IS Design Pedagogy: A Special Ontology and Prospects for Curricula

Design as an academic endeavor has a rich history in the visual and performing arts as well as the "construction" arts: architectural, industrial, graphic, interior, fashion, and landscape design. Design in the natural and commercial sciences is largely peripheral. Although not ignored, design in the sciences predominates as a dialect of problem-solving rather than artifact creation. Information Systems (IS) as a fusion of computer science and business struggles with the identity and role of design as it leans heavily on its roots in mathematics and formal logic with the scattered influences of statistics (data analysis) as practiced in research among the social and behavioral sciences. Design as a practical skill is a critical ingredient in successful information systems. Yet, design as a distinctive element in programs and curricula of IS and computing is (at best) haphazardly diffused--if not completely omitted. This paper presents a special ontology of design to frame the opportunities and justification for conscious and deliberate design pedagogy in IS and computing education. It presents an example of integrating design pedagogy into existing object modeling and data management syllabi by tailoring design quality guidelines to the specific paradigm.