Teaching the integration of information systems technologies

A curriculum for a master's level course called Integrating Information Systems Technologies is presented. The course content is drawn from industry practice, and teaches ways of integrating large scale information systems. The teaching method used is similar to the method used to teach architecture. Students are asked to design complex systems in the form of posters; in each class these posters are discussed. Course evaluations from 95 students suggest that students find posters more effective than written papers and slide presentations. Specifically, students find that posters not only encourage visualization, but also provide them a way of seeing the thought processes of fellow students