Radford University
Department of Information Technology
Student Outcome J-IS

(J-IS) An understanding of and an ability to support the use, delivery, and management of information systems within an Information Systems environment.

Note: Separate heuristics have been developed for the Information Systems Program and the Web Development Program. For Information Systems, the specific application environment is business: transaction processing, decision support, information technology management. For Web Development: the specific application area is web application design, development, maintenance, and security.

For this program outcome you will be assessing within the information systems application environment OR the web development application environment. We will know from the outcome mappings database which your course is supporting.
Level 5
Information Systems Application Environment:
The student:
  1. fully describes and documents the flow of information and the primary actors within a given business process.
  2. easily identifies the primary inputs and outputs of a system.
  3. almost always correctly identifies the types of decisions supported by a given application.
  4. identifies the parts of the organizational structure that support I.T. management and describes how they integrate with the rest of the organization.
  5. identifies and describes different types of information systems (EIS, ES, DSS, TPS) and how they support decision making.
  6. demonstrates competency with the tools and techniques associated with project management.
  7. identifies and describe the phases and deliverables of the system life cycle.
  8. identifies different software development methodologies and their respective advantages and disadvantages.
  9. develops new ideas for how IT can be used for competitive advantage for a given industry or application environment.
  10. designs business systems that correctly identify the appropriate transactions, transaction components, and transaction isolation level.
Web Development Application Environment:
The student:
  1. can describe the basic flow of transactions that underpin e-commerce activities.
  2. designs business systems that correctly identify the appropriate transactions, transaction components, and transaction isolation level.
  3. applies security principles to web application design.
  4. applies basic principles of graphics design, screen design, and information presentation.
  5. successfully applies tools and techniques needed to construct and maintain web applications such as HTML, XHTML, XML, Cascading Style Sheets, and client and server side scripting.
  6. can identify advantages of and construct basic web services.
  7. can identify and describe the roles of different team members in web site development and maintenance.
Level 3
Information Systems Application Environment:
The student:
  1. mostly describes and documents the flow of information and the primary actors within a given business process.
  2. identifies the majority of the primary inputs and outputs of a system.
  3. usually identifies the types of decisions supported by a given application.
  4. successfully identifies the parts of the organizational structure that support I.T.
    5. but has trouble fully describing how they function or integrate with the rest of the organization.
  5. can name and roughly define different types of information systems (EIS, ES, DSS, TPS) but has some difficulty explaining how they support decision making.
  6. can describe the importance of project management but has trouble applying project management principles and techniques consistently.
  7. identifies and describe most of the phases and deliverables of the system life cycle.
  8. identifies different software development methodologies but sometimes confuses their respective advantages and disadvantages.
  9. can provide examples of how IT has been leveraged for competitive advantage.
  10. designs business systems that correctly identify the appropriate transactions but has difficulty implementing and isolating the transactions.
Web Development Application Environment:
The student:
  1. can define e-commerce activities.
  2. designs business systems that correctly identify the appropriate transactions but has difficulty implementing and isolating the transactions.
  3. successfully applies security principles to web application design in obvious situations where security and privacy are at risk.
  4. develops reasonable designs using principles of graphics design, graphical user interface design, and information presentation but violates some principles in the design.
  5. is mostly successful in using tools and techniques associated with web application development such as HTML, XHTML, XML Cascading Style Sheets, and client and server side scripting.
  6. can identify advantages of web services. Can construct a web service but requires minor assistance to move beyond sticking points, usually in understanding the steps in creating, advertising, and consuming a web service.
  7. can mostly identify and describe the roles of different team members in web site development and maintenance.
Level 1
Information Systems Application Environment:
The student:
  1. can only partially describe and document the flow of information and the primary actors within a given business process.
  2. can not identify a significant portion of the primary inputs and outputs of a system.
  3. rarely successfully identifies the types of decisions supported by a given application.
  4. cannot develop or successfully site examples of how IT can be or has been used for competitive advantage.
  5. can name most of the different types of information systems (EIS, ES, DSS, TPS) but cannot successfully define them or how they support business decisions.
  6. does not demonstrate an understanding of project management techniques or its overall importance.
  7. cannot adequately identify or describe the phases and deliverables of the system life cycle.
  8. cannot identify or distinguish between different software development methodologies.
  9. cannot develop or successfully site examples of how IT can be or has been used for competitive advantage.
  10. fails to design business systems around the concept of a transaction.
Web Development Application Environment:
The student:
  1. cannot define e-commerce activities or describe the transactions that underlie it.
  2. fails to design business systems around the concept of a transaction.
  3. cannot successfully applies security principles to web application design even in obvious situations where security and privacy are at risk.
  4. develops poor designs, tending to ignore the principles of graphics design, graphical user interface design, and information presentation.
  5. is generally unsuccessful in applying the majority of the tools and techniques needed for web application development.
  6. cannot clearly articulate the uses and advantages of web services. Has great difficulty implementing a web service.
  7. cannot identify and describe the roles of different team members in web site development and maintenance.