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Capstone Projects: A Feedback Mechanism for Research and Design, Development and Delivery of Curricula & Courses Ramesh G. Kini Professor of ISM at the Faculty of IT, Kazakh British Tech. U. in Almaty, Kazakhstan Room 277, FIT, KBTU, 59 Tole Bi, Almaty 050000, Rep. of Kazakhstan [email protected] Timur F. Umarov Vice President Academic Affairs of IT, Kazakh British Tech. U. in Almaty, Kazakhstan Room 415, KBTU, 59 Tole Bi, Almaty 050000, Rep. of Kazakhstan [email protected] Fuad Hajiyev Professor and senior mentor at the ADA in Baku, Azerbaijan. Abstract - We seek, in what follows, to link the topics of our students’ capstone projects, and in turn our research initiatives, in an extended sense, to a mapping between the “(a) through (j)” ABET CAC student outcomes and our composite IS program SOs (To Understand, To Question, To Design, To Lead, and To Communicate), to include the four skill categories, namely, (i) “4C” Learning and Innovation skills; (ii) 21st Century Global and Local Citizenship skills; (iii) Life and Career skills; and (iv) Professional capabilities, including Information, Media and Technology skills. Using sample capstone projects done by the first author’s students, we show how we “close the loop,” broadly speaking, between our academic programs, course offerings, our industry-academic partnerships and our research thrust areas and these program and learning outcome related goals and objectives. Keywords - Capstone Projects, Curriculum, Courses, Research Type of Paper: Regular Research Paper I. INTRODUCTION Among the “soul-searching” questions we often ask ourselves at the Faculty of IT, KBTU, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the most critical and yet most nebulous ones are probably: x What role should a modern university play in the economy, in society?x How can we make Kazakhstan more innovative, more competitive?x “How can we better measure the performance of any academic institution, over the short-term, medium-term and long-term?” x "Where were we 5 years ago?, Where are we now? and Where do we want to be say 5-10 years from now?and x If we are to add more value to society, to Kazakhstan and its citizens, how can we aspire to be better or even the “best” at everything we do, and ensure that our students do likewise? Our colleagues the world over have similar pensive thoughts, probably, as and when they do go through their own introspective, retrospective and prospective analyses. As academics in a highly competitive global marketplace that is in a constant state of flux, we all have to somehow figure out, after all, how to prepare graduates who can remain professionally current, capable and competent for the next 40 years given that: (i) the pace of change in the more complex world of technology is constantly picking up; and (ii) that none of us knows what to expect over the next 5 10 years, much less the next 40. Our efforts to continuously improve our academic programs and courses and to offer knowledge modules that are up-to-date and “in-synch.” with the needs and expectations of industry, are intricately intertwined with our efforts to make our research projects (i.e., our “capstone projects”) at the bachelor’s and master’s level more rigorous as well as relevant in terms of current and local practice. The issues and problems that we seek to deal with both in the classroom as well as in terms of research projects we have undertaken, have their roots in the realities on the ground as far as Kazakhstan, Central Asia, etc., are concerned, as well as in the more recent theoretical and literature-related developments that the rapidly burgeoning global knowledge base is comprised of. The relationships we have enjoyed with our industry partners have proved to be both symbiotic and synergistic, in that these have served to mold both our faculty’s course offerings and the research thrust areas that our students and we, as faculty members, have chosen to work on over the years. Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 | 239 ISBN: 1-60132-457-X, CSREA Press ©

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Page 1: Capstone Projects: A Feedback Mechanism for Research and … · 2017-09-17 · Capstone Projects: A Feedback Mechanism for Research and Design, Development and Delivery of Curricula

Capstone Projects: A Feedback Mechanism for Research and Design, Development and

Delivery of Curricula & Courses Ramesh G. Kini

Professor of ISM at the Faculty of IT, Kazakh British Tech. U. in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Room 277, FIT, KBTU, 59 Tole Bi, Almaty 050000, Rep. of Kazakhstan

[email protected]

Timur F. UmarovVice President Academic Affairs of IT, Kazakh British Tech.

