Group Research Presentations
Background Ideas
Two skills define a successful IS (Information Systems)
professional:
-
A knack for working well in a social setting.
-
A penchant for keeping up with rapidly evolving
technology; that is, finding and evaluating information about current
developments.
In contrast, the traditional way to teach about IS topics is to
choose a textbook, assign readings, lecture about the material, and test what
students have "learned"--that is, how much they remember on exam day. This
strategy works well for instructors because textbook publishers provide
instructors with tools to make "teaching" nearly effortless:
Unfortunately, this approach teaches students how to take
objective tests rather than teaching them to work well in a social setting or
evaluate new technologies.
General Requirements
- Each group will research a special IS topic. Based on their research,
they will prepare a reading list for the entire class to read prior to their
in-class presentation.
- In class, each group will present a 20-minute overview of the topic to the class.
The presentation should be supported by PowerPoint slides, but it may engage
the class in more active ways as well (such as quick writing activities,
questions-and-answers, or voting). For presentation dates, refer to the
BA370 Schedule. I will give you a fair degree of latitude in deciding how you want to cover
your topic area. A really important skill of a good manager is to decide what
materials are relevant and important -- and what is a distraction.
- You must prepare a reading list for the class to read prior to your
presentation. The reading list must prioritize the readings and should take
60 minutes to complete for a competent, attentive, and motivated reader. Each group's readings should fit into an overall coherent pattern.
Thus, the readings should provide complimentary viewpoints on the group's
topic rather than describing isolated and separate issues. For example,
assume your group's topic is "hardware." One approach for creating a reading list
would be to select an article about disk drives, another about printers,
another about processors, and so on. While this approach might seem
convenient because it would let each member "cover" a separate topic, the
readings would not build on each other. Instead, better approaches would
be for all readings to look at different aspects of future hardware
trends, or for all readings to look at different aspects of TCO (total
cost of ownership) issues. This should result in classroom discussions
that do a better job of comparing ideas found in the readings.
- Each group must prepare a
BSG Survey asking fellow class members to comment on the
presentation and readings. More information about this process can be
found on the
Survey Assignment page. Also, each group
must prepare a concept map describing their research topic. Both the
survey results and concept map must be discussed in a follow-up
presentation to class.
- Group work, writing, and presenting skills are crucial to business success. In this project, it will be your responsibility to prepare a concise and relevant evaluation of a topic. This kind of assignment is common in business. Organizations are constantly considering the adoption of new technologies. Take this opportunity to dig into the topic, and also to learn about how to
research a new opportunity. What kinds of questions should you ask? Where will you look for information? How can you communicate your findings in a relevant and persuasive form?
- Each group's presentation should spend some time spent discussing sources of information.
What do you know about the author? Why did you select this article? What
articles did you reject from the reading list, and why? For example, you
might list an article as required reading and follow it with three or four
bulleted paragraphs that describe optional readings. Then part of the
presentation could discuss the strengths and weaknesses of optional
readings in comparison with the required ones.
- Each group should function as a group, rather than as a collection of
people who are presenting separate segments. What does this mean? Well, at
a minimum, it would be a bad sign if I give a reading quiz and some
members of the group have not carefully read the entire group's reading
list. A more positive definition might involve a panel discussion approach
where individual members are identified as having areas of expertise or
interest.
- All files (PowerPoint slides, reading list, or other supporting
files) need to be placed on
\\cob-storage\studentwebdata (also known as drive V) where I can build a links
to them from this BA370 website. Because this area of our college's file
storage system is also a web server,
any files placed in this area can automatically be retrieved with a web
address similar to http://students.bus.oregonstate.edu/.
Discuss your presentation outline with me: I recommend beginning your
research as early as possible. Then rough out a set of readings and review them
informally with me. One convenient time to do this would be to drop by
Bexell 324 from 1:30 to 2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will be in the room,
and lots of computers are likely to be empty, so it should be a great place to
search the Internet, explore possible readings, and discuss how you might
approach your topic. Alternatively, you can drop by my office and chat with me
whenever I am in ... or you can make a formal appointment to speak with me. I
want to be available to work with you ... although, ultimately, your group is
responsible for conducting the research and deciding on the approach and
readings to use.
Deliverables:
- "Final" versions of your PowerPoint presentation, reading
assignment, and web survey. I want this process to work
well--both for the people presenting and for the rest of class. To help ensure
this happens, I want to meet with each group one week before their presentation.
When you arrive at this meeting, you should have a set of PowerPoint slides
and reading assignments that you feel would work well and are complete.
Nonetheless, don't be surprised if we collectively decide to make
improvements or revisions to your "final" work.
Due date: On the day one week before the presentation, I will meet with students in the Section 1 group
right after class (from 11:20 to 11:50 a.m.), and I will meet with the Section 2 group
from 1:20 to 1:50 p.m.
