Analysis and Design in the IS Curriculum: Taking it to the Next Level

Abstract

Recent surveys of methodologies and techniques currently used in organizations for developing information systems indicate significant trends that call for a revision of the Information Systems {(IS)} Systems Analysis and Design {(SA&D)} course to define what methodologies, techniques, models, and tools need to be taught. Several course-related and environment governed trends seem to impact the coverage, including the growing popularity of object-oriented techniques, the shortening of the life cycle and the emergence of the iterative approach, the increasing adoption of the agile approach, the rising importance of {UML,} the outsourcing trend leading to global distribution of {SA&D} work, and the rate of change in the technical and business environments. The scope of the {SA&D} course has increased. Yet, most {MIS} degree programs have just one {SA&D} course. The typical {SA&D} instructor faces a number of difficult questions when trying to fit the much larger range of topics into a single course. A panel at the Americas Conference on Information Systems {(AMCIS)} 2007 conference evaluated how the trends impact the coverage of the {SA&D} course and made recommendations on how these trends can be addressed. Based on the panel discussion, this paper tackles the many challenges of teaching analysis and design in the {IS} curriculum and taking it to the next level.