Development of a Postgraduate course in Enterprise Systems Integration: A constructivist self-regulating learning approach

Abstract

constructivist self-regulated learning approach was adopted to teach a post-graduate course titled "Enterprise Systems Integration". The course was directed towards middle managers wishing to learn more about enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations and the integration of ERP's into the enterprise. Course development was based on the assumption that students would be more comfortable acquiring knowledge as they would in practice that is, through the development of personal theories and selfregulated learning. The course focused on the implications of "real world" implementations of ERP and this was reinforced through business leaders presenting guest lectures on key topics. Student reaction to this approach was positive and the guest lecturers agreed that they also benefited from the experience. Students indicated that they needed more "hands on" exposure to the software to help them understand some of the human related problems with ERP implementations. Conclusions from this work indicate that it is important to have a mix of students with "real world" experience and a willingness to become involved in discussions at all levels. In addition, it was concluded that the teaching approach adopted provided a rich environment for enquiry and more closely emulated the learning approach undertaken in the real world. Key words: self-regulated learning, Enterprise systems integration, post-graduate course