunteer list for each of

the projects so that we would have the names,

phone numbers, and age category of the

volunteers. We would also want to include the

project leader on that sheet. The report would

have to be printed in order of project. Also, on the

day of the event, we could use that report as a

check-in sheet so that we can make sure that

each project has enough people and to get them

into the right groups.

“A project summary sheet containing the project

names, a description of each project, the location

of the activity, the contact for that activity, and

the contact’s phone number would also be

beneficial. The event coordinators would need

these sheets so that they could get in contact with

specific groups and individuals. I can give you

copies of the reports that we had last year”

(Appendix A).

Communication

“With the event being so new and small last

year,” Mike continued, “communicating lists and

event details was fairly easy. However, there are

going to be a lot more people involved in the

event this year, both in and outside the church.

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I’m going to have to send more specific emails

targeted towards each project. It would be great

if the database could send an email ‘report’ to

project leaders with the information about their

event and the contact information for the people

signed up for their activity. I could send that

email out two or three times before the event.

You may be able to think of some other emails or

reports that would be helpful, but those are the

ones that come to mind.”

Equipment Needed

David thought for a moment and then asked,

“Since obtaining the funds to purchase a new

database system is going to be a problem, will

you have the resources to actually run the

database before and during the event?”

Mike took a sip of his coffee before answering.

“I’ve already been thinking about that. The

children’s program has grown significantly over

the past few years. We anticipated upgrading the

computers in the children’s check-in process this

year and $6000 was allocated in the budget to

purchase three new laptops, two tablets, a

printer, and any additional hardware required. I

think we could go ahead and purchase the new

equipment and use it for the Day of Blessings.

Once we are done with the equipment, it can be

installed in the children’s check-in area. Since

both processes focus upon checking people in, the

memory, storage, and speed requirements should

be similar.

“With so many people expected to be involved in

the Day of Blessings event this year,” Mike

continued, “we are going to have to have multiple

event day check-in areas set-up. We’ll probably

have to set up three standalone tables each with

a laptop in the north parking lot. Two of the tables

will handle event day walkup registrations. The

third table will be the ‘command center’ table to

handle registration problems and printing extra

reports, so this table will also need a printer. To

move people with advanced registrations through

the event day check-in process more quickly, we

will have two lanes on the parking lot where

people can check in while sitting in their cars. A

volunteer with a tablet will go from car to car

checking people in. Since we will be in the parking

lot, we will also need some sort of mobile internet

access. Do you have any hardware

recommendations that you could make for us?”

Wrapping Up

“Not off of the top of my head,” David said as he

continued writing notes, “but, I’ll see what I can

find to recommend. I’ll also see if I can find a

commercial volunteer management system,

similar to what you are wanting, so that you can

see what data they collect and reports they run.

I know you are unable to buy it at this time, but

it may give us some ideas. I would like to create

data flow and process models of what I think you

are seeing your data collection and reporting

processes looking like so I can make sure we are

on the same wavelength. I’ll try to send you

something by the end of the week.”

4. ASSIGNMENTS

This project could take multiple paths depending

on the role your instructor has for you. Clarify

with your instructor the role that you will play.

Request for Proposal (RFP)

Assume the role of David, the MBA student and

conduct an Internet search to find a commercial

volunteer management system that will fit the

church’s need for the Day of Blessings event. Mike

is ready to acquire and implement the commercial

system. His first step is to solicit vendor bids to

obtain the technical infrastructure to support the

new system.

1. From the church’s perspective, develop

the functional and technical requirements

that would be included in a request for

proposal (RFP).

2. From a potential vendor’s perspective,

develop the vendor’s response to the RFP

for the technical requirements.

Essentially, you are proposing the

hardware, software, networking,

installation, documentation, and training

that will be required to implement the

infrastructure.

3. As the documents are developed, record

any assumptions you make, regarding

the processes, in a separate document.

Process Model Diagrams

Assume the role of David, the MBA student and

draw out the functional process steps to verify

that you have identified all of the steps and

understand how the process works.

1. Create diagrams modeling each of the

processes.

2. Write short narratives to accompany your

diagrams to verify and support your

interpretation of the processes.

3. As the diagrams are developed, record

any assumptions you make, regarding

the processes, in a separate document.

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

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Data Flow Diagrams

Assume the role of David, the MBA student and

create a data flow diagram to illustrate the flow

of data through the volunteer management

process to verify that you understand how the

data is collected, processed, stored, and

disseminated.

1. Create a diagram modeling the flow of

data through the process.

2. Write a short narrative to accompany

your diagram to verify and support your

interpretation of the process.

3. As the diagrams are developed, record

any assumptions you make, regarding

the processes, in a separate document.

Systems Analysis Design and Database

Development

Assume the role of David, the MBA student. Mike

does not have the budget to purchase a

commercial volunteer management system. He

wants you to build the database. He wants to:

1. Accumulate the functional and technical

requirements for the system.

2. Prioritize the requirements.

3. Create system development diagrams.

4. Create a data dictionary.

5. Create data entry forms.

6. Create queries to generate records

needed for service project clients; service

project descriptions and resources

needed; available volunteers; service

project volunteer lists; resource shopping

lists; and data needed for various mail-

merged letters (e.g., thank you letters).

7. Create reports for the queries including

service project client information lists,

service project opportunity descriptions

and resource needs lists, available service

project volunteer lists; resource shopping

lists; and informational letters to service

project clients and thank you letters to

volunteers.

8. As the database is developed, record any

assumptions that you make in a short

report.

5. CONCLUSION

David worked all week developing and clarifying

the diagrams. He watched Pastor Mike’s face

expectantly as he explained the diagrams and his

vision for the database. A slight grin began to

stretch across Mike’s face as David finished

explaining his last diagram. “David,” Mike

breathed, “That’s great! I think you know exactly

what we are needing. I can’t wait to start using

your new database!”

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info

Appendix A

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info

Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 21 (2)

ISSN: 1545-679X May 2023

https://isedj.org/; https://iscap.info