A Model for Teaching the Development of Electronic Commerce Applications
Carina de Villiers, Alan S. Abrahams
This paper promotes a revision ofthe current electronic commerce development approaches taught to students. It presents a brief discussion of existing methodologies for the development of electronic commerce applications. Major problems with current electronic commerce development methods are enumerated. The Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is outlined and its relevance to the development of inter-organisational electronic commerce systems is explained. The paper argues that an effective methodology for the development ofelectronic commerce applications would incorporate the Soft Systems Methodology as a precursor to the traditional systems development life cycle. The initial identification of the perspectives, values, and interests of various stakeholders would allow the overall problem situation to be better understood. Successful and purposeful human activity systems, built through inter-organisational knowledge and participation, and capable ofcontinuous learning, could then be developed, applying electronic commerce technologies where necessary. The methodology proposed would encourage students to be cognisant of the social needs and participant problems to be addressed and avoid the pitfalls of using electronic commerce technology to address illconceived, myopically-considered problems. The model was used by the students to develop an electronic commerce business site as part of their course work.
Carina de Villiers is currently professor and acting head of the Department oflnformatics in the School for Information Technology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She began her career in 1979 as a junior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and was appointed associated professor at the University of Pretoria in 1996. She has lectured in the areas of computer science and information systems, currently concentrating on electronic commerce and human-computer interaction. Dr. de Villiers has published widely in journals such as the South African Journal for Higher Education and has contributed regularly to internal conferences. Her chief interests are in the areas of the use of information technology in teaching, computer-supported cooperative learning, computer-assisted instruction, human-computer interaction, and electronic commerce.
Alan S. Abrahams joined the Department of Informatics at the University ofPretoria, South Africa, in 1999 after a brief digression into the world of consulting where he specialized in developing webbased applications. He received his first degree form the University of Cape Town with distinction. He is currently a PhD research student at the University of Cambridge's computer laboratory. Mr. Abrahams is currently doing research into generic support for ecommerce application development.
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