Monash University Handbook 2013 Undergraduate - Units

At the completion of this unit students will have -

An understanding of:

• the relationship between a problem description and program design;
• the management of problems using recognised frameworks;
• the use of design representations;
• the semantics of imperative programs;
• the object oriented paradigm as represented by Java;
• the sequence of steps that a computer takes to translate source code into executable code; and
• primitive data types and basic data structures.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• adopt a problem-solving approach;
• recognise the importance of programming and documentation conventions;
• appreciate quality parameters in program development;
• accept the code of professional conduct and practice; and
• act in accordance with best practice, industry standards and professional ethics.

Developed the skills to:

• use diagrams to design solutions for programming problems;
• apply problem solving strategies;
• use pseudo-code to design algorithms;
• design object oriented solutions to simple problems using multiple user-defined classes;
• create and test programming solutions to problems using the Java programming language;
• edit, compile and execute a computer program;
• analyse and debug existing programs; and
• write a test plan.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• produce formal documentation for a program; and
• explain an existing program.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• basic concepts of information, including organisational and social issues relating to the ownership and control of information;
• basic concepts of information systems, including their role and importance in organisations and society;
• basic concepts of organisations, including organisational structures, the roles of individuals and groups in organisations, the role of communication in achieving organisational objectives, and the nature of communication in organisations;
• basic concepts of IT as it is used in organisations and society, including the evolution of the role of IT in organisations and society;
• information technologies and information technology infrastructures employed by organisations;
• the business and information management processes and functions for which IT is used in organisations, and in which IT professionals are involved;
• opportunities, risks and liabilities arising from the usage and application of IT in organisations;
• processes of acquiring, developing and managing IT in organisations;
• techniques and tools for describing and analysing information management processes in organisations;
• the roles of IT workers in organisations and the range of ethical and professional rights and responsibilities associated with them; and
• organisational and social issues arising from the use of IT in organisations, including privacy and civil liberties issues.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the importance of information to organisational processes and functions;
• recognise the opportunities and limitations of the role which IT can play in managing information in organisations; and
• appreciate the importance of the IT practitioners role in organisations and society, and the responsibilities it entails.

The skills to:

• document organisational information-related functions and processes;
• assess the potential scope for using IT as part of the solution to an organisational information problem;
• identify and discuss issues, problems and opportunities in using IT in organisations;
• identify and discuss the organisational and social impacts of IT, and the ethical dimensions of IT-related decisions;
• recognise the team skills necessary for successful development and implementation of IT solutions to information problems in organisations; and
• appreciate the importance of the inter-relationships between IT professionals and the stakeholders in IT-based systems in organisations.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the major objectives of database technology;
• the relational model for databases and competing models;
• the phases of the database development life cycle and their correspondence to the phases of the system development lifecycle;
• the issues related to data creation and management, data rights and data curation;
• the techniques and tools to design and implement a database suitable for an information system;
• a database retrieval and manipulation language;
• methods to put in place physical structures to permit efficient operation of a database;
• the role of a database administrator.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate the privacy issues relating to storage of data in a database;
• practice ethical behaviour when developing, implementing and using a database.

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• discuss network architecture standards for open systems;
• describe ISO reference and Internet models;
• explain fundamentals and technologies of physical, data-link and network layers;
• understand the functions and architectures of LAN and WAN;
• analyse and design LAN architecture for organisational requirements;
• adopt a problem solving approach, accept the code of professional conduct and

practice and act in accordance with best practice, industry standards and professional ethics;

• analyse data communication networks;
• cooperate effectively within small groups;
• present their work in various forms.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• typical sources of data such as: market research surveys, mandatory reporting, census and Consumer Price Index, commercial sources;
• sampling techniques, sampling error;
• fundamental statistical concepts such as: probability, mathematical expectation, the Central Limit Theorem, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression.

At the completion of this unit, students will have skills in:

• techniques for basic statistical analysis including: the calculation of summary statistics, graphic display of data including stem-and-leaf plots, boxplots and histograms;
• calculations required for problems based on concepts given in point-3;
• calculation of probabilities by: direct calculation from probability distribution, use of tables and spreadsheets;
• the use of computer software (eg SYSTAT) to perform all statistical techniques covered;
• communicating the results of descriptive statistical analysis through a written report.

At the completion of this unit, students will have

Developed the ability to:

• understand abstract data types and, in particular, data structures for stacks, queues, lists, trees, and heaps, as well as the associated algorithms for creating and manipulating them. Evaluate the appropriateness of different data structures for a given problem;
• understand basic searching and sorting algorithms, analyse their properties and be able to implement them. Understand the concept of algorithmic complexity. Analyse the complexity of these searching and sorting algorithms as well as other basic algorithms. Compare the complexity of different algorithms for solving a given problem;
• analyse different implementations of abstract data types and determine their implications regarding complexity, functionality, and memory usage;
• understand the uses of recursive algorithms and data structures, their advantages and disadvantages. Analyse the complexity of simple recursive algorithms, and their relationship with iteration. Understand basic recursive algorithms for lists and trees, and develop new ones;
• understand the different compilation targets, including abstract machine code, assembly language, object code, and machine code. Understand the relationship between simple code in a high level imperative language and its low level translation into assembly code;
• learn the structure and design of a particular processor simulator. Analyse the execution in this simulator of simple iterative algorithms learned before, thus gaining a deeper understanding of the connection between software and hardware, between an algorithm and its execution;
• understand how the simulator implements function calling, and use it to reinforce the connection between recursion and iteration.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• conform to programming standards when writing software;
• use good design principles when constructing systems;
• take a patient and thorough approach to testing;
• acknowledge any assistance they have received in writing a program;
• search for information in appropriate places when necessary.

