1. Interacting with a Database Using Visual Basic.NET: An Alternative Approach to Illustrate Database Concepts Brian R. Kovar Kansas State University 7 th AIS Educator Annual Meeting June 26, 2005

2. Presentation Overview Why include database and programming concepts in the AIS course? Explanation of the “Interacting with a Database Using Visual Basic.NET” tutorial. Using the “Interacting with a Database Using Visual Basic.NET” tutorial in the classroom.

3. Importance of Database Concepts in the AIS course Database concepts stressed by the accounting profession –American Accounting Association –International Federation of Accountants –Information Systems Audit and Control Association –AICPA Database concepts stressed by educators –97.9% report coverage: 2001 AIS Educator Conference –Online survey of syllabi: ranked 2 nd at 14.6% of class time

4. Teaching Database Concepts MS Access often used to illustrate database concepts –Readily available and easy to use given educational demands and constraints. –Weakness: students see Access as the tool to both create the database and manipulate the data. This single view is in conflict with true organizational systems –Program/data independence not easily seen in Access. –DBMS serves as the interface between the actual database and various application programs. Separation not carried through to hands-on activities

5. Conceptual vs Hands-on Differences Classroom time constraints Faculty capabilities –Some AIS teachers have been “drafted” from other disciplines. 21% (Groomer and Murthy, 1996) –Most AIS educators have very little formal training and have been self-taught. 52% according to Calderon, Olsen, Conrad (1996) 61.7% according to Groomer and Murthy (1996) There are many disincentives to faculty technological innovation. –Lack of resources and the institutional reward structure.

6. Why include programming in the AIS course? Programming helps build accounting competencies –Programming helps develop and improve problem solving and critical thinking skills. Increased ability to handle more complex accounting issues and problems (Beard and Smith 2002) –The lack of programming skills may handicap accountants in working effectively as IS auditors (Calderon, Cheh, Chatham 2002) Inclusion of programming supported by –American Accounting Association –The Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) –International Federation of Accountants –AICPA Structured Query Language (SQL ) has important business uses. –Bain, Blankley, Smith (2002) consider writing SQL code to be programming.

7. Appendix A: Interacting with a Database Using Visual Basic.NET Students create several VB.NET programs that are able to interact with a Microsoft Access database. –Begins with simple data retrieval and display –Progresses to SQL queries involving one table and multiple tables. –Students also gain exposure to programming concepts such as IF selection statements, loops, and the use of variables. Ready-to-use tutorial containing screenshots. New concepts presented using step-by-step instructions. Students must also apply previously learned skills.

8. Using “Interacting with a Database Using Visual Basic.NET” in the classroom Can be used as part of an in-class unit, or it can be used as a stand- alone, self-paced unit. Has been used at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. –Graduate students self-report an average completion time of 3.75 hours (range of 2-5 hours) –Undergraduate students self-report an average completion time of 7 hours (range of 6.5-9 hours) Must be completed in a computer lab or on a computer that already has Visual Studio/Visual Basic.NET installed. –Software can be obtained for a yearly fee from the Microsoft Software Developer Network Academic Alliance (your college or department may already be a member)

9. Selected Student Comments Regarding Tutorial Presented I was able to see how the programs (Access and Visual Basic.NET) were interlinked and able to use each other respectively. I really felt comfortable with the program as I progressed through the tutorial, thanks to the illustrations and written descriptions throughout the tutorial. Throughout this activity, I was introduced to new software I had barely even heard of before. After the initial shock of knowing nothing about the program, I realized it was relatively simple to work with. I knew that there were different programs that I could work with that would help me create different applications, but I didn’t think that they were going to be fairly uncomplicated. While most of this confidence with the program came directly from the tutorial, I felt as if I could have continued to work with Visual Basic after I had completed the activity. I learned many new skills in the process of this activity. Not only did I learn numerous aspects in how to develop different programs using Visual Basic software, but more importantly, I learned that there are many different software programs that I haven’t been exposed to yet that would assist me in my day-to-day tasks now as well as in my future personal and professional careers. I believe it (the tutorial) gives a great introduction and step-by-step procedure for learning how to deal with databases in.NET.