Instructor's Guide¶

Welcome to the Instructor's Guide for Information Systems: An ABET CAC-aligned Intelligent Textbook. This guide explains every feature of the textbook, how to use it in your classroom, and how to customize it for your students. No prior technical knowledge is assumed — every technical term is defined before it is used.

A note from Iris

Iris welcomes instructors Welcome, instructor! You're about to teach a course where the field is being rewritten on a quarterly basis. That sounds intimidating, but it's actually the best news you'll get all semester — your students get to learn IS as it actually is right now, not as it was in 2019. This guide will help you make the most of every feature in the book.

About This Interactive Intelligent Textbook¶

What is an Intelligent Textbook?¶

An intelligent textbook is a digital textbook that goes beyond static text and images. It includes interactive simulations, self-grading quizzes, a searchable glossary, and a structured map of how concepts relate to each other. The goal is to give students a richer, more engaging learning experience than a traditional printed textbook.

The Five Levels of Intelligent Textbooks¶

Not all digital textbooks are created equal. We categorize intelligent textbooks into five levels based on how interactive and adaptive they are:

Level	Name	Description	Example Features
Level 1	Static Digital	A PDF or basic web version of a print textbook	Text and images only, no interactivity
Level 2	Interactive	Adds interactive elements like simulations, quizzes, and searchable glossaries	MicroSims, self-check quizzes, concept search
Level 3	Adaptive	Adjusts content based on student performance	Personalized learning paths, difficulty adjustment
Level 4	AI-Assisted	Includes an AI tutor that can answer student questions	Chatbot integration, automated feedback
Level 5	Fully Adaptive AI	Continuously learns from student interactions and optimizes the experience	Real-time content generation, predictive analytics

This textbook is a Level 2 Intelligent Textbook. It includes 43 interactive MicroSims, per-chapter quizzes, a 64-term glossary, an FAQ, curated references, and an interactive learning graph viewer covering all 580 concepts.

What Makes This Textbook Different¶

Interactive MicroSims let students manipulate models directly in their browser — no software installation required.
AI integrated throughout the curriculum — five chapters (19–23) treat AI as a load-bearing IS competency, not as a special exhibit.
ABET CAC-aligned — coverage maps to the 2025–2026 ABET Computing Accreditation Commission Information Systems program criteria and the ACM/AIS IS2020 guidelines.
Systems thinking throughout — every chapter trains students to ask three questions: What else does this touch? What's the tradeoff? Where does this surprise us?
"Managing IS can become your superpower" — a positive, empowering tone that frames hard concepts as power-ups, not warnings.
Iris the Hummingbird — a friendly mascot character (called a "pedagogical agent") who appears throughout each chapter with tips, encouragement, and key insights.
Completely free and open source — licensed under Creative Commons for non-commercial use.

Using the Chapters¶

Chapter Structure¶

The textbook contains 25 chapters organized into seven parts. Concepts build on each other, so students should generally work through chapters in order:

Chapters	Topic Area
1–2	Foundations and the role of IS in organizations
3–5	IS architecture, application development, and business process management
6–9	Data management — foundations, modern databases and lakehouses, governance, BI and analytics
10	Systems analysis and design
11–12	Networks and cloud infrastructure
13	Enterprise systems (ERP, CRM, SCM, HRIS)
14–15	Security of information assets and privacy/compliance
16–17	IS project management and IT service management
18	HCI and emerging topics
19–23	AI in IS — capabilities, responsible use, law, security, and productivity impact
24–25	Knowledge graphs, the Enterprise Knowledge Graph, and the Enterprise Nervous System

What Each Chapter Contains¶

Every chapter follows a consistent structure:

YAML front matter — Metadata at the top of each chapter file (title, description, reading level, version). Students don't see this; it's used by search engines and the website builder.
Summary — A brief overview of what the chapter covers and what students will learn.
Concepts covered — A numbered list of the specific concepts addressed in the chapter, drawn from the learning graph.
Welcome from Iris — A mascot admonition that introduces the chapter topic in Iris's friendly, slightly irreverent voice.
Main content — The core instructional material, written at a college sophomore/junior reading level. Includes tables, real-world examples, and embedded MicroSims.
Mascot admonitions — Throughout the chapter, Iris appears no more than 5–6 times to highlight key insights (thinking), offer practical tips (tip), provide encouragement on harder concepts (encourage), and warn about common pitfalls (warning).
Key takeaways — A numbered summary of the most important concepts, often preceded by a celebration from Iris.
References — A separate references.md page with curated further reading.