Developed the skills to:

• implement their own data-structures. Design and implement programs using a variety of data structures and algorithms;
• construct a test harness for testing a program;
• debug and modify an existing program (written by somebody else);
• use an Integrated Development Environment when developing their programs.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• document a program correctly;
• explain how parts of a program work.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an understanding of the breadth and nature of the discipline of Software Engineering;
• an understanding of the effect and implications of complexity in large software systems;
• an understanding of the issues in constructing large software systems from its components, and the nature and design of those components;
• an awareness of the responsibilities placed upon a software engineer;
• an ability to use basic modelling techniques to define and describe the behaviour of software systems;
• an understanding of common software team structures and have developed practical skills in solving small problems in teams.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand the characteristics of commercial web sites and the authoring/management issues associated with them including dealing with clients in a variety of situations encountered in the tendering/authoring process and addressing copyright;
• have knowledge of the features and applicability of a range of software tools which are used in the development of websites;
• understand internet standards and protocols, in particular the impact of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards in this area;
• have an understanding of website usability issues;

be able to create and manipulate digital content for websites, including basic images, audio, video and animation;

• have the ability to code web pages using standard HTML/XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript and the DOM;
• be able to write HTML embedded script code to produce dynamic database driven web documents;
• have the skills to produce design specification documents applicable to a web site authoring task, and
• have developed the teamwork skills needed to work as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit, students will have:

• A sound knowledge of spreadsheet applications which will provide an understanding of business spreadsheet modelling for analysis, reporting and presentation of organisational data;
• learnt to construct applications using VBA as the language for enhancing the appearance and useability of spreadsheet and database systems;
• a knowledge of the use of relational databases for analysis, reporting and presentation of organisational information;
• an appreciation that a knowledge of programming can be used to enhance the utility of office productivity software packages.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand concepts from several areas of Computer Science not covered in their normal curriculum;
• know where to find further information on a range of topics on computer programming and computer science;
• understand, from their own experience, some of the difficulties that can arise in larger programming tasks;
• be able to learn new programming languages and tools on their own, without formal instruction;
• be aware of the diverse range of tools that can be used to solve computing problems;
• be aware of the breadth of the Computer Science discipline;
• have an appreciation of the nature of Computer Science;
• have skills in using a programming language or technology not covered in their normal curriculum;
• have experience demonstrating a computer program;
• have experience giving an oral presentation of a computing project.

At the completion of this unit, students will have -

Knowledge and understanding of:

• the value of information within today's society and the critical role played by information technology to gather, generate, store, process, store and distribute information;
• technology, software and hardware of computing and of the uses of computing in the business environment;
• the dimensions and scope of Information Technology;
• the change from an industrial to a knowledge driven society;
• the nature, role, technology and functions of various types of hardware and software which form a computer system including simple software tools to more advanced integrated systems such as CRM or Supply Chain Management.

Developed skills in:

• development of spreadsheet modelling.
• development of small database models.
• development of an information rich web application such as a mashup.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate the wide variety of skills required in analysis, design, implementation, maintenance and management of computer systems. A professional attitude to aspects of ethics and standards.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to -

• describe an algorithm consisting of basic structures (sequence, choice, iteration, modules) at the level of detail required for a particular audience;
• demonstrate how basic data structures (list, graphs, trees, sets, tables) function;
• create simple recursive and iterative algorithms;
• evaluate different possible strategies for developing an algorithm and be able to select an appropriate one to solve a given problem;
• apply standard patterns to develop algorithms;
• break problems down into simpler problems;
• determine the complexity of simple algorithms;
• recognise the limitations of algorithms.

On completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• understand the business activities of a typical organisation;
• perform basic accounting calculations for a business: balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow, pricing, stock valuation, costing models;
• understand how to describe and document operations, information and financial flows using different types of representations;
• describe and analyse accounting information systems in an organisation;
• understand how web based systems are used by a modern business;
• have a basic understanding of the legal aspects of a contract;
• analyse the operations and business systems of an existing business;
• plan the functions and systems of a new business;
• use and understand the financial statements of a business;
• take an active part in the planning activities of a business.

On completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• understand basic computer structure and operation and demonstrate use of the associated vocabulary;
• demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of data representation, computer arithmetic and Boolean algebra using appropriate methods of implementation;
• demonstrate detailed knowledge of Internal bus and memory;
• describe the internal operation of the CPU and explain how it is used to execute instructions;
• differentiate between machine language and assembly language;
• identify factors that affect computer performance;
• demonstrate an understanding of the basics of operating systems and system software;
• understand basic networking concepts;
• discuss communication and networking models such as TCP/IP and OSI;
• describe the concept of transport layer services and principle of congestion control;
• describe routing strategies and commonly used LAN topologies, and
• adopt a problem solving approach, accept the code of professional conduct and practice and act in accordance with best practice, industry standards and professional ethics.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• A demonstrated understanding of the different applications of 3D design over a range of digital media;
• an appreciation of the commercial imperatives of the 3D working environment;
• an understanding of the simulated spatial environment and taxonomy of the 3D discipline;
• a practical understanding of the issues involved in the 3D development process;
• an appreciation of 3D modelling and 3D imaging as a unique medium in the context of digital graphic creation;
• developed the skills to design, create and detail 3D models and scenes for various outputs;
• the ability to evaluate and assess techniques used in the 3D creation process;
• developed the skills to manage and implement efficient 3D modelling production workflows.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• understand the need for mathematical foundations in the manipulation of computer graphics and game objects;
• understand coordinate spaces within computer game worlds;
• demonstrate an understanding of vectors and their relevant operations;
• demonstrate an understanding of matrices and their relevant operations and transforms;
• demonstrate an understanding of how vectors and matrices are used for orientation and angular displacement in 3D spaces;
• demonstrate an understanding of how these mathematical principles are used in object movement and collision detection;
• demonstrate the ability to implement these principles practically in game programming.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• information technology and the software tools as they relate to (and are used in) multimedia systems, specifically using the Adobe Flash authoring environment for application and web-based systems development;
• the formal process undertaken for preparing and documenting the various development stages of a multimedia system;
• techniques associated with digital video, animation, images and sound and the appropriate application of these for use in application and web development using a range of special effects which are commonly required for advanced interactive design in multimedia systems;
• how to extend fundamental programming techniques and apply this knowledge across multiple languages.

Developed analytical skills that enable them to:

• outline strengths and weaknesses of information technology in the context of the development and use of multimedia systems;
• formulate constructive criticism within the construct of critical analysis to make informed decisions on the most appropriate blend of tools and technologies to support a given multimedia system requirement;
• specify an appropriate tool set for developing and supporting advanced features/functionality in a multimedia system.

