Dwi Puspita Sari
Dwi Puspita Sari Harnesses a Dual Concentration, Attentive Faculty, and International Conference Presentations to Meet Personal and Career Goals Back Home in Indonesia
MS in Computer Information Systems with a concentration Data Analytics and IT Project Management. BS, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
“I will never regret spending two years studying at BU MET. The professors are super nice and helpful, the facilities are equipped to support my studies, and the campus environment is really nice. I had a wonderful experience studying at Boston University.”
What compelled you to return to school and pursue a graduate education? What is your long-term objective?
My parents are university lecturers with a passion for education that has led them to have their own educational institutions. After I completed my degree at Deakin University in Australia in 2015, I went back to Indonesia to contribute to an educational foundation called Yayasan Pendidikan Dwi Tunggal (YPDT) Palembang and two colleges that were established and owned by my parents.
I accepted a position as a vice president and program director at YPDT–Palembang. I was also teaching fundamentals of information technology, introduction to information systems, and management of information systems. Teaching has become one of my passions, as I have taught more than a hundred students in different courses at YPDT–Palembang. I also had a chance to be a casual academic at Deakin University, marking student’s assignments for two online classes.
Every lecturer teaching in the Tertiary Education Level in Indonesia must complete at least a master’s degree, so pursuing a master’s degree is compulsory for me in order to keep being a lecturer. Based on that, I chose to pursue an MS degree in Computer Information Systems at Metropolitan College. The specializations that caught my attention are data analytics and IT project management. There are some data analytics courses in the MET program that have enhanced my knowledge of data analysis and visualization, web analytics and mining, data mining, and business web analytics that will support my research interests in the future. Moreover, there are courses related to IT project management, such as IT Strategy and Management (MET CS 782); IT Project Management (MET CS 632); Software Quality, Testing, and Security Management (MET CS 633); Enterprise Architecture (MET CS 783); and Agile Software Development (MET CS 634) that will definitely help me to handle many upcoming IT-related projects in my parents’ educational institutions.
Upon finishing my master’s degree, my plan is to pursue a doctoral degree in information systems. The ultimate goal is to help develop my parents’ education institutions and, at the same time, pass on the knowledge and experiences gathered during my studies through my teaching.
Why did you choose MET for your graduate studies? What set MET apart from other programs you were considering?
In late June 2015, I presented a research paper in collaboration with two of my professors from Deakin University at the InSITE: Informing Science + IT Education Conference: USA, held at the University of South Florida, Tampa. The paper was entitled “The Usefulness Metrics of The Most Popular eReader Used by Higher Education Students,” and was successfully published in Informing Science and Information Technology. It was my first time travelling to United States of America and I found it was a different vibe compared to Melbourne, Australia, where I stayed for my undergraduate degree. Once I returned to Indonesia I started to look for prospective universities for my graduate studies. I received offers from three different universities and, after considering all the courses offered by those three universities, I preferred Boston University, which offers more courses that I am interested in and allows me to take two concentrations at the same time that suit my future career goals.
You participated in the CSECS Conference this past June and submitted a paper on the analysis of information technology in Indonesia. Can you share about this experience?
Yes, I participated in the 14th annual International Conference on Computer Science and Education in Computer Science (CSECS), June 29–30, 2018, held at BU’s Metropolitan College. The paper that I presented was entitled “Geographically Weighted Regression Analysis of Information and Communication Technology Development in Indonesia.” I collaborated with one of my friends, who is also a current graduate student at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia, and the research was supervised by Professor Vijay Kanabar. Our research found that there were three factors influencing the development of ICT in Indonesia: Location, Economic Prosperity, and Education. However, the paper focused on the bandwidth of the radius size using a geographically weighted regression method that can be analogous to the radius of a circle, so we can figure out the dependency between one area (that is measured by province) to influence each other in ICT Development. We used Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) and Coefficient of Determination (R Square) Local as our research method. The result of our study shows that the bandwidth value equals to 145.2 km and minimum cross of validation value is 0.09101971 which means the development of ICT between one area to another is influencing each other with distance of 145.2 km.
Is there a particular faculty member from your courses who has enhanced your experience at MET? Who and why?
All the faculty members at MET are really supportive. I have three particular faculty members I would like to mention: Professor Vijay Kanabar, Professor Alex Elentukh, and Professor Marcia Yates.
Professor Kanabar taught me in three courses during my graduate study at MET: IT Project Management (MET CS 632), Agile Software Development (MET CS 634), and Web Analytics for Business (MET AD 688). For all his classes that I attended, he required students to write a research paper and present it in class. As a PhD degree is my short-term goal right after completing my master’s degree at MET, the ability to write a paper and the communication skills to talk about and present my work need to be developed, and those classes helped me work on these areas.
Professor Elentukh taught me in Software Quality, Testing, and Security Management (MET CS 633) in fall 2017. He is one of the nicest professors I ever met at MET. He taught in detail and was always ready to help students with any questions related to class materials. At the end of the project, each student was required to work in a group to develop a system, and my group developed “Asset Management Systems.” The project’s paper was accepted at the 6th International Conference on Information Technology for Cyber and IT Service Management (CITSM 2018), held August 7–9, 2018, in North Sumatra, Indonesia. We attended and presented our paper at that conference, and also had a chance to introduce MET to some attendees during the conference.
Professor Yates taught me in Enterprise Software Architecture (MET CS 783) in fall 2017. From this class, I have learned top-level management perspectives and enterprise architecture insights that will definitely help me upon my return to my parents’ educational institution. In addition, this class provided me with broad knowledge of strategic goals in developing and maintaining the enterprise architecture. At the end this course, every student is required to present their own term project, and my project was about proposing accreditation systems development at a tertiary education institution in Indonesia. As the class was only six students, I had more chances to talk with the professor about class materials and any issues or difficulties during the semester. Professor Yates is really helpful in explaining further any course-related materials, and she helped me to complete my term project.
Is there a specific course project that you would like to spotlight? How do you apply concepts you are learning in your courses at MET in your current job or internship?
Since data analytics is a new field for me, I probably will apply this knowledge upon my return to my parents’ college. I will use all the data analytics science to analyze some specific issues, find the patterns, and make some decisions. For example, I might analyze future student enrollment percentages, finding the patterns of student’s behavior, and make some decisions that can help the institution develop in the near future. In addition, the IT Project Management specialization will guide me to develop and manage any upcoming IT project in my institution in Indonesia.