Teaching philosophy

My teaching philosophy is to make students competent on the subject matter using a good balance of content-based education and process-based education. I will use the materials from a senior undergraduate module, CS4251 “Strategic Planning for Information Systems” which I have taught for several years to illustrate this philosophy. The desired learning outcomes of this module are:

1. To equip students with latest knowledge on the subject matter,
   
   
2. To make students confident to learn on their own about the subject matter.

The first outcome is achieved through content-based education which imparts knowledge on the subject matter to students so that they can quickly become proficient in the workforce. But using the traditional mode of education alone is inadequate for fast moving fields like information systems where knowledge becomes obsolete quickly. The second learning outcome is achieved through process-based education which equips students with lifelong learning skills so that they can effectively adapt to changing situations and remain valuable to their organisations in the future. Achieving both outcomes depends on having an appropriate balance of content-based education and process-based education.

Teaching methodology

Content-based education is achieved through the use of teaching materials such as recently published textbooks, relevant articles published in top journals and numerous contemporary real life cases of renowned, forward-looking organisations to illustrate the concepts taught. For example, linkages between strategic business planning and strategic information systems planning are illustrated using real life examples from British Petroleum. The various types of strategic information systems planning approaches are taught with real life examples from General Tire, American Express, Caesars Palace and BMW. Key strategic information systems planning tools (critical success factors, value system and resource life cycle) are taught using real life examples from Walmart, Microsoft and Dell.

For Process-based education, students are assigned two big projects which are done with my intensive supervision because students lack the experience to complete such projects.

Project 1 is case-based. Students are given cases of product-based and service-based organisations and expected to read up on the cases and gather additional information to familiarise themselves with the organisations. I guide the students in applying the latest strategic information systems planning tools to generate creative solutions to real life problems in actual organisations (represented by the cases given to students). Students then generate creative solutions to real life problems identified in these organisations during the consultation sessions. Business environments may change in future but this skill of applying strategic information systems planning tools to generate creative solutions to real life problems will always be valuable. In fact, such projects have yielded interesting solutions that correspond to actual future actions taken by these organisations.

Project 2 is research-based. Students carry out research and gather materials from journals, magazines or the Internet on emerging technology trends that affect strategic information systems planning. During the consultation sessions, I help students identify emerging technology trends, conceptualise the materials about these technology trends and interpret the implications of these technology trends for strategic information systems planning. Finally, students synthesise all these materials in the form of a report.

Business environments may change in the future but this skill of identifying emerging technology trends and interpreting the implications of these trends for strategic information systems planning will always be valuable. This assignment has yielded valuable interpretation and synthesis of technology trends. To date, two articles^1,2 (which I co-authored with students) arising from this project have been published in a top practitioner journal in the field of information systems. At the end of both projects, students present their work in class for mutual learning purposes.

Assessment tasks

The two big projects account for 60% of the module grade. Both projects correspond to critical skill sets in the work of strategic information systems planners. These skill sets have been identified with the assistance of senior practitioners in the industry.

The articles resulting from Project 2 can be used to educate students on how technology trends can drastically change industry dynamics and how strategic information systems planners should pay attention to such technology trends. Indeed, these articles have been used in several universities in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific for teaching purposes.

The final examination accounts for 40% of the module grade. It assesses the students’ understanding of the materials taught in the module as well as their ability to apply key concepts to real ife situations (in the form of actual examples). Such questions serve to differentiate between the stronger and the weaker students. Students get the opportunity to vote on whether they want an open-book or a close-book examination.

Summary

CS4251 was developed with the objective of helping the students develop lifelong learning skills so that students can continue to learn about the subject matter to keep abreast of new developments. This is especially important in strategic information systems planning because new tools will continue to emerge and new technology will continue to impact the context of planning. The only way students can always remain valuable to their organisations is to have the ability to identify and creatively apply new strategic information systems planning tools (like what is done for Project 1), and to identify emerging technology trends and creatively interpret the implications for strategic information systems planning (like what is done for Project 2). By balancing content-based education with process-based education, I hope to help students to quickly become proficient in the workforce as well as to effectively adapt to changing circumstances and so remain valuable to their organisations in the future.

² Kankanhalli, A.; Tanudidjaja, F.; Sutanto, J. & Tan, B.C.Y. (2003). ‘Role of IT in Successful Knowledge Management Initiatives’. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 46, No. 9, pp. 69–73.
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A/Prof Bernard C.Y. Tan is a winner of the NUS Outstanding Educator Award in 2004.