Project-Based Learning: An Assessment on Team Building across The MIS Curriculum

Mohammad A. Rob; Vance Etnyre

Mohammad A. Rob and Vance Etnyre

University of Houston-Clear Lake, USA

Volume 4: 2009, pp. 193-208; ABSTRACT

Many business schools have been facing new accreditation requirements from the AACSB. The primary goal of AACSB is to ensure that the students graduating from a business school have the knowledge and skills appropriate to their degree programs and that education must prepare students to grow personally and professionally throughout their careers. Project-based learning provides a cross-collaborative learning environment that enhances student-learning through team interaction. It provides improved understanding of subject matters, helps develop communication and fosters teamwork, and provides opportunities to hone leadership skills. Teaching through group projects also addresses the instructional guidelines prescribed in the AACSB Assurance of Learning Standards that promote innovation in instructional processes, actively involve students in the learning process, engage students, and encourage collaboration and cooperation among students. The same are also suggested by other international accreditation bodies. In our MIS program, we require students to work on group projects as part of several courses such as Systems Analysis and Design, IT Project Management, Web Development, e-Commerce, Data Warehousing, and Management Information Systems. This paper briefly describes how group projects are implemented in these courses, and particularly we report the effectiveness of group projects in students’ learning and team collaboration through an assessment performed in these courses. Overall, we found that irrespective of the course, group projects prepare students with knowledge and skills necessary to prepare students personally and professionally to work in today’s business environment. These findings have implications for other undergraduate and graduate management subjects.

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