Teaching Enterprise Systems in Higher Education: The ... - ICESAL

8 th International Conference on <strong>Enterprise</strong> <strong>Systems</strong>, Account<strong>in</strong>g and Logistics (8 th <strong>ICESAL</strong> 2011) 11-12 July 2011, Thassos Island, Greece <strong>Teach<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>Enterprise</strong> <strong>Systems</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Higher</strong> <strong>Education</strong>: <strong>The</strong> Learn<strong>in</strong>g Context Triangle Eli Hustad 1 and Dag Håkon Olsen 2 Department of Information <strong>Systems</strong>, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway 1 eli.hustad@uia.no, 2 dag.h.olsen@uia.no Abstract We have iteratively developed curricula <strong>in</strong> two enterprise systems courses <strong>in</strong> higher education for <strong>in</strong>formation systems (IS) students. <strong>Enterprise</strong> systems embed technical complexity and imply organizational challenges when implemented <strong>in</strong> organizations. <strong>The</strong>refore, teach<strong>in</strong>g good ES classes are pedagogically challeng<strong>in</strong>g for faculty, and ES curricula are difficult for students. To cope with these challenges we gradually designed, implemented and rebuilt curricula and teach<strong>in</strong>g framework from 2003 to 2010. We extended the use of various pedagogical pr<strong>in</strong>ciples and pedagogical means to stimulate deep-level learn<strong>in</strong>g processes. We propose a generic three-dimensional teach<strong>in</strong>g framework compris<strong>in</strong>g learn<strong>in</strong>g contexts of traditional classroom, laboratory, and organizational sett<strong>in</strong>gs. We argue that an <strong>in</strong>tegrated teach<strong>in</strong>g approach that <strong>in</strong>cludes practice-based learn<strong>in</strong>g loops facilitate and enrich a collaborative learn<strong>in</strong>g environment. Keywords: <strong>Teach<strong>in</strong>g</strong> framework, enterprise systems, pedagogical means, diverse learn<strong>in</strong>g context, practice-based learn<strong>in</strong>g, collaborative learn<strong>in</strong>g, design research 1. Introduction Scholars have recently paid attention to enterprise systems (ES) <strong>in</strong> higher education program (Ask et al. 2008; Hawk<strong>in</strong>g et al. 2004; Watson & Schneider 1999). <strong>The</strong>se systems are <strong>in</strong>tegrated software solutions <strong>in</strong> the form of standardized, ‘best practice’, off-the-shelf packages from different vendors (Davenport 1998). <strong>The</strong> software is used to manage organizational resources by <strong>in</strong>tegrat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>formation flows across departments and functions <strong>in</strong>to a s<strong>in</strong>gle computer system to serve the needs across different departments. Organizations seek to <strong>in</strong>crease efficiency, improve communication across the enterprise, and to reduce costs and data redundancy by overcom<strong>in</strong>g the limitations of fragmented, <strong>in</strong>compatible “silos” of legacy systems (e.g. Robey et al. 2002). ES, however, embed technical complexity and imply organizational challenges when implemented <strong>in</strong> organizations (Markus & Tanis 2000). Furthermore, the organizational and human consequences and the requirements for changes <strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess processes are often underestimated (Volkoff et al. 2007). Despite challenges and implementation costs, ES of several types have become <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly popular <strong>in</strong> organizations, and are widely implemented <strong>in</strong> both small 106