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Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

Teaching Online Information Systems Courses with Virtual Machines

Teaching Online Information Systems Courses with Virtual Machines
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Author(s): Li Chao (University of Houston-Victoria, USA)
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 4
Source title: Managing Worldwide Operations and Communications with Information Technology
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-929-8.ch047
ISBN13: 9781599049298
EISBN13: 9781466665378

Abstract

This paper considers the issues on setting up online computer labs for teaching the information systems courses that require intense hands-on practice. Due to limited technical support, budget, and space, it is always a challenge for a small university to implement online teaching for courses in the information systems curriculum. Often, faculty members in a small university need to be involved in the construction and management of online computer labs in addition to their normal teaching and research workload. The virtual machine technology can be used to ease some of the burdens of online computer lab construction and management. I will first discuss the difficulties for teaching information systems courses online. Then, I will describe the virtual machine technology and how it can be used to support the teaching and hands-on practice for some information systems courses. In the paper, I will provide some information about the advantages of using the virtual machine technology and possible hands-on activities that can be accomplished by using the virtual machine technology. I will discuss some design and management issues. The last topic to be covered in this paper is about students’ responses to the online information systems courses.

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