Developed practical skills that enable them to:

• apply advanced interactive design techniques to a multimedia system using a time- frame-based authoring environments;
• further enhance and refine user interface and navigational design and creativity skills in multimedia systems;
• write code to assist in advanced system interaction with the programming language ActionScript.

On the completion of this unit, students will:

• know and understand basic concepts of information and information systems relating to their role and importance in organisations and society;
• know and understand basic concepts of organisations and organisational processes in relation to their information needs and the application of IT-based systems to support them;
• know and understand basic concepts of IT and IT-based applications as they are used in organisations and society;
• know the key information technologies and information technology infrastructures employed by organisations;
• understand the organisational and social issues arising from the use of IT in organisations, including privacy and civil liberties issues;
• be able to recognise and analyse opportunities, risks and liabilities arising from the usage and application of IT in organisations;
• be able to apply appropriate techniques and tools to the tasks of identifying, describing and analysing information management processes in organisations.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• understand the fundamental concepts of information and its use;
• understand the relationship between data, information and knowledge;
• understand the impact of organisational and other contexts upon information needs and uses;
• understand the basic IM tools (eg classification and metadata) that have been developed to manage information and meet user needs;
• evaluate information and its sources critically;
• identify particular information needs;
• evaluate technology-based IM tools in terms of meeting user needs;
• use basic IM tools to create, represent, store, access, retrieve and use information.

At the completion of this unit, student will be able to:

• understand different components of a typical ICT infrastructure;
• understand the different roles of devices in supporting human activities through exploration of ICT history;
• identify different devices used in ICT, their usage, interfaces, operating systems and connectivity support;
• understand the role of each device in building an ICT infrastructure;
• design a basic ICT infrastructure for a given real world problem.

On completion of this unit, students will:

• know the technological capabilities and limitations of the world-wide web and understand their impact on the development process for web-based application systems;
• know the main processes and tasks required in the development of IT-based systems;
• recognise and understand the need for formalisation of development processes and techniques to address the issues arising during the development of an IT-based application;
• be able to specify an appropriate development process to meet the needs of a given application development problem;
• understand the principles of good practice with respect to the management of information systems development projects;
• recognise the range of skills and competencies required in the development of web-based application systems;
• be able to identify the range of technical and systems expertise needed in the development of a web-based system for a given set of circumstances;
• be able to perform the basic information analysis and design tasks required during development of a web-based application system;
• be able to interact with system users and with other members of a team in the tasks involved in the development of an application system.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

An understanding of:

• the relationship between a problem description and program design;
• the use of design representations;
• the sequence of steps that a computer takes to translate source code into executable code; and
• primitive data types and basic data structures.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• adopt a problem-solving approach;
• recognise the importance of programming and documentation conventions;
• act in accordance with best practice, industry standards and professional ethics.

Developed the skills to:

• use diagrams to design solutions for programming problems;
• apply problem solving strategies;
• use pseudo-code to design algorithms;
• create and test simple computer programs;
• analyse and debug existing programs; and
• write a test plan.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• produce documentation for a program; and
• explain an existing program.

At the completion of this unit students will have

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the roles of systems analysts and designers in agile system development;
• the criteria that can be used to evaluate the quality of a model of a system;
• the purpose of different types of models in the UML;
• the role and application of automated tools in systems modelling.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate that a range of valid solutions exist for any given problem.

Developed the skills to:

• interpret and evaluate systems analysis and systems design models created using UML;
• create analysis and design models using the main elements of UML; namely class, use-case, sequence and robustness diagrams;
• create system test plans and test cases, and conduct system testing;
• create and evaluate models and prototypes of a user interface using storyboards and wireframes;
• apply problem solving techniques at different levels of abstraction and understand the effect this may have on a system specification.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• explain the interdependence and relationships between all stake-holders in the systems development process;
• create and understand RFP documents.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• describe the characteristics and phases of a project and its life cycle and explain the role played by the project manager;
• explain the need for and develop specific goals, detailed plans and control strategies in large scale projects and relate this to the major reasons for the failure of projects;
• develop relevant, achievable and measurable project goals;
• explain and use standard project management techniques including Project Networks, Critical Path Analysis and Management, Gantt Charts and Time-Phased Budgets for high and low level project planning;
• explore various alternatives in implementing projects by taking into account of enterprise architecture;
• discuss the communication, people handling and team management skills required of a project manager and explain some of the techniques that may be employed;
• identify and critically discuss the impact on a project of external influences, including organisational structure, and stakeholders;
• explain the processes involved in selecting and initiating a project and prepare various critical documents required for these processes, including financial justification;
• explain the importance of resource availability on project plans, perform project crashing calculations in order to develop and manage resource constrained project plans;
• describe the need for Quality Management in projects and explain, compare and use various techniques currently employed by professional project managers;
• describe the impact of risk on a project managers decision process, explain how that risk may be managed and/or mitigated and develop an appropriate risk management plan;
• describe the need for developing ethical practices in managing project teams;
• explain security concerns in project management;
• decide on the type of contracts that need to be prepared in support of acquiring products/services used within projects;
• monitor the progress of a project, determine performance against the plan, develop strategies to manage any variation and discuss formal change control processes;
• produce useful, informative progress reports for various project stakeholders and conduct stage and post project reviews.

On completion of this unit, students will understand and demonstrate what it means to be an IT professional. They will:

• be familiar with the variety of roles available to IT professionals;
• understand the role and function of professional associations;
• demonstrate an understanding of the ACS code of ethics and the rights and responsibilities of IT professionals;
• identify and discuss the organisational and social impacts arising from the use of IT, and the ethical dimensions associated with IT-related decisions;
• be able to explain and demonstrate the elements of effective communication and interpersonal communication skills;
• be sensitive to and demonstrate understanding of cultural differences to improve intercultural communication;
• be able to select and use strategies for effective and efficient productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (reading and listening) communications;
• describe the purpose, protocols, roles and procedures for meetings and interviews;
• understand the need to and demonstrate the ability to work co-operatively and manage conflict;
• demonstrate the ability to make effective use of technology in oral and written communication; and
• develop information gathering, critical evaluation (information and sources) and problem solving skills.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• understanding of a formal specification;
• ability to create a formal specification for an informal problem;
• knowledge and understanding of algorithmic properties such as correctness, termination and complexity;
• ability to, given a non-trivial algorithm, formally prove certain properties, such as correctness and termination;
• ability, given a non-trivial algorithm, to determine its best, average and worst-case, time and space-complexity;
• knowledge and understanding of reasonably complex data structures such as minimum spanning trees, and Directed and Undirected, Weighted and Unweighted Graphs;
• ability to design and implement new non-trivial algorithms using complex data structures;
• knowledge of and ability to use algorithmic paradigms such as divide and conquer, greedy, dynamic programming and so on;
• ability to identify these paradigms in diverse algorithms;
• knowledge and understanding of the issues involved in implementing a non-trivial algorithm efficiently.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• carefully design and/or analyse the algorithms they are using in order to verify important properties such as correctness, termination, and complexity;
• identify the key features of a brief informal problem description and abstract the underlying formal problem.

