Abstract
Unified modeling language (UML) is widely taught in the information systems (IS) curriculum. To understand UML in IS education, this paper reports on an empirical study that taps into students' learning of UML. The study uses a concept-mapping technique to identify the challenges in learning UML notational elements. It reveals that some technical properties of UML diagrammatic representation, coupled with students' cognitive attributes, hinder both perceptual and conceptual processes involved in searching, recognizing, and inferring visual information, which creates learning barriers. This paper also discusses how to facilitate perceptual and conceptual processes in instruction to overcome learning challenges. The study provides valuable insights for the IS educators, the UML academic community, and practitioners.
Recommended Citation
Shen, Z., Tan, S., & Siau, K. (2018). Challenges in Learning Unified Modeling Language: From the Perspective of Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 43(1), pp. 545-565. Association for Information Systems (AIS).
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.04330
Department(s)
Business and Information Technology
Keywords and Phrases
Concept mapping; Diagrammatic reasoning; Diagrammatic representation; Learning challenges; UML
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1529-3181
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2018 Association for Information Systems (AIS), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Sep 2018
