Below are responses received with
regard to the four original questions of the survey on current status and
future directions of OO curricula in schools of business. Detailed contact
information about the respondents is provided at the end of this document. Feel
free to contact me (richardjohnson@smsu.edu)
with any follow-up comments, which I will share with the list if so requested.
> 1. OT courses currently taught
and a brief description of the
> course level, prerequisites,
and content (texts, concepts, methods,
> languages, tools, etc.)
Dr. Burd wrote:
CS 151 -
this is our first programming course and it's taught by the
CS department. They teach C++ using command line oriented
UNIX and related tools. They cover very little OO material. They
usually use the Savitch C++ text and
have used Dale/Weems in
the past.
MGT 331 -
this is our second programming class which I usually
teach. I have used Visual C++ in the past but I'm leaning strongly
toward Java for the upcoming Spring
semester. The course has a
heavy OO emphasis from day one. I'm currently evaluating Java
development tools. I haven't used a text in the past and have
instead relied on on-line
documentation and handouts. I'll
porbably
adopt a text if we switch to Java
but a choice is months away.
MGT 459 -
This used to be our systems analysis course (there
was a separate design course). Starting this semester it's both
analysis and design (some design
topics will be woven into later
courses). The course is now OO-based using Satzinger et al as
the primary text. GD-Pro is the CASE tool.
The other
courses in the curriculum are in flux.
We'll be making
changes to them next year as this
year's crop of juniors gets to
them. We plan to do more programming/development in the
advanced courses and rely more on
object technologies. The only
notable exception will be the
database material. This will be
spread across two classes (including
MGT 331). The back end will
be relational though some of the
application development will use
wrapper classes.
Dr. Hars wrote:
I am
teaching a course on Information Systems Analysis and Design
(undergraduate level) which is based
on UML and Rational Unified Process. I
use Rational Rose and Visal Cafe as
RAD tool. Prerequite is an Introduction
to IT course. I am currently using
no book but rely primarily on many
excellent web-documents.
Dr. Johnson wrote:
In the CIS department at SMSU, some faculty (including myself) teach the intro programming course (CIS 202) using Java where we spend about 75% of the time on structured programming concepts and about 25% on OOP. Other faculty teaching this course use Visual Basic. Students may then take the following two courses:
CIS
260 Object Technology I. 3(3-0) F,S.
Prerequisite: CIS 202. Introduction to the key concepts of object technology and the fundamentals of the Java programming language. Projects using Java involve the development of elementary applications and applets.
CIS
360 Object Technology II. 3(3-0) F,S.
Prerequisite: CIS 260. This course is a continuation
of the study of object technology and the Java programming language. Projects using Java involve
the development of standalone and web based applets. Topics include abstract
windows toolkit (AWT), layout managers, event handling, exception handling,
inheritance, arrays, graphics, and file I/O.
An introduction to HTML is covered to support web server based applets.
The text used for the two courses
above is Java
Programming: Comprehensive
Joyce M. Farrell - McHenry County College ISBN: 0-7600-1070-6 Publish
Date: Feb-26-1999 - 720 pages.
We are currently considering the addition of the following two courses to the OO curriculum (although we may not have enough faculty to teach this diversity of courses):
CIS
460 Object Technology III. 3(3-0) F,S.
Prerequisite: CIS 360. Advanced study of object
technology with Java. Topics include
advanced graphical user interfaces, vectors, interfaces, multithreading,
distributed computing using Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Java Database
Connectivity (JDBC), and component technology with JavaBeans. Projects involve the development of web
server based applets implementing the topics studied.
CIS
480(550) Object Technology IV. 3(3-0) F,S.
Prerequisite: CIS 460. A study of design and
development of object-oriented systems using Java. The Unified Modeling
Language (UML) is introduced and used to create models of implemented projects.
All projects are web server based and use 3‑tier or n‑tier
architecture. Particular design considerations include interfaces, threads and
active notification. A case study approach is applied.
We also teach some OOA/D in the
required Systems Analysis and Design course.
Dr. Thompson wrote:
Object-oriented
design and development. This is a year 3 degree
level course. All OO concepts,
analysis, design, and programming.
We use
Rational Rose and JADE. JADE is an object-oriented
systems development environment that
includes an OO database.
Text
book: Bennett, S., McRobb, S. and Farmer, R. (1999) Object-
oriented systems analysis and design, London McGraw-Hill.
Secondary
reference: Post, E. (1999) JADE for
developers,
Christchurch Aoraki Corporation Limited.
Our
course tries to cover too much material and is the only course
that we have that focusses on
object-oriented issues. There are no
defined pre-requisites or
co-requisites. However, most students will
have completed or be doing
concurrently a Visual Basic
programming course that introduces
VB object concepts.
Dr. Siau wrote:
I am
teaching Object Oriented Systems Development at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. In that course, I teach Unified Modeling
Language (UML)
and Unified Software Development
Process. FYI.
Dr. Sawyer wrote:
We have
not yet begun our OT option, though it is slated to begin in
Fall '01. Thus, I can't offer much more than a pointer to our
curriculum (see www.ist.psu.edu and
follow links to see option 1 of our
undergraduate major). I am interestd to see what your query draws.
Dr. Wang wrote:
I
consider that OOP is the first step for students to learn OT at the
very technical level. I teach concepts of OOP for sophomore
students in
the BIS major. However, I teach OOP and Structured P within
the same
course for BIS students, since we
cann't afford more than one course for an
intro-level programming course. The textbook I am using is Problem Solving
and Programming: Essentials of Computer Languages for
Commerce, Universal Publishers,
Parkland, FL, 2000. (Please check
<http://www.upublish.com/books/wang.htm>)
I think
OOA is one of the basic skills of OT for students. I found
that UML is hard to use for business
students to learn OOA. I recommend
the following book for business IS
students.
