Integrating Sustainability within the IS Curriculum

Authors

Marie-Claude Boudreau, UGAFollow

Abstract

Abstract Is it important for IS students to be climate literate and encourage them to use their IS skills to improve our world? I argue that it is and that, as IS educators, we could be more intentional in integrating sustainability content into the classes we already teach. Our students choose a career path that will give them the skills and knowledge to best leverage the latest information technologies and systems to create business value. We teach them to code, analyze data, manage IS projects, and design information systems. While we expect them to become astute problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and communicators as they leverage IS, we often overlook connecting their skills to the pressing challenges associated with our natural environment in crisis. As their future employers strategize to mitigate and adapt to the new reality of climate change, are we ensuring that our IS students are equipped with the sustainability and climate literacy knowledge needed to evolve in the sustainability ‘dominant logic’ that now prevails (Ballasiotes et al. 2015)? Should they not understand the potential supportive and detrimental roles that information systems and technologies play in that context? It is commendable that some IS departments now offer courses focused on the role of IS in supporting sustainability or weave sustainability themes into their foundational "Introduction to IS" classes (Corbett, 2023). However, such dedicated courses are rare and typically offered as elective, while the inclusion in introductory classes tends to touch on sustainability superficially, insufficiently for equipping students with skills to develop IS solutions to environmental issues. More commonly, IS students seeking a deeper understanding of sustainability must pursue a minor, certificate, or specialization (offered by other units on their campus) which can be challenging due to their time constraints. Consequently, few of our graduates possess the skills or basic knowledge needed to tackle sustainability issues through IS. For additional impact, I propose for us to attempt to weave in sustainability within the classes we already teach, in the entire IS curriculum. Whether it is data management, business process management, information security, programming, or system analysis and design, we should be deliberate at using examples, case studies, business situations, assignments, and group projects that lead students to learn about sustainability issues and apply IS skills to environmental challenges. For instance, in data management, I use environmental datasets on GHG from organizations like the WTO and EPA as I teach database design. In business process management, I encourage students to evaluate processes not only by traditional metrics—time, cost, and quality—but also by their environmental impact. My goal in this TREO presentation is to foster an exchange of ideas on how to better integrate sustainability within the classes we already teach, and to connect with fellow IS educators interested in pursuing this goal. References Ballasiotes, A., Boudreau, M.-C., Lian, J., & Watson, R. (2015). Shifting to a sustainability dominant logic: The role of IS. AMCIS 2015 Proceedings, (9). Corbett, J. (2023). Sustainability teaching and learning in information systems: Reflections on over a decade of experience. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 53, 299-321.

Paper Number

tpp1225

Recommended Citation

Boudreau, Marie-Claude, "Integrating Sustainability within the IS Curriculum" (2024). AMCIS 2024 TREOs. 106.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/treos_amcis2024/106