Athens State Information Systems and Information Technology Review - Research Paper Example

Information systems (IS) and Information technology (IT) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Identify/outline three specific information systems (IS)/information technology (IT) areas that Athens State does well, and three areas that need improvement. Abstract Living in an evolving information era technology has boosted many organizations may it be big or small by it been incorporated in all operations involved in an organization thus becoming a very critical component in most organizations (Al-Zhrani, 2010).

The information technology has been designed in many organizations so as to make the people in the organization efficient, knowledgeable and making the organization profitable in its operations. Due to the increasing rate of technology an urge to assess its impact on information systems is vital to organizations as the assessments provide guidance, direction and opens minds to better planning thus preventing costly conversion efforts (Erdelez, 1999). Universities and Colleges evolved their learning thus going with the trend of digital in everything thus boosting the education arena, thus having the digital era students expect having their learning contents anytime anywhere at any device be it on their phones, tablets or laptops (Kirk, 1999).

Thus Athens University has been involved with the use of IT and IS which has made my education better and beneficial to all students. Thus through exploration of the IT/IS and digital services pros and cons intermarried to any services rendered, that is in every positive introduction to anything it has its benefits and drawbacks which are likely to be highlighted. SAM (Student Advising Module) It’s an official plan of study used by students and the faculty; it also offers the degree audit of a student.

It’s an online study plan. SAM allows students to view their current plan of study, view their transcripts, view grades from recent courses completed, view catalog of course offered and views options to create a projected program that is degree plans (Talja & Maula, 2003). SAM helps students know their progress of study during the semester through the plan study, gives awareness to the student to know the progress of their studying through posting of grades which helps students to know the effort to put to attain a certain goal (Anderson, 1999).

Students are able to weigh their strength and weakness in a certain course subject through their performance posted leading to leading to a positive impact in the student educational life. SAM through the degree plan gives an assurance to students in their completion period their anticipation to graduate, that is, it offers graduation information and the students qualified for graduation (Kling & Callahan, 2003). Respondus Lockdown Browser It’s a custom browser that locks down and secures the testing environment within Blackboard system.

Thus Respondus Lockdown Browser unable students to print copy or go another website or application during quiz or exam time until the exam is submitted. Athens University students have supported the feature browser as it prevents plagiarisms and cheating in exams thus making quizzes and exams free and fair to all (Lamb & Davidson, 2005). Blackboard Blackboard Learning System is web-based software used in Athens University based on course management system and virtual learning environment used in distributing courses to students.

Its main purpose is that it allows instructors are to place online materials such as courses, modules, texts, discussions and assignments (Lamb & Davidson, 2005). Black Board System is the best choice of learning for distance learning, as it doesn’t need any software, no face to face meetings with lecturer as it acts a good tool to hold discussions students and lecturers pertaining a certain course or study and it can be accessed from any location under specific login credentials (Erdelez, 1999).

Areas that need improvement include; Safe Assign Safe Assign is a tool used to prevent plagiarism which is under blackboard, it creates opportunities to help students identify sources rather than paraphrase thus its effective as a educational tool. Safe Assign helps to compare and detect original assignments and copied pasted assignments (Borgatti & Cross, 2003). The improvements that should be done to Safe Assign are it shouldn’t be given the final judgments in the students to their marks thus it will reduce cases on some accidents as heart attack.

Thus lecturer should not put much trust and hopes on the Safe Assign as they should go through the assignment after it passing the Safe Assign to avoid accidents and emergences (Borgatti & Cross, 2003). Secondly the system should be modified in a way its not much strict on minor plagiarism mistakes as human is to error thus experiencing minor mistakes is normal to human. Banner SunGard Is a software system package used in Athens University, it provides services to the institution by linking it up, such as registration access, account information, personal editing capability and course requirements (Talja & Maula, 2003).

The only drawback with the system is congestion in the system moreover during registration or accessing the fees structure of the following semester. Students during re-opening of the school go in mass number thus through their registration they create jam with system as it cant accommodate a mass of number accessing the system at the time thus slowing it down or to failure. Thus much improvement should be observed to the system such as upgrading of the system to a mass accessing system whereby a mass of student may access the system with no complication, secondly putting a limit to maximum number to students to use the system at a particular time, for example 1,500 student per session.

Email In Athens University the email system used is under Microsoft Outlook Live mostly used in educational sectors. The drawback of using this email system is that its not supported by Blackboard thus when accessing it you must have the Microsoft Outlook Live in your device, secondly you are able to communicate to other faculty student which limit discussion to be held between faculties. Thus the system should be made easier and efficient to access despite not having the Microsoft Outlook Live plus it should be open to all faculties to enable easier communication amongst students and lecturers in different faculties.

Thus Athens University and other schools that are able to successfully undergo such will be better prepared for the future, since there is no doubt that the emphasis on increased use of information technology and advanced automated systems will continue. References https://www.athens.edu/college_edu Al-Zhrani, S. (2010). Management information systems role in decision-making during crises: case study. Journal of Computer Science, 6(11), 1247-1251. Anderson, C. M. (1999). The use of computer technology by academics to communicate internationally: Computer-mediated communication and the invisible college.

Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities andSocial Sciences, 59 (7), 2375-2375. Borgatti, S.P. & Cross, R. (2003). A relational viewof information seeking and learning in social networks. Management Science, 49(4), 432. Erdelez, S. (1999). Information encountering: Its more than just bumping into information. Bulletin of the American Societyfor Information Science, 25 (3), 25-9. Kirk, J. (1999). Information in organisations: directions for information management. Information Research, 4 (3).

Retrieved October 2, 2010 from http://informationr.net/ir/4-3/paper57.html Kling, R., & Callahan, E. (2003). Electronic journals, the internet, and scholarly communication. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 37, 127-177. Lamb, R., & Davidson, E. (2005). Information and communication technology challenges to scientific professional identity. Information Society, 21 (1), 1-24. Talja, S., & Maula, H. (2003). Reasons for the use and non-use of electronic journals and databases - A domain analytic study in four scholarly disciplines.

Journal of Documentation, 59 (6), 673-691.