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Aim/Purpose Business schools need to design, develop and deliver courses that are relevant to business problem-solving. Current pedagogies do not often provide the insight - or experience - necessary to close the gap between theory and practice. Background The paper describes an initiative to design, develop and deliver courses in business-technology problem-solving that thoroughly immerses students in the actual world of business. Methodology The methodology included case-based analysis where actual cases where selected to model problem-solving scenarios. Contribution Several courses are developed that immerse students into actual problemsolving experiences. Findings The courses will be delivered to business students to assess the impact of immersive/experiential learning. Recommendations for Practitioners Additional courses should be informed by actual cases; the commitment to relevance should be expanded. Recommendations for Researchers Ongoing research to measure the impact of immersive/experiential learning is recommended. Impact on Society Business schools should rethink the content of their courses and the pedagogies that have dominated business schools for many decades. Future Research Additional research will include more courses and additional immersive/experiential pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failed Information Technology (IT) projects are common in organisations, as IT solutions often do not meet the expectations of business clients. Business experts often have a negative perception of the people working in the IT function. There seems to be a proverbial "chicken-and-egg situation": the relationship between business and IT suffers because IT projects fail to solve the real business need and, on the other hand, many IT projects fail because of existing interpersonal relationship problems between business- and IT employees. Research was done to identify categories of issues in the business-IT interface and rank them in order of significance. The term "fusion" is used in this paper, to refer to the process by which the elements of the IT function and the rest of the business work together to achieve a common goal. This paper reports on the categories of issues and draws a conclusion of what would constitute fusion in the business-IT interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introductory undergraduate database management course is quite common in the undergraduate IS/IT (Information Systems/Information Technology) curriculum. This paper describes the restructuring of such a course from a dominantly technical focus to having a much broader and more integrated approach within the Bachelor of Business (IT Major-Information Technology Major) degree programme at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. The course philosophy and guiding principles underlying the redesign are also discussed. The aims were to restructure the course to be in line with the graduate profile of the IT Major within the degree programme and to improve student performance. Results collected over a period of 5 semesters (during and after the restructuring) indicates that student performance improved significantly during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]