Needed:A Different Approach to Prepare Information Technology
Professionals
Urban Nuldén
nulden@informatik.gu.se
School of Economics and Commercial Law
Göteborg University, Department of Informatics

Abstract

This paper reports from a pilot project where a number of traditional lectures in
an introductory database oriented systems development course were replaced
with interdisciplinary problem based learning sessions. The project is motivated
by firstly, current trends in education and learning, and secondly, the role IT
professionals play in shaping the future society. The problem based learning
sessions were evaluated by surveying the students two months after the sessions
took place. The paper reports on lessons learned and conclude that problem
based learning is a highly viable approach to train IT professionals after
considering some critical factors concerning introduction, implementation and
motivating students.
Keywords:Problem based learning, information technology education

BRT Keywords:IA

Introduction

The modern educational system was developed roughly a hundred years ago to teach the students the skills necessary and the facts applicable to survive in the industrial society; facts that would be true and skills that would be useful throughout their entire life. The factory was the model of choice; all students learn the same way and should learn the same things; all should be at the same place at the same time; and facts are transmitted to the students and later measured through instruments like written exams. But things have changed: "Schools today are structured more for the industrial age ... problem is, those factory jobs don't exist anymore" (Soloway 1993).
In the information society, preparing information technology (IT) professionals is a difficult task as the information age changes our lives. Some jobs are disappearing, others are emerging, while still others are being radically transformed by information technology. Not only will IT professionals live in a time of accelerating change, but more importantly, they will certainly contribute to this changing society with their knowledge about information technology, and the use of the same.
Scanning the literature, it is easy to see that current trends in pedagogics are very critical to traditional educational approaches in preparing students for the information society. For instance, firstly, that students will be ill served if educational institutions provide them with products or outcomes of enquiry without learning how actually to