Developed the skills to:

• create their own data structures.
• create a new algorithm to solve a new problem.
• make a formal argument about desirable properties of the solution.
• adapt an existing algorithm and/or data-structure where that is possible and appropriate.
• implement a non-trivial algorithm efficiently.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• make a formal argument that an algorithm and/or data-structure has a given property, such as correctness, termination or complexity.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand object-oriented concepts such as: association, aggregation and composition; polymorphism and generalisation; messaging and object interaction, state and lifespan of objects; encapsulation, connascence, domains, encumbrance, cohesion, coupling;
• know the finer details of syntax and semantics of the Unified Modelling Language with respect to modelling class diagrams, interaction diagrams, state machine diagrams, package diagrams, activity diagrams, deployment diagrams, timing diagrams, interface and component diagrams;
• be able to consider advanced topics in relation to use cases and specifications when analysing a system;
• understand the role of software architecture, and be able to employ several common architectural such as tiered computing, client/server, pipes and filters, P2P, Layered implementation, publisher/subscriber, to design systems;
• understand the role of patterns and pattern languages in designing systems, and be familiar with a range of structural, creational and behavioral patterns;
• be able to apply theoretical concepts and techniques for problem solving, to design complete software systems in a range of settings;
• be able to justify system design decisions with reference to a models quality, limitations, scope for future extension, and to theoretical concepts;
• utilise IT practitioner tools to support the process and documentation of systems design.
• be able to communicate the design of a system through electronic documents including UML models, other diagrams, and supporting text.
• have an awareness of the process by which object-oriented system analysis and design is performed using a framework such as the Unified Process.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of processes in organisations;
• process management lifecycle;
• process modelling and process modelling techniques;
• process simulation techniques;
• workflow and process implementation;
• process measurement and benchmarking;
• popular and leading edge modelling, simulation, workflow and measurement tools.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the value of process orientation within an organisation;
• adopt a critical approach to process design and management in a business context;
• appreciate the value of modelling and simulation as effective process design tools;
• appreciate that a designed business process is not an implemented business process (i.e. appreciate the limitations of process modelling and the necessity of implementation methodologies and techniques);
• appreciate the risks and benefits of the influence of IT infrastructure on process design.

Developed the skills to:

• create process models;
• perform process simulation;
• select an appropriate process design methodology;
• assess process performance;
• analyse appropriateness of process-based KPIs;
• use popular and leading edge modelling, simulation, workflow and measurement tools.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• document and communicate a process model;
• work in a team during process design and management;
• communicate during, and coordinate the process management life cycle.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

• the ability to analyse simple algorithms to work out an order of magnitude estimate of running time and space;
• familiarity with some of the most common data structures: stacks, queues, lists, priority queues, tables, sets, collections;
• the ability to implement these data structures using various common data representations: arrays, linked lists, heaps, trees (including balanced trees), hashing;
• the ability to evaluate which implementation would be most appropriate for a given data structure and application;
• the ability to apply the same principles used in implementing the common data structures to implement other data structures;
• ability to design and implement new data structures;
• an understanding of some more advanced algorithms in areas such as: graph theory (shortest path etc), pattern searching, data compression (precise selection of advanced algorithms will vary from year to year);
• the ability to design new algorithms to solve new problems;
• an enjoyment of programming as an intellectual exercise;
• an appreciation of the elegance of certain data structures and algorithms as a form of art;
• an interest in understanding how data structures and algorithms are implemented rather than merely using other peoples implementations (and consequently a preference for open source software.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• information technology and the software tools as they relate to (and are used in) multimedia systems;
• the Adobe Flash authoring environment for CD-ROM and web based systems development

techniques associated with digital video, images and sound and the appropriate application of these for use in CD-ROM and web development;

• the formal process undertaken for preparing and documenting the various development stages of a multimedia system;
• how to achieve a range of special effects which are commonly required for advanced interactive design in multimedia systems;
• fundamental programming techniques and how to carry this knowledge across multiple languages.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• outline strengths and weaknesses of information technology in the context of the development and use of multimedia systems;
• make informed decisions on the most appropriate blend of tools and technologies to support a given multimedia system requirement;
• formulate constructive criticism within the construct of critical analysis.

The skills to:

• apply advanced interactive design techniques to a multimedia system using a time/frame based authoring environments;
• use a blend of industry standard multimedia tools and products;
• further enhance and refine user interface and navigational design and creativity skills in multimedia systems;
• specify an appropriate tool set for developing and supporting advanced features/functionality in a multimedia system.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• build confidence in formal presentation techniques presenting personal ideas, research concepts and developmental progress;
• discuss and share developmental processes and techniques within an informal populated environment.

At the completion of this unit, students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• propositional and predicate logic;
• how to describe languages using Regular Expressions, Finite Automata, Nondeterministic Finite Automata, Context Free Grammars, Pushdown Automata, and Turing Machines;
• the relationship between Regular Languages, Context Free Languages, Recursive Languages, and Recursive-Enumerable (or Computable) Languages;
• how to use Turing Machines to represent computable functions;
• how a Universal Turing machine can simulate any Turing Machine on any input;
• basic computational complexity theory, including verifiers, polynomial-time reductions and NP-completeness.

Developed attitudes that will allow them to:

• appreciate the limitations of Regular Languages, Context Free Languages, Recursive Languages, and Computable Languages;
• comprehend the limitations of computers in terms of the problems they can solve;
• appreciate that there are many solvable problems which cannot be solved in polynomial time.

