SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: WHY UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION GETS A FAILING GRADE Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 18, 1991 156 SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: WHY UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION GETS A FAILING GRADE Joseph S. Morrell James L. Freeman Metropolitan State College of Denver ABSTRACT There seems to be a growing gap between what is being taught as systems analysis and design, and what is being practiced in the work place. The traditional role of colleges and universities has been, at the minimum, to teach systems analysis and design as it should be practiced in the work place. If there is a gap, then either practitioners are ignorant of what they should be doing or colleges and universities are out of touch with reality. Wither case raises issues to be addressed by the academic sector. The purpose of this panel discussion is to determine whether there is a gap, and to identify the issues that colleges and universities should be addressing. PROCEDURE The format will be an open, roundtable discussion involving all who attend. All present will be encouraged to participate. A summary of the discussion will be forwarded to those who request it. Initial Issues If MIS practitioners are not going about the analysis and design of systems the way they should, the issue for colleges and universities is how to better educate students and their potential employers. If colleges and universities are teaching obsolete, irrelevant, or unusable methodologies, then the issue for them is to determine what they should be teaching, and how to educate faculties and change curriculums. Discussion Outline To motivate the discussion, the initial question is to determine how to best prepare students for a career in analysis and design of information systems. The discussion will begin with the following topic areas: I. Current practices in organizations that hire our students The majority of organizations that hire students are using the classical approach to systems analysis and design. Further, there is a migration toward the integration of leading edge technology into the classical approach. There is also a scattering of prototyping. II. Current practices in educational delivery systems by the private sector (i.e., commercial seminars) The private sector is teaching CASE, prototyping, object oriented programming, and repository, all in a rich environment using the latest technology with hands-on experience. III. Current practices in Educational delivery by the academic sector. The academic sector teaching is centered on the classical approach, with hands on experience using this approach and only surveying CASE, prototyping, object oriented programming, etc. IV. The gap between what academia is teaching and the needs of organizations hiring our students. The area in which the gap is most apparent is the level of experience that students have in leading edge technologies and emerging methodologies. The cause of this gap is related to resources available and the experience level of the faculty with new methodologies and technologies. V. What should academia be doing? What is the proper balance between vocational education and theory-oriented education? What leading edge technologies and emerging methodologies should we be teaching? In what course? What pedagogy? Where will the search for new knowledge take place? Who are the thinkers? Who is teaching creativity? Who should be teaching it? Table of Contents Volume 18, 1991 Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Using DIS 'n DAT as a Decision Support System for a Marketing Simulation Game Theoretical Derivation of a Market Demand Function for Business Simulators The Ethnographic Case Study: An Experiential Approach to Teaching Retail Management Electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBS): Support Software for Computer Simulations The New Budget Game Negame: A Cross-Cultural Role-Play to Introduce Students to the Familiarization Stage of Negotiations Modeling Short-Run Cost and Production Functions Using Sheppard's Lemma in Computerized Business Simulations Increasing Simulation Realism through the Modeling of Step Costs Predicting Simulation Performance: Differences Between Groups and Individuals A Facility Location Case to Stimulate Classroom Interaction Educational Effectiveness of Business Simulation Gaming: A Comparative Study of Students and Practitioner Perspective Ethical Dilemmas in Experiential Learning: Issues and Strategies A Critical Review and Assessment of ABSEL's Award-Winning Procedures and Protocols Political Risk: A Simulation for Business Practitioners Upside Down: A Cross-Cultural Game in Experiential Learning Gorby's Dilemma: From Communism to Free Enterprise in Two Hours Strategic Market: Planning with the COMPLETE Product Portfolio Analysis Package: A Marketing Decision Support System Career Concepts and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Experiential Learning in Human Resources: A Performance Appraisal Application Managerial Motivation and Realism Among MBA Student as Viewed through The Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation An Experiential Approach to Teaching Data Analysis Using MYSTAT: Rationale, Procedures and Results Practicing What Was Preached: A Sequential Learning Model put to the Test Student Attitudes about Policy Course Simulations An Investigation of the Relationship Between Simulation Play, Performance Level and Recency of Play on Exam Scores The Effect of Leadership and Cognitive Processing Styles upon Peer Performance Evaluation: Implication for the Utilization of Simulations in Business Pedagogy On the Transfer of Market Oriented Business Games to Socialist Cultures An Application of Financial Analysis of the Business Firm in a Simulated Competitive Environment Collective Bargaining Simulation: An Exercise based on a Familiar Theme Making Business Policy a Strategic Management Experience A Student Exercise for Intergrating the Concepts of Power and Motivation The Boundaries Extended: An Experiment Comparing Dialectical Inquiry, Devil's Advocacy and Consensus Using the Executive Game Using a Simulation Package to Develop a Simulation Exercise in Cost Accounting Success Factors in Experiential Training for Creative Problem-Solving Teams An Experiential Approach for teaching Quality management Critical Success Ratios: A Comparison of Two Business Simulations in a Multi-Year Environment Stocklogs: A Classroom Exercise for Teaching the Logistical Relationship of Location and Inventory The Organizational Leadership Program Simulating Business Decision-Making: Using Statistical Cases for Classroom Exercises Scripting for the Classroom Upgrading the Business Strategy and Policy Game Developing Student Team-Building and Leadership Skills Using Computer-Aided Experiential learning Strategies Organizing and Outward Bound Field Trip An Architecture for Extensible Simulation Games Performance in the Capstone Business Course: What is the effect of Pedagogy, Learning Styles, and Student Motivation? Operational Strategy with Participant-Modifiable Parameters An Example of a Personal Selling Case Transformed into a Role Play Scenario Instructional Software: It's Evolution and Current State of the Art in the Business Curriculum Ascertaining Performance Variables for use in Determining Student's Grades in Courses Employing a Business Simulation Designing Management Seminars Using Business Simulations The Accounting Information Systems Course: Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and the Real World The Good Cooks Guide to Training Excellence: Working with Passion A Demonstration on Multiple Data Collection Methods: Seeing Strategic Issues Through the Looking Glass Simulation Systems Analysis and Design: Why Undergraduate Education gets a Failing Grade Accommodating Organizational Culture: An Evaluation of Management Development Delivery Modes in Varying Organizational Cultures Modeling Total Quality into Business Simulations The Political Futures Game Meeting Meeting Objectives