Laboratory-based electronic commerce: A comparison of technical and business- oriented student experiences

The slow rate of acceptance of telecommunications applications Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in particular can be attributed, at least in part, to a lack of understanding of the strategic benefits which can accrue from their effective utilisation. This paper describes the design of an international laboratory called TREAT (Teaching Realistic EDI And Telecommunications) which is being developed to address this concern. It then compares the design and operational findings resulting from implementing TREAT in a technically-oriented Computer Science department and a business-oriented Information Systems department. The results of this preliminary study provide indicative support for the conclusion that participants' responses to TREAT were influenced in some cases by their particular educational background the Computer Science students were more interested in the mechanisms of the game (including the use of the EDI translation software), while the Information Systems students were primarily interested in the organisational structure of TREAT and the way in which telecommunications can be used to support business activities.