U. in Almaty, Kazakhstan Room 415, KBTU, 59 Tole Bi, Almaty 050000, Rep. of

[email protected]

Fuad HajiyevProfessor and senior mentor at the ADA in Baku,

Azerbaijan.

Abstract - We seek, in what follows, to link the topics of our students’ capstone projects, and in turn our research initiatives, in an extended sense, to a mapping between the “(a) through (j)” ABET CAC student outcomes and our composite IS program SOs (To Understand, To Question, To Design, To Lead, and To Communicate), to include the four skill categories, namely, (i) “4C” Learning and Innovation skills; (ii) 21st Century Global and Local Citizenship skills; (iii) Life and Career skills; and (iv) Professional capabilities, including Information, Media and

Technology skills. Using sample capstone projects done by the first author’s students, we show how we “close the loop,” broadly speaking, between our academic programs, course offerings, our industry-academic partnerships and our research thrust areas and these program and learning outcome related goals and objectives.

Keywords - Capstone Projects, Curriculum, Courses, Research Type of Paper: Regular Research Paper

I. INTRODUCTION

Among the “soul-searching” questions we often ask ourselves at the Faculty of IT, KBTU, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the most critical and yet most nebulous ones are probably:

“What role should a modern university play in theeconomy, in society?”“How can we make Kazakhstan more innovative, morecompetitive?”“How can we better measure the performance of anyacademic institution, over the short-term, medium-termand long-term?”"Where were we 5 years ago?, Where are we now? andWhere do we want to be say 5-10 years from now?”and“If we are to add more value to society, to Kazakhstanand its citizens, how can we aspire to be better or eventhe “best” at everything we do, and ensure that ourstudents do likewise”?

Our colleagues the world over have similar pensive thoughts,probably, as and when they do go through their own introspective, retrospective and prospective analyses. Asacademics in a highly competitive global marketplace that is in a constant state of flux, we all have to somehow figure out, after

all, how to prepare graduates who can remain professionallycurrent, capable and competent for the next 40 years given that: (i) the pace of change in the more complex world of technology is constantly picking up; and (ii) that none of us knows what to expect over the next 5 – 10 years, much less the next 40.

Our efforts to continuously improve our academic programs and courses and to offer knowledge modules that are up-to-date and “in-synch.” with the needs and expectations of industry, are intricately intertwined with our efforts to make our research projects (i.e., our “capstone projects”) at the bachelor’s and master’s level more rigorous as well as relevant in terms of current and local practice. The issues and problems that we seek to deal with both in the classroom as well as in terms of research projects we have undertaken, have their roots in the realities on the ground as far as Kazakhstan, Central Asia, etc., are concerned, as well as in the more recent theoretical and literature-related developments that the rapidly burgeoning global knowledge base is comprised of. The relationships we have enjoyed with our industry partners have proved to be both symbiotic and synergistic, in that these have served to mold both our faculty’s course offerings and the research thrust areas that our students and we, as faculty members, have chosen to work on over the years.

Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 | 239

ISBN: 1-60132-457-X, CSREA Press ©

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Figure 1: Links between academic programs, course offerings, our industry-academic partnerships and the research thrust areas

Our efforts, along with our industry partners and the would-be-employers of our graduates, to improve our program and course offerings and to sharpen our focus on project and research topics that are both relevant to, and important for, Kazakhstan, for instance, have helped us to better:

a. Identify more up-to-date and desirable content areas for our program curricula and courses, and understand the contextual underpinnings of that content;

b. Analyze current industry practices to evaluate shortcomings in these practices and thus generate new ideas1 and identify significant research questions that can be addressed analytically and/or empirically;

c. Link our research efforts to the relevant theory;

d. (i) Enumerate and analyze the factors that affect the reality on the ground and state of the art in a theoretical sense in the domain of interest (healthcare, supply chain management, and so on); (ii) directly or indirectly investigate further the question that is of interest and develop the ideas that have been generated; (iii) make assumptions about variables and parameters as needed; (iv) test those assumptions; (v) evaluate the alternate solutions available, and so on;

e. Provide coherent and explicit explanations for “the way things are” currently, and choose the best possible path to get to the “the way things ought to be” state in the future. 1 As we elaborate in Table 1, these ideas could relate to a number of different domains such as: (i) Healthcare Information Systems; (ii) Project Planning, Management and Control; (iii) Finance, Accounting, Auditing, and Issues related to Pension Funds, Banking and other Financial Crises; (iv) Supply Chain Management; (v) Energy and Environmental Management; (vi) Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, Innovation and Technology Management, etc.

