INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO BUSINESS INFORMATICS CURRICULUM REDESIGN Veselin Pavlicevic, Pere Tumbas, Predrag Matkovic, Marton Sakal University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Economics Subotica (SERBIA)

Abstract Curriculum development is a complex, iterative process with a great number of sub processes and activities. Managing curriculum redesign requires continuous review and adjustment of its numerous features with regional and national interests, universities’ strategic documents, requirements set by national and international accreditation standards, as well as with different needs of many external and internal stakeholders. Business Informatics curriculum redesign process had been carried out more frequently over the past decade, primarily due to persistent major changes in information technology and expansion of its application in business. Contemporary innovative aspects of this process intensely contribute to the need for curriculum redesign. Among the most important ones that necessitate detailed analysis and purposeful modification of key competencies, as well as the content of core and elective courses of curricula, are digital product, process and business model innovations, along with the interdisciplinary approach to development. This paper proposes a modified curriculum development process based on ADDIE model, specifically intended to recognize the roles of different stakeholders and utilize their input for curriculum redesign. ADDIE model is a general purpose development model, generic, systematic, step-by-step framework for iterative design, structured into four phases: Analysis, Design, Development and Implementation. The modified curriculum redesign process presented in this paper implements the initial activity of identifying key curriculum stakeholders, followed by identification of their requirements, identification of curriculum key competences, curriculum evaluation and quality assessment. Application of the redesigned and innovated process based on ADDIE model, with recognition of influence that digital innovation and interdisciplinarity, resulted in development of a business informatics curriculum. In addition to aforementioned activities, the model encompasses content analysis of curricula in the same field developed and implemented at different universities worldwide. It also incorporates many years of authors’ experience gained thru previously developed and implemented curricula at the Faculty of Economics in Subotica. Details of core and elective courses, as well as specific ways of their implementation, are particularly highlighted in the paper. Keywords: business informatics, curriculum, redesign, digital innovation, interdisciplinary.

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INTRODUCTION

Over the first decade of the 21st century, numerous national and international declarations have highlighted the need for greater involvement of universities in their social context and an increased accountability to society. The application of social responsibility in the field of higher education implies, above all, identification of the expectations of different stakeholders and the establishment of means of dialogue with these groups [1]. In defining their vision, developing their mission statements and determining primary and specific strategic goals and objectives, universities are now forced to interact with more numerous and more varied stakeholders [2] who each have their own specific expectations and requirements of higher education institutions. Identification of key university stakeholders is a very complex activity, since processes of providing educational services are diverse and involving differing participants whether acting directly or indirectly [3]. A wide range of research studies have taken different approaches to identification of stakeholders, which resulted in a great number of university stakeholder categories, classified according to different criteria, depending on the approach. They may be classified as either internal or external, individual or collective, academic or non-academic [3], active and passive [4]. They can also be delineated in accordance with the following criteria: stakeholder's power to influence the organization; legitimacy of the stakeholder's relationship with the organization; and urgency of the stakeholder's claim on the organization.

