Effectiveness of Systems Analysis and Design Education: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study of student perceptions of the education and experiences of the Systems Analysis and Design (SA&D) course taught in the IS programs at academic institutions. An ex-ante and post hoc empirical study of student perceptions in the SA&D courses was conducted. The results indicate that after taking the SA&D course and working with a real-life project, students’ perceptions improved for the applicability of structured methodologies across industries, the importance of computer programming in systems analysis and design process, and the role of advanced technologies in SA&D. Respondents also perceived that when working as groups, SA&D team members did not do their fair share of the work. However, the importance of user involvement was recognized.