Suggested Classroom Use¶

Before class: Assign the chapter as reading homework. The MicroSims keep students engaged during independent reading.
During class: Project the MicroSims for whole-class demonstrations. Ask students to predict what will happen when you change a slider, then test their predictions.
After class: Assign the practice questions and the chapter quiz. Use the quiz scores to identify concepts that need re-teaching.
Pacing: Each chapter is designed for approximately 2–3 class periods (90–135 minutes of instruction). Chapters with more MicroSims or more conceptual depth (notably 7, 13, 19, 24, and 25) may need an extra session.

Using the MicroSims¶

What is a MicroSim?¶

A MicroSim (short for "micro-simulation") is a small, interactive simulation that runs directly in a web browser. Students don't need to install any software — MicroSims work on any device with a modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).

Each MicroSim lets students manipulate one or more variables (using sliders, buttons, or drag-and-drop) and immediately see how the model responds. This "learn by doing" approach helps students build intuition for abstract concepts.

How MicroSims Are Embedded¶

MicroSims appear within chapter text as rectangular interactive areas. They are embedded using iframes — a web technology that displays one web page inside another. You don't need to understand how iframes work; just know that the MicroSims load automatically when students view the chapter page.

Types of MicroSims¶

The textbook includes 43 MicroSims built with different visualization technologies:

Technology	What It's Good For	Example MicroSims in This Book
p5.js	Interactive animations with sliders and buttons	Knowledge Triangle, DIKI Hierarchy Pyramid, Six-Component Model of an Information System
Chart.js	Bar, line, and pie charts	Sprint Burndown Chart, EVM Cost and Schedule Variance
Plotly	Advanced interactive charts with hover details	Bandwidth, Latency, and Throughput at a Glance
vis-network	Network and dependency diagrams	Learning Graph Viewer, Enterprise Network Topology
Mermaid	Flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and state diagrams from text	"Place Order" Sequence Diagram, "Loan Application Status" State Diagram, BPMN Order-to-Cash

Tips for Using MicroSims in Class¶

Project them on a screen. Most MicroSims are designed to be visible from the back of a classroom. Have students call out predictions before you move a slider.
Let students explore independently. After a demonstration, give students 5–10 minutes to experiment on their own devices.
Use the "Reset" button. Most MicroSims include a reset control. Encourage students to reset and try different scenarios.
Connect to the text. Each MicroSim is placed near the concept it illustrates. After exploring the sim, have students re-read the surrounding paragraph.
Browse the full list. The MicroSims list contains every interactive in the book. It's a great place to browse for an unscheduled "five minutes left in class" activity.

Iris's Tip: Embed MicroSims Anywhere!

Iris shares a tip You can embed any MicroSim into any web page you control — a Google Site, a WordPress blog, an LMS like Canvas or Schoology, or even a plain HTML file you hand a student. Paste a single line of HTML:

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/information-systems/sims/YOUR-MICROSIM-NAME/main.html"
    width="100%" height="450px" scrolling="no">
</iframe>

Replace YOUR-MICROSIM-NAME with the slug of any MicroSim from the MicroSims list (for example, knowledge-triangle or bpmn-order-to-cash). That's it — one line of code and your students have a live simulation right inside your course page.

MicroSim Specifications¶

Within each chapter, you'll often find a collapsible details section below a MicroSim. Click to expand and see the full specification:

Bloom's Taxonomy level — what cognitive level the MicroSim targets (Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create)
Learning objective — what students should be able to do after using the MicroSim
Interactive controls — what sliders, buttons, and inputs are available
Default parameters — the starting values when the MicroSim loads

These specifications are useful for lesson planning and for understanding the pedagogical intent behind each simulation.

