A requirements analysis framework for Human Activity Systems (HAS): the case of online learning

Abstract

The task of designing information systems is clearly interdisciplinary, since it requires domain knowledge in business process development within the social environment, and the processes management of technological applications. This paper explains e-learning as a human activity system, which requires soft methodologies that deal with the analysis of evolving and ill-defined needs, as well as traditional hard approaches to the design of physical solutions to meet those needs. Consequently, a requirements analysis framework is proposed for constructivist online learning systems in which soft systems thinking is integrated as the essential strategy of requirements elicitation and analysis. This framework is capable of capturing both the formal and informal, as well as the hard and soft aspects of the requirements within a social environment.