Proceedings of INTED2015 Conference 2nd-4th March 2015, Madrid, Spain

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ISBN: 978-84-606-5763-7

This paper considers stakeholders from the point of their influence on the curriculum development and redesign process; hence, they are divided into professional and curriculum stakeholders. Both these categories of stakeholders have considerable interest in how curriculum is designed and delivered, as well as the skills, knowledge and competencies required of graduates, influencing change and the direction of the pre-professional education. Curriculum stakeholders are key informers and drivers of the content, method of delivery, evaluation requirements and scope of curriculum that provides qualifications for a certain profession. Professional stakeholders have a broader interest in specific professions, professional attributes of graduates, their work capabilities and conditions, specialty career development and knowledge and competencies. Curriculum development is one of the most complex master processes in the domain of education. It consists of a great number of different activities organized into methodological steps in accordance with a chosen model of development. Successful realization of this process requires virtuous coordination and management, numerous, capable and devoted experts involved in one or more activities defined within a methodology with predefined roles and tasks, as well as quality outputs in accordance with the specifications of a methodology. In this paper, the authors chose ADDIE model for the curriculum redesign process. This model comprises four different stages – analysis, design, development and implementation. Conformity with the ADDIE model is ensured by means of introducing evaluation activities within each stage of the process. In other words, evaluation is not a separate stage in the model, but is inherent to all four distinct stages. The proposed model includes new activities, as well as present ones that were redesigned as to involve university stakeholders. The model of a business informatics curriculum was developed on the basis of an innovated, redesigned ADDIE model, enriched with contents resulting from digital innovations and interdisciplinary character of overall social development. Following the introductory considerations, the second chapter presents results of university stakeholder analysis, with a detailed overview of identified stakeholders and one of their possible classifications in accordance with their roles in the development of an innovated curriculum model. The subsequent chapter deals with the influence of digital innovation and the need to incorporate interdisciplinary content into the business informatics curriculum. The fourth chapter gives an outline of the innovated and redesigned curriculum model, with specifics of the core content and courses, as well as modes of their implementation.

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CURRICULUM STAKEHOLDERS

The concept of stakeholders originates from literature pertaining to business and economics Stakeholders can be defined as any individual or group of individuals either impacted upon by company or able to impact the achievements of its objectives. This is a concept that supports stakeholder theory. Therefore identifying, understanding, and managing stakeholders can considered key organisational activities [6].

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Identification of key university stakeholders is a very complex activity, considering that various stakeholders have different roles in numerous processes carried out at the university. Table 1. presents groups of stakeholders identified by mapping a great number of studies related to the of application stakeholder theory on universities, published by various authors. After a detailed analysis of identified stakeholder groups, those that have considerable interest in curriculum development were singled out. They are called curriculum stakeholders. Collaboration with these stakeholders and an open dialogue that invites recommendations, feedback, critique and advice can only serve to meld the content and method of delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of the communities that graduates will be employed to serve. Activities in which they are involved in the redesigned curriculum development process model, based on the chosen ADDIE model, include: identification of requirements, identification of competences, curriculum evaluation, implementation and quality assessment [2]. These are preceded by the initial activity that is a prerequisite for their successful realization Identification of Key Stakeholders. Identification of Key Stakeholders, as a sub process of Analysis phase in ADDIE method, primarily necessitates identification of a limited subset of experts in domains related to the future curriculum, particularly from professional organizations and business associations, which would subsequently be prompted to provide lists of potential key stakeholders from their areas. This activity is critical to the efficiency of the whole process, since it is aimed at establishing a relevant sample of stakeholders

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whose input would be used in further analysis. Upon reception of lists by domain experts, the data on key stakeholders is organized and each of proposed key stakeholders is validated based on their qualification for participation in the curriculum development. Presence of stakeholders form different groups may vary in accordance with the area of the future curriculum. Table 1. University Stakeholders. Stakeholder category

Constitutive groups

Governing entities Administration (management)

state government; governing board; director (rector, dean); senior administrators;

Employees

teaching and research staff; administrative staff; support staff;

Clients

students (former, current, potential); students parents; family; tuition reimbursement providers; service and industry partners; employers; employment agencies;

Suppliers

Competitors

Donors Communities

Government regulators

Non-governmental regulators

Intermediaries

Joint venture partners

high schools; alumni; other universities; food providers; insurance companies; utilities; contracted service providers; direct (private and public providers of post secondary education); potential (distance higher education providers; new ventures); substitutes (company training programmes); individuals (including directors (trustees), friends, parents, alumni, employees), industry, foundations neighbours; school systems; social services; special interest group; ministry of education and research; buffer organisation; state financing agencies; research support bodies; fiscal authorities; social security; patent office; foundations; accreditation bodies; supervisory institutions; sponsoring religious organizations; financial intermediaries (banks, funds); professional organizations and associations; business associations (chambers of commerce; business clusters, business incubators, science and technology parks, ..); networks (Enterprise Europe Network, European Entrepreneurs Network, ....) alliances and consortia; corporate co-sponsors of research and educational services;