Using the Glossary¶

What is the Glossary?¶

The glossary is an alphabetical list of all key terms used in the textbook (currently 64 terms), each with a precise, concise definition. It serves as a quick-reference dictionary for students encountering unfamiliar vocabulary.

How to Access the Glossary¶

Click "Glossary" in the left navigation sidebar from any page.
Use the browser's built-in search (Ctrl+F on Windows/Linux, Cmd+F on Mac) to find a specific term on the glossary page.
Use the site-wide search bar at the top of any page to search for a term across the entire textbook.

Tips for Using the Glossary in Class¶

Vocabulary preview. Before starting a new chapter, have students look up the key terms in the glossary to build familiarity.
Definition matching. Create a warm-up activity where students match glossary definitions to terms from the current chapter.
Student-generated definitions. After reading a chapter, have students write their own definitions, then compare with the glossary. The differences are often where understanding lives.
Glossary quizzes. Use glossary terms for quick formative assessments (flash cards, quiz games, etc.).

Using the FAQ¶

What is the FAQ?¶

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a curated list of common questions students ask about information systems, organized by topic. Each question includes a clear, concise answer written at the same reading level as the chapters.

How the FAQ is Organized¶

The FAQ covers questions across all 25 chapters. Questions are grouped by topic area to make browsing easy.

Tips for Using the FAQ in Class¶

Discussion starters. Pick 2–3 FAQ questions at the start of class and have students discuss before revealing the answer.
Homework support. Point students to the FAQ when they have questions outside of class hours.
Extension reading. The FAQ often covers angles not addressed in the main chapter text, making it good supplementary material.
Test review. Students can use the FAQ as a study guide before assessments.

Using the Quizzes¶

What Are the Quizzes?¶

Each chapter has an accompanying quiz with multiple-choice questions designed for self-assessment. Quizzes test understanding of the concepts covered in that chapter and are aligned to specific items from the learning graph.

How Quizzes Work¶

Quizzes are accessed from the chapter's references and quiz pages (we are progressively adding a quiz to every chapter).
Each quiz contains multiple-choice questions at varying Bloom's Taxonomy levels.
Questions are presented as expandable sections — students can click to reveal the answer and explanation after attempting the question.
Quizzes are not graded automatically — they are designed as formative self-check tools, not summative assessments.

Tips for Using Quizzes in Class¶

Exit tickets. Have students complete the quiz at the end of a class period as a quick check for understanding.
Pre-reading check. Assign the quiz before the chapter to see what students already know (diagnostic assessment).
Post-reading review. Use the quiz after reading to identify concepts that need re-teaching.
Collaborative quiz. Have students work in pairs to discuss each question before revealing the answer.
Custom assessments. Use the quiz questions as a bank to create your own tests. The questions are openly licensed (see "Understanding the License" below).

Bloom's Taxonomy Levels¶

Each quiz question is tagged with a Bloom's Taxonomy level. Bloom's Taxonomy is a framework that classifies thinking skills from simple to complex:

Level	Name	What It Means	Example Verb
L1	Remember	Recall facts and definitions	Define, list, name
L2	Understand	Explain concepts in your own words	Explain, describe, compare
L3	Apply	Use concepts to solve problems	Calculate, demonstrate, solve
L4	Analyze	Break down and examine relationships	Differentiate, organize, compare
L5	Evaluate	Make judgments based on criteria	Assess, argue, justify
L6	Create	Produce original work or solutions	Design, construct, propose

A well-balanced assessment includes questions across multiple levels. The quizzes in this textbook primarily target levels L1–L4. The practice questions and capstone projects in the chapters target L5–L6.

Using the References¶

What Are the References?¶

Each chapter has an accompanying references page with a curated list of approximately 10 high-quality sources for further reading. References prioritize Wikipedia articles for accessibility and reliability, supplemented by authoritative books, standards documents, and research papers.

