Towards a knowledge conversion platform to support information systems analysis and design industry ready graduates

Abstract

The dynamic field of Information Systems Design (ISD) presents several challenges to educators at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) when being tasked to provide “industry-ready” graduates. An added challenge is the lack of instructional material that not only provides the theoretical content, but also includes appropriate applicable examples and an environment where “lessons learnt” can be integrated into the instructional content. This paper reports on a study undertaken by the authors to develop a web-based knowledge conversion platform that will allow ISD educators to provide theoretical content, case study examples and lessons learnt by lecturers and students from previous years, which could assist current students’ understanding of this dynamic environment. The paper presents the BA bot: a chatbot integrated with Google Drive which provides a knowledge conversion platform for students and lecturers. The authors map the BA bot to the knowledge conversion platform to illustrate how knowledge conversion takes place, from the lowest level (data) to the highest level (capability). The paper concludes with a reflection and a summary of future work to be undertaken in order to extend the capabilities of the BA bot.