A comparative study of performance in three bachelor’s degrees of information system (IS) streams: Implications on delivery

Abstract

This study describes the difference between student performances across three Information System streams (Business Information Systems, Computer Information Systems, and Information Management) in the University of Botswana. A quantitative approach was employed utilising Chi-square to test significance, as well as means, frequencies, and charts to help understand the performance within the three streams. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between final marks and the streams in seventeen common courses. The data consists of 3119 records of students’ final marks spanning three academic years. The results show that there is significant difference in student performance across the three streams, differences within the individual courses, as well as differences in overall performance for course groupings, none of which are biased by the student belonging to the department that taught the course. The study contributes knowledge in shaping IS curriculum development and highlights the importance of catering for different categories of students taking same courses in multi-disciplinary collaborative environment.