IBM Institute for Advanced Commerce, Schedule of Events

IBM Institute of Advanced Commerce's
Conference on Master's Degree Education in Electronic Commerce

October 19, 1999
New York, New York, USA

The IAC organized a conference on the topic of Master's Degree Education in Electronic Commerce. It was held October 19, 1999 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel (Times Square, New York). There were 37 attendees from 22 universities as well as from the AACSB and IBM. Most of the schools have degree programs or concentrations underway or have plans to offer them in spring or fall of 2000.

INSTITUTIONS REPRESENTED:

PRESENTATIONS:
The meeting (see agenda) began with introductory remarks from Stuart Feldman of the IBM Institute of Advanced Commerece and then presentations from five universities:

In addition to these Mike Albrecht, General Manager of IBM's Consulting Group also discussed the employer's view of needs in this area in his presentation "Incorporating e-commerce Learning in Master's Level Programs."

The afternoon was spent split into lively discussion groups on curriculum, teaching materials, research, and then discussions about these and related topics. Some high points were:

Role of E-Commerce in the curriculum: Is "e" just a fad, or will it permeate all of business and computing technology? There are divergent views about whether the appropriate response to the eBusiness revolution is to revamp the overall curriculum, or whether (at least for the next 5-10 years) to offer focused education to prepare students for a digital future.
- Degree alternatives and approaches: Some schools will offer specialized business degrees that meet MBA certification standards but are heavily canted toward electronic commerce. Others will add some specialized courses for a heavy concentration. Another model is the specialized MS degree that contains heavy doses of technology as well as business. Not yet exemplified are MS degrees that are fundamentally technology with an admixture of business.
Overwhelming demand: any time an e-commerce program, or even specialty courses such as Internet marketing, is announced, far more students apply than can be accommodated. There appears little risk of course supply exceeding qualified demand
Student preparation and background: The main concern is the technology abilities of the students, and thus how much basic material is needed to permit them to contribute to exercises or to understand management implications of the technology. Another major question is the amount of general business experience, or experience with Internet-savvy firm, that the students can have.
Paucity of staff with experience in field: The biggest problem facing universities is where to find faculty with research background or adequate experience in e-commerce. There are relatively few Ph.D. students in the pipeline, many faculty are conservative, so there is a genuine concern about how courses can be staffed. A number of universities are sharing curriculum materials and teaching plans to lessen the burden
University governance issues: As with any new area, there are concerns about who owns a new degree program, who nurtures and funds it, how faculty are to be acquired or borrowed and rewarded. Different approaches have been taken, consistent with campus culture.
Research standards: E-Commerce is a new area, and standards and community are not yet firmly established.
- There are now a few journals specializing in E-Commerce, and some articles appear in major journal sin other fields, but there is not yet an accepted set of "A" journals or conferences. The publication standards and expectations are also not set. (In Computer Science, proceedings of prestigious conferences are more important loci of publication than long-delayed journals; in many other fields, the opposite is true.)
- There is not yet a generally accepted list of "core" questions being investigated, nor are the leading institutions or individuals firmly agreed. As a result of the meeting, the IAC will open a forum on our web site to encourage contributions and discussion of core research agendas as well as hot topics in traditional disciplines that touch on e-commerce.
- Tenure decisions have yet to be made because of the youth of the field. Risk-averse faculty will avoid fields that are unsettled, even though early recognition and glory (and external income!) are likely outcomes of focusing on pioneering areas.
Course materials: There are few good textbooks in the area, most faculty are working on their own notes or borrowing materials from colleagues. The Global E-Commerce Master's program will be creating uniform curriculum materials to be shared across all of the universities in the consortium.
- Some faculty and universities are willing to make their teaching materials publicly available. Carnegie Mellon University announced a policy of putting all of its courses (even video versions of many lectures) on line for general use.
- A group will form to help make materials available from many sources. There were several offers (IBM IAC, CMU, others) to host the content, and the CMU Universal Library project may offer editorial/selection help.
- The choice of computing platform, commerce software, and technical operations and assistance is a major challenge. Most departments do not have sufficient infrastructure, so there is a place for shared offerings of assignments, support material, application hosting, and assistance.

The attendees were very enthusiastic about the meeting and the opportunity to meet their peers, and strongly recommended holding another such, in a year or less. The IAC will host such a meeting in 2000.