Database Systems and Oracle: Experiences and Lessons Learned

In a tight job market, IT professionals with database experience are likely to be in great demand. Companies need database personnel who can help improve access to and security of data. The events of September 11 have increased business ' awareness of the need for database security, backup, and recovery procedures. It is our responsibility to prepare our students to meet the chal-lenges of database development and system administration. This knowledge of creating, manipu-lating and analyzing data for decision making purposes is fundamental for those managers mak-ing business decisions. Our decision to change to Oracle is a perfect example of the need to make students more aware that a company's database platform may change and they must be capable of meeting the challenges of the change. This paper will focus on the pedagogical changes neces-sary to teach fundamental database concepts and the current technology needed to implement a system using Oracle