ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction
by Hewett, Baecker, Card, Carey, Gasen, Mantei, Perlman, Strong and Verplank
Copyright © 1992,1996 ACM SIGCHI
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APPENDIX B: An Information Systems Curriculum in Human-Computer Interaction {p. 95}

Gary Strong
College of Information Studies
Drexel University

Table of Contents

B.1: Introduction {p. 95}

This is a proposal for an undergraduate CHI concentration in an interdisciplinary undergraduate information systems curriculum. The basis for this proposal is an existing undergraduate degree in Information Systems at Drexel University which has received international attention as an innovative program in a novel setting (Strong et al, 1987). The State of Pennsylvania recently approved the designation of Drexel's degree as a BSIS Degree (Bachelors of Science in Information Systems). While most information systems programs are taught within Business Schools or Computer Science Departments, this program is housed in an interdisciplinary college that has no departments. It is, therefore, experimental. The program has been in existence since 1984 and appears to be highly successful as measured by the salaries and satisfaction level of graduates and the wages paid to co-op students during their studies. It seems that this program has CHI, in its most general context, as its main philosophy since the program was specifically designed to train students who could produce information systems that emphasize the human component of systems.

The purpose of this paper is to present a concentration in CHI within the context of a generalized version of Drexel's information systems curriculum, taking into account that most readers are familiar with four-year, semester-based programs. Drexel classes are term-based, meaning that they are 10 weeks long, and there are four terms per year. Furthermore, students attend for five years, and after their Freshman year, students attend during the Summer term, as in any other term. The program length results from the fact that Drexel is a cooperative education university. Most students are employed for 6 months in each of the three middle years of their five-year program. Such a program produces students who are highly-valued by employers due to the experience gained during co-op. Furthermore, the co-op experience brings an added dimension to the classroom, in that it serves as a real-life laboratory for students to practice their skills and to have a chance to return to their professors with questions and discoveries from such experience. Later classroom learning is enriched by co-op experience and can proceed at a more mature level with students who are driven by issues from real-life projects.

B.2: Objectives {p. 96}

The objective of the overall BSIS program is to train professionals who can create information systems that both achieve organizational objectives, such as competitive advantage, and augment human work in a natural and productive way. The objective of a specific concentration in CHI within the information systems program is to generate students who participate in the development of systems by specializing in the design and evaluation of computer-human interfaces. This is no small task since information technology has a radical and ever-changing impact upon organizational infrastructure in terms of the way people communicate, carry on their work, and manage each other. In addition, the concept of an interface has recently been generalized beyond being identified with a one human/one computer channel to include multiple, complex relationships between humans and computers as components of larger information systems. Understanding how tasks and knowledge can be shared in a natural fashion between humans and computers to accomplish organizational goals is a major contribution that students of this concentration can provide. They will be able to "engineer" information architectures by assembling into systems semi-autonomous functional modules, be they human or computer, to accomplish specific organizational goals. The term "engineer" is used purposefully here in agreement with an article that claims that engineering rather than computer science is the proper disciplinary domain of information systems professionals due to the applied nature of the work (Lewis, 1989).

B.3: Prerequisites {p. 97}

Entering freshmen in information systems are expected to have an interest in science and mathematics to insure success with the technical aspects of the program, but they must also have an overriding concern for human behavior and its intricate relationship with technology. Although the program is highly technical, it is not a "techy" degree. Most students who have succeeded in it at Drexel performed equally well in both math and verbal SAT's and were looking for a career that balances computer science with humanistic studies.

B.4: Course Requirements {p. 97}

The proposed course requirements for a BSIS with a concentration in CHI are shown below, categorized into topic areas that may be serviced by different university departments. It has been assumed that there are 40 semester courses in the 4-year program structure. In the list of semester courses which follows, courses specific to the CHI Concentration in IS are indicated with an asterisk. Such courses would be different for IS students who are not concentrating in CHI, such as those students in the other concentrations at Drexel (Distributed Systems, Information Resource Management, and Systems Analysis and Design). Where appropriate, topics related to CHI but covered in non-CHI concentration courses are indicated below with the course names prefixed by "Includes ...".

I. Information Systems (12 courses)

B. Behavioral Science (6 courses)

C. Computer Science (7 courses)

M. Mathematics (3 courses)

N. Natural Science (2 courses with accompanying laboratories)

B.& A. Business & Administration (5 courses)

A. Arts and Humanities (5 courses)

References

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