Judith Barlow, David D. Hott, Karen Chambliss, David Dorsett, Terry Lease, Roger Manley, Barbara Gugliotta Pierce, and Michael Slotkin

There is little consensus among business schools about the appropriate role of information technology (IT) in the business core curriculum. New IT tools continue to evolve at a rapid pace imposing a need for the continuous review of which tools to include and where in the curriculum they should be offered. This paper presents a dynamic strategy using web-based survey forms for collaborative curriculum design, evaluation, feedback, and redesign.

The foundation for the IT curriculum design model presented here is a series of online surveys designed to gather feedback from:

• Students
• Alumni
• Faculty
• Employers

Examples of web-based survey documents (webforms) used to gather faculty input are shown in Figure 1 below. Similar webforms are available for students, alumni and employers (See http://ives.csis.american.edu/jbarlow/fit.cfm).

Webforms are a convenient medium for identifying technology skills for business students. All stakeholders in the business curriculum can use webforms to describe their needs and contribute to a collaborative design of the information technology curriculum. Faculty, students, alumni, and employers are invited to submit as many webforms as desired and can do so at their convenience. All stakeholder input is stored in a relational database via the webform and is immediately and permanently available for processing.

Webforms are used to learn through survey:

• what entry level IT skills are currently required for each School of Business course
• what IT skills are currently used in each School of Business course
• what IT skills should be added to the overall curriculum
• the IT skill levels and habits of School of Business faculty, students, and staff
• entry level IT skills for new employees

The fundamental set of IT skills includes:

• Word processing
• Spreadsheets
• Presentation graphics
• Database
• Web publishing
• Internet research tools

Information gathered via the webforms provides an IT skills inventory and identifies where each occurs in the curriculum. This allows the IT team to present technology skills in the classroom prior to their use in other School of Business courses and allows other business faculty to focus on core course content rather than technology skills.

The content and skills presented in information technology courses are changing much faster than the rest of the business curriculum (Alavi, 1995). This makes it essential to have a curriculum design strategy which acknowledges the dynamic nature and the role of IT skills in business. The changing nature of IT skills will be reflected in the webform data. Figure 2 demonstrates the dynamic feedback model used in this study.

Figure 2: Feedback from School of Business faculty, students, alumni and employers identifies the required IT skill set for both a successful business education and future employment.

Summary and Conclusions

Information technology is a fast-changing field and it is important that business students learn not only useful skills, but also current ones. Identifying the appropriate role of IT in the business core curriculum requires a dynamic, long-term plan with feedback and an ongoing evaluation process. There is a need for knowledge of new technology tools for both students and faculty.

Web-based survey documents are a convenient forum for gathering data from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and employers. These webforms are currently being used by the business faculty at FIT to assess technology curriculum issues and also to identify a number of IT skills that faculty would like to learn for their own professional development. For example, many business faculty expressed an interest in learning internet and web publishing skills.

Finally, the webforms provide a forum where all stakeholders have a voice in identifying the appropriate set of IT skills for business students. The webforms are self- documenting and provide a mechanism for auditing how the set of IT skills for business students is changing and evolving over time.

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