Karen Neville

Integrating Theory and Practice in Education with Business Games

The meaningful integration of theoretical knowledge and industrial practice in Masters level programmes is now more than ever vital to ensure that graduates have the required competence in IT and that they are ready to contribute to the organisations that hired them within a short timeframe. It is also crucial in ensuring ongoing industrial support for academia because Information technology (IT) is regar ed as a fundamental component in the success of organisations. This has led to a growing demand for IT specialists, sometimes with hybrid skills, to design, develop, implement, and support IT infrastures in both the public and private sectors. However, in recent years there has been a shortfall of IT graduates, wit h essential experience entering the job market. In order to keep up with demand, educational institutions must adopt innovative programmes to increase the skill-set and knowledge base of their IT graduates. One such programme, under the auspices of University College Cork, is a Masters course in Management Information and Managerial Accounting Systems (MIMAS). The programme focuses on IT to suit the needs of industry while also combining IT with other theoretical subjects like managerial accounting and the design of management control systems. One key element of the teaching experience is a business simulation where students create software companies and bid for a large scale development project. As part of this, they experience of broad range of tasks and problems inherent in commercial software development. The business game is designed to encourage students to make use of as much of the theoretical elements taught in the degree as possible and is mediated by the teaching staff through the intermediary of a purpose-designed computer system. Our experience indicates the immense value of such practical components in an IT oriented degree programme. It also shows that the application of new technology in training and education will only truly benefit students when it is associated with high qua lity material and a high degree of student motivation.

Managing social media uncertainty to support the decision making process during Emergencies

Abstract Recent emergencies have shown the positive impact of using social media and social networks for communicating and exchanging information. Citizens and authorities can make safer decisions during emergencies based on the real-time information available on social media. Decision-making starts with information gathering and social media provides the opportunity to inform multiple citizens at once. However, message and source uncertainty can place emergency stakeholders in a risky position, as it is not always possible to know if messages are accurate, rumours or even malicious. Current approaches for social media information verification focuses on technical resources like analytical packages. Little research has been developed to provide citizens and field workers with tools to evaluate social media information. This paper presents research in progress for developing a verification framework – for all emergency stakeholders – to support their decision-making process by managing social media uncertainty during emergencies.

Decision Support for Strategic Disaster Management: First Release of a Wiki

For successful emergency management (EM) it is crucial that all stakeholders, especially health care emergency responders, use the same terminology. Throughout the emergency management lifecycle it is necessary for individual agencies to work together, sharing information and resources. Emergency management is already a complex process, but a multi-agency response comes with added difficulties. Each agency has its own organisational cultures, structures, and technologies in place, managed by internal processes and systems. To address some of the challenges associated with a multi-agency response (e.g., lack of coordination, information, and interoperability), standardisation is promoted. By ensuring the use of shared terms, operational inefficiencies and delays can be reduced and a shared vocabulary can be promoted across multiple agencies. For this reason, the S-HELP Strategic Disaster Management wiki has been developed by University of Vienna, Austria (UNIVIE). The wiki provides main glossary terms, definitions, and standards to improve decision making. It is implemented as a part of the FP7-EU S-HELP (Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning) project, which develops a Decision Support (DS) tool for EM and is coordinated by University College Cork (UCC), Ireland.

BigPromises: using organisational mindfulness to integrate big data in emergency management decision making

Abstract Many governmental agencies are currently engaged in activities to improve access to information which are encouraging recent Big Data (BD) trends. However, determining and demonstrating the benefit to emergency management information systems (EMIS) users has yet been realised. EMIS are critical to navigating a complex network of disparate IS used for real time, coordinated decision-making among agencies. Two significant challenges to incorporating BD analytical, visual, and predictive capabilities are mutual acceptance and system integration. This paper looks at the underlying principles of organisational mindfulness (OM) demonstrated in the convergence of EM processes, systems, and organisations in decision-making. The investigation proposes a design science research in information systems (DSRIS) approach to build an IS artefact for EMIS evaluation. Critical immediacy of information and decisions require adherence to processes which build capabilities to support EMIS users. This adds a layer of complexity to ISDT for EMIS, yet may equally lead to broader BD acceptance and integration.

Towards the development of a decision support system for multi-agency decision-making during cross-border emergencies

Abstract Developing decision support systems for emergency situations is a complex and challenging task. These difficulties are compounded further in the case of cross-border emergencies, which often require the coordination and collaboration of independent agencies. These agencies have different structures and resources in place, and follow their own internal policies and procedures. If a number of countries have been affected, agencies may not even share the same language. Large-scale disasters, whether natural, deliberate, or accidental do not respect borders and come with a high risk to human life and a variety of economic and health impacts. Thus, it is the aim of the S-HELP (Securing-Health Emergency Learning Planning) project to develop a decision support tool-set that supports multi-agency decision-making during cross-border emergencies. S-HELP seeks to provide a tool-set that supports rapid and effective decision-making across all stages of the emergency management lifecycle (i.e. mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery). To address the challenges associated with multi-agency emergency management, a holistic framed approach to healthcare preparedness, response, and recovery is proposed. This holistic framework has been created to guide the development of the S-HELP solution. The framework integrates a number of components important in the phased iterative development of an emergency management decision support system, such as, interoperability standards, risk communication, spatial data management, agile development, healthcare responder training, and scenario development for system evaluation.

