In the area of Information and Communication Technologies, in addition to the problem of engagement, students often have difficulties in learning subjects related to modeling and programming. The reasons for these difficulties are well known and described in the literature, pointing to difficulties in abstraction and logic thinking. Knowing that the value of flexible and personalized learning, teachers are changing the way they teach, using different active learning methodologies, such as flipped classroom, project-based learning, and peer instruction. This paper describes an experiment conducted to improve the learning experiences of the students enrolled in the Computer Science bachelor's degree course, attending three curricular units: Information Systems Development, Data Structures, and Web Languages and Technologies. The approach followed by the teachers used project-based learning as an active learning methodology. This methodology allows us to achieve four main objectives: (i) improve student engagement; (ii) improve learning outcomes achievement (iii) increase the course success rate and (iv) allow students to experience the need for the software development lifecycle, feeling that software engineering is not a block-based process but depending on previous activity, often leads to the need to go back in the process. The results obtained with the use of the active methodology were well accepted by the students and allowed both teachers and students to reach the objectives set.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) face, nowadays, enormous challenges to be competitive in a global world. The competitive environment means that HEIs, like other organizations, must be concerned with evaluating and monitoring their strategic objectives. Business Information (BI) systems combine different sources of information, from different information systems (IS), with analytical tools to present competitive information to planners and decision makers. In this way, BI systems emerge as tools that allow institutions to create future competitive advantages. This paper presents a case study of a Portuguese HEI, describing the implementation of a BI system to support the quality assurance system, and to improve its future strategy. This study focuses on one of the three HEI mission vectors: Teaching and Learning. As a result of this work, it was possible to parameterize the BI system, and to identify the digital information missing in the IS, and the necessary developments to collect it.

Executive SummaryThe importance of information systems as a strategic resource to organizations and the amazing rate of information system technology evolution are widely recognized. As a result, undergraduate courses in this field need frequent updating to remain effective. This article presents a model to restructure the teaching of information systems. This model has received inputs from students, teachers and ex-students of our Computation Department and also from the organizational staff that interacts with our students in their training posts. These inputs help us to identify the main gaps in our curriculum and the organizational necessities that concern information systems staff. The model identifies the main areas that are the basis of our curriculum proposal, as well as the main knowledge topics to be covered. We conclude that an information systems curriculum must have an organizational emphasis as big as, or greater than the technological one. Keywords: information systems, information systems curriculum, teaching information systems, curriculum model, undergraduate courses IntroductionThis work describes our experiences over the years of teaching information systems (IS) and the lessons we have learned.We teach a course entitled "Computation and Management". The first three years of the curriculum focus on core modules and the fourth offers a set of optional modules, which aim to present emergent paradigms and technologies. After completing all the modules, students must do a six-month training post. We present them with a set of projects for them to choose. In the last few years 49% of students have made their training posts in software houses and consulting firms, 13% in industrial organizations, 12% in research organizations, 9% in the health sector, and the others in different fields.The difficulties felt by our students in their training posts help us to identify the organizational needs and the gaps in our curriculum. Organizations need IS people with technical and organizational skills to effectively conceptualize, develop and manage IS. Organizational survival is increasingly dependent on the ability to use information as a strategic and operational resource. A modern IS curriculum must reflect this need.In this work we present a model to restructure the teaching of IS. The first section describes the background and main problems of our students in information systems development. The second section describes the necessary knowledge domains to support a curriculum model which can give IS undergraduate students the necessary skills for the effective management of the information resources of organizations.

It has become obvious that corporate management, administration, planning, cash flow, and other business activities could hardly function without information technology in the organization of society. Relationships between human activities and the people themselves are reliant more and more broadly on electronic devices. In terms of using information technology devices and services, the development of enterprises are significantly different in the European Union. This has led to a strong and significant relationship with the added value created by micro, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. In order to meet the needs of corporations, enterprise resource planning and integrated management systems have evolved and have become more and more widespread among small- and medium-sized enterprises as well. Although Portugal in the group of Southern European countries and Hungary in the group of Eastern European countries lag behind the other countries belonging to their group, it turns out that in terms of using and intending to use business information systems, Portuguese enterprises are more advanced in the categories of small- and medium-sized enterprises. This chapter explores this.

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