Integrating case studies and projects in IS management education

Abstract

University courses in Information Systems (I.!$) are often criticised by industry for concentrating on conceptual learning while failing to provide their students with experience and grounding in managerial skills. This paper describes and discusses an innovative course structure which has been developed in order to ground the teaching of I.S. management theory in its local context by interlinking practical projects and case studies in a local organisation. The student projects are used to generate a large ‘cross-sectional’ case study which describes several 13. management problems that are occurring simultaneously in tie same organisation. Students are required to integrate their analysis of the problems and to recommend an appropriate series of responses which will tackle all the situations. The paper describes the rationale and organisation of the course, the results of an evaluation of its effectiveness and discusses some of the problems that were encountered during its implementation.