Universities have many curriculum stakeholders, whose participation in curriculum development process is of great importance. The most important stakeholder groups involved in curriculum development activities are: clients, suppliers and intermediaries. By collecting their feedback using various methods and techniques, a university can determine how to best meet their needs. Stakeholder groups from the Client category who are particularly involved in curriculum development are: students (former, current, potential), service and industry partners, employers and employment agencies. Among the Supplier category, alumni are the only group of stakeholders with significant influence on the process. Intermediaries with capacity to contribute to the development process

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involve professional organizations and associations, as well as business associations (chambers of commerce, clusters, business incubators, science and technology parks, etc.).

3

DIGITAL INNOVATIONS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH INFLUENCE ON CURICULLUM REDESIGN

The Information Systems discipline has a long tradition in studying the phenomena of IT innovation [7].There are various definitions of innovation in general, but one of the first definitions in IS research was coined by Swanson [8] and refers to the novel organizational application of an information system. This stream of literature, often dubbed as IT/IS innovation comprises of both adopter and diffusion studies [9], [10]. Another feature of IT/IS innovation studies is that there is a strong interest in the role of the IT department [8]. Contrary to these traditional approaches to IT/IS innovation that have been prevalent for considerable time, the concept of digital innovation is grounded on the basic idea that innovation lies in recombining things that already exist and generating novelty [11], [12]. Recent studies point into the non-linear pattern of innovation diffusion [13] and bottom-up innovation trends. The innovators are located in various departments outside of the IT [14] or in a network of interorganizational ecosystems [15]. Fichman et al. [16] distinguish three types of innovation: product innovation, process innovation and business model innovation. Innovative digital product is such a product or service that is either embodied in IT or enabled by IT, and is recognized by a particular community or market as an actual new product or service. Innovative digital process can be defined as an entirely new way to carry out an activity or a group of activities within an organization, and which is embodied in or enabled by IT. It is obvious that such processes will be supported by digital products that even may not be innovative. An innovative business model has lately been increasingly recognized as the third type of innovation. It denotes a business model that represents a “significantly new way of creating and capturing business value that is embodied in or enabled by IT” [16]. Application of digital innovation in the redesign of business informatics curriculum can be observed form two perspectives, specifically as the application of digital innovation in the redesign of curriculum content and as application of digital innovation in the improvement of the curriculum realization process [17]. Both perspectives are considered equally important. If digital innovation is omitted from the curriculum redesign process, there is a real danger of curriculum becoming obsolete, and the institution that implements it losing its competitiveness. Interdisciplinary approach is a second component with significant influence on curriculum redesign considered in this paper. This approach entails use and integration of methods and analytical frameworks from more than one academic discipline to examine a theme, issue, question or topic. Curriculum development that acknowledges interdisciplinarity must enable use of disciplinary approaches to examine topics, but pushes it beyond by: taking insights from a variety of relevant disciplines, synthesizing their contribution to understanding, and then integrating these ideas into a more complete, and coherent, framework of analysis. Interdisciplinary approach examines an issue from multiple perspectives, leading to a systematic effort to integrate the alternative perspectives into a unified or coherent framework of analysis. Such approach is vastly different than the single disciplinary perspective, which has limitations arising from the fact that it is driven by the norms and framework of a particular discipline, without consideration and incorporation of alternative views. Interdisciplinary education draws on multiple disciplines to acquire a deep and thorough understanding of complex issues. In addition, it challenges students to synthesize what each of the disciplines offers before attempting to design efforts to resolve noted concerns. Completely acknowledging such approach to curriculum redesign, the authors endeavoured to integrate disciplines from the sphere of economics, business, management and informatics (information systems). However, two problems emerged throughout the selection of course content – the potpourri problem and the polarity problem. The Potpourri Problem in the development of interdisciplinary course content pertains to taking content from each discipline without an established focus. A lack of well-founded general structure of interdisciplinary courses puts curriculum developers in a position to define the content scope and sequence for any interdisciplinary unit or course by themselves. In order to overcome this problem, special attention must be devoted to design of a scope and sequence, a cognitive taxonomy to encourage thinking skills, behavioural indicators of attitudinal change and a solid evaluation scheme.

