The Proceedings of ISECON 2003: §2232    Home    Papers/Indices    prev (§2231)    Next (§2233) Fri, Nov 7, 11:00 - 11:30, Rio Vista A     Paper (refereed)     Trends in IS Education Recommended Citation: Naugler, D R and K Surendran.  Simplicity First: Use of Tools in Undergraduate Computer Science and Information Systems Teaching.  In The Proceedings of ISECON 2003, v 20 (San Diego): §2232. ISSN: 1542-7382.

Simplicity First: Use of Tools in Undergraduate Computer Science and Information Systems Teaching

Ken Surendran    [a1] [a2]
Southeast Missouri State University    [u1] [u2]
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA    [c1] [c2]

Use of tools – either home grown or industry supported - is inevitable in teaching CS/IS courses. The authors first examine the pros and cons of using tools in Computer Science and Information Systems courses. They briefly discuss the side effects of using tools on learning. In light of these discussions, they then focus on the impact of using tools in database management, and systems analysis and design on the students’ overall learning by analyzing student feedback in these courses and student performance in the capstone project course in which knowledge gained in these two are applied. Based on their observations, the authors make a few suggestions for the appropriate use of tools and conclude that more care is required in using tools in lower-level courses.

Keywords: software tools, database, analysis and design, industry partnership, tool selection

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