Over the years, we have seen that the projects and research initiatives that the students have worked on, do serve to both influence and impact on the career choices they have made in their professional lives, as well as on our efforts to update curriculum and course design, development and delivery. The feedback mechanism illustrated in Figure 1 above, depicts how we seek to link our academic programs and course offerings and the research thrust areas together: the example used shows how the modules of the first author’s Basics of Information Systems course (EGR 356) as well as other similar courses, namely traffic management, disaster management, pension funds management, supply chain management, project management, bank risk management, healthcare management, and so on, have also

provided the students with topics for their bachelor’s and master’s thesis research work. Table 1 below serves to exemplify and expand on this interlinkage and feedback theme (other FIT faculty members have similar or varied research interests, including fuzzy logic and analysis, image recognition and processing, and so on, and a large number of students have benefitted significantly from working with them a number of different topics).

Table 1: Synopsis of research areas explored by the first author and his students over the recent past to elaborate on the feedback mechanism that is contained in the lower half of Figure 1 (more details are available on these research thrust areas – please contact the corresponding author):

A: Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, Innovation and Technology Management:

1) A1: Modeling and Analytical Support Systems for Entrepreneurs and Investors: topic of Anel B.’s bachelor’s thesis

B: Healthcare Information Systems:

2) B1: Modeling and Analysis of AMR or Anti Microbial Resistance: topic of Kuanysh O.’s Master’s thesis

3) B2: Modeling and Analysis of Contagious Diseases and Deploying Epidemiological Early Warning Systems based on Public Domain Knowledge: topic of Aigerim Z.’s and Sabira A.’s Master’s thesis

4) B3: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Contagious Disease Epidemics (Influenza): Topic of Perizat K.’s bachelor’s thesis

5) B4: Modeling and Analysis of the Gaming Addiction Problem: Macroeconomic Implications and Policy Prescriptions: topic of Igor M.’s Master’s thesis

Courseworke.g., Basics of IS (EGR 356)•Traffic Mgt.• Disaster Mgt.• Pension Funds Mgt.• SCM• Project Mgt., etc.

k

Answers, InsightsCourses

Provide some…

Practice (Ground Realities)That are

relevant to…

ThTh tat aaaarreThat are

Ideas, Questions

Based on Short-comings of current practices, we Identify…

Topics for Bachelor’s and Master’s Students

To be Explored as…

Research done by (see Table 1)• Bakytzhan, Mehrdod• Kuat…• Yessenzhar, Nursultan,..• Chingis, Askhat… • Yerkezhan, Zhassan…

That are picked by students…

This helps us update curriculum and course design, development and delivery

Influences Career Choices…

Industry Partners,

Employers

t relating to:Healthcare

Information SystemsProject Planning,

Management and Control

Finance, Accounting, Auditing, and Issues related to Pension Funds, Banking and other Financial Crises

Supply Chain Management

Energy and Environmental Management

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, Innovation and Technology Management,

etc.

T b

240 Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 |

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6) B5: Epidemiological modeling and analysis of contagious diseases: pre-cursor events and cause-effect relationships: Topic of Ayauzhan T.’s and Erlan E.’s bachelor’s thesis work

7) B6: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze the Diabetes mellitus – Obesity Syndemic: Topic of German I.’s master’s thesis and Aziz’s and Altynbek S.’s bachelor’s thesis

8) B7: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze TB Epidemics in KZ: Topic of Assel Y.’s bachelor’s thesis

9) B8: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Vaccine Supply Chains in KZ: Topic of Arman K.’s master’s thesis and Aliya Z.’s bachelor’s thesis

10) B9: Modeling and Analysis of Factors that affect Drug-Resistant TB Epidemics in Hotspots such as KZ (proposal along with my former student and now colleague, Damir Y. that had been made a couple of years ago to work jointly with the NIH, or the National Institutes of Health, in the US, and its arm, the NIAID)

C: Information Systems for Project Planning, Management and Control:

11) C1: New Modeling and Analytical Approaches in Project Management: Topic of research done by Yerkezhan S., Zhassan B. and Ulykbek A. for their master’s thesis and Pavel D. and Bilal M. for their bachelor’s thesis

12) C2: Using System Dynamics and Simulation for Scenario Based Modeling, Analysis and Management of Projects: Graduating Students: Sabit T. and Kuanysh S.

