MSc BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - SOUTHAMPTON SOLENT UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL, SOUTHAMPTON, UK

The nature of commercial information systems is itself changing. Business information systems are increasingly integrated, encompassing a wide range of enabling technologies and cross-organisational, social, national and international boundaries. Also, the nature of competition is changing. Buyers are no longer constrained by geographic locations or market knowledge. An increasingly viable mechanism for achieving competitive gain is e-commerce.

Often, the goals of IT strategy do not reflect the goals of the commercial organisation. Further, IT-literate and business-literate professionals may not recognise the aims of the other group.

The rationale of the MSc Business Information Technology course at the Southampton Solent University is to address this mismatch by enabling the practitioners in Information Technology and in commercial operations to benefit from the synergy to be gained when IT is correctly focused to gain measurable commercial advantages. This course covers both the IT and business areas and the focus is on IT that relates to business operations. Therefore, it has a technological focus with an understanding of business.

The course reflects these influences through the design of information technology in relation to measurable commercial gains. The philosophy of the course is based on the recognition that there is a demand for high quality professionals who can design, deploy and practice, in some cases adopted from more traditional system development fields, to the design and implementation of effective systems that aim to gain measurable commercial advantages for the organisation. The course therefore adopts two major teaching and learning themes throughout the programme of study:

Action research by the student, to identify and measure the commercial effect of the information technology.
Information systems designed by the student to gain measurable commercial advantages.
The principles and practices of the MSc in Business Information Technology incorporate existing information technologies but also provide approaches for the evaluation of new and emergent information systems and commercial paradigm.

The course adopts a measurement and evaluation approach. Units of study are intended to focus on the application of specific information systems techniques to the various methods of resolving business problems and to integrate these into the experience of gaining commercial advantages.

Great emphasis is placed on the study skills of those students entering the course. The ability of graduates from the course to independently conduct their own research and integrate technologies, concepts, theories, and models from a wide range of units reflects the postgraduate nature of the course. The close management of the programme is designed to provide a learning framework in which the student may reflect and develop with a high level of independence but with a clear understanding of the objectives associated with the course.

Each unit on the course is designed to investigate information technology methods, tools and techniques and evaluate their applicability within specific commercial domains. It is not intended that a focus will be placed on specific software systems, languages or technology paradigms, rather to assess the suitability of these in context.

As a contribution to the learning experience associated with a particular unit it may be expected that students independently acquire knowledge and skills in specific technology areas such as database programming and web design. In most cases students will be given the opportunity, under supervision, to select the commercial context for their work and subsequently evaluate the appropriateness of the information technology choices.

This approach provides the opportunity to be a reflective practitioner and extend their knowledge by exploring the potential of existing or emergent information technologies. The student is thus provided with an immediate set of practitioner skills, mostly of their own choosing, but this also enhances their ability to respond to rapidly changing technological and commercial environments by providing the opportunity to study new approaches. The advanced study skills of the graduate student enable this approach and reduce dependence on specific technologies within the course.

The course permits students to study from one of two entry pathways. They are the computing skills entry pathway, which is designed to furnish business skills in a competitive context to entrants with computing competence, or the business skills entry pathway, which is designed to furnish information technology skills in a systems development context to entrants with business competence.

Those students entering with computing skills will study commercial concepts and models in the unit "Business Strategy". This unit is designed to advance the students' knowledge of commercial theory and practice and equip them with the skills that will complement their systems knowledge. Those students entering with business skills wills study information technology concepts and models in the unit "Systems Development Methods". This unit is designed to advance the students' knowledge of system's theory and practice and equip them with the skills that will complement their management knowledge.

Teaching and Learning Methods

Lectures

These provide the framework for disseminating academic theory, commercial concepts, and illustrative resolution perspectives. They are considered to be an efficient method of initiating and managing the learning process and will be used to present arguments and views as well as communication new ideas to students. Lectures should not constitute a one way flow of information but should be used as a means of encouraging students to raise questions and identify issues that can be followed up in other forms of learning.

Seminars

Seminars are a predominantly student led activity. In those units in which seminars will be used, students will undertake a specific area of research and then use the resultant seminar paper as a framework for leading discussion. Seminar papers are investigative in nature and provide the opportunity for student groups to explore the unit material in depth and in the context of their particular problem. As examples, in the unit "Developing Systems for Competitive Advantage", a small group is expected to analyse a particular commercial domain and evaluate the applicability of particular information systems to assure measurable competitive gains. In the unit "Research Methods and Instruments of Measurement", a small group is required to evaluate the suitability of commercial instruments of measurement with respect to different information systems. Seminars form part of the overall assessment in units where they are used. An assessment is made on the conceptual evaluation of the written research paper, the style and content of the presentation and the resultant discussion.

Tutorials

Focused tuition provides the opportunity for the student to synthesise and extent the unit material and to identify points of convergence for further directed study. The range of activities forming the tutorial is diverse and will reflect the nature and content of the unit that they support. Typically, students may prepare and present the results of work based action research as a lead in to discussions concerning particular information technology issues or commercial design problems.

Student Led Learning

This form of independent study is intended to invoke high order thinking skills that are appropriate at Masters Degree level. The learning approach is for the student to adopt a self-paced approach to study and to apply academic theory, commercial concepts, instruments of measurement, and resolution models to the work-based problems of the unit. The learning outcomes will reflect on the models, the organisational constraints, and the resolutions to the student's work-based and other problems.

Action Research

This method is intended to invoke deep learning connected with the complex issues concerning information technology for commercial gain. It involves simulating interventions by the student, in the role of an investigating executive, into mutually agreed commercial situations and to study the effects on the variables under scrutiny and make recommendations by way of assessed reports and presentations.

Surgeries

These will be used within seminar sessions to counsel the student when matching the academic requirements with the commercial realities, and they will provide formative feedback concerning assessments. A series of one-to-one conversations between the student and the tutor will facilitate an understanding of the learning requirements and uncover ways of achieving good results. In cases where one-to-one meetings are difficult electronic surgeries will take place.

Self Help Group Learning

Outside class contact time the student will be encouraged to collaborate with other students studying the unit. Small learning groups are especially useful when drawing on alternative work-based experiences to address issues in the context of problem resolution.

Case Studies

Where appropriate case studies will be used to illustrate the development of information technology or management theory into concepts concerning work-based applications. In some cases these will be integrative in nature and designed to bring together the learning outcomes of several units of study. Typical of this is the unit "Executive Support Systems". Here case studies may be used to allow students to explore the application of information technology concepts and academic models to different instruments of commercial measurement. This is structured to highlight the key decision issues in terms of the commercial impact of the applied information technology.

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