Exploring the Role of Method Rationale in the Context of Teaching Information Systems Development Methods

Research has shown that traditional education in systems development has its limitations. This chapter draws on recent research on a component-based view of systems development methods. The aim is to explore the impact of applying a method rationale perspective during method teaching with regards to student’s abilities to reason about the suitability of a particular method to various development settings. A qualitative research approach was adopted, which used two different approaches to teaching a particular method to two groups of students. The students’ ability to reason about the method in modelling seminars and follow-up interviews was analysed. The results indicate that explicating method rationale in teaching methods may have a positive impact on students’ ability to reason about methods and method tailoring.

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