Blending Modalities, Pedagogies, and Technologies: Redesigning an Information Systems Course to Encourage Engagement

Abstract

Having realized that the traditional approach to teaching our IS course on Business and Systems Analysis was not engaging students enough, we decided we needed to redesign our learning environment. The goal was to develop a course that encourages student participation, allows them to practice the different techniques we introduce them to, and empowers students to take control of their learning. To achieve this, we blended modalities (online and in-person), pedagogies (constructivist and collaborative approaches), and technologies (student-centered technologies). This resulted in a redesign that included replacing the lecture with learning resources of a digestible size and an activity-based discussion, the workshop focusing on a project for authentic problems, sense-making via doing and reflection, hybrid participation in a steady and sustainable pace, and learning communities to enable more interaction. In this paper, we share our experience and lessons that we have learned through a journey toward a student-centered approach to learning.