Figure 1: GSM Projected Information Technology Base
5 Impact of the Microcomputerization Effort
- The "Micro-supported Case Analysis" Experiment
- "Laptop Portable Computer" Experiment
- "Physical Science Model" for Management Instruction
6 GSM in 1990: A Sketch of the Future
- Goal 1: Computer Proficiency
- Goal 2: Curriculum Integration
- Goal 3: Expanded Use of Modeling and Simulations
In this section we relate three experiments designed to more fully impact the curriculum. The first involved the entire second year MBA class -- the "Micro-supported Case Analysis" experiment. The second involved the Executive MBA class -- the "Laptop Computer" experiment. The third is based on a new idea that emerged from these experiences -- the "physical science model" for management instruction, which involved the core managerial computing course. The section closes with a discussion of student orientation and training workshops, our main effort focused on increasing general computer literacy.
In Spring, 1984, the faculty who would be teaching the seven sections of the course next fall were asked to meet and discuss the possibility of computer support for the course. It was proposed that each of them would receive a microcomputer and the support to create Lotus templates for data analysis. Although there was some skepticism, they agreed to the experiment. One professor served as coordinator and an ACC was assigned to work with the faculty on the course. The coordinating professor polled the other faculty to identify which cases should be prepared. Based on this information, templates with the data and formulas for twenty-three cases were prepared.
The creation of the templates and the inputting of the data turned out to be more difficult than originally anticipated. The microcomputers had 256K of memory, which proved insufficient for many of the cases. There were problems setting up the templates as they predetermined the nature of the analysis and could limit the approaches used by the students. The question of how to distribute the data to the students also needed to be resolved. They would each need their own diskette, but depending on the instructor, they would be using different cases, and hence different data.
The data size and template design problems were resolved by the coordinating professor simply making a decision of how to proceed. The data distribution was handled by storing all the templates on the minicomputer, with students downloading the data to the microcomputers.
At the start of classes in the Fall, the ACC visited each section of Management 420 and explained that the Lotus spreadsheets were prepared to assist them with their case analyses and how to access the files. Numerous Lotus workshops were scheduled to teach the students how to use the package and download the files.
Unfortunately, this course development effort achieved only marginal success. Approximately 20% of the students made use of the programs on a regular basis. There were two main reasons: problems with the equipment and lack of faculty support. Our microcomputers were scheduled to arrive in June but did not arrive until September. This delay prevented the faculty from having sufficient time to learn and become comfortable with Lotus. Additionally, there were communications problems in establishing the link between the microcomputers and the minicomputer for downloading the files that weren't completely resolved until mid-quarter. By this point, many students were already doing their case analyses without using the system, so the time the system was operating consistently, was little motivation to use it. Finally, the computer staff were learning Lotus along with the students in the classes and hence not as able to help them as would have been ideal.
A second, and in many ways a more significant problem, was faculty support. Some of the faculty did not believe this was a valuable tool, and as such, its usefulness was not impressed on the students. In a subsequent evaluation meeting, faculty agreed that the course experience was not all that it could have been, in part because they had not reevaluated the course material in light of the new equipment and opportunities. They simply had not taken the time to do so. One professor argued that the arrangement we used for disseminating the data and having the students work individually on the material assumed that the students could figure out how to do the analysis on their own. Another instructor, soon up for tenure, felt that it took so long to prepare the first time he taught the course, that with a tenure decision so close, he didn't want to make such a major time commitment. This constant conflict between research, with its incentives for tenure and promotion, and the desire on the part of the School and the sponsoring computer companies to achieve curriculum integration, emerges over and over again.
In retrospect, given the late arrival of the equipment and the training and faculty support concerns, it probably would have been better to delay this integration attempt one year. However, the desire to achieve a major curriculum success made us overly optimistic regarding the difficulties. As a result, we did not achieve our objectives, and even more significantly, one group of faculty was discouraged from trying to use computers in their classes in the near future. On the other hand, we moved along the learning curve as a School.
