Malu Roldan

Building Context-Based Library Instruction

Information overload and rapid technology changes are among the most significant challenges to all professions, particularly information technology workers and librarians. Little is known about the effectiveness of partnerships among librarians and faculty members that result in context-based library instruction. In this study, the authors evaluated one particular partnership focused on improving the information competence of management information systems undergraduates. A comparison of pre- and postlibrary-instruction surveys showed that students developed greater confidence with course activities and higher standards in research.

The MBA Capstone Course: Building Theoretical, Practical, Applied, and Reflective Skills.

The capstone strategy course is used in many management education programs to provide practical business relevance as a means for students to transition to the business world. We conducted an empirical study to determine to what extent capstone strategy courses are teaching the following four skills that prepare students to meet business job demands: theoretical, practical, applied, and reflective. We found that professors teach applied skills the most, whereas they teach reflective skills the least. However, there was considerable variation in professors’ assessments of the extent to which each skill is taught in their capstone strategy classes. This finding suggests that there is a wide variety of course configurations taught across business schools. We also found that students were learning these skills differentially based on whether they had a business undergraduate background and business work experience. However, all students were learning reflective skills the least. We conclude that providing students with the four skills will go a long way toward ensuring that future managerial decisions are grounded on thoughtful iterative analyses that take into account ambiguities, multiple perspectives, and long-term, systemic implications.

Case study: an integrated first year experience and tablet program for current generations of future it savvy personnel

EXTENDED ABSTRACT College-goers have changed in a number of significant ways since the time when most current faculty were themselves undergraduates; various forms of demographic, personal, academic, and social analyses confirm that reality. Hence, it would be helpful to assess the value of program innovations for first year undergraduates to help faculty and administrators fully align them with the needs of current generations of students (e.g. Millennials). Coincidentally, the rise in penetration of tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices among students and instructors presents a unique opportunity to engage students by using such devices for both curricular and co-curricular activities. To maximize the impacts of these innovative platforms, it is ideal to integrate them into students’ education at the earliest point, such as in a first year experience (FYE). At the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, San Jose State University, we are leveraging these trends by building an integrated FYE facilitated with an iPad program with a focus on developing an IT savvy generation of graduates. To guide the implementation and evolution of the program we are employing a comprehensive set of measures, which include periodic surveys of students’ technology skills and perspectives, an early warning system, learning goal assessments, student satisfaction surveys, and collection of curricular and co-curricular materials submitted by students.

Tablet PCs in the University: Ready for Prime Time

TabletPCs are more than just LAPTOP+ PEN rather, they are more than the sum of these parts. TabletPCs’ connectivity, portability, multimedia capability -- coupled with WinXP compatibility -- enable significant transformations of the teaching, learning, and research process. I propose to present findings from three activities associated with San Jose State University’s (SJSU) Mobility Project, initiated with several equipment and cash grants from Hewlett Packard. At SJSU, we have used HP granted mobile devices (Tablet PCs, Laptops, and PDAs) in several activities, including: • Breaking the bounds of the classroom and our concepts of education to build engaging learning experiences where mobile technologies allow class activities to occur anywhere, anytime – in the classroom, out in the community, in coffee shops, etc. • Having cross-functional teams of students build mobile technology applications for local community based organizations • Undertaking a campus-wide TabletPC test drive – involving faculty from Art & Design, Journalism, Urban Planning, Electrical Engineering, Communication Studies, Child Development and Linguistics – to build educational applications of the TabletPC that go beyond applications in the technical disciplines.

Panel: Dimensions of mobility in the I.T. profession examining “Turnover Culture” and “Staying Behavior” (panel session)

This panel is designed to examine various dimensions of mobility among IT professionals. Turnover rates for IT professionals have risen from the traditional 6-10% to approximately 20% industry-wide (Maddern, 2000) and 25-35% in Fortune 500 companies (Agarwal & Ferratt, 1999). Fortune magazine recently noted that quitting in the technology profession has become literally an annual event, as the average job tenure in IT has shrunk to about 13 months (Daniels & Vinzant, 2000). Quite simply, this has to hurt. Corporate efforts to utilize technology to strategic advantage are often hampered in firms experiencing such high turnover. When IT professionals leave their employers, specialized skills, tacit knowledge, and understanding of specific business operations and systems often depart too. This can be a punch to the gut of an organization — sometimes a single powerful punch when a key “franchise player” is lost, or a constant pummeling inflicted by a steady exodus of IT professionals.

Developing a well employed IT workforce in Pakistan

EXTENDED ABSTRACT The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Pakistan) represents a unique and important setting for IT workforce development and globalization. As an emerging economy with almost 40% of its population in the active workforce age range, Pakistan has the challenge of ensuring that both its sizable workforce develops the skills for gainful employment and that there are job opportunities that leverage the skills of this workforce. Gainful employment for a large majority of its population is key both to the economic development and stability of the country. The Pakistan government has implemented several programs to address labor force and education issues, most notably the 2010-2015 National Plan of Action for Decent Work, which aims to achieve “employment generation through human resource development, with a focus on employable skills [1].”

Teaching electronic commerce (panel session)

This panel will discuss various approaches and issues pertaining to the development and implementation of courses in Electronic Commerce — at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. There has never been a better time to be teaching e-commerce. Web applications have evolved to a point where Gilders “hollowing out the computer” seems almost achievable — as dot-com companies eager to build market share provide essential tools for the price of an eyeball (multiplied by the size of your outlook address book). The same toolbox that is creating an exciting and accessible platform for building e-businesses can be used to build the e-commerce classes that introduce students to such endeavors. This situation makes it possible to augment local school platforms to design rich, portable e-commerce classes that teach students the fundamentals of e-business as well as empower them to stretch the definition of this evolving phenomenon. The panel will explore key issues and options for the design of e-commerce classes, including: the structure of e-commerce classes — types of requirements, amount of hands-on experience, amount of programming required; appropriate content for various types of classes and how to keep it current; textbook options — whats out there, whats coming up, how people have supplemented these texts; platform options — local programs vs. web-based applications, providing students with marketable skills; where to apply technology — in projects, small hands-on exercises, in class management and communications; and managing projects — client relationships, limiting project scope, and team management.