How References Are Organized¶

Each reference includes:

Title — The name of the source
URL — A clickable link to the source
Relevance — A brief description of why this source is useful and how it connects to the chapter content

A Note About Link Rot¶

Link rot is when a web link (URL) stops working because the page has been moved, renamed, or deleted. This is a common problem with any resource that links to external websites. While we prioritize Wikipedia (which has very stable URLs), some links may become outdated over time.

If you or your students encounter a broken link:

Try searching for the article title on the source website.
Use the Wayback Machine to find archived versions of the page.
Report the broken link using GitHub Issues (see "Feedback" below).

Feedback¶

Reporting Issues and Suggestions¶

This textbook is an open-source project hosted on GitHub, a website where software and content projects are developed collaboratively. You don't need to understand programming to report a problem or suggest an improvement.

What is a GitHub Issue?¶

A GitHub Issue is like a support ticket — it's a way to report a bug, suggest an improvement, or ask a question. Each issue gets a unique number and can be discussed by the project team and community.

How to Submit Feedback¶

Go to the textbook's GitHub repository: dmccreary/information-systems
Click the "Issues" tab at the top of the page.
Click the green "New issue" button.
Give your issue a clear title (e.g., "Broken link in Chapter 14 references" or "Suggestion: Add a MicroSim for entity resolution").
In the description, provide as much detail as possible:
- Which page or chapter has the problem
- What you expected to see vs. what you actually see
- Your browser and device (if relevant)
Click "Submit new issue".

You will need a free GitHub account to submit issues. If you prefer not to create an account, you can email feedback to the author using the Contact page.

Types of Feedback Welcome¶

Typos and errors — factual mistakes, spelling errors, broken formatting
Broken links — URLs that no longer work
MicroSim bugs — simulations that don't load or behave unexpectedly
Content suggestions — topics that should be covered, examples that could be improved
Accessibility issues — content that is difficult to read or navigate for students with disabilities

Understanding the License¶

What is a Creative Commons License?¶

A license is a legal document that explains what others are allowed to do with a piece of work. A Creative Commons (CC) license is a standardized, easy-to-understand license used for educational and creative content. It tells you exactly what permissions you have without needing a lawyer.

This Textbook's License¶

This textbook uses the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Here's what each part means:

Code	Full Name	What It Means
CC	Creative Commons	A standard open license
BY	Attribution	You must give credit to the original author
NC	Non-Commercial	You cannot use the material to make money
SA	Share-Alike	If you modify the material, you must share it under the same license
4.0	Version 4.0	The version of the license (the current standard)

What You CAN Do¶

Copy the entire textbook or individual chapters for your students.
Share the textbook link with other instructors, students, or parents.
Print chapters for classroom use.
Modify the content — add your own examples, remove sections, change the order.
Translate the content into other languages.
Create derivative works — build your own version of the textbook based on this one.

What You CANNOT Do¶

Sell the textbook or charge students for access.
Remove attribution — you must credit the original author (Dan McCreary).
Use a different license — if you modify and share, it must remain CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Claim it as your own work — the attribution requirement means you must acknowledge the original source.

For the full legal text, see the License page.

Customizing Your Own Textbook¶

One of the most powerful features of this textbook is that you can create your own customized version. Many instructors will want to do exactly this — adapt the book to match their syllabus, their industry context, or their students' background. This section explains how, step by step.

Key Technical Terms¶

Before we begin, here are some terms you'll need to understand:

Repository (repo) — A folder on GitHub that contains all the files for a project. Think of it as the project's home directory.
Git — A version control tool that tracks changes to files. It lets you see what changed, when, and by whom.
Clone — Making a complete copy of a repository on your own computer.
Fork — Making a complete copy of a repository on your own GitHub account (stays on GitHub, not your computer).
MkDocs — The software that converts the textbook's Markdown files into a website. You don't need to learn MkDocs deeply — just enough to make basic changes.
Markdown — A simple text formatting language. If you can write an email, you can write Markdown. **bold** makes bold, # Heading makes a heading, and - makes a bullet point.
mkdocs.yml — The main configuration file for the textbook website. It controls the site title, navigation structure, colors, and which features are enabled.

Step 1: Create a GitHub Account¶

If you don't already have one, go to github.com and create a free account.

