Description
To the Student
Any college student thinking about the job market can’t help but notice how valuable it is to have skills related to information systems. In this course you will learn what infor-mation systems are all about and why they are so fundamental to business and society. It will be an exciting journey, filled with revelations about business strategies, technology trends and innovations, and also tips that will help you work smarter as a student. Here are the main features of this text and its supplements:
Learn by Doing: The Interactive, Online Role-Playing Simulations
A course on information systems should tap their power for active, experiential learning. This text includes interactive role-playing simulations in MyMISLab™ (mymislab.com) in which students can apply their knowledge and actually experience what each chapter is about, not just memorize key terms and concepts. You will enter realistic and often tense situations, interacting with the characters via a simulated smartphone or laptop, and using email, text messages, web conferencing, video chat, voicemail, dashboards, ordering screens, and other applications. Each simulation is scored and students receive extensive feedback on the choices they make. Each one also includes key terms from the chapter (with rollover definitions) so you see how they are used in context, which will help you more easily remember their meanings.
The simulations bring the chapter alive, as you enter authentic settings in which people struggle to solve a problem involving information systems. Some examples:
▶ In World of Mammals (Chapter 1), you help the harried director of a wild ani-mal preserve interview candidates for the CIO position, after the former CIO leaves abruptly. What skills does a CIO need? What kind of experience would fit best?
▶ Chocolate Lovers Unite (Chapter 7) challenges you to resolve a heated debate over which online marketing pitch works best by conducting tests, analyzing the results, and drawing on data-driven decision making.
▶ In Green Wheeling, the simulation on software development and procurement (Chapter 11), you join a task force charged with replacing a college’s obsolete fund-raising system. You and your team members weigh the pros and cons of “build” or “buy,” and you will see how the outcome can change based on your decisions.
▶ Vampire Legends drops you into a fast-paced, tense situation in which the material in Chapter 10 (Ethics, Privacy, and Security) comes to life in an online game company that is racing to launch a sequel. When troubling things begin happening that involve the company’s data center and information security, you will have difficult choices to make. I’ve done research on games and simulations in education, and have led several projects to create software that draws on the compelling features of these environments for learning. While online flash cards, Q&A games, and other interactive applications can help students memorize terms or review the chapter contents, simulations that immerse students in a relevant and authentic case can do more. Research shows they create en-gagement, improve learning outcomes, and build critical thinking skills through active, student-centered involvement. You will find it much easier to learn and remember the material in the textbook when you can engage in simulations like this.
The Human Element in Information Systems
In addition to the simulations, this text brings a fresh perspective to the introductory course in information systems that combines comprehensive and up-to-date coverage with a stronger focus on the human element in businesses, nonprofits, and other organi-zations. It covers all the major topics for the course in a rigorous way, without skimping on any of the fundamentals. But it enriches those topics with probing discussions about the roles people play in building, shaping, implementing, and sometimes obstructing information systems.
In Chapter 8 on collaborative technologies, for example, students learn how different channels affect the tone of human communications, and how to choose the best channel for each task to support virtual teamwork, management, negotiation, and leadership. Chapter 12 on project management and strategic planning shows how human biases can creep into the process.
The text also stresses the processes and policies that people devise to manage infor-mation systems. Why do some high-tech companies ban telecommuting, even though em-ployees have well-equipped home offices? Why do organizations implement surveillance?
Exploring Technology Battlegrounds
Grand battles over technology directions help students understand the close links be-tween competitive business strategies and information systems. The stakes are very high in debates about topics such as net neutrality, 4G standards, wireless spectrum auctions, cloud computing, programming languages, mobile operating systems, mobile payment systems, and social network privacy. Billions of dollars are on the line for winners and losers. Yet most people know little about these battlegrounds because the underlying technology issues are out of reach. After reading this text, students will look at online ads, privacy policies, social networks, and their own smartphones with a new apprecia-tion for the fierce business competitions unfolding before their eyes.
Reaching a Changing Student Body
The text recognizes the growth in the number of women, minorities, international stu-dents, online students, and nontraditional students who enroll in this course, drawing on examples and settings that will resonate with them. Devon, for instance, is starting her own web design business, and students learn about relational databases by helping her build one for her small business (Chapter 4). International student Prakash is the cofounder of Leveling UP!, a smartphone app that is the centerpiece for the interactive role-playing simulation on business strategy (Chapter 2). In the chapter on knowledge management and e-learning (Chapter 9), Sally takes an online course in nonprofit man-agement as she nears retirement and helps her own company build an e-learning course for the coworkers she’s leaving behind.
Balancing Coverage of Business, Government, and Nonprofits
This text broadens the coverage about information systems to include all the varied set-tings in which students work (or will work). It draws on timely examples from multina-tional corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, midsized businesses, start-ups, charities, volunteer organizations, student clubs, and other settings. The text highlights how these different organizations launch information systems to fulfill their missions, whether that means generating profits, attracting donations, or serving citizens.
The strategies that underlie cell-phone marketing, for instance, work as effectively for nonprofits that want to mobilize citizens as they do for businesses that tempt new customers with discount coupons. And competitive advantage is not just for business. Charities compete for volunteers and donations, and they benefit from customer relation-ship management systems.
Changing Student Roles
Just as students are gaining employment in a wide variety of organizations, they are taking on more varied roles within them. Though some will become information sys-tems managers, many more will become consultants, business analysts, accountants, marketing professionals, talent development specialists, volunteers, virtual team leaders, forensic experts, legal advisors, and project managers. The text introduces emerging pro-fessions, as well, such as data scientist.
Examples in the text, case studies, and simulations feature all these different roles, showing how successful information systems emerge from a broad base of stakehold-ers with different perspectives and specialties. Carlos, for instance, is the instructional designer on a corporate e-learning development team, adding his knowledge of usability and accessibility for people with disabilities (Chapter 9). In Chapter 11, Lily is a senior manager for an online grocery who comes up with a clever website to capture a valuable market—busy singles who forgot to buy groceries.