Interdisciplinary Approaches at Institutions of Higher Education: Teaching Information Systems Concepts to Students of Non-Computer Science Programs

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a curriculum development concept for teaching information systems content to students enrolled in non-computer science programs by presenting examples from the Business Administration programs at Albstadt-Sigmaringen University, a state university located in Southern Germany. The main focus of this paper therefore is to describe this curriculum development concept. Since this concept involves two disciplines, i.e. business administration and computer science, the author argues that it is necessary to define the roles of one discipline for the other and gives an example on how this could be done. The paper acknowledges that the starting point for the development of a curriculum such as one for a business administration program will be the requirements of the potential employers of the graduates. The paper continues to recommend the assignment of categorized skills and qualifications, such as knowledge, social, methodological, and decision making skills to the different parts of the curricula in question for the development of such a curriculum concept. After the mapping of skills and courses the paper describes how specific information systems can be used in courses, especially those with a specific focus on methodological skills. Two examples from Albstadt-Sigma-ringen University are being given. At the end of the paper the author explains the implications and limitations of such a concept, especially for programs that build on each other, as is the case for some Bachelor and Master programs. The paper concludes that though some elements of this concept are transferable, it is still necessary that every institution of higher education has to take into consideration its own situation to develop curricula concepts. It provides recommendations what issues every institution should solve for itself.