Step 2: Fork or Clone the Repository¶

Option A: Fork (easier, stays on GitHub)

Go to dmccreary/information-systems.
Click the "Fork" button in the upper-right corner.
This creates a copy in your own GitHub account that you can edit.

Option B: Clone (more control, works on your computer)

Install Git on your computer (git-scm.com).
Open a terminal (Command Prompt on Windows, Terminal on Mac).

Run this command:

git clone https://github.com/dmccreary/information-systems.git

This downloads the entire textbook to your computer.

Step 3: Make Changes¶

All content files are in the docs/ folder. They are written in Markdown (.md files) — plain text files with simple formatting. You can edit them with any text editor.

Changing the Title and Description¶

Open mkdocs.yml and edit these lines:

site_name: "Your Custom Textbook Title"
site_description: "Your description here"
site_author: "Your Name"

Changing the Colors¶

This textbook uses a custom color palette defined in docs/css/extra.css. To change it, open that file and adjust the CSS variables for the primary and accent colors. If you'd rather use one of the built-in MkDocs Material color schemes, change the palette section in mkdocs.yml:

theme:
  palette:
    - scheme: default
      primary: blue        # built-in: red, pink, purple, indigo, blue, teal, green, etc.
      accent: amber

Changing the Logo¶

Replace the file docs/img/mascot/neutral.png with your own logo image (PNG format with a transparent background, approximately 128×128 pixels). Or replace the entire mascot family in docs/img/mascot/ with your own pedagogical agent.

Step 4: Preview Your Changes Locally¶

Install Python (version 3.8 or newer) from python.org.
Install MkDocs and the Material theme:
```
pip install mkdocs mkdocs-material
```
Navigate to the project folder and start the preview server:
```
cd information-systems
mkdocs serve
```
Open your browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000/information-systems/ to see your customized version.

The preview server watches for file changes. When you edit and save a Markdown file, the page automatically refreshes in your browser.

Step 5: Publish Your Version¶

To publish your customized textbook as a free website using GitHub Pages:

mkdocs gh-deploy

This command builds the website and publishes it to https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/information-systems/. The process takes about 1–2 minutes.

Customizing Your Analytics¶

What is Web Analytics?¶

Web analytics is the process of measuring how visitors use a website — which pages they visit, how long they stay, and where they come from. For an educational textbook, analytics can help you understand which chapters students read most, which MicroSims they interact with, and where they might be struggling.

Google Analytics¶

Many instructors will want to add Google Analytics — a free service from Google that tracks website visits — to their forked version of this textbook.

Setting Up Your Own Google Analytics¶

Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with a Google account.
Create a new property (Google's term for a tracked website).
Google will give you a Measurement ID — a code that looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX.

In your mkdocs.yml, add this section under extra:

extra:
  analytics:
    provider: google
    property: G-YOUR-MEASUREMENT-ID

Rebuild and deploy your site. Analytics data will start appearing within 24–48 hours.

What You Can Learn from Analytics¶

Which chapters are most/least visited — helps you identify where students might be skipping content.
Average time on page — longer times may indicate engagement or confusion. (Both are useful signals.)
Device breakdown — what percentage of students use phones vs. computers.
Geographic distribution — where your students are accessing from.
Search terms — what students search for on your site.

xAPI Monitoring (Advanced)¶

xAPI (Experience API, also called "Tin Can API") is an advanced standard for tracking detailed learning activities — not just page views, but specific interactions like "student moved a slider to position X" or "student answered quiz question 3 correctly."

What is an LRS?¶

An LRS (Learning Record Store) is a database that stores xAPI learning records. Think of it as a specialized analytics system designed specifically for education. If you use an LRS, you can track granular student learning data.

Important: Regulatory Considerations¶

Before collecting student-specific learning data, be aware of these regulations:

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) — U.S. federal law that protects student education records. If you collect data that can identify individual students, you must comply with FERPA.
COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) — U.S. federal law that applies to children under 13. (Likely not a concern for this college-level textbook, but worth knowing.)
State laws — Many U.S. states have additional student privacy laws.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) — European Union law that applies if any of your students are in the EU.

