Transformative learning in designing algorithms for reporting information systems

This paper describes a teaching method that enables students to design efficient and effective algorithms for reporting information systems applications. Adopting the general principles of transformative learning, students are immersed in a series of activities and interventions to enable learning. The activities provided opportunities for students to design algorithms, also using knowledge gained during the interventions. The interventions allowed students to gain knowledge about the output data structures such as list, table, and cube; the sequence control structures that may take different execution times; and the assumptions such as source data tables and mapping rules—all of which can contribute to the design of efficient and effective algorithms. 88 undergraduate business students in an advanced information systems course learn the principles of designing algorithms through critical reflection and reinterpretation consistent with the principles of transformative learning. The algorithms designed by students reveal that attention to the output data structures, sequence control structures, and assumptions enables the design of efficient and effective algorithms.