In August, before classes began, each member of the EMBA program was issued an HP 110 portable computer to be used during their tenure in the program.(7) Entering students, depending on their background, attended from two to six two-hour workshops to familiarize themselves with data processing concepts in general, and the HP 110 in particular. Students were shown how to access the HP3000 for the electronic mail system and to use the available software packages. The instructors created assignments that required the use of computers. Students brought the systems to class and took notes "online," and some used them during exams. Overall, student acceptance and use was very positive.
There were several problems, most relating specifically to the HP 110 (e.g., the liquid crystal display being difficult to read, 16 lines too few, and the limited memory often frustrating). There was a need for printers and floppy diskettes. The 300-baud modem was too slow, especially for those making long distance calls into the HP3000 system. It is clear that all these problems will be resolved with more sophisticated technology -- HP's upgraded laptop portable, the HP110 Plus, overcomes most of these problems. A pedagogical problem was that the instructors could not readily display the individual student's work for full class discussion.
The student evaluation of the laptop portable experiment, however, was extremely positive. They felt the systems were an important tool, and most of the students used the portable in their work environment. They saw themselves learning skills with immediate transferability. Based on this success, the laptop portable computer experiment was expanded and the class entering in Fall 1986 was also assigned HP 110 systems.
This idea emerged as our "physical science model" for computer support of instruction in management education. In the physical sciences, professors lecture in large halls on a topic's background and theory. In assigned lab sessions, students spend two or three hours per week under the direction of a teaching or lab assistant, conducting experiments specifically aimed at illustrating the concepts discussed in the previous lecture. A similar model could be developed for use within the business school environment. Lectures that present general concepts and principles could be followed by specific lab assignments. Under the direction of a teaching assistant, students would use the computer as a laboratory instrument, manipulating data and conducting experiments that might illustrate and highlight the theory presented in class.
The first class at GSM to experiment with the "physical science" model was Managerial Computing, Management 404. This core MBA course is taken by approximately two-thirds of our students and has been the "computer literacy" class for years. During the 1970s the course discussed business data processing and focused on APL and PL/I for interactive and batch programming, respectively. In 1982, APL and PL/I were replaced by database and Pascal assignments on the School's new minicomputer. When microcomputers arrived, the course included dBase II and Lotus assignments. With these changes, more lecture time was spent on business computing and managerial issues and less on the tools. Hence, it seemed very appropriate to try the new instructional model with this course.
During Spring, 1986, the usual four hour lecture class was scheduled as two hours lecture and two hours lab.(8) The lectures were condensed versions of the previous material and the labs used a student version of Framework 1.1 accompanied by an instructional textbook.9 The overall reaction was quite favorable, and hence the experiment was expanded and tried with all the Management 404 sections during 1986-87 year, with a couple of modifications. First, the lecture time was scheduled as three hours (instead of four) and the lab as two hours (counting two hours of lab as one hour of lecture). Second, the full, complete Framework was used instead of the limited instructional version, and additional material on telecommunications and program development were included. Teaching assistants conduct the lab sessions under the supervision of the instructor. As of this writing (January, 1987), the course is achieving its goals of teaching both concepts managers need to know about computing as well as introducing the end-user managerial skills, tools and concepts.
A second course, Managerial Finance, Management 408, is experimenting with the physical science model during Winter, 1987, and another course, Productions and Operations Management, Management 410, will be evaluating this approach during the Spring quarter, 1987. For both of these courses, an ACC has been working with the course instructors to identify and develop appropriate lab material. The School as a whole is looking toward these experiments to decide whether lab sessions should be associated with more courses. Alternatively, a single lab with each week's session focusing on a different functional area, required for all students, is being considered. Irrespective of the approach finally selected, the initial view is that there is merit to the physical science model for integrating computers into the management curriculum. Student Training: Orientation and Workshops
Entering MBA students are required to attend a week long orientation and registration program conducted by the admissions office before the start of fall classes. In order to increase general computer literacy, in 1984, for the first time, the incoming class was taken on a tour of the computing facilities and students signed onto the School's HP3000 system to get access to their accounts. This orientation proved very effective. In the fall of 1985, the entering class had a four hour computer orientation: hands-on sessions on GSM's HP3000, the campus IBM mainframe, and the HP150 and IBM PC microcomputer systems.
