Embedding IT Service Management in the Academic Curriculum: A Cross-national Comparison

Abstract

Universities have a responsibility to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to be productive in their work environment. Recently, the discipline of IT Service Management has become globally recognized as critical to organizations. Academia appears to be lagging industry in providing education in this field. This paper describes the motivation, implementation, outcomes and challenges experienced by two universities, one in Australia and the other in Canada, in designing and offering an ITSM course. Using a narrative inquiry method, the authors share their experiences and compare these two cases. The outcomes of the analysis highlight the need for professional development of Faculty, consideration of the breadth and depth of content, and balancing of competing Academic goals. A list of lessons learned is formulated to assist other faculty members undertaking similar endeavors.

KEYWORDS:

• IT Service Management
• IT Infrastructure library
• ISO/IEC 20000
• curriculum design
• reflective process

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aileen Cater-Steel

Aileen Cater-Steel is Associate Professor in Information Systems at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). She leads a research team investigating the adoption and benefits of IT Service Management frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The team has achieved funding from the Australian Research Council for two ITSM projects to research the return on investment from ITIL implementation and to develop a tool for software-mediated ITSM process assessment. Prior to her academic appointment, Aileen worked in private sector and government organisations where her career progressed from programmer, systems analyst and project manager to IT Manager.

Michael J. Hine

Michael J. Hine is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. He does research in computer mediated communication, information technology service management, eHealth, and applied DSS. He has published in journals such as: Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, DataBase, and Electronic Markets among others.

Gerald Grant

Gerald Grant is Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Information Technology, Organizations and People (CITOP), and Coordinator of the Information Systems teaching area at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. He serves as a senior associate editor of the European Journal of Information Systems. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Global Information Management. Dr Grant received his PhD. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom. His research focuses on the strategic management of information systems in organizations.