Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE)

Volume 19

Volume 19 Number 1, Pages 75-86

Spring 2008


Opening the Classroom


Richard T. Watson
Marie-Claude Boudreau
Paul T. York
Martina Greiner

University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602, USA

Donald E. Wynn
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH 45469, USA

Abstract: We argue that information systems educators-and others in similarly dynamic professional disciplines-could benefit from an alternative infrastructure for learning. We present an "open classroom" model of education which expands upon Ferris' (2002) collaborative partnership model of education by integrating "open" technologies such as Wiki and Open Source Software to create enduring "knowledge products" that more completely engage the students and provide value to society. We further view this concept through the lens of a social-technical system to demonstrate how such a system represents significant, third order change to traditional classroom environments. We illustrate our model with two successful cases from our personal teaching experiences.

Keywords: Collaborative partnership model, Social-technical system, Open source software, Wiki, Knowledge creation

Download this article: JISE - Volume 19 Number 1, Page 75.pdf


Recommended Citation: Watson, R. T., Boudreau, M. -C., York, P. T., Greiner, M., & Wynn, D. E. (2008). Opening the Classroom. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(1), 75-86.