This article aims at clarifying the strategic significance of developing medical informatics, conducting SWOT analysis on this discipline and hence establishing the strategic objectives and focal points for its development.

Describes the development of systems thinking and the form taken in the study of work and organizations. Discusses some criticisms from social scientists. Explores the relationship among systems, interdisciplinarity, and engineering education. (Author/YP)

Discusses the necessity of interdisciplinary and systems approaches in engineering education for analyzing complex issues. Presents several recent problems. (YP)

Recommends systems subjects as part of college curricula for providing students with broader skills and with background that does not become outdated. Topics included are requirements of a basic examination, cooperation with other professionals, and examples of systems technologies and interdisciplinary research. (Author/YP)

Argues that systems thinking can be developed by experiential learning activities which complement both intradisciplinary projects and technical knowledge inputs. Discusses the development of systems thinking, the form of engineering curricula, and assessment. (Author/YP)

The design development of a minicomputer-based information system for physician assistant students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is reported. A system built on modern concepts of experiential based learning and a computer-assisted instruction curriculum is described. (Author/MLW)

Describes an example of the main steps in restructuring a curriculum and thinking developed by a systems approach. Provides several diagrams illustrating the curriculum structure. (Author/YP)

The Applied Computer Science Department at Illinois State University is in the process of implementing a reengineered curriculum that utilizes an integrated and spiral approach to subject coverage. The 1996-97 school year was the first year that upper division course prerequisites were based on the new curriculum instead of a mixture of old and…

Compiled for the benefit of library, archive, and information science schools for use in their information services and systems management courses, this reader is not meant to replace the already existing standard textbooks on this subject, but to provide a more international perspective than textbooks written with the information services of one…