To fund the development and teaching of the orientation workshops, the program was offered as a service. Participation was voluntary and those choosing to attend paid a $25 fee. Approximately 300 students (about 75% of the entering class) elected to attend in the fall of 1985. A similar fee arrangement was used for the 1986 workshops and approximately 370 students (92%) elected to attend. The orientation workshop instructors were GSM students who work as Computer Services consultants during the academic year.
Based on an evaluation of the 1985 orientation program and the introduction of Framework II as the instructional standard, a 5-hour computing orientation was developed for the fall of 1986: 1/2 hour overview, 1 hour using the HP3000 system, 1 hour introduction to MS-DOS, and 2 1/2 hours introduction to Framework II. The Framework II sessions focused on introducing the concept of a frame, the menus and application environment (1 hour), with the remainder of the time spent on word processing.
The Fall 1986 computer orientation program represented four major changes from the 1985 program. First, the focus was on software rather than hardware. Second, the IBM mainframe sessions were dropped since by the time students used the mainframe (for some specialized second year courses), they needed another workshop. Third, rather than a lock-step approach, students were able to select the sessions which they felt would be most beneficial. Fourth, the learning style approach was changed from almost 100% tutorial, with each student working from written materials at their own pace with consultants available to assist with problems, to about 50% lecture and 50% tutorial materials.
For the second year MBA students, a three hour introductory Framework II workshop was offered which introduced the frame concept, word processing, and spreadsheets. Significantly different approaches were made for the first and second year student orientations to Framework II, as it was assumed that the second year students had been exposed to word processing and spreadsheet packages during their first year and that there would be concept transfer to Framework II.
Besides the orientation sessions, GSM Computing Services consultants provide about 200 hours of hands-on workshops for GSM students during the academic year. During 1985-86, about half the workshops were microcomputer-oriented and focused on WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, and graphics software. The other workshops were HP3000 or IBM mainframe-oriented and concentrated on the use of the editors and statistical and linear programming packages required in various classes. Many of the workshops provided both elementary and advanced sessions. For 1986-87, the plan has been to present a series of "advanced" Framework II workshops as well as continue most of the previous workshops but with fewer sessions offered.
We can approach the issue of faculty proficiency in terms of their reported use of computers. Faculty members from all areas of the School report research benefits of having the computer systems available in their offices. This benefit has been expressed in two areas. First, GSM faculty produce a large volume of articles and books and have reported major productivity gains from word processing which eases the task of composition and revision. Second, because of the links to the mainframes, faculty are able to do most of their quantitative research from the peace and quiet of their offices rather than in the noisy and distracting computer rooms. This leads again to greater productivity and better work. Many individual faculty have reported that these two elements have been a tremendous boost to their own productivity, thus leaving valuable time for other responsibilities.
In terms of software, almost all faculty use either Word Perfect or Framework II for word processing. TeX is popular for typesetting papers. Approximately 30% of the faculty have had PC SAS installed on their systems and use it regularly. Furthermore, many GSM faculty write their own code in support of their research, mainly using Turbo-Pascal or FORTRAN. There is some use of SPSS on the mainframe, but SAS is the more popular, with many individuals reporting transferring files from the IBM 3090 to their micro and using SAS in both locations.
Student proficiency can be inferred from their attendance at workshops and reported use of the various systems. As discussed earlier, 75% and 85% of the 1985 and 1986 entering classes, respectively, attended the voluntary computer orientation programs. A total of 114 workshops were offered during the 1985-86 academic year, with 55% microcomputer-based, 31% on the HP3000, and 14% were on the campus mainframe. Workshop offerings have also been classified by major software categories: spreadsheets (32%), quantitative analysis (25%), word processing (24%), database (14%), and graphics (5%).