- If we decide your "final" reading list needs to be adjusted, your
group will have 24 hours to make the adjustments and email me the revised
and final version of the reading assignment. At this time, you should also
email me links to the locations of your PowerPoint slides and web survey.
Due date: 24 hours after we finish meeting to discuss your "final"
reading assignment. Note that this a firm deadline. . Because I will post
the reading assignments for everyone to use, this deadline is critical.
- A
paper copy of your PowerPoint presentation.
Due date: Hand this to me on the day of your presentation right before
you begin your presentation. Print
the PowerPoint slides using the "three to a page" option.
- A concept map of the ideas in your research topic, and a PowerPoint
analysis of your web survey's results.
Due date: Email me links to the location of these materials at least two
hours before the beginning of class. Then, during class, you will present
these materials to the class..
Presentation Guidelines
- How many team members need to present?:
- All members from the project team need to present. The presentation
should be balanced with equitable contributions from each member.
- Time expectation:
- The entire initial presentation should take about 20 minutes, including
the prepared portion and any questions and answers or classroom discussion.
- The follow-up presentation on the following week should take about 5 to
10
minutes. More information about this activity can be found on the
Survey Assignment page.
- Please practice so your team uses the time well.
- Content: The content of your presentation should address the following:
- Help your classmates understand why they should care about
this topic,
- Identify the key issues about the topic that are relevant
to BA370 students, and
- Present the topic in such a way that it is understandable
to your classmates.
- What do you want the audience to be thinking when your presentation is
over?
- By the end of your presentation, it would be very good if the audience
could walk away thinking the following:
- "I really understand why this topic is important to me and my
career,"
- "This team has identified the key topics to consider and has
presented them in a way that was comprehensible to me," and
- "I learned something new."
- Attire:
- "Business casual" attire is desired and expected. If there is some
reason why one of the presenters will not be able to appear in business
casual dress (and there may be a good reason), please let the instructor
know in advance.
- What is "business casual"? Try reading
Virginia Tech's
Career Services page about business casual attire.
The Topics
- Business Intelligence: Business Intelligence is the structured exploration or mining of business data in search of meaningful patterns. Provide a brief overview of this technology and its relevance in business and government settings. In your presentation, make sure that you discuss the concepts of a data warehouse and data marts.
-
IT Outsourcing: Provide an overview of the 'outsourcing' of software development phenomenon. How big a phenomenon is this? Is it growing? Why? What trends can be observed? What does it mean for the future of Western computing?
-
Enterprise-wide Resource Planning (ERP) systems:
What are the major ERP suppliers? How much does their software cost to
purchase and implement? What benefits does this kind of software provide ...
what pitfalls might it have?
- Disaster Prevention and Recovery: The laws of system entropy, natural disasters, acts of terror, and computer crime are but some of the things that can destroy an organization's information flow and storage. Explore how companies are protecting themselves against these mishaps.
- W3C: Provide an overview of the World Wide Web Consortium. Who are these people and what do they do? Who listens to them? What sort of influence do they have? What business processes do they follow? What is the relationship between W3C and so-called 'open standards'?
-
XML: Provide an overview of the concepts, uses, and impacts of eXtensible
Markup Language. Who invented XML? When and why? What role is XML playing in the information systems world? What sorts of tools have been developed around XML? In particular, please describe eXtensible
Business Reporting Language (XBRL).
-
Web Services: are a new technology for data exchange between computers. Explain what web services are and how they work. Make sure you provide a brief overview of the SOAP/WSDL and UDDI protocols and that you contrast it with the REST protocol.
-
DB Market: Who are the major players in the database market? At which sectors of the database market are their products targeted? Who is competing with whom? How big are these companies? Who owns them? What products do they offer? What role does database software play in their product portfolio?
-
Open Source Business Models: Provide an overview of the various business models that have been developed around Open Source Software. How do companies create businesses based on something that is free and open? Are these business models sustainable? Do they falsify business models based on exclusion; e.g., businesses based on patents?
-
Protecting IP (intellectual property):
How do trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents work? What is
digital rights management? What trends are affecting these concepts?
- CobiT: What is CobiT, and why should a
company care about the ISACA governance standards? (Note: I strongly
recommend that the groups assigned this topic should attend Bryon Marshall's
8 a.m. lecture on the topic on October 15th.)
- HTTP: The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) governs the Web, but how does it work? Who invented it? Why? How is it involved when we use the Web?
-
RFID: For some time now, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been an up and coming wireless technology. Provide an overview of RFID technology, its promises, potential and actual uses, and some of the more controversial issues surrounding this technology.
-
Peer-to-peer internet networks: How do
peer-to-peer networks work (compared to traditional server-based networks)?
What are the advantages and limitations? What are the business
implications?
- Wireless Standards: Wireless technology is key in making technologies available for innovative applications. Outline the current wireless standards. Why choose one over another? Why are security concerns especially important in wireless applications? Describe security techniques used to protect wireless systems. Systems software (comparison of PC and network operating systems)
|