Developed the skills to:

• use propositional logic to represent and analysis problems in the theory of computation;
• construct Finite Automata, Nondeterministic Automata, and Turing Machines to describe languages;
• convert Regular Expressions into a Finite Automata;
• convert Finite Automata into Regular Expressions;
• find a Regular Grammar for a Regular Language;
• find a parse tree, leftmost derivation and rightmost derivation for a word in a Context Free Language;
• know how to show a Context Free Grammar is ambiguous;
• show a problem is NP-complete.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of business decision making in organisations;
• the decision making lifecycle;
• model building techniques;
• model solving techniques;
• model results presentation and interpretation;
• the role of interactivity in decision modelling;
• popular and leading edge decision modelling tools.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the value of effective decision making within an organisation;
• adopt a critical approach to decision models and their use in a business context;
• appreciate the value of modelling and simulation as effective decision making tools;
• appreciate the limitations of formal decision models and the necessity of post-solution interpretation stage;
• appreciate the risks and benefits of interactive computer-centered decision making.

Developed the skills to:

• create interactive decision models;
• interpret the results produced at model solving stage;
• select an appropriate decision modelling technique;
• assess models limitations;
• analyse appropriateness of modelling environments;
• use Popular and leading edge decision modelling tools.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• document and communicate a decision model;
• work in a team during model design and results interpretation stages;
• communicate during, and coordinate the decision making life cycle.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of a network administrator;
• the configuration and management of network infrastructure protocols used in internets (such as ICMP, DHCP, DNS, LDAP etc);
• host computer and user management;
• network application protocols used by network management systems (such as SNMP, RMON);
• factors involved in and be able to manage the security, reliability and performance of computer networks.

The ability to:

• adopt a problem-solving approach;
• independently research topics and resolve problems associated with network management;
• understand and use a range of hardware and software tools for network and systems administration;
• install, configure and manage network application services such as name, database, mail and web servers;
• act in accordance with best practice, industry standards and professional ethics.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• describe the ISO OSI reference model;
• analyse physical layer for networking;
• understand the architecture of data link layer for networking;
• analyse the main functions and design issues of the network layer;

describe the operation of IPv6;

• analyse the operation of TCP;
• understand integrated and differentiated services architecture;
• understand network management architecture;
• understand the basic concepts of multimedia communications and QoS.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the Personal Software Process and its benefits, including the need for planning, estimation, recording time, product and defect metrics, reviews, and reflection;
• the importance of, and the relationship between, a quality process and a quality product;
• reinforceing and extending their knowledge of OO programming concepts by learning how they are implemented in another programming language;
• the Software Engineers role in software development and maintenance and working with large systems;
• the Team Software Process and how it relates to the Personal Software Process.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• develop a positive professional attitude;
• recognise the importance of adhering to software engineering principles in designing and implementing systems;

Developed the skills to:

• make personal estimates and work plans, produce work logs and diaries, produce product and defect metrics, and participate in technical review meetings;
• monitor, reflect upon, and improve their own productivity and effectiveness;
• use a new object oriented programming language to construct systems consisting of many interacting classes;
• analyse, debug and perform maintenance on large existing object-oriented programs.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• be able to produce reports on their plans, progress, and reviews;
• be able to work effectively in small teams, and cooperatively with other teams.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the nature of the development process involved in digital video and audio production, and the tasks and management processes associated with it;
• the characteristics of computer hardware and software which are used in the development of multimedia systems related to sound and video content;
• the need for management and control of the multimedia development process and the contribution which management tools and techniques can make to this process.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• demonstrate a positive approach to teamwork, allowing them to work as part of a project team and an ability to communicate with a client and deliver the relevant information as per the client brief.

Developed the skills to:

• effectively make use of sound/video recording hardware and editing software;
• edit digital video in post production;
• author a DVD based multimedia product which will play on a standard DVD player.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• work as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the purpose and objectives of the systems design and implementation phases of the systems development lifecycle, and the activities which they involve;
• the purpose, strengths and weaknesses, and the use of the main techniques which are used in systems design and implementation;
• the key issues involved in systems design and implementation.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the value of a team-based approach to the development of information systems;
• value the importance of the systems design and implementation phases of the systems development lifecycle;
• appreciate the importance of a systematic approach to the design and implementation phases of systems development.

Developed the skills to:

• prepare suitable design and implementation approach alternatives to the development of a business system
• use basic design techniques in the development of elements of an information system;
• prepare and present a design specification for a business system;
• prepare and present an implementation plan for a business system;
• construct and implement a quality business system;
• develop expertise in IT practitioner tools.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• work effectively as part of a team responsible for carrying out systems design and implementation activities;
• present oral and written design and implementation deliverables with confidence to the relevant stakeholders.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• have an understanding of the fundamental principles and breadth of commercial, e-business and e-commerce programming tasks;
• have experience in using their programming skills in a number of different environments such as Linux, Unix or Windows, while being aware that their fundamental programming approaches remain valid;
• have their understanding of and skills in top-down code development enhanced;
• have knowledge of mark-up languages and scripting languages, and skill in creating applications using these;
• understand the client-server paradigm;
• be able to develop and code solutions to typical web-based commercial programming problems using markup and scripting languages, in a client-server paradigm;
• further develop skills in creating suitable and thorough test harnesses;
• have a sound understanding of the fundamental principles of web service strategies.
• be aware of basic security issues when developing and hosting Internet-based applications.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the application of information technology in meeting business needs in terms of effective communication, measurable deliverables, meeting target dates and producing quality output.

Developed the ability to:

• set achievable and measurable goals;
• apply what was learnt in prior classroom studies in real work situations;
• develop initiative, communication, interpersonal and teamwork skills in a business environment;
• develop solutions to business problems using information technology and other techniques;
• prepare documentation and written reports of a professional standard;
• address performance improvement opportunities identified by industry supervisors particularly in the mid-placement evaluation;
• complete business tasks, participate in work teams, comply with the norms and rules of the industry partner, recognise personal strengths and weaknesses particularly after feedback from industry supervisors, cooperate within groups, and adopt and practise professional ethics that influence work behaviour; and
• Practice information technology, oral and written skills in a complex, corporate business environment including local and international business phone calls, business emails, business process modelling, operating software applications quickly and accurately, performance enhancement of installed software, updating current software and the development of new software.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• principles and applications of business models in decision support systems;
• cost analysis using breakeven technique;
• main approaches to deal with decision making problems in business;
• widely used linear programming tools;
• carrying out sensitivity analysis using computer software on a series of problems;
• queuing theory and simulation techniques;
• concepts of different types of forecasting;
• common optimisation methods for business applications;
• methodology to solve typical network problems using network flow models.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the potential 0f efficiency and productivity gains through the use of technologies;
• develop interest and expertise in formulation of real world problems and solving them by computer models.

