July 16, 2015
E-Commerce for Fun and Profit
Looking for a fun and engaging class next fall? In MIS 4153, I teach students how to develop their own website and how to analyze existing e-commerce websites. The first half of the semester is spent learning to create websites – learning HTML, CSS, and PHP. Students make their own professional website, much like the BUSI 3200 requirement, but built on steroids. The second half of the semester, students analyze business websites in detail while learning the theory and practice of e-commerce. During this project, students spend 7 weeks listening to executive interviews, exploring marketing techniques, assessing online technologies, learning about user experience, and evaluating administrative practices of a company’s online presence. At the end of the project, students write a detailed report highlighting a prioritized list of improvements that is returned to the business owners.
This project has been a complete success. Students love it. Businesses love it.
Some businesses loved the results so much, they offered students jobs to implement the recommended changes, without even interviewing them first. Another organization asked a student to present his findings to their board of trustees.
We have had the privilege of working with many local businesses, including East Carolina Auto Dealership, The Wash House laundries, Brock Realty Group, Nease Personnel, The Hammock Source (Designed for Outdoors), the little bank, and Parker Boats. We have also helped various non-profits, social commerce, and public organizations such as the Pitt-Greenville Airport Authority, Center for Family Violence Prevention, Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, Vidant Rehabilitation Center, Waveborn, and our own College of Business. We need more – more students and more business sponsors.
If you are interested in learning how to use e-commerce for fun and profit, sign up for this class. The only prerequisite is MIS 3063, although if you have never programmed or developed a website before, you may find MIS 3673 useful. There are still openings for this fall, both face-to-face and online.
If you know a business or two that may be interested in a websites analysis, please send them this link https://ecu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3jHVcgujJ7i45Sd. Each semester, we need 8 new organization websites to analyze, so your recommendations are essential.
If you have any questions about the class or projects, please do not hesitate to send me an email at drakejo@ecu.edu. Cheers!
John Drake, PhD
Assistant Professor of MIS