This was an extension of the work done earlier with Damir Y. and Yessenzhar K. (“Scenario Based Project Management Using System Dynamics” presented at the Third Annual Conference of the European Decision Sciences Institute in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 2012)

13) C3: Modeling and Analysis of a Tire Retreading and Recycling Project along the Time, Cost and Performance Dimensions: Topic of Aigerim K.’s master’s thesis

D: Finance, Accounting, Auditing, and Issues related to Pension Funds, Banking and other Financial Crises:

14) D1: Boundaryless, Real-time Accounting and Auditing Systems: topic of Aibek K.’s bachelors’ thesis

15) D2: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze the Impact of Aging and Immigration on the Viability of Pension Funds: topic of Yessenzhar K.’s Master’s thesis and Nursultan N.’s and Askhat S.’s bachelor’s thesis

16) D3: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze the Banking Crises in Kazakhstan and the Developed World and Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Risk Management in Banking System: topic of Alibek S.’s and Asset D.’s Master’s

theses and Kairat T.’s, Altynbek A.’s, Aray K.’s, Moldir N.’s and Zhanar R.’s bachelor’s theses

E) Supply Chain Management:

17) E1: Using System Dynamics and Discrete Event Simulation for Modeling and Analysis of the Dynamics for Disaster Management Supply Chains: topic of Kuat A.’s Master’s thesis

18) E2: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Garment Retailing Supply Chain Management in KZ: topic of Chingis K.’s Master’s thesis

19) E3: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Foodgrain Supply Chain Management in KZ: topic of Askhat O.’s Master’s thesis

20) E4: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Petrol Station Supply Chain Management in KZ: topic of Aishabibi K.’s and Abduvakhid A.’s bachelor’s thesis

21) E5: Modeling and Analysis of a DSD (Direct Sales Delivery) Program for a Global Tire Manufacturer in KZ: topic of Assel S.’s Master’s thesis

22) E6: Modeling and Analysis of an Optimal Shipping and Delivery Program for a Mineral Extraction and Processing Firm in KZ: topic of Seitzhan Z.’s Master’s thesis

F) Energy and Environmental Management:

23) F1: Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Equipment Reliability, Maintenance and Replacement Programs in the Power Grid Sector: Topic of Nurdaulet A.’s and Madi A.’s bachelor’s thesis

24) F2: Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Traffic Management: The Green Driver Project: Topic of Bakhytzhan Dos’s and Mehrdod Odilzada’s bachelor’s thesis

25) F3: Modeling and Analysis of an Optimal Traffic Management Approach in Almaty, KZ: topic of Arman G.’s Master’s thesis

26) F4: Using System Dynamics and Simulation to Model and Analyze Population the Caspian Sea Sturgeon: with Damir Y. and Yessenzhar K. (“Modeling and Analysis of the Impact of the Oil and Gas Industry on the Caspian Sea Environment: A systems dynamics model of the Caspian Sea sturgeon population over time” presented at the Third Annual Conference of the European Decision Sciences Institute in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 2012)

27) F5: System Dynamics and Simulation in Energy and Environmental Management: Topic of Akniyet B.’ master’s thesis

28) F6: Modeling and Analysis of the Aral Sea Dynamics: a Foundation for more Equitable Apportioning of Water Flows and Stocks between the Upper Riparian and Lower Riparian Countries (currently underway: more details in due course)

Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 | 241

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G: Miscellaneous Topics:

29) G1: iOS mobile application using concept of gamification: Topic of Akezhan S.’s bachelor’s thesis

II. ASSESSING THE SHORTCOMINGS OF OUR APPROACH

Experts have long since suggested that our current academic “business model” is thoroughly obsolete and that we in academe need to offer: (i) more modern vehicles for Curriculum, Course and Instruction Design, Development and Delivery; (ii) more effective models for Standards and Assessments; (iii) Learning Environments that are more conducive to more meaningful, life-long learning; and (iv) more meaningful and relevant paradigms for long-term Professional Development.

