AITLAB 1 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Developing a Collaborative Learning Facility to Support Advanced Information Systems Courses: The LMU Experience Kweku Ewusi-Mensah Kala C. Seal Dolphy M. Abraham College of Business Administration Loyola Marymount University Supported in part by NSF Award Number DUE

AITLAB 2 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Overview u Need for the Project u The Proposal u Implementation v Organizational Issues v Technical Issues u Impact on Classes u Lessons Learned and Conclusion

AITLAB 3 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Project Need u Computer Information Systems program v Emphasis within Business Major v 3 Advanced Electives u Existing facilities were geared for ALL Business and Liberal Arts courses u As the Program grew, we needed v Dedicated facility for the CIS program for Electives v Support Collaborative Learning in CIS courses v Provide hands-on experience

AITLAB 4 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Proposal Development u Initiation u Funding Sources v Corporate (Restrictions, lots of K-12 Support) v NSF (Under Computer Science ILI/IP, now CCLI) u Major Ideas Emphasized in the Proposal v Use of Electronic support for Groupwork and Communications v Innovative Approach v Integrative Components v Project as the Key v Teaching and open laboratory

AITLAB 5 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Proposal Development u Budget Plan v Hardware  Needs educational pricing, pre-research is needed v Software v Network  Needs technical help for accurate estimate, else components may be left out causing lack of funds later on v Needs matching fund from the University and must have a sign off u Facility Planning v Space Commitment v Infrastructure  Could not be paid from the grant, needed university commitment

AITLAB 6 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Implementation Organizational Issues u Allocation of Space and Infrastructure v In our case caused Delays in implementation u Facility size restricts future growth v Barely meets the current demand, marked increase in interest after the Lab u Institutional lack of technical support v Before, During and After implementation  Resulted in huge drain on faculty time to solve small technological issues thus taking time away from learning applications for the class u Grant conditions precluded external consultants

AITLAB 7 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Implementation Technical Issues u Vendor Selection and Purchasing: Factors v Cost and performance v After Sales Service v Compatibility with University Standard Get a machine beforehand to do the test drive before final purchase. u Installation v Technical details for network set-up and connection v Security issues u Working with Windows NT 4.0: Set-up and Operations v Not very straightforward v Need to get resources for pre-training

AITLAB 8 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Implementation Other Issues u Learning curve made harder by lack of in-house technical support u Maintaining the facility v Student hours for keeping the LAB open beyond class hours v Technical Support is a must v OK for small class, but can get out of hand soon

AITLAB 9 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Impact on Classes u Significant Hands-on Experience and Enhanced Learning u Students use Commercial Software such as Oracle, Systems Architect. Clicknet, etc. u File Sharing using the Windows NT/2K Server u Quality of student work significantly improved v Before the Lab, quality was polarized v Quality of understanding was dependent on outside support v LAB provides a common base for all thus improving overall quality

AITLAB 10 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham Impact Continued.. u New Courses scheduled v Electronic Commerce (undergraduate and MBA) v Software Development  Platforms: Visual Basic, Java, C++  Object Oriented Analysis and Design using UML v Data Mining u Other Courses redesigned v Business Telecommunications course included significant hands-on part including simulations v Database allowed use of Industry level software

AITLAB 11 Ewusi-Mensah, Seal, Abraham 20/20 Vision: Lessons Learned u Think of an Innovative Component that can impact the Curriculum u Get the support and commitment for the place and required infrastructure u Get your spouse a job in the University IS department or use all of your charms to make friends there! u Get resources for training on network set-up and maintenance or get a person who knows these to run the lab u GET TENURE FIRST!! u Try to do it with colleagues, else Implementation can be a nightmare u While purchasing, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, and look for after sales service records u Sign-off on good part of two years of your life!