Developed the skills in:

• the application of spreadsheets such as EXCEL in formulation and solving common business problems;
• use of advanced software such as Excel QM, TreePlan, CrystalBall program;

sensitivity analysis by use of computer models.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• meet peer students and professionals with variety of business expertise;
• participate in group discussion and team work solutions to business problems.

On completion of this unit, students will:

• attain programming experience through designing and constructing simple object-oriented programs using Java as the implementation language;
• demonstrate an understanding of advanced object-oriented concepts such as inheritance, polymorphism, and abstract classes and interfaces as provided for in Java;
• be able to create programs that provide a graphical user interface and use event handling;
• be able to write programs involving abstract and dynamic data structures, and implement algorithms for searching, insertion and deletion;
• be able to use the collection classes in the Java API;
• be able to implement algorithms that utilise recursion;
• have an understanding of design principles for building a multiple-class object-oriented program;
• be able to implement exception handling techniques;
• be able to use files for persistent storage of data;
• be able to construct test harnesses for multiple-class programs;
• demonstrate an understanding of the range and purpose of modern tools to support the process of programming complex software systems.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• how to organise and write clear technical documentation.
• the different types and roles of technical documentation, including code documentation (literate programming methods, function header documentation), internal designs, external designs, reference manuals, guides and introductory manuals.
• the use of the basic types of tools for producing documentation: editors, text formatters, typesetters, desktop publishers, graphics tools, printing and viewing tools.
• the role of style in writing.
• different approaches to the writing process and which approach best suits the individual student.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• be sensitive to the aims and uses of effective technical documentation at all stages in a project.
• be aware of different writing methods and styles and their suitability to different tasks.
• appreciate the wider use of documentation in evaluating, promoting, and supporting projects.
• develop a sensitivity to different reader / audience types.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• be able to write effective and clear documentation.
• be able to use one of each major kind of documentation development and delivery tool.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand concepts from several areas of Computer Science not covered in their normal curriculum;
• know where to find further information on a range of topics on computer programming and computer science;
• understand, from their own experience, some of the difficulties that can arise in larger programming tasks;
• be able to learn new programming languages and tools on their own, without formal instruction;
• be aware of the diverse range of tools that can be used to solve computing problems;
• be aware of the breadth of the Computer Science discipline;
• have an appreciation of the nature of Computer Science;
• have skills in using a programming language or technology not covered in their normal curriculum;
• have experience demonstrating a computer program;
• have experience giving an oral presentation of a computing project.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an understanding of game entities and formal games program structure;s
• an understanding of the notion of the programming game loop and how to set it up;
• a working knowledge of basic DirectX, including textures, displaying sprites, animation, text, and rendering;
• a working knowledge of physics in the games programming context, including basic movement and interaction;
• a working knowledge of Direct 3D rendering, including geometry, models, cameras, textures and lighting;
• an understanding of scene management in games;
• the ability to express these concepts in a working Microsoft Windows game prototype.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the principles and practice of the emergent field of web content management;
• the relative roles and responsibilities of webmasters and other professionals in a web or intranet development project;
• user information needs and information seeking behaviours within the web environment.
• information retrieval principles (eg precision, recall, relevance, specificity) and their application in the web environment;
• issues and challenges in organising information for effective retrieval on web sites and intranets;
• organisation systems, schemes and structures for web/ intranet content management, and how these organisation systems are represented in the key components of web information architecture;
• the application of information design and usability principles to labelling, navigation and search functions on a web site or intranet;
• commonalities and differences in information architectures in public web, intranet and extranet environments;
• phases and processes in planning and implementing a web content management project or program;
• tools, techniques, and software that are commonly used for web content management.

Developed attitudes that enable them to appreciate:

• the range of specialist expertise amongst professionals involved in a web site/ intranet development project, and the importance of effective communication and collaboration amongst these groups;
• the centrality of the user in defining an information architecture for a web site or intranet and the difficulties users experience in finding relevant information on the web;
• that business imperatives and user requirements are the key drivers of web content management, but that reconciling the two may be no easy task;
• that findability is a critical factor in determining web usability, and the role effective organisation systems play in this process;
• that effective organisation systems tend to be largely invisible to web or intranet users.
• their own growing confidence in their information retrieval skills.

Developed skills in:

• conducting a business requirements analysis and a user needs analysis, in connection with developing an information architecture for a web site or intranet;
• developing an effective information architecture for a web site or intranet, taking into consideration unique business and user information requirements, and information retrieval, information design and usability principles and guidelines;
• constructing a taxonomy; applying facet analysis to thesaurus construction; and designing a metadata schema for a web site or intranet;
• planning, designing, documenting, testing and evaluating labelling, navigation and search systems for a web site or intranet;
• utilising a range of tools and techniques (eg blueprints, wireframes, card sorting, affinity diagrams, content maps, personas), and software in the process of developing the information architecture for a web site or intranet;
• undertaking usability/findability testing of users using prototypes and a range of evaluation techniques and interpreting findings;
• evaluating information architectures, and software products for web content management.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of operating systems in the architecture of computer systems;
• the practical considerations involved in the use of the Unix operating system; specifically memory management, process management and file system implementations;
• the role, utility and syntax of Unix scripting languages;
• considerations and techniques for securing the Unix operating system;
• the responsibilities of and tasks undertaken by Unix system administrators;
• points of contrast and similarity between Unix and other operating systems in widespread use.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate Unix operating system as it is implemented in modern computer systems - Unix system file system, memory management, and networking, and practical functions;
• know how to solve many systems problems using Unix scripting and system facilities;
• appreciate Unix system programming, research and development, and security.