Even the most diehard status-quo adherents amongst us will be willing to admit that the knowledge we so diligently and assiduously impart to our students during their years in our academic programs becomes obsolete before or just after they graduate, and that we just do not have the look-ahead capabilities to figure out what our students will need to know over the next four decades of their careers. Without a doubt, the old academic paradigms are obsolete: “Drill, Grill and Kill” is dead, and instead of the traditional “Sage on the Stage,” we now play a more supportive “Guide on the Side” role. Seeking to emulate the success of the more innovative amongst us who have up with “flipped classrooms,” in which participants combine “online” and “offline” learning, some if not all of us are now trying to come up our own hybrid models. We now try to get our “wards” to accept that they have to strive to become the best “life-long-learners” that they could possibly become over time, and that unless they figure out how to constantly and consistently “learn, unlearn and relearn” as needed, and to co-learn and co-explore with their colleagues as they build up their project portfolios and their resumes, they may encounter quite a few, not so pleasant surprises over the next four decades of their careers.

Additionally, we feel that programs and courses offered by most academic institutions, including KBTU, do over-emphasize

and to a lesser extent and ignore (using the ancient Greek taxonomy for classifying

knowledge, viz., + + where: (i) refers to technical knowledge or the “how to do,” rule-

based or programmable aspects of any body of knowledge; (ii) refers to deep knowledge and (iii) refers to

the application of the other two types of knowledge to solving real world problems). We, the faculty members of FIT, do realize that we can and must do a better job of designing, developing and delivering programs, curricula and courses to strike the right balance between the three forms of knowledge.

Similarly, the emphasis in academe has traditionally been on the “syntax” and “semantics” of any body of knowledge, and not on the “pragmatics” (where the first two refer to the rules of “grammar” and the “meaning” related aspects and the lattermost refers to the context in which the “syntax” and “semantics” are embedded, and the applicability of these to the real world, much like the phronetic approach advocated by the Greeks). We will have to admit that we in academe have struggled to find the right balance between the “leaves” (or the –oriented minutiae), the “trees” and the “forest” (where the latter refers to the “big” picture, or the “30,000 foot view” by some analysts), when it comes to designing, developing and delivering courses that will make a difference in our students’ lives and careers.

Figure 2: “21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems” (adapted from the document available online at http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_framework_0515.pdf)

III. CLOSING THE LOOP

While we continue to believe in the “(a) through (j)” CAC student outcomes, namely,

(a) An ability to apply knowledge of computing and mathematics appropriate to the program’s student outcomes and to the discipline

(b) An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements appropriate to its solution

(c) An ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process, component, or program to meet desired needs

(d) An ability to function effectively on teams to accomplish a common goal

(e) An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, security and social issues and responsibilities

(f) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

(g) An ability to analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations, and society

• Global Awareness• Financial, Economic,

Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy

• Civic Literacy• Health Literacy• Environmental Literacy

• Creativity and Innovation• Critical Thinking and Problem

Solving• Communication and

Collaboration

• Flexibility and Adaptability• Initiative and Self-Direction• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills• Productivity and Accountability• Leadership and Responsibility

• Information Literacy• Media Literacy• ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy

242 Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 |

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(h) Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in continuing professional development

(i) An ability to use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary for computing practice

(j) An understanding of and an ability to support the use, delivery, and management of information systems within an Information Systems environment; we have sought to go further – like most others who have gone through the ABET accreditation process, we have mapped the “(a) through (j)” ABET CAC student outcomes onto our composite IS program SOs (To Understand, To Question, To Design, To Lead, and To Communicate). Below, we show how we have also sought to map our course modules and our main research thrust areas (for our students’ capstone projects) onto to both of these.

