Introduction to NoSQL in a traditional database course

Many organizations are dealing with the increasing demands of big data, so they are turning to NoSQL databases as their preferred system for handling the unique problems of capturing and storing massive amounts of data. Therefore, it is likely that employees in all sizes of organizations will encounter NoSQL databases. Thus, to be more job-ready, college students need to be introduced to this technology to begin to have a functional understanding of how it works and how to use it. This paper provides a simple project-based, teaching case that introduces NoSQL and can be easily integrated into any existing database management course to augment concepts and skills geared around traditional SQL relational databases. The teaching case was tested and student feedback (pre- and post-assessment results, shown in the data analytics and results section) indicated a significant increase in their basic knowledge of NoSQL.