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Fri, Nov 3, 9:30 - 9:55, Normandy B Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Sendall, P. Whattya Mean it’s Not All About Me? Involving Undergraduate MIS Students in an Analysis of a Tablet PC Initiative. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2006, v 23 (Dallas): §2145. ISSN: 1542-7382.

Whattya Mean it’s Not All About Me? Involving Undergraduate MIS Students in an Analysis of a Tablet PC Initiative

Refereed

11 pages

Patricia Sendall    [a1] [a2]
Department of Management
Merrimack College    [u1] [u2]
North Andover, Massachusetts, USA    [c1] [c2]

Institutions of higher learning have understood for many years that in order stay competitive, they must have technology-based initiatives in place. Since the mid-1990’s, there has been a trend toward student laptop lease/buy programs. Beginning in the early 2000’s and until recently, many colleges and universities have begun to experiment with tablet PC computing requirements. More often than not, incoming freshmen have few choices. Typically the university tells the students and their parents which computing platform and manufacturer they have chosen for them and the students are required to purchase or lease that computer at the university’s designated price. Students rarely understand how or why the university has chosen a particular platform and often resent having to pay, what they perceive as, premium prices for their total computing package. This paper introduces a team-based project that was assigned to a 200-level undergraduate Management Information Systems (MIS) class. The purpose of this project was to have the students look at the decision-making process as it impacts not only students, but the university’s faculty, technology support, and finance.

Keywords: tablet computing, laptop computing, MIS pedagogy, higher education

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