Achieving Significant Learning in E-Commerce Education Through Small Business Consulting Projects

Journal of Information Systems Education, Spring 2005 by Tabor, Sharon W

ABSTRACT

Spanning almost a decade in the business vernacular, electronic commerce has been an exciting endeavor for the business world and a challenging field in which to teach. From the launch of instant success stories such as Amazon.com, and the glory days of rapidly accelerating Internet stocks, electronic commerce has evolved into a valid business methodology, and the Internet accepted as an appropriate alternative distribution channel. Cross-functional in nature and with rapidly changing technology, electronic commerce challenges our ability to develop meaningful academic experiences that build marketable technical skills. The good news is that maturity in this area may finally have yielded a level of stability in course content and successful learning experiences to prepare our graduates for a world that thrives on electronic business. This paper outlines the issues and challenges of developing electronic commerce curricula to achieve Fink's definition of significant learning. One method of accomplishing this goal is through team projects in which students consult to small businesses, collaborate on development projects, and achieve significant learning though the realistic application of theory.

Keywords: E-Commerce education, significant learning, team projects, consulting skills

INTRODUCTION

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) education in the IT curriculum from the mid-1990s through the present has been one of never-ending change, not to mention endless class preparations. One of the reasons is that this exciting new field of study was initially poorly defined, and certainly over-exposed in the business press. Early books spoke with reverence of electronic commerce as "an entirely new method to conduct business" (Mougayar, 1997, p. 25), "a catalyst for dramatic changes in internal organizational functioning" (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997, p. iii), and the foundation of the New Economy (Davis & Meyer, 1998). From these initially ambitious assertions, through the struggle over ownership and the eventual dotcom bust, E-Commerce has changed in content and focus and E-Commerce education has transitioned along with them.

The exuberance of the E-Commerce foundation literature gradually became more focused as we experienced as many as 5,000 Internet business failures from 2000 through 2003 (Kessler, et. al 2003). Those failures showed us that early E-Commerce adopter companies often had the wrong business models, or none at all, and that a poorly conceived fulfillment process such as that of eToys (Preston, 2001) would doom any venture. Along the way we realized that electronic commerce was a logical extension of interorganizational systems, an evolution of industry-specific electronic data interchange, and a living example of divergent strategic information systems (McCubbrey, 1999). We now know the survivors and success stones of 21st century electronic business are most often successful brick-and-mortar companies, rather than the hot Internet start-ups of the late nineties.

Complicating the normal challenges of preparing a technical workforce in a fast-changing area, electronic commerce research shows an increasing tendency for business strategy and technical projects to be initiated outside the Information Technology (IT) organization (Swanson, 1994). IT professionals-in-training must be aware of the likelihood of this phenomenon and understand the cross-functional implications they will face on the job. Fortunately, many organizations claiming success with electronic commerce emphasize the importance of getting IT involved early in the strategy building process, and before a functional business model is developed. In fact, a new breed of IT professional that is business savvy as well as technically competent seems to be a critical factor for electronic commerce success (Tabor & Wojtkowski, 2001). This trend supports what academics have been hearing from business advisory boards across the country - that general business knowledge, communication, and team skills are as important as the technology students learn in their degree programs.

Today, exuberance has been tempered and electronic commerce has evolved into an acceptable business methodology. Stakeholders in both corporate and academic worlds have arrived at a peaceful level of coexistence about ownership and roles. The business must decide on the model that works for them, marketing will work on branding, promotion and other things they do best, the logistics and distribution professionals will implement the supply chain and manage the fulfillment processes to deliver the goods, and IT will make it all happen with technology. What an interesting trip it has been!

2. E-COMMERCE CURRICULUM CHALLENGES

Electronic commerce and the many new technologies that came with it were introduced into the IT curriculum at most universities as rapidly, if not more so, than any other new technology in the brief history of our field. As early as the mid-nineties, several well-known schools established electronic commerce research centers to partner with business and better meet their needs. Masters programs were created to develop the next generation of dotcom heroes, while undergraduate programs added courses or specialty tracks. Aside from the typical issues of delivering courses with new technologies, E-Commerce was a challenging course to develop given the constantly changing definition and relationships with various business units and academic disciplines. Business strategy, marketing, auditing, and information systems programs all began the campaign for resources to address the perceived needs in their individual areas.