Courses
Information about the in-person and online courses that I taught during my four-year run at ASU as a full-time college professor.
Table of Contents
Full-Semester, In-Person
CIS450: Enterprise Analytics: Capstone
CIS440: System Design Capstone
CIS236: Intro to Information Systems – Honors
CIS235: Intro to Information Systems
Half-Semester, Online
CIS450: Enterprise Analytics Capstone
CIS405: Business Intelligence
CIS310: Data Visualization
Courses I Would Love to Teach ↗️
Full-Semester, In-Person
CIS450: Enterprise Analytics: Capstone
Course in a nutshell: This course explores the practice of modern analytics with a particular emphasis on Agile methods (read: Scrum). Over the course of the semester, students work with organizations on real-world projects. This typically involves data and statistical analysis, data visualization, scraping data, and more. I wrote Analytics: The Agile Way specifically for this course.
For more information, click on the links below:
- WordPress site (public). This includes a link to the capstone-project definition form.
- Syllabus
- Schedule
- Course Slack Workspace for Summer, 2018 (invite-only)
- ASU official course page
CIS440: System Design Capstone
Course in a nutshell: This course covers traditional project-management methods and contemporary methods such as Agile, Scrum, Lean Startup, and DevOps. Over the course of the semester, students build a useful technology solution for their clients. This typically involves mobile apps, databases, or websites.
For more information, click on the links below:
- WordPress site (public). This includes a link to the capstone-project definition form
- Syllabus
- Schedule
- Course Slack Workspace for Summer, 2018 (invite-only)
- ASU Official Course Page
I learned a lot from your class, Professor Simon. Not only did it help me with my current classes, but I have applied that knowledge in my job as well.
—Former student
In May of 2018, the CIS department chair assigned me an introductory survey course for the forthcoming academic year. To be sure, I had improved my three 400-level courses—something that my student evaluations certainly reflected. It turns out that undergraduate freshman and sophomores frequently select their major if the professors who teach their introductory courses are particularly dynamic. Sure, I was a tad disappointed at first, but I understood why and flexibility is a core tenet of my teaching philosophy.
CIS236: Intro to Information Systems – Honors
Course in a nutshell: This survey course introduces the competitive and strategic uses of information systems. We tackle how information systems are transforming organizations and even entire industries. We also broach the issues, difficulties, and opportunities facing contemporary professionals and managers.
More specifically and in no particular order, we cover Big Data, cloud computing, business intelligence, databases, programming, how computers work, the Internet of Things, social media, analytics, Business Intelligence, Big Data, mobility, the web, the Internet, Business Process Management (BPM), and many other subjects.
Yikes.
If that wasn’t enough, consider that we also cover The Phoenix Project, an excellent book about DevOps and continuous deployment.
Links:
- Official ASU course page (requires ASU login)
- Course syllabus
- Slack workspace (requires invitation)
- Canvas site (requires ASU login)
CIS235: Intro to Information Systems
Course in a nutshell: This survey course introduces the competitive and strategic uses of information systems. We tackle how information systems are transforming organizations and even entire industries. We also broach the issues, difficulties, and opportunities facing contemporary professionals and managers.
We cover the same topics as CIS236 (see above.) Click here for the book’s lengthy table of contents.
Links:
- Official ASU course page (requires ASU login)
- Slack workspace (requires invitation)
- Course syllabus
- Canvas site (requires ASU login)
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
—Gail Godwin
Half-Semester, Online
CIS450: Enterprise Analytics Capstone
I developed this course in the Fall of 2017. I prepared all of the materials and recorded all 32 lectures.
CIS405: Business Intelligence
This course presents students the tools and mind-set needed for contemporary BI. There’s a particular focus on building and using business-essential BI capabilities. I teach this course—originally developed by my friend and muse Alan Simon. Cue the music.
- ASU official course page
- Current course syllabus
- Canvas site (requires ASU credentials)
- Slack workspace (requires ASU credentials)
- Microsoft PowerBI download
CIS310: Data Visualization
This course covers the design of insightful business data visualizations and dashboards to improve business decision making. Students create interactive data visualizations—one of my favorite tools these days. That is, they move beyond static pie and bar charts. That is a key point in my book The Visual Organization.
- Slack workspace (requires ASU credentials)
- Not your average syllabus
- Canvas site (requires ASU credentials)
- Tableau home page