Changing the Introductory IS Course to Improve Future Enrollments: An Irish Perspective

Authors

Eoin Whelan, National University of Ireland - Galway
David Firth, University of Montana

Abstract

A significant challenge facing the IS discipline worldwide is the reversal of the low numbers of students currently enrolling in IS courses. While there is a growing body of literature which offers various insights into the IS enrollment crisis, almost all of this work is either from U.S. scholars or based on findings from U.S. universities. This paper seeks to bring a much needed international perspective to this issue. The setting for this paper is the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick in Ireland where enrollments on the IS program have grown from a low of 12 in 2007 to 70 in 2011, a five fold increase. Using a set of steps laid out by Firth et al. (2008) we detail how this success was achieved. Supported by focus group and survey data, we provide new ideas on how to engage business school students in the IS discipline in a way that encourages them to specialize in the discipline. This paper presents a useful and immediately applicable plan for all IS programs that are seeking to grow or strengthen their offerings.

Recommended Citation

Whelan, Eoin and Firth, David (2012) "Changing the Introductory IS Course to Improve Future Enrollments: An Irish Perspective," Journal of Information Systems Education: Vol. 23 : Iss. 4 , 395-406.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jise/vol23/iss4/6