Based on what such experts have offered by way of more appropriate and more modern approaches (for instance, see Figure 2 above, adapted from “21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems,” which is available online at http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_framework_0515.pdf), we have sought to ensure that our graduates not only have the professional and technical capabilities, i.e., the domain skills and programming and algorithm-related capabilities, that they would need to thrive rather than just survive in their professional lives, but also the soft skills, the life and career skills, the life-long learning and innovation skills, and so on.

More specifically, we have sought (through the modules of the core and elective courses we offer and also through the research topics we work on with our students) to provide our graduates with numerous opportunities to obtain and hone their:

“4C” Learning and Innovation skills (viz., Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration);

21st Century Global and Local Citizenship skills needed for our graduates to become good citizens not only of Kazakhstan but also of the world (viz., Global Awareness, Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy, Civic Literacy, Health Literacy, Environmental Literacy, etc.);

Life and Career skills (viz., Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self-Direction, Social and Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, “Followership,” Leadership and Responsibility, etc.); and

Professional capabilities, including Information, Media and Technology skills (viz., Information Literacy, Media Literacy, ICT or Information, Communications and Technology, Literacy).

We can assume that as far as the programs offered by FIT-KBTU are concerned, the lattermost skill set (Information, Media and Technology skills) is subsumed by the professional and technical capabilities that any CAC-type program would normally be expected to endow its participants with, before they graduate. In any case, we see that members of successive

cohorts are often more tech.-savvy than the faculty members, who teach them and that most of the learning on the technical front is instructed-to-instructed, i.e., peer-to-peer, or sourced from the public domain or open sources, rather than instructor-to-instructed. While our courses do not explicitly address issues relating to the Life and Career skill set in a formal way, we do so informally through in-class discussions, and so on, in order to prepare our graduates to face the numerous challenges that they will inevitably have to take on over their careers.

Using the EGR 356: Basics of IS course as an example, we now explain how the course modules aim to ground the students more firmly in the more essential 21st Century Global and Local Citizenship skills and the “4C” Learning and Innovation skills. The modules that address issues relating to the applicability of ICT or information and communication technologies to a firm's internal dimensions (e.g., Financial & Management Accounting, Marketing and Competition, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Business Models, Project Management, etc.) and external or societal dimensions (e.g., Disaster Management, Risk Management in the Banking and Financial Sector, Healthcare Management, Energy and Environmental Management, Traffic Management, etc.) are tailored to ensuring that the students are: (i) sufficiently globally aware; and have more than adequate levels of (ii) financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, (iii) civic literacy, (iv) health literacy, (v) environmental literacy, etc., so that they are and will remain good citizens not only of Kazakhstan but also of the world.

To illustrate how we try to close the loop, please consider item 24 in Table 1, i.e., F2: Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Traffic Management: The Green Driver Project: Topic of Bakhytzhan Dos’s and Mehrdod Odilzada’s bachelor’s thesis. Bakhytzhan and Mehrdod had collaborated with each other, in 2015, to create the Green Driver toolkit which allowed for users to obtain guidance on optimal vehicle routing, for road network capacity to be better managed and traffic flows to become smoother and more optimized, and for fuel consumption and hence pollution to be reduced or even minimized simultaneously. At the same time, feedback from the OBD-2 devices allowed users to improve their driving skills over time and this in conjunction with real-time traffic signal control could also improve traffic safety, and so on.

The Green Driver project is now central to the traffic management module of the EGR 356: Basics of Information Systems course, and our alumni in this case join the discussion in person or via Skype. We intend to continue working on this initiative -- we hope that other students will, in the future, build on work done by Bakhytzhan and Mehrdod, and with their help, create a more comprehensive routing optimization and traffic management platform that will allow individual vehicle drivers, taxi and truck fleet owners and government agencies to save time as well as money through increased fuel efficiency on the one hand, and the people in general to benefit from reduced traffic congestion and associated pollution-type negative externalities on the other. They may use more comprehensive pheromone-based traffic management modeling approaches to

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optimize vehicle re-routing and traffic light control at the same time, or algorithms from graph theory, such as Dijkstra’s algorithm, to compute optimal routes in partly congested road networks., for instance.