Recommendation: The Google Analytics setup described above is anonymous by default — it tracks aggregate page views, not individual students. This is the safest approach. If you want individual student tracking via xAPI, consult your institution's data privacy officer before turning anything on. Chapters 15 (Privacy and Compliance) and 21 (AI Law) cover the underlying obligations in more depth, and they apply to you as an operator of an educational website just as much as to the businesses your students will eventually work for.

Building a Student Progress Dashboard with AI¶

As AI tools become more accessible, it is becoming possible to build custom dashboards that visualize student progress through the textbook — for example:

Which chapters each student has completed
Quiz scores over time
MicroSim engagement levels
Concepts that need re-teaching based on quiz performance

Building such a dashboard requires programming knowledge (Python, JavaScript) and careful attention to student data privacy. This is an advanced topic beyond the scope of this guide, but the open-source nature of this textbook means all the data structures are available for developers to build upon.

The Learning Graph¶

What is a Learning Graph?¶

A learning graph is a visual map showing how concepts in the textbook depend on each other. It is structured as a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) — a diagram where arrows show which concepts must be understood before others.

For example, understanding the Enterprise Knowledge Graph (Chapter 24) requires students to first understand graph data models, ontologies, and entity resolution — and those depend on earlier ideas about data modeling and master data management. The learning graph makes these dependency chains visible.

This textbook's learning graph contains 580 concepts spanning all 25 chapters.

How Instructors Can Use the Learning Graph¶

Prerequisite checking. Before teaching a concept, verify that students have covered its prerequisites in earlier chapters.
Remediation. If a student struggles with a concept, trace back to its prerequisites to find the gap.
Curriculum mapping. Compare the learning graph to your existing syllabus to identify coverage gaps. This is especially useful for programs pursuing or maintaining ABET CAC accreditation.
Enrichment. Advanced students can explore concepts ahead of the current chapter by following the graph forward.

The interactive Learning Graph Viewer is available in the "Learning Graph" section of the left navigation, and the underlying data lives in docs/learning-graph/.

Iris the Hummingbird: Your Pedagogical Agent¶

What is a Pedagogical Agent?¶

A pedagogical agent is a character that appears throughout a textbook to guide students. Research shows that pedagogical agents improve student engagement and perception of learning — a phenomenon called the persona effect.

Meet Iris¶

Iris is an emerald-green hummingbird with a ruby-magenta gorget and wire-rim glasses. She has, somehow, read every IS textbook. Her voice is warm, playful, and slightly irreverent — she is the smartest, most enthusiastic TA your students will ever meet, and she genuinely believes that ERP cutover plans are interesting.

How Iris Appears¶

Iris appears as colored callout boxes (called admonitions) throughout each chapter. There are seven types:

Type	Color	Purpose	Frequency
Welcome	Green	Introduces the chapter	Every chapter opening
Thinking	Orange	Highlights key insights	1–2 per chapter
Tip	Green	Shares practical advice	As needed
Warning	Red	Alerts to common mistakes	As needed
Encourage	Blue	Supports on harder concepts	Where students may struggle
Celebration	Purple	Celebrates progress	Every chapter ending
Neutral	Gray	General notes	Rarely

Iris appears no more than 5–6 times per chapter. Mascot admonitions are never placed back-to-back, so when Iris speaks up, it's worth pausing on.

Tips for Instructors¶

Read Iris's admonitions aloud. They are written in a conversational tone that works well when spoken in class.
Use them as discussion prompts. Iris's thinking admonitions highlight the most important insights in each chapter — they are often the perfect "stop and discuss" moment.
Direct struggling students to her. When a student is bouncing off a concept, point them to the encourage admonition for that chapter. The voice was designed for exactly that moment.
Treat the warning admonitions as exam-worthy. They flag the classic pitfalls that 80% of practitioners stumble over. If it's worth Iris's time to warn about, it's probably worth a test question.

From Iris

Iris celebrates You made it through the Instructor's Guide. You now know more about how this textbook works than the people who wrote half the competing IS textbooks on the market. Go teach the most useful course your students will take this year — and tell them I said hi.