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The Polarity Problem arises from the fact that discipline fields are polarized, which generates numerous conflicts. Such issues present themselves even beyond curriculum development – real tensions can emerge among teachers. Some feel highly territorial about their subjects and are threatened as new views of their subject are promoted. In order to surpass this obstacle as well, it is necessary to use both interdisciplinary and discipline field perspectives in curriculum design. Accordingly, the interdisciplinary approach to curriculum development is very time consuming and dependent on teamwork, which makes it challenging and even strenuous. However, it provides students with such advanced thinking skills that lead them to discovery and real-world problem solving. This is the reason why it was included in the business curriculum development model in the first place.

4

BUSINESS INFORMATICS CURRICULUM MODEL

Instead a conclusion to this research, the authors decided to present the developed model of a business informatics curriculum. It originated as a result of applying the innovated curriculum development process, which relies on the inclusion of identified categories of stakeholders and undoubted acknowledgement of influence that digital innovation and interdisciplinarity have on the content and approaches to its implementation. Knowledge that needs to be incorporated into the business informatics curriculum was discovered thru analysis of stakeholders’ needs. The curriculum integrates management and IT knowledge in such way that it covers IT skills through individual courses, as well as their incorporation into management courses. The curriculum was built using the concept based on incorporation of application domain knowledge. Cowling [18] identifies three categories of application domains, which are presented in Table 2. Table 2. Categories of application domains [18]. Category

Application Domains

Purposes of the systems

information systems and data processing, financial and e-commerce systems, embedded and real-time systems, bio-medical systems, scientific systems, telecommunications systems, avionics and vehicular systems, industrial process control systems, multimedia, game and entertainment systems, systems for small and mobile platforms

Technologies needed for the systems

network-centric systems, embedded and real-time systems, telecommunications systems, industrial process control systems, multimedia, game and entertainment systems, systems for small and mobile platforms, agent-based systems

Properties required for the systems

fault-tolerant and survivable systems, highly secure systems, safety-critical systems, avionics and vehicular systems, systems for small and mobile platforms

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Implementation of the curriculum relies on cooperation with an industry partner – SAP, within the SAP University Alliances programme. The Curriculum itself is constituted modularly, which makes it possible to launch individual modules based on current needs and interests. Modules were designed in accordance with the structure of SAP. Financial Accounting was selected amongst Financial Modules, Sales & distribution and Material management from Logistics Modules, while SAP modules related to human resourcing – Personnel Management and Organizational Management – were combined into a single module of the curriculum. The three listed modules were selected for further development based on a thorough analysis of market needs.

Management course 2

Management course 1 Performance Management Business Process Analysis & Modeling Data Management Algorithms and Programming Information Systems Business Process Management

Figure 1. Business informatics curriculum. Courses within the curriculum were designed using a pyramid approach. Courses closer to the bottom of the pyramid, presented in Figure 1, are primarily based on theoretical knowledge, while subjects closer to the top of the pyramid mostly rely on empirical knowledge. For example, the course Business Process Management provides students with insight on the concepts of business processes, how to identify and analyse them, and finally, how to improve them and monitor their execution. Throughout the management courses located on the top of the pyramid shown in Figure 1, students obtain practical experience with SAP tools and receive training on how to implement specific tasks using software support. Development of such curriculum was motivated by the need to provide students with knowledge that is aligned with actual requirements of the environment to the greatest extent, as well as to prepare them for successful entrance into the world of business.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this research from Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technology Development under the Grants 114-451-4591/2013-01. This research is part of the Faculty of Economics project of developing cooperation and collaboration with stakeholders on the international level.

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