These presentation notes go with the following slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/mjdelia/teaching-innovations-conference-2007 Hopefully, the notes give more context.

1. TLI Presentation
May 2007 – University of Guelph
M.J. D’Elia
Context & History (2 minutes)
• Librarian for Marketing and Consumer Studies
o 3 years in this position
o Provide instructional sessions in various courses (ranging from library
orientation to detailed database searching)
o Called Information Literacy in the library world
• Summer 2006
o Because of my familiarity with the department I was approached to teach
the entire course called Information Management
o Second year course, required for BCom
o Historically, this course focused extensively on computer technology and
common business applications (e.g. Microsoft Excel)
o Predictably, students felt this course was widely hated for its dry boring
content
o The curriculum committee was wanting to update it, so I agreed to give it
a shot – what you’ll hear about today is what happens when you give a
librarian control over the course
• The Concept
o I decided to turn MCS 2020 into a corporation
• Instructor = CEO
• Students = employees
• WebCT = corporate internet
• Class = business meetings
o Corporation worked in the high-tech industry
• Maker of smart handheld devices (called the Uber) –
acknowledging the importance and impact of information
technology
• Loosely modeled on the early years of Research in Motion
• Company profile, corporate code of ethics, products
o Naming the corporation
• Students then take some ownership over what happened in the
classroom
• This is role-playing on a large scale – on the one hand we’re a
typical undergraduate university class, but on the other we’re
something else too
• This set up allowed for more flexibility in terms of designing
assignments
• Debate assignment
o Each week I would present the class with a fictional scenario that was
facing our company (Uber Tech) related to information issues in business
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2. TLI Presentation
May 2007 – University of Guelph
M.J. D’Elia
Ethical issues like corporate espionage (should we buy information
from a competitor’s employee?)
Legal issues like patent infringement
Strategic operational issues (choosing a city for a new
manufacturing plant).
o Two task groups were struck to research the scenario, present their
viewpoint and present their case to the class.
o During their presentations, each group had the opportunity to rebut their
opponent’s case and field questions from the audience
o After the debate the rest of the class voted by secret ballot
Additional requirement: was that they had to include a reason for
their vote
I was getting complaints because the ballots were too small and
they had much more to say about the issues.
o I liked this assignment because the presentations were more dynamic than
the usual student presentations.
o Being competitive business students neither side wanted to lose, which of
course made their case better.
• PASS AROUND COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS (even out of context)
• Comparison Paper
o They had to examine a business technology issue
Using biometric identification to secure access to sensitive
information
Implementing RFID technology to track goods and learn about
consumer behaviour
Outsourcing technology jobs to developing nations like India
Investing heavily in Information Technology to gain a competitive
advantage.
o Their task was to examine the issue and then make a recommendation to
the CEO (me) for our company.
o Students quickly learned that they needed to examine the issue from
multiple perspectives.
o It wasn’t enough to provide a summary of major points of view, they had
to make a decision based on the information they found – and defend it.
• Different Perspectives
o The corporation motif throughout the class allowed me to create scenarios
that forced the students to look at the issues from different angles.
o The students had the chance to construct their own meaning by wrestling
with the details (it wasn’t a static case study)
o I tried my best not to enforce my perspective on an issue, but to let them
practice drawing their own conclusions – and practice defending them.
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