COB: MIS Department Curricula Review BBA-MIS Spring 2015

COB: MIS Department

Curricula ReviewBBA-MISSpring 2015

COB: MIS DepartmentExample of informal review:• 2010-2012: three MIS and one CS faculty met

with three key Acxiom employees for an assessment of curricula

• Examined business needs with respect to our curricula

• Included some actual training with Acxiom’s ETL tools

• Conducted a gap analysis

• In part, this resulted in:

• New courses

• A new concentration (Business Analysis)

• Large grant ($150k)

COB: MIS Department

1. Alignment with Mission/Vision

2. Current Curriculaa. Ours

b. Other Schools

c. Guidelines

d. Pedagogies Used

COB: MIS Department

3. New Major: BS in Information Systems

4. Where Does MIS Go From Here?

COB: MIS Department

Our Goal is to Provide a Current, Responsive and

Innovative Curriculum

We consider this critical in IT

COB: MIS Department

We do this by the following:• Monitoring industry IT trends

• Meeting often with stakeholders

• Employers

• Students and alumni

• Examining curricula at other universities

• IT/IS Curricula Guides

COB: MIS DepartmentWe must prepare students in two ways:1. Enduring IT concepts and practices

—used throughout one’s careera) Strategic deployment & development

of IT

b) Data storage/retrieval

c) Networking—communications

d) Project management?

Foundation & Core Courses

COB: MIS DepartmentWe must prepare students in two ways:2. Latest tools and technologies – to

help get first joba) Relational DBs

b) LAN/WAN & wireless networks

c) Data analysis tools (Visible Analyst, etc.)

d) Latest programming languages

COB: MIS DepartmentNumber of majors and graduates

Percentage of grads. by concentration (since 2012)

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Majors 116 112 126 133 148Grads 31 29 36 36 40?

Percentage of Graduates

Business Analysis 35%

Networking 32%

Programmer Analyst 21%

E-Commerce 11%

GIS 1%

COB: MIS DepartmentMajor curricular initiatives (10 yrs):• Established four concentrations

2008

• Added Business Analysis concentration 2012

• About to establish a new major, BS-IS

• Developed ten new courses, eight in last five years; revised many others

COB: MIS DepartmentNew Courses

• MIS 4366 Adv. Web Development (2007)

• MIS 4367 Adv. Web Design w/ DBs (2010)

• MIS 3343 Adv. Spreadsheets (2011)

• MIS 4355 Project Management (2011)

• MIS 4360 Information Security (2011)

• MIS 4380 Business Intelligence (2013)

COB: MIS DepartmentNew Courses

• MIS 3335 Scripting Languages (Python) (2014)

• MIS 4339 Java II (2014)

• MIS 4364 Comp. & Network Security (2014)

• QMTH 4341 Quant. Analytical Methods (2014)

MIS-Current CurriculaThree Concentrations (BBA-MIS)• Application Development• E-Commerce Track

• Programmer/Analyst Track

• GIS Track (3 GEOG courses)

• Networking• Business Analysis

MIS-Current CurriculaBusiness Analysis• Newest concentration (2012)

• Direct result of industry stakeholder input

• Required four new courses• MIS 4355 Project Management

• MIS 4380 Business Intelligence

• MIS 4360 Information Security

• QMTH 4341 Quantitative Analytical Methods

• All of these courses also taught in MBA

MIS-Current Curricula• Core Courses

• MIS 3363 Networking I

• MIS 3365 Database Applications

• MIS 3328 Sys. Analysis & Design

• All concentrations require a programming class

• All have two MIS electives

• Two courses are concentration-specific

MIS-Current CurriculaHow We Compare

• Eight colleges in AR. offer MIS

• Six are BBAs; two are BS (but in COB)

• Only one other has concentrations (UA-Fayetteville)

• All are similar in curricula, though most req. more MIS courses (27-33 hours)• Add more to compete?

MIS-Current CurriculaCurricula Standards

• Only one “standard” available:

IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in IS

• By ACM/AIS

• Interestingly, they are shifting toward a less technical curriculum; the programming course is no longer a core course (now an elective)

MIS-Current CurriculaPedagogies

• MIS uses traditional, hybrid and online course pedagogies

• Both COB Foundation Courses online• MIS 2343

• QMTH 2330

• COB Core Course online (MIS 3321)

MIS-Current CurriculaPedagogies

• Some advanced level classes online• MIS 4363 Networking II• MIS 4380 Bus. Intelligence• MIS 3343 Adv. Spreadsheets

• Most others are traditional courses

MIS: New MajorBS-Information Systems

• Conceived and developed as a result of indirect assessments

• Formal meetings with multiple employers

• Met with alumni & students• Examined other universities


• Companies need CS/MIS developers

• Companies need MIS majors• But for many roles, both have

problems• Therefore companies need a

combination of the two

MIS: New MajorBS-IS: Curriculum

• Interdisciplinary degree between MIS and Computer Science

• Includes a required minor in CS, plus business/MIS courses

• BS: at UCA this requires a two-course lab sequence in some science (CS I and CS II)


• Requires all COB Foundation except ACCT 2311 and MIS 2343 (choice in math/stats)

• Requires all COB Core except MGMT 3344 and MGMT 4347

• Many tech. courses either CS or MIS


BS-IS Course of Study

• Business Hours (non-MIS): 30• Min/Max CS Hours: 21-36• Min/Max MIS Hours: 9-30

MIS: New MajorBS-IS: Other Schools

• Multiple other schools have non-MIS technical degrees:• BS-Computer Science• BS-Information Technology• BS-Information Systems• Others: Comp. Engineering

(UA), SW Dev. (Harding)


• BS-CS (8): some schools have multiple CS degrees:• AR State: E-Comm., IT, Gen. Bus

• UA-Fayetteville.: BS/BA in CS

• UALR: CS-Game

• BS-IT (2): AR. Tech, UA-Ft. Smith

• BS-IS (2): UALR, AR. Tech


• All CS degrees have 48+ hours of CS courses; most have 10-30 hours math• UCA: 48 hours CS/19 hours math

• Two BS-IT curricula have 74-75 hours CS; not much math

• Two BS-IS curricula have 50/62 hours CS


• BS-IT/IS has as much or more CS courses than BS-CS

• Most require few business hours• BS-CS most require none• BS-IT requires 0 or 3• BS-IS requires 15 or 18 (this

is max for any non-MIS tech. degree

MIS: New MajorBS-IS: Value Added

• Bottom line: this degree is unlike any other in the state

• It has a minimum of 40 hours of business (including MIS courses), plus a minimum of 21 hours of CS

MIS-FutureWhere do we go from here?

• Continue to build/maintain relationships with employers and companies

• We want our graduates to be their first choice

• Helps to maintain an responsive, current and innovative curriculum

• Results in additional funding

• Added 2 scholarships in last 2 years


• Upgrade labs/Add new portable lab

• BS-IS: track and manage well; develop solid relationship with CS


• Curricula improvements?• Include Unix/Linux• Additional required course in

major?• New concentration(s)?

Security? Data analysis?


• New courses this upcoming year:• MIS 3335 Scripting

Languages (Python)• QMTH 4341 Quant. Methods• MIS 4339 Java II• MIS 4364 Computer &

Network Security

MIS-FutureWe want to be the best MIS program in the state

We want our graduates ready to assume important roles in companies

We want employers to seek out our graduates first

MIS-Future

Questions?

Documents

COB: MIS Department Curricula Review BBA-MIS Spring 2015