This project establishes an advanced Information Technology Laboratory for improving the undergraduate curriculum in computer information systems (CIS). The improvements include developing new and upgraded laboratory projects for all the courses, in particular, Information Systems Analysis and Design and Management Support Systems courses, as well as offering a new course in Software Development. The projects are team-oriented and emphasize group problem-solving skills with groupware support. LotusNOTES is used to create workgroups that facilitate the storing and sharing of project information. In the Information Systems Analysis and Design course, students are required to work in groups on real-life business information systems problems. Each project group undertakes an in-depth analysis of an information systems problem, develops a set of requirement specifications, and designs a system to meet those needs. In the Management Support Systems course, students work on a new semester-long project to develop a prototype decision support system based on a real-life business problem. In each of these courses, the projects require substantial computing resources, both hardware and software, not previously available to the students. The new laboratory includes 15 networked student workstations, 3 instructor workstations, 1 network server, application development software, workgroup software, and other auxiliary equipment.
