NUKAIS/LTSN Seminar
Leeds Metropolitan University
Innovation North
Faculty of Information and Technology
Visioning The Future
Information Systems Curriculum Development
Aims & Objectives
• To appreciate where we are now
• To evaluate key IS indicators/drivers
• To determine the future direction
Barbara Howell
Overview
• Now
• Challenges
• Key Indicators/drivers
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Historical Perspective
The Competition
Job Market/Employers
Current IS Research
IS Academic Community
• The future
• Summary
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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Now
• Increasing myriad of programmes – BIS (109), IS (562),
Accounting, Distributed, Finance, Geographical, Global,
Internet, Management and Media Information Systems
(UCAS 2004)
• Align to computing benchmark and professional bodies
• US - IS 2002 Model Curriculum (Gorgone et al, 2002) –
Business, Analytical/Critical Thinking, Technology,
Interpersonal/Communication and Team Skills.
• A Framework of Information System Concepts (FRISCO)
– Revised draft 2001
– Understand IS and provide a consistent framework of IS concepts
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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Challenges
• Declining student numbers, high student attrition, student
satisfaction, changes in funding methodology, variable
fees, competition from private providers
• The LTSN (2003) - “producing employable graduate is
becoming more complex and more important”
– Graduate numbers expanding faster than the market for traditional
graduate jobs
– Graduates more diverse in age, social background and motivation
• Johnson et al (2002) poses the following questions:
– What do I include in my course syllabus?
– Does the curriculum meet stakeholder needs?
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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Historical Perspective
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IS have been around for at least 6000 years
Fifty years ago no IS professionals.
70’s ‘Information Systems’ appearing
90’s IS degrees developed from the computer
systems analysis courses that in turn diverged
from the original computing courses
• Student numbers had been increasing to 2000
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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The competition
• Armstong & Jayaratna (2002) – examine content of similar
courses
• MSc Information Systems (2003)
– DSS, Multimedia, KM, E-Commerce, HCI, UML
• BSc (Hons) IS/BIS (2003)
– Business orgs, Web Page Design, SD, DD, OO, Network
Operating Systems, E-Government
• BSc (Hons) Derivatives (2003/4)
– Focus on E and Web Systems - Hypermedia Systems, Media
Technologies, XML, Network Security
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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UK Job Market - IS
Organisation/
Location
CW Jobs
www.cwjobs.co.uk
Jobsite
www.jobsite.co.uk
No of
jobs
496
Citrix
Administration and
operations support
Qualified as CCEA; Citrix Meta XP
Presentation Server, NFuse/Web Interface,
Security Gateway & Team work.
Information
Systems Developer
Visual Basic, SQL Server 2000 and Visual
Studio
Senior Systems
Tester
IS concepts, leading teams, Test Director,
WinRunner, SSADM, RUP
Java Developer
Java/J2EE - CRM and MIS systems
GIS Technician
GIS, Relational Db Design, Access, MS
Office Prof, Windows 98
Business Analyst
Full development life-cycle, ASP, VBScript,
JavaScript/HTML, Transact SQL, MSSQL
Server 2000, ODBC, ADO
Oracle Senior
Systems Analyst
SQL, Oracle Development tools – Forms 4.56i, Oracle Designer/Rational Rose CASE
tools.
1086
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Information and Technology
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Job Market cont..
• Roberts Review (April 02) - financial services and media
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (2002) - market opportunities in 4 areas;
– Communication - Professional services to support wireless infrastructure
– Creative, culture and Media - on-line marketing, on-line music, computer
& video games, publishing of digital books and interactive TV
– Electronics Manufacturing - operating systems, computer systems, storage
media and semiconductor devices are all demonstrating growth;
– Service providers - e-Learning, consultancy and internet services.
• Lambert Review (July 03) – high growth in creative and media
industries
• The LTSN (October 2003) - employers require generic skills, such as
good at communicating, numerate, IT literate, capable of taking
initiative, team working, manage themselves and continue to learn.
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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Job Market e-skills ICT review
• IT services 57% rise over next 4yrs
- infrastructure and outsourcing an attractive market to be in.
• User support, strategy & planning
and software roles up for the 3rd qtr
running
• Operations technicians, telecoms
engineers and database assistants
fell over the last 3 quarters.