A student survey in December, 1985, indicated that GSM students used the computer resources an average of 5.3 hours per week. A similar survey in December, 1986, indicated that usage has increased 25% to 6.6 hours per week. GSM also provided approximately 75 consulting hours per week to the user community. The adoption of Framework II, the installation of additional student facilities, and approximately 90% of the entering MBA class attending the Fall 1986 computer orientation, all indicate that the trend will be toward even greater student use of systems.
The evidence suggests that the first goal, computer proficiency, is nearing reality.
At the end of the Spring quarter, 1986, GSM faculty were surveyed to determine the courses for which students were required to utilize GSM's computer resources or the central campus computer. Sixty-eight full-time faculty members who received equipment were contacted and 49 (72%) responded. Thirty-eight different courses, representing a total of 73 sections, reported required computer assignments. These sections had a total enrollment of 1,967 students. For 27, or 37%, of these sections, the 1985-86 academic year was the first time the computer was used. Most of the responses from faculty indicated that they were very satisfied with the initial use of computers and planned to continue and/or expand their instructional usage. Additionally, the physical science model of using computer labs is being extended as discussed earlier.
The second source of data suggesting that curriculum integration is well underway is from a pair of student surveys. A survey of first year MBA students was conducted in December, 1985, and again in December, 1986, asking students to list the courses in which they used computers. Under the current GSM curriculum program, first year students usually enroll in four of seven courses. Table 10 shows the results of the surveys for these courses. Unfortunately, due to sampling constraints, the data may not represent a true random sample of the GSM student population. However, it is considered adequate for identifying trends.
From the data presented in Table 10, a general trend is that the use of computers is on the increase. Specifically, for two courses, Managerial Computing and Managerial Economics, computer use has been required for at least the past two years. However, there has been significant increases in the use of computers in the Managerial Data Analysis, Managerial Modeling, and Managerial Marketing courses. No change was shown in the Managerial Problem Solving course. The decrease in student computer usage in the Managerial Accounting course is explainable in terms of the faculty who taught the course this year and last year. Seven sections of the course were offered both years and the one professor who encouraged computer usage taught two sections in 1985 and only one section in 1986.
As promising as the data in Table 10 appears to be, GSM expects to make even greater gains this next year as many of the technical and equipment barriers, and issues related to curriculum integration, are overcome.
Our third goal of expanded use of modeling and simulation is, like curriculum integration, well underway. And, here again, further gains are expected in the next several years as the computer proficiency of both the faculty and the students at GSM continues to expand.
Figure 1: GSM Projected Information Technology Base
In the past few years we have moved firmly into the information age. Technologically we have established an "information network" (a local area network) linking all faculty, staff, and student workstations located within GSM. The network has the usual features of electronic mail and quality printers and plotters. However, what makes the network more than simply a physical link for workstations, truly an "information network," are the databases that are available. These databases, which cover all the areas of interest for management studies and provide data cross-referenced by industry, corporation, region or sector, and other views that enhance research and instruction, are located on the campus and School's mainframe systems. Access is also provided to real world databases, such as Dow Jones, COMPUSTAT, and CRSP, as well as to the various campus libraries. In addition, a set of School-oriented databases is available to assist students and faculty with enrollment, registration, job placement, and field study.
Our information network has had a very positive effect on the infrastructure of the School as well as on research and instruction. Electronic communication among faculty, between faculty and students, and among students is very common, and allows special interest groups to form and maintain contact easily. Electronic bulletin boards using a videotext-type system provide menu selection features and allow common mass information dissemination. The access to databases enables faculty to pose questions for student investigation, to run an analysis before class, and to display the results in class.