Figure 3: Mapping our research thrust areas, our academic programs, course offerings, and our industry-academic partnerships to the “(a) through (j)” ABET CAC student outcomes, our composite IS program SOs and the Skill Categories identified in Figure 2 above (adapted from “21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems,” available online at http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_framework_0515.pdf)

As depicted above in Figure 3, we have sought accordingly to extend the mapping between the “(a) through (j)” ABET CAC student outcomes and our composite IS program SOs, by including links to the four skill categories, namely, (i) “4C” Learning and Innovation skills; (ii) 21st Century Global and Local Citizenship skills; (iii) Life and Career skills; and (iv) Professional capabilities, including Information, Media and Technology skills. Since our course modules (e.g., of EGR 356: Basics of IS, in this case) actively encourage the students to: (i) Understand the current state of the art in the field of disaster management, healthcare management, traffic management, etc.; (ii) Question whether relevant systems can be improved along one or more of the pertinent dimensions; (iii) Design such improved systems; and (iv) Lead & Communicate), they serve to reinforce the composite IS program SOs, and at the same time they enable the participants to gain more depth and breadth vis-à-vis the four skill categories, and especially the 21st Century

Global and Local Citizenship skills and the “4C” Learning and Innovation skills mentioned earlier, We note that the color-coded dashed-, dotted- and solid lines link research topics (Ideas, Questions), the course modules for EGR 356: Basics of

IS, and the 21st Century Themes and the 4C Learning and Innovation Skills we seek to endow our graduates with. Since our students’ capstone project topics, i.e., our research initiatives, are based on inputs from our industry partners, and alumni who have worked on similar topics earlier, as well as on new additions to the course modules, these linkages to the goals and objectives serve to close the loop, in a manner of speaking.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

We have sought to analyze how a number of different issues, such as those listed and discussed above, will, in the long run, if they haven’t already, significantly inform, influence and impact on our approach to: (i) Curriculum, Course and Instruction Design, Development and Delivery; (ii) Standards and Assessments; (iii) Learning Environments; and (iv) paradigms for Professional Development. We have chosen to adopt this hybrid or composite approach because we do realize we have to adapt and change for the better if we are to thrive or even survive in a professional sense (most of us in academe do suspect that the current generation enrolled in our academic programs may well be the last to spend four full years of their youth in full time, undergraduate academic programs – with all that the MOOCs from world famous academic institutions, such as MIT, Stanford and Berkeley have to offer, with all of the content that is available “for free” online, why would the next generation even bother to enroll in our universities?).

21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems

• Global Awareness• Financial, Economic,

Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy

• Civic Literacy• Health Literacy• Environmental Literacy

• Creativity and Innovation• Critical Thinking and

Problem Solving• Communication and

Collaboration

• Flexibility and Adaptability• Initiative and Self-Direction• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills• Productivity and Accountability• Leadership and Responsibility

• Information Literacy• Media Literacy• ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) LiteracyTechnology) Litera

CAC SO’s: (a), (b), (c), (i) and (j)

ollaborationCAC SO’s: (b), (h) and (f)

• Leadership and RespoCAC SO’s: (d) and (e)

CAC SO’s: (e) and (g)CAC SOO’ ( )

Topics for Bachelor’s and Master’s Students

Ideas, Questions

To be Explored as…

Research done by (see Table 1)• Bakytzhan, Mehrdod, Kuat…• Yessenzhar, Nursultan, Chingis, Askhat… • Yerkezhan, Zhassan…

That are picked by students…

yIndustry Partners, Employers

• FiFiBBE

••

relating to:Healthcare Information SystemsProject Planning, Management and ControlFinance, Accounting, Auditing, and Issues related to Pension

Funds, Banking and other Financial CrisesSupply Chain ManagementEnergy and Environmental ManagementEntrepreneurship Ecosystems, Innovation and Technology

Management, etc.

This helps us update curriculum and course design, development and delivery

Courseworke.g., Basics of IS (EGR 356)•Traffic Mgt., Disaster Mgt.• Pension Funds Mgt., SCM• Project Mgt., etc.

To

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• • •• •

244 Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'17 |

ISBN: 1-60132-457-X, CSREA Press ©