Analyzing Business Information
Systems: An Object-Oriented Approach, CRC
Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1999.
> 2. The relationships between OT
courses you offer and Web
> application
development/e-Commerce courses you offer--prerequisites
> of each other, crossover
topics, etc.?
Dr. Burd wrote:
The
capstone course (currently a development project) will become
much more structured and will have
the entire class build pieces of
a three-tier OO application. The application will probably be a
customer service system with a
web-based interface and an
ORACLE database.
Our
current E-commerce courses (new electives) are either policy-
oriented or network-oriented so they
have little overlap with the
application development
courses. That won't change in the near
future because we view E-Commerce as
just another application
area. We see no need to restructure our curriculum around the
concept of E-Commerce. But we do plan to use E-Commerce
applications as fodder in many of
our development courses.
Dr. Hars wrote:
Course is
our A/D course and is very web-centric.
Dr. Thompson wrote:
No
relationship. JADE offers a web implementation option but we
are not using it.
Dr. Johnson wrote:
We are
now teaching an intro to Web application development course that covers HTML,
FrontPage, and JavaScript. This course will be a prerequisite for advanced VB
and the advanced courses in OT. We will also be teaching an advanced course in
Web application development where advanced VB and advanced OT may be
prerequisites.
> 3. Future directions--how you
would envision needed changes in the
> OT curriculum in a business IS
context?
Dr. Burd wrote:
I'm sure
we'll fine tune along the way, but the goal of the current
and near term updates is to have OO
technology integrated
throughout the development courses
ASAP.
Dr. Hars wrote:
It would
be better to split the course into an OOA and OOD course but
this is not possible the way that
our business school program is set up.
Dr. Johnson wrote:
More
emphasis on OOA/D early in the OT curriculum, integration of OO and structured
concepts within certain courses, such as Systems Analysis and Design I and II.
Dr. Thompson wrote:
It is
tempting to argue that there should be an OO stream that
looks at OO usage from Business
modelling through to
programming. My preference is to see
OO concepts and
approaches integrated into the other
IS courses. OO modelling
concepts need to be introduced
possibly in their own course but
then the students need to see these
used and contrasted with
other techniques. My view is that
this is best done on courses that
focus on the IS issues.
> 4. Other ideas/concerns you have
about the OT curriculum in a
> business IS program
Dr. Burd wrote:
Free or
cheap OO tool support for educational institutions is
lacking. We haven't been able to find a FLEXIBLE environment that
covers all of the bases (database,
CASE, development,
deployment, and management). Maybe flexible and
comprehensive have become mutually
exclusive? But we want to
avoid building the entire currcilum
around a proprietary tool that has
minimal overlap with other commonly
used tools and techniques.
We serve a fragmented local market
so we can't afford to be tool or
methodology specialists.
Dr. Hars wrote:
Interaction
with multiple tools is very challenging for students. Also
better tools are needed to manage
the submission of assignments
electronically.
Dr. Johnson wrote:
An OT curriculum may be competing with a COBOL or a VB
curriculum within a CIS department and we may not have the faculty to cover all
possible course offerings. We do not want to spend too much time on the
technical details of OT and overlook the conceptual foundations of OOA/D.
Dr. Thompson wrote:
My
concern and this isn't simply for OT is that we can focus on
specific solutions (tools) and
forget about the conceptual building
blocks that enable those solutions.
I want students to have an
ability to develop a practical
solution for the concepts of the
course. However, also want the students to understand the
foundational concepts that can be
taken and applied using the next
implementation technology that might
occur.
I would
be interested in the results of your survey and on your
proposals for an OT curriculum.
Maybe even get involved in further
discussion on the topic. At present,
I teach our OO course but
have little influence in curriculum
issues.
From: Stephen D. Burd
Phone: 505-277-6418
FAX: 505-277-7108
email: burd@anderson.unm.edu
web page: http://averia.unm.edu
US Mail: Anderson School of Management
University
of New Mexico
Albuquerque,
NM 87131
Alexander Hars
Assistant Professor of Information
Systems
Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0809
tel. (+1) 213 740 0186; fax (+1) 213
740 7313
Dr.
Richard A. Johnson
Assistant
Professor
CIS
Dept., College of Business Administration
Southwest
Missouri State University
Springfield,
MO 65804
Phone:
417 836-6685
Fax: 417
836-6907
Errol Thompson
Lecturer in Information Systems
College of Business
Massey University at Wellington
Private Box 756
63 Wallace Street
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: E.L.Thompson@massey.ac.nz
Phone 64 4 801 2794 ext: 6531
or 64 21 210 1662
Keng Siau, Ph.D.
J.D. Edwards Professor and Associate
Professor of MIS
Department of Management
College of Business Administration Phone: (402) 472-3078
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Fax: (402) 472-5855
Lincoln, NE 68588-0491 USA Email: ksiau@unl.edu
URL:
http://www.ait.unl.edu/doc2/faculty/siau/
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Database Management
http://www.idea-group.com/jdm.htm
Steve Sawyer
Associate Professor of Information
Sciences and Technology
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Shouhong Wang, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing/Business
Information Systems
University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300
U.S.A.
Phone: (508)999-8579
Fax: (508)999-8646
Email: swang@umassd.edu