Business students in information systems: wizards or apprentices?

Abstract

There has been a significant change in the needs of our undergraduate business students in the last three to four years as more and more business graduates are developing PC applications for their own use or that of their department or organisation. The traditional business computer literacy subject that covers an introduction to hardware and software is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of many business graduates. There is ample evidence to suggest that businesses are only just realising the cost of these non-IS professionals developing applications. This paper discusses a new subject designed to provide students not only with the practical skills necessary to build a small-scale database using a 4GL but also to recognise the wider issues related to end-user development of applications. The paper explores the subject design, how the subject was delivered, whether the students achieved the learning outcomes/graduate qualities, and the current students' perceptions of the subject and its focus.