• Future demand for skills in
broadband, wireless, Linux,
content management, real time
analytics, data mining security,
middleware, business intelligence
and KM
(quarter 4, 2003)
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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Current Research
• ISOneWorld 2004
– E-Government, E-Collaboration, E-Marketing, E-Health
– Accounting IS, Multimedia IS, Geographic IS
– KM, ERP, SSM, Information Security/Cyber Crime, Web Learning, HCI
• EMCIS 2004
– Strategic IS Planning, DSS & Business Intelligence, Outsourcing
– ERP, EAI, CRM, SCM, Data quality and mining, IT Security, IS in
Healthcare
– E-Government/Governance, Digital Divide, Teleworking, HCI, Virtual
Communities
• ECIS 2004
– IS and HRM, Tourism, Telecom Industry, Media, Health Care, Finance.
– e-work and virtual organisations, Digital Divide, CRM, ERP, KM
• HICCS 2005
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E-Government, E-Democracy, E-Health, E-Logistics
Streams - Digital Documents & Media; Health
ERP, CRM, EAI, KM, Outsourcing, Business Intelligence, Data Mining.
Handheld Devices & Wireless, IT in Criminal Justice
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Information and Technology
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Current Research…
• Cambridge
– GIS, Digital technologies
– Health care systems (JIT, KM) and e-health.
– E-Commerce, Organisational learning and KM, E-learning
• IS Journals
– The Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE)
• Special issue on Enterprise Systems Education - CRM, SCM, SEM, and
Business Intelligence.
(JISE- http://jise.appstate.edu/ERP.htm)
– Computing and Information Systems Journal
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Organisational Information Systems
Computational Intelligence
E-Business
Knowledge and Information Management
Interactive and Strategic Systems
(CIS – http://cis.paisley.ac.uk)
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Information and Technology
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IS Academic Community
“The integration of technology with business processes…there is an important role in
managing systems development, project management and managing sourcing.”
“E-Commerce. IS variants of MBA programmes. Undergrad a good future for joint
degrees (Accounting with Information systems is clearly going to be a crowd
puller)”
“Systems can only be developed in the ‘context’ in which they are intended to be
exploited. NHS, local government, financial services.”
“E-Notion, Action based research, Technical or Business bias.”
“The days of the discipline based courses are numbered…we will be moving,
especially at MBA level to them based courses where IS is an (important)
component.”
“The modern IS practitioner should have specialisms e.g. management, education or
criminology.”
“It is likely to be a mixture of the technical, managerial and social sciences but the
exact proportions will depend on the University.”
“Were spending a lot more time on web applications”
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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The Future
• Core + functional specialism
– marketing, accounting, HR
• Core + organisational context specialism
– NHS, local government, financial services, media,
education, tourism, publishing, criminology
• Core + subject specialism
– Mobile and wireless, CRM, KM
• Core + product specialism
– SAP, Citrix, Oracle
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Information and Technology
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Summary
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Now – experiencing growing pains
History – trend unclear – moving target
Jobs – now not future – trend?
Competition – now not future
Current Research – pockets of inquiry, level
to which research informs practice
• IS Community – Specialised IS courses
• Future – Generic core + specialism
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Information and Technology
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References
Armstrong, H. & Jayaratna, N (2002) Internet Security Management: A joint
Postgraduate Curriculum Design. Journal of Information Systems Education. 13 (3)
pp 249- 258
Gorgone, J., Davis, G. B., Valacich, J. S., Topi, J., & Feinstein, D (2002) IS2002
Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in
Information Systems (AITP).
E-Skills Bulletin (2003) Quarterly Review of the ICT Labour Market. 7 (4), 2003.
Available at: www.e-skills.com
Johnson, D. W., Wilkes, F. Ormond, P & Figeuroa, R (2002) Adding Value to the
IS’97… Curriculum Models: An Interactive Visualization and Analysis Prototype.
Journal of Information Systems Education. 13. (2) pp. 135-142
Lambert, R (2003) Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration. Final
Report. HMSO. Available at: www.lambertreview.org.uk
LTSN (2003) LTSN Generic Centre Circular 5. October 2003. Available at:
http://ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/index
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2002) Digital Industries Cluster Regional Framework
Document.
Roberts, G (2002) Set for Success. The Supply of People with Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics Skills. April 2002.
Verrijn-Sturart, A (2001) A Framework of Information System Concepts. The Revised
FRISCO Report. Available at: http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl
Barbara Howell - Innovation North - Faculty of
Information and Technology
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