Developed the skills to:

• use important Unix utilities to monitor Unix systems and Unix networks; construct Unix shell scripts to solve many system problems;
• implement security controls in the Unix environment;
• use Unix utilities for data processing, system development and research;
• install and configure the Unix environment;
• use Unix OS for important network servers and tailor their Unix systems to provide important system and network services.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• understand the need to balance requirements of users in multiuser operating system environments;
• confidently discuss issues in groups with regard to the implementation of Unix;
• articulate opinions in group environments with respect to the implementation of operating system environments.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• combinatorial and sequential logic, Boolean Algebra, Karnaugh maps, and hazards;
• counters, ripple adders, tree adders, memory/addressing, computer busses, logic and bus speed, and Direct Memory Access;
• data representation for integers and floating point operands;
• machine arithmetic, microprogramming;
• storage herarchies, caches and cache architectures, performance impact of caching;
• virtual memory and translation look-aside buffers, performance impact of TLB caching;
• vectored and polled interrupt handling;
• pipelined architecture, superscalar architecture, data dependency, and hazards;
• CISC, RISC, VLIW machine architectures.

Developed the skills to:

• model combinatorial and sequential logic circuits using a simulator tool;
• perform programming tasks in assembly code.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A knowledge and understanding of:

• operating systems as resource managers for CPU context switching, process scheduling and job scheduling;
• memory management and virtual memory systems; I/O device drivers and management;
• file subsystems;
• resource allocation strategies;
• asynchronous and synchronous communication mechanisms and their use in operating systems;
• the philosophy and implementation of interprocess communication and its use in distributed computer systems.

Developed the skills to:

• program OS components, such as job and process schedulers, page replacement algorithms, and file management subsystems, as well as programming interrupt handlers and contact switching.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• demonstrate an understanding of the history and concepts of the C++ language and how C++ relates to other commercial languages, especially Java;
• be able to write programs making use of the features and capabilities of C++, comprising: Streams, Pointers, arrays and vectors, Classes, inheritance and polymorphism, Templates and the Standard Template Library, The I/O class hierarchy;
• be able to write programs involving abstract and dynamic data structures, and implement algorithms for searching, insertion and deletion;
• be able to implement algorithms that utilise recursion;
• be able to use files for persistent storage of data.

At the completion of this unit students will have

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the diversity of theoretical and conceptual frameworks which contribute to the current research and application of educational multimedia;
• the uniquely immersive, engaging and interactive nature of educational multimedia learning environments; and
• the correlation of the individual needs of a learner with an appropriate digital environment for the delivery of educational material and learning experiences.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• be acquainted with and value the diversity of learning styles and requirements within the community and appreciate the need for an adaptive approach in the modification of technology to the requirements of both the learner and the educational content;
• recognise the potential of multimedia in enabling educational access and equity.

Developed the skills to:

• design and produce documents relating to the conceptual development of educational learning environments and the need for quality assurance in production processes;
• develop applications of learning environments for specific learning needs.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• further develop communication and group work skills.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an understanding of the key principles of game design;
• an understanding of critical factors that serve to balance game design and playability;
• an understanding of implementation techniques for narrative structures in interactive environments;
• developed attitudes that enable them to be aware of the ethical issues involved with games development;
• developed attitudes that enable them to appreciate effective forms of narrative construction employed in a game environment, such as embedded and emergent game narratives and the mapping of plotlines and interactive story structures;
• developed attitudes that enable them to explore new directions in the rapidly emerging discipline of game creation;
• developed the skills to prototype a game level and implement balancing techniques to eliminate design flaws and improve player experience;
• developed the skills to analyse, identify and implement key elements in game design and narrative structures;
• demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to develop group working skills as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit, students will:

• know and understand the impacts of advances in information technologies on organisations, their structures and the way they use and manage information to support their operations;
• know and understand how the needs of organisations and the marketplace influence the path of technology evolution;
• know and understand some of the key factors which contribute to the success or failure of technology-based innovations in organisations;
• recognise the strengths and weaknesses of information technology for performing a variety of common information tasks;
• be able to evaluate the merits and disadvantages of a technology-based solution to an organisational information need or problem;
• be able to carry out a critical analysis of an area of technology and make an assessment of its likely future impacts on an organisation.

At the completion of this unit, students will:

• know and understand the business imperatives which drive organisational needs in key areas of information management and information systems acquisition and development;
• know and understand the key principles and contemporary practices in the development and implementation of information management strategies in organisations;
• know and understand the key principles and approaches to the development, acquisition and implementation of IT-based systems in organisations;
• recognise the need and understand the importance of taking an integrated approach to tasks of information management and systems development in organisations;
• be able to analyse needs and specify solutions for a range of organisational information management and systems development problems;
• be able to critically evaluate the relative merits and disadvantages of different information management and systems development strategies for a given situation.

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• understand the need and importance for system developers to have skills in this area of IT applications;
• know the key basic technologies which underlie the development of web-database applications;
• understand the key technological issues confronting developers building applications of this type;
• know the key features of programming languages which are commonly used for developing web-database application;
• develop a typical web-database interface using a well-known programming language.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• design a database model, from a given scenario, using the Extended Entity Relationship model;
• demonstrate a fluency with relational algebra commands;
• create triggers, procedures and functions to enhance the logic stored in a database;
• analyse SQL query operations to optimise their performance;
• create XML documents and schemas to represent a given scenario;
• implement and manipulate XML structure in a database;
• describe the role played by Data Warehouses and Business Intelligence (BI) with respect to "Big Data".

At the completion of this unit students will have

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the importance of information systems security issues to contemporary organisations;
• information security concepts and philosophies;
• threats, vulnerabilities and risks to an organisations information assets and the control technologies and techniques required to support this;
• the mathematical foundation of cryptoanalysis;
• the ethical, legal and criminal issues relating to the security of information systems;
• how to evaluate current and future developments and trends in security control technologies and techniques;
• the relevance of human factors to information security planning and management.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• adopt a critical approach to the analysis and design of information systems security systems;
• willingness to apply ethical standards of security issues;
• demonstrate ethically sound viewpoints with respect to the protection of information resources while maintaining a secure IS framework; specifically related to (but not limited to) the goals of security such as confidentiality, integrity, and availability, in the professional development of information systems;
• cooperate within groups and adopt and practise professional ethics that influence work behaviour.