Starting with the class entering in Fall, 1988, GSM required all first year students to own or have easy access to a microcomputer. GSM established a purchase arrangement for students to acquire a laptop portable at a reasonable price. Most students choose this option (even if they have a system at home) and the portables are used in classes for note taking as well as for exams, in the computer classrooms, libraries, and at home. In support of the student systems, "information kiosks" are located around the School. At these kiosks, students are able to plug their portables into the network. Other features of the kiosks are printing capability, online assistance to various software and data packages, and consulting. The traditional open-access "computer labs" from the early '80s are still around, but now with only a relatively few, very powerful systems.
Many classrooms are equipped with micro-linked video projectors so that instructors can demonstrate concepts or display "overheads" that were prepared on their office systems. Also there are several "computer classrooms" which have outlets for students to plug in their portables. What makes these computer classrooms unique is that under the instructorís direction, any particular student's output can be displayed to the entire class. In this environment, a student can display his or her analysis of a case and the other students can respond.
Beginning in 1986, the MBA curriculum was significantly revised to take advantage of the information technology that had become available. The revision was organized around two efforts: curriculum area databases and major revamping of the core courses. We recognized that a major hurdle to research and instructional use of computers was the lack of access to data. Word processing and spreadsheets provided productivity gains, but the real power of the computer in assisting with qualitative and quantitative analyses was hampered by the lack of data. Software was readily available, so we chose to put our efforts into identifying and acquiring the data needed to do the various analyses. Back in 1986, it was argued that if such databases and software were made available for faculty use, these applications would find their way into various upper-level MBA courses by the end of the decade. (Happily we can say that the prediction was accurate!) Therefore, an organized effort to identify and find or create the appropriate databases was undertaken and, based on our success, will continue. This database development was given a significant boost when, in 1987, a consortium of business schools was formed to assist with the gathering and sharing of these databases.
The second curriculum revision area was that of the MBA core courses. Back in 1984, a MBA Task Force examined the core courses and made recommendations for revising them to include use of computer technology where appropriate. Building on this work, significant modifications were made to many of the first year core classes beginning in 1986. A common pattern for the revision was to change the course structure from a four unit lecture to a three unit lecture and a one unit 2-hour required and graded computer lab. These lab sections are now conducted in the "computer classrooms" and taught by area computing consultants.
Because of the tremendous time commitment needed for courseware development for the lab sessions, the faculty agreed that each core class would have common lab sessions, and for some sections, a common course syllabus. To develop these lab sessions, "core teams" were established. Each team consisted of the faculty who teach the core class, a curriculum development specialist (a system designer with an educational orientation) and an area computing consultant (a doctoral student from the area to do the programming).
The faculty are responsible for identifying objectives and making suggestions. The area consultants do the actual writing and data entry. Faculty certify that the material is, in fact, appropriate to the course material and contributes to the achievement of stated course goals. The curriculum development specialist is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the team and supervising the area computing consultant to be sure that common user interfaces and software engineering standards are achieved across all areas of the School.
A major hurdle to curriculum revision was faculty incentives. We were able to overcome some of the problems by using the curriculum development specialists and area computing consultants. Also, some senior faculty requested either a course release or summer support to assist with the development effort. Also, for some areas, adjunct lecturers were hired specifically to do curriculum development and instruction.
The primary factors leading to the successful progress toward the achieving of our organizational goals have been individual faculty being motivated by the opportunity presented by the various grants to introduce new technological tools into their environments, combined with a strong support program to assure the effective and efficient use of these tools. The strategy for managing our implementation has been for curriculum areas to submit plans and the School to allocate resources (hardware, software, and personnel support). The success of this strategy has been due to the availability of equipment and funds through the various grants and the assistance of the campus administration in providing additional funds.
During the next few years GSM will continue to stride toward
achieving its long term goals by developing additional
instructional materials and support programs which lead to student
and faculty proficiency and integration of information technology
throughout the program. Information technology is becoming a
"normal" part of the environment and it appears that a growing
number of faculty members automatically think about the potential
impact of technology use in their courses. Over time we see it
being a natural component of most classes, especially those that
use or can benefit from simulation or modeling as part of the
analysis procedures of the discipline.
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