Abstract: A one-semester Database Management Systems (DBMS) course has become quite common in the Computer Information Systems curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to share with the academic faculty of this discipline a project-intensive approach used to teach such a course. In the course described in this paper, the theoretical concepts of databases are presented in the classroom and student are requested to apply these concepts during the design process of a database project assigned. Students form teams, and each team designs, implements, maintains and documents a database for a small business enterprise. In this manner, students can encounter the idiosyncrasies of a practical database system development and reinforce many of the concepts studied in the classroom.

Guiding principles behind the design of this course are discussed and unique aspects of the course are explained. The database design life cycle used by the students is described. To manage the design process and to provide continuous [feedback] for the team, the project is divided into six project parts. Each part is graded and given back to the teams before they complete the next part. A description of what each project part contains is provided.

Keywords: Database design, Team-oriented, Project-intensive

Download this article: JISEv4n1p23.pdf

Recommended Citation: Saiedian, H. (1992). Guidelines for a Practical Approach to the Database Management Systems Course. Journal of Information Systems Education, 4(1), 23-29.