Title: Teaching e-commerce through the use of real-time interactive laboratory experiments

Authors: Roumen Vragov, Bart J. Wilson

Addresses: Baruch College, One Bernard Baruch Way, Box B 11220, New York, NY 10010, USA. ' George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Mail Stop 1B2, Fairfax, VA 222030-4444, USA

Abstract: During the last few years pedagogical philosophy has been trying to incorporate lessons from active learning theory. While most practitioners agree that active learning is useful they still lack a diverse set of tools to incorporate it in the classroom. This article describes a methodology for including real-time laboratory experiments in the regular curriculum. The discussion uses as an example an actual class, which was taught to MIS seniors during the Spring 2003 semester. The course contains a learning module composed of nine web-based interactive experiments. During the experimental sessions students have to demonstrate their understanding of the material in the lectures. Experimental results can be incorporated as part of the student grade. Judging by students| performance and opinions about the class, the authors conclude that this teaching methodology was successful. Some suggestions for further refinement of the class are also offered.

Keywords: active learning; classroom experiments; e-commerce teaching; interdisciplinary approaches; electronic commerce; interactive experiments; e-commerce education; MIS; management information systems; web-based learning; e-learning; virtual learning; internet auctions; software agents.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIOME.2005.007449

International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2005 Vol.1 No.1, pp.74 - 86

Published online: 21 Jul 2005 *

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