Teaching Tech: The Study of Human Resource Technology Has Grown Vital for Today's Students

Roberts, Bill, HRMagazine

San Jose State University, the largest public university in California's Silicon Valley, has offered an undergraduate elective in HRIS--human resource information systems--for 15 years. But because university administrators have struggled to hire tenure-track professors qualified to teach the course, they rely mainly on adjunct faculty. For various reasons, the course is not scheduled to be taught this fall, for the first time in years. It might be offered again, but for now faculty members are deliberating on how to incorporate some of its content into other HR courses.

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"The HRIS course content has not been consistent or rigorous," says professor William Y. Jiang, chair of the Department of Organization and Management in the College of Business, with 300 undergraduate students in its HR concentration. "Students should be more familiar with technology in general, and our students need computer skills," he says. "But there is no absolute agreement on what should be in the course."

Teaching the Teachers

Like San Jose State, HR faculties across the nation are wrestling with how to prepare students for using HR technology in the workplace. They recognize that HR students must be educated in technology, whether the focus is a specific HR system, databases in general, e-recruiting and other e-HR processes, Web 2.0 applications, or related topics such as metrics, workforce analytics and strategic HR. Yet the number of HRIS courses is limited.

The heart of the HR teaching profession is in the right place, but most professors do not have the knowledge to teach the courses. Like the HR profession, the HR academic …

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Publication information: Article title: Teaching Tech: The Study of Human Resource Technology Has Grown Vital for Today's Students. Contributors: Roberts, Bill - Author. Magazine title: HRMagazine. Volume: 53. Issue: 7 Publication date: July 2008. Page number: 83+. © 1999 Society for Human Resource Management. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.

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