Comparing undergraduate courses in systems analysis and design
Raymond McLeod · Communications of the ACM · 1996
Think there are big differences in how systems analysis and design are taught in two-year and four-year schools and in business and computer science programs?Think again.A study of more than 600 instructors found no major differences. Comparing Undergraduate Courses in Systems Analysis and Design THE first college computer courses more than 40 years ago were intended to introduce students to the new electronic marvels and to programming so students could begin to write code.The next courses were in systems analysis and design and were intended to prepare students to be systems analysts.Like all computer courses, the systems analysis and design course has undergone much revision over the years.The first efforts used the "waterfall" system life cycle as the framework and emphasized such tools as flowcharts, decision logic tables, and record layout forms.Today, the numbers of systems methodologies and tools have exploded, giving instructors much latitude in designing courses.As a way to understand how systems analysis and design is being taught at the undergraduate level, the author conducted a mail survey of 1,947 college instructors teaching the course.The instructors' names and addresses were obtained from the Campus Marketing Group mailing list and from the McGraw-Hill MIS Directory; the publishing company Dryden/Harcourt Brace & Co.