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ITEC 442 — Electronic Commerce

Department of Computer Science & Information Technology
Frostburg State University · Spring 2026 · Instructor: Dr. Chen
Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in ITEC 315 or COSC 241

Course Overview

Electronic Commerce is the study of conducting business transactions and delivering services over digital networks. This course develops comprehensive knowledge of how organizations design, build, market, and secure digital commerce systems — spanning consumer retail, business-to-business exchanges, government services, supply chain management, and emerging digital business models.

Students move from foundational concepts through hands-on system design, culminating in a complete e-commerce implementation project that integrates all course threads.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Define e-commerce models, frameworks, and their place in the modern digital economy
  • Analyze digital marketplace structures, platform economics, and competitive dynamics
  • Apply consumer behavior theory and data-driven market research to digital commerce
  • Design B2B and B2C e-commerce strategies with company-centric frameworks
  • Evaluate electronic supply chain systems and logistics technology
  • Build and assess corporate portals, intranets, and collaboration platforms
  • Examine e-government architectures and digital public service delivery
  • Analyze e-learning systems, LMS platforms, and knowledge management tools
  • Implement a functional e-commerce system using modern web technologies

Course Objectives

# Objective
CO1 Explain e-commerce concepts, terminology, and business models across B2C, B2B, B2G, and C2C contexts
CO2 Analyze digital marketplace structures, network effects, and the economic impact of e-commerce
CO3 Apply digital market research methods and consumer behavior frameworks to e-commerce decisions
CO4 Design and evaluate B2B e-commerce strategies, procurement systems, and company-centric models
CO5 Assess electronic supply chain management, EDI standards, and logistics technology
CO6 Develop corporate portal architectures and evaluate knowledge management platforms
CO7 Examine e-government models, digital public service delivery, and civic technology
CO8 Evaluate e-learning systems, LMS platforms, and instructional technology design
CO9 Design, implement, and evaluate a functional e-commerce system using current technologies

15-Week Reading Schedule

Week Topic Objectives Focus Area
Week 1 E-Commerce Foundations & Business Models CO1 🏗️ Foundations
Week 2 Digital Marketplaces & Platform Economics CO2 🏪 Platforms
Week 3 Economic Impacts of E-Commerce CO2 📈 Economics
Week 4 Consumer Behavior & Digital Psychology CO3 🧠 Behavior
Week 5 Market Research & Digital Analytics CO3 🔬 Analytics
Week 6 B2C Strategy, UX Design & Conversion CO1, CO3 🛒 B2C
Week 7 B2B E-Commerce & Company-Centric Models CO4 🤝 B2B
Week 8 E-Supply Chain Management CO5 🚚 Supply Chain
Week 9 Payment Systems & Financial Technology CO1, CO9 💳 Payments
Week 10 E-Commerce Security & Trust CO1, CO9 🔒 Security
Week 11 Corporate Portals & Knowledge Management CO6 🏢 Portals
Week 12 E-Government & Digital Public Services CO7 🏛️ Gov
Week 13 E-Learning Systems & EdTech CO8 🎓 E-Learning
Week 14 Mobile Commerce, Social Commerce & Emerging Models CO1, CO2, CO3 📱 Emerging
Week 15 E-Commerce System Design & Implementation Capstone CO9 🚀 Capstone

Core Textbooks & Resources

Primary References

  • Electronic Commerce, 13th Ed. — Turban, Outland, King, Lee, Liang, Turban (Springer)
  • E-Commerce 2023–2024 — Laudon & Traver (Pearson)
  • Platform Revolution — Parker, Van Alstyne & Choudary (W.W. Norton)
  • The Lean Startup — Eric Ries (Crown Business)
  • Web Development with Node.js — Sandro Pasquali (Packt)

Technologies & Tools Covered

HTML/CSS/JavaScript · Node.js / Express · MySQL / MongoDB · Stripe API · Google Analytics 4 · Shopify · WooCommerce · Salesforce Commerce Cloud · SAP Ariba · PayPal SDK

Assessment Structure

Weekly Readings & Quizzes    20%   (comprehension checks)
Case Study Analyses          20%   (4 written analyses, 5% each)
Market Research Project      15%   (digital consumer analysis)
B2B/B2C Strategy Paper       15%   (team assignment)
E-Commerce Implementation    25%   (final project — working system)
Participation                 5%   (discussion boards, peer review)

Final Project Overview

Capstone: Build an E-Commerce System

Teams of 2–3 students design and implement a working e-commerce platform:

  • Storefront — product catalog, search, filtering
  • User accounts — registration, authentication, profile
  • Shopping cart — session management, persistence
  • Checkout — payment processing (Stripe sandbox), order confirmation
  • Admin panel — product management, order dashboard
  • Analytics — Google Analytics 4 integration

See Week 15 for full technical specifications and rubric.

Navigate to any week using the table above or the sidebar.