Abstract: Although many IS programs nationwide use capstone courses in the major, this paper reports on the use of an upper division Management Information Systems (MIS) class as a general education requirements (GER) capstone. The class is a core requirement for all majors in the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, which includes the MIS major. The BBA program is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The explosive developments in information technology have both economic and cultural impacts on society, and often lead to ongoing debates. In dealing with the impact of technology on society, the capstone class challenges students to integrate GER knowledge, business and their major-specific knowledge, and IT knowledge. Students must demonstrate skills across five dimensions: 1) knowledge integration, 2) effective communication (oral and in writing), 3) critical thinking and problem solving, 4) information literacy, and 5) quantitative perspectives. The five GER dimensions are assessed using a research project and a series of four hands-on projects (information literacy, database management, data mining, and decision support). The research project is based around a debate on topics relating to the impact of technology on society, and challenges students across all five dimensions. The hands-on projects focus more on information literacy, critical thinking and quantitative perspectives. Assessment data collected over the past five years (spring 2007 to spring 2011) show that a majority of students (75% or more in recent years) consistently achieve passing scores across the five GER dimensions.

Keywords: assessment, capstone, general education requirement, Management Information Systems

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Recommended Citation: Hoanca, B. (2012). Teaching Management Information Systems as a General Education Requirement (GER) Capstone. Information Systems Education Journal, 10(5) pp 15-29. http://isedj.org/2012-10/ ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2011)