Developed the skills to:

• apply information security concepts in the analysis of information systems security issues;
• apply risk management techniques to the planning and management of information systems security systems;
• apply security analysis and design methods and techniques in the analysis of threats, risk and vulnerabilities to an information system;
• apply the security concept in securing information systems by exploring the security mechanism available in the operating systems environment.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• work in teams to complete some of the assessment and thus develop appropriate interpersonal communication and leadership skills.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• a familiarity with different approaches to presenting information visually as they have appeared throughout history and in different cultures;
• an appreciation of the application of visual media to present information in a range of academic disciplines and in the public sphere;
• a basic ability to select and apply appropriate types of visualisation and presentation;
• an ability to devise new techniques for the visual presentation of information in a discipline with which they are familiar;
• an ability to critically analyse visual information displays and data visualisations;
• an understanding of the advantages, drawbacks and pitfalls of the visual presentation of information as compared to the presentation of ideas using other media;
• an ability to engage in technical discussions on the merits of different visualisations and information displays.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• know the basic aims and purposes of information architecture and understand its importance to the management and use of information in an organisation;
• know a variety of approaches commonly used for the development of information architectures, and understand the key principles behind them;
• be able to conduct a business requirements analysis, and a user needs analysis, for the purposes of developing an information architecture;
• be able to critically evaluate an information architecture and assess its suitability for a given range of user needs;
• know the phases and processes involved in planning and implementing an information architecture (IA) project or program;
• recognise the contribution which the varying perspectives of different disciplines and professional groups can make to the development of an information architecture;
• be able to use a range of IA tools and techniques (eg blueprints, wireframes, card sorting, affinity diagrams, content maps, personas), and IA software in the process of developing an information architecture.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A knowledge and understanding of:

• core Java concepts through examples of their use in mobile applications;
• core Java syntax through examples of its use in mobile applications;
• core XML concepts and syntax;
• object-oriented design and programming techniques;
• how to write clean, maintainable, error free code;
• best practices for the development platform;
• a real-life Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for mobile application development;
• the mobile application space, its most popular platforms, players and marketplaces and their differences, advantages and disadvantages;
• how the knowledge and understanding already itemised above transfers to application development beyond the mobile space.

Developed the skills to:

• create, test and debug non-trivial, working mobile applications that are maintainable and use the best practices of the development platform;
• upload these to an appropriate marketplace.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an understanding of the paradigms behind the development and application of computer generated 3D characters;
• an understanding of the principles of 3D animation theory and implementation, including character specific studies;
• a theoretical understanding of established and emerging procedures for 3D character modelling, detailing and preparation for animation;
• developed attitudes that enable them to appreciate the theories and practices adopted for complex 3D topology, modelling and animation techniques, including production pipelines;
• developed the ability to evaluate and implement suitable processes for 3D character creation and animation;
• developed the skills to design, model and texture original and geometrically efficient 3D characters;
• developed the skills to prepare (rig and bind) 3D characters for animation;
• developed the skills to animate and render 3D characters and objects.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the motivation and the need for data mining;
• characteristics of major components of the data mining process;
• the basic principles of methods and operations for data mining;
• case studies to bridge the connection between hands-on experience and real-world applications;
• key and emerging application areas;
• current major research issues.

Developed the skills to:

• use data mining tools to solve data mining problems.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the role of Data Warehousing (DW) as opposed to operational databases;
• the definition and the need of Business intelligence (BI);
• DW development methodology;
• dimensional models compared to ER models;
• DW architectures, ETL and data quality issues;
• how DW can support BI;
• BI tools, techniques and OLAP;
• Data Mining (DM) techniques;
• Data Mining Tools.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the value of DW and BI for a business organisation;
• adapt a critical approach to DW and BI technology in a business context;
• appreciate the value of DW for effective management support and decision making;
• understand the importance and value of BI tool and techniques compared to traditional data analysis techniques;
• appreciate the value BI tools and DM for providing knowledge for decision making, in ways unavailable with traditional techniques.

Gained practical skills to:

• create dimensional models;
• create DW architectures suitable for different organisations and requirements;
• interpret results from OLAP and dimensional models;
• create data analysis models using BI tools;
• interpret results from BI and DM tools.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• document and communicate DW architectures and BI techniques;
• work in a team during DW architecture design and BI model development;
• communicate and coordinate during the team activities.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the nature of the development process as it relates to complex post -production projects, and the tasks and management processes associated with it;
• the characteristics of computer hardware and software which are used in the development of audiovisual content in a complex post production project;
• the need for management and control of the development process and the contribution which management tools and techniques can make to this process.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• understand the aesthetic and technical requirements involved in creating complex digital content and to be able to adapt these to their project.

Developed the skills to:

• demonstrate an ability to seamlessly combine separate media elements into their project;
• creatively combine and apply the tools and techniques learned in the prerequisite units with those covered in this unit to develop complex audiovisual content.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• work as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand the various ways in which a database application may be scaled to the enterprise level, including: applications being split between clients and servers; servers being split between application servers and database servers; application servers being split into clusters of application servers;
• be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of single-tier, two-tier and multi-tier architectures;
• be aware of some of the pitfalls (and ways to avoid or minimise them) of distributed applications, including: performance problems due to network latency and bandwidth; security problems when transmitting data over an untrusted network; transactional problems when transactions must be distributed over multiple servers;
• be able to evaluate when it is appropriate to use enterprise programming techniques, and when simpler solutions will suffice.
• be able to configure an enterprise application and application server to take advantage of advanced capabilities such as: hot deployment; clean shutdown; clustering; farming; load balancing; automatic fail-over;
• be able to design and implement an enterprise application that makes appropriate use of the following: DBMSs; distributed components; messaging services; security (authentication, authorisation and encryption); transactions; fat clients; thin (web) clients;
• be familiar with a selection of software tools (both GUI and command-line) to speed enterprise application development;
• accept the importance of client and server operating system platforms other than Windows, and therefore the need for technologies that support multiple platforms;
• appreciate the value that an application server adds to an application with remarkably little additional coding effort.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to -

• Articulate the role and importance of formal modelling and verification;
• Develop Event-B specifications;
• Apply Rodin to analyse an Event-B specification and verify proof obligations;
• Distinguish and evaