Integrating Research and Teaching in the IS Classroom: Benefits for Teachers and Students

• Published in: Journal of information systems education 2016-09, Vol.27 (4), p.249
• Main Authors: Obwegeser, Nikolaus, Papdopoulous, Pantelis M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case Studies; Classrooms; Curricula; Curriculum Design; Curriculum Development; Debates; Education; Educational technology; Evidence Based Practice; Graduate Students; Higher education; Information Systems; Innovations; Instructional Effectiveness; Instructional Materials; Knowledge; Learning; Learning Activities; Learning Processes; Online instruction; Pedagogy; Publication output; Social networks; Student Research; Student Surveys; Students; Study and teaching; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Technological change; Theory Practice Relationship
• ISSN: 1055-3096; 2574-3872

Creating a link between research and teaching activities in higher education is a common and recurring challenge for many academics. Especially in practice-driven areas like Information Systems (IS), educators as well as students can benefit substantially from well-designed course curricula that facilitate research-driven learning processes. In this paper, we discuss the benefits and challenges of research-driven education from the perspective of both teachers and students and propose a research-driven course design in the case of a graduate course in IS development and implementation. The suggested approach includes a set of different techniques that allow for a successful integration of research content and activities throughout the whole course lifecycle. In order to validate our design empirically, we conduct a survey among course participants (n = 194) and discuss the results. Our findings provide initial support for the proposed design, which can be the basis for future research and guide the composition of research-driven courses in the IS field.