An advanced decision support system for European disaster management : the feature of the skills taxonomy

Abstract Mankind has faced a huge increase in severe natural and man-made disasters worldwide in the last few years. Emergency responders on a strategic, tactical, and operational level can be assisted by decision support systems (DSS) to enhance disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Policy makers are in need of an advanced, resilient and integrated incident command and control systems for emergency responders that incorporates health care-related features. To address this need, a DSS was developed in the European Union (EU) project named Securing Health.Emergency.Learning.Planning (S-HELP). Improving the health care delivery process through health care-related DSS features, the identification of key emergency responders and their associated tasks performed in preparedness, response, and recovery-related interventions is absolutely necessary. Thus, we establish a skills taxonomy for the S-HELP DSS Toolset “Decision Making Module” to interlink key emergency interventions/tasks with main national emergency responders supported by international emergency responders with a special focus on the EU. Furthermore, we provide an overview of which key emergency interventions/tasks can be covered by EU Civil Protection Modules by incorporating availability, start of operation, self-sufficiency, and operation time. This skills taxonomy for the S-HELP DSS Toolset “Decision Making Module” improves the interoperability of emergency responders when they cope with major disasters such as mass flooding, chemical spills, and biological-hazards policy scenarios that impact on health care. In the future, operation research models related to fields such as humanitarian logistics or disease control could be incorporated into or benefit from the S-HELP DSS.

A design science research (DSR) case study: building an evaluation framework for social media enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLEs)

Abstract To conduct design science research (DSR) it is expected that some form of process model must be used, where each stage is explicitly outlined in the presentation of the research, with clear explanations. Since very few, if any, papers actually produces and presents DSR in such a manner, this provides an excellent opportunity to do so. Thus, this paper introduces a case study, where a DSR process model is utilised to produce and present DSR, where the focus is on building an evaluation framework for social media enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLEs). This approach is imitable by other researchers who wish to produce high quality DSR, and present it in a fashion that is both easy to read, and understand, which helps to increase the standard of DSR being produced and presented.

The creation of a training model to support decision-making of emergency management practitioners: a design research study

Abstract Errors in decision-making worldwide highlight the need for training in decision-making. The unpredictability and complexity of emergencies makes training in every possible emergency impossible. Rather than training in specific examples of major emergency events, training in a decision-making skill set will provide a method of response that will be transferable to all emergencies. Various scenarios will support the training as a decision needs a context for application. The resulting educational tool will focus on emergency services at the strategic and tactical levels in the response stage of an emergency. The continual engagement of stakeholder should result in a purpose-built training course. Design science research approach will be utilised, investigating connections between theories of cognitive load and expert performance. Key aspects of the developed training course will include the concepts of metrics, deliberate practice and proficiency based progression, to ensure an appropriate training programme rather than a mere educational experience.

Building an evaluation framework for social media-enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLEs)

Social media is an emerging topic in information systems (IS) research, but has quickly been adopted by practice in many areas including marketing, finance and customer service. Another area seeing increased adoption is learning, where social media platforms are being appropriated to build collaborative learning environments, which can be referred to as social media-enabled collaborative learning environments (SMECLE). However, it is not evident whether these social media platforms can enable collaborative learning; therefore, the purpose of this research is to build an evaluation framework to explore whether social media platforms enable collaborative learning. To achieve this, the paper identifies the social media and collaborative learning constructs that are necessary to build such an evaluation framework. Finally, three illustrative examples of how to utilise the evaluation framework are presented, further exposing the rules of its use. The framework is of value to educators who may be deciding to develop SMECLEs or want to provide themselves an appropriate means of evaluating the effectiveness of social media platforms in enabling collaborative learning.

A Comprehensive Decision Support System for Enhanced Emergency Decision Management and Training

Emergency decision makers face a challenge taking rapid and high-risk decisions during an emergency situation, especially when the emergency is cross-border and requires multi-agency cooperation. The emergency decision makers use emergency management (EM) system and sometimes decision support systems (DSS) when responding to a crisis. To date the emergency decision makers have not had access to a system that supports them in all facets of the full EM cycle. This paper describes work in progress designing and building a comprehensive system of systems that intend to be that support for emergency decision makers. The system has successfully demonstrated its value from a technical and user perspective. Future tests will demonstrate if it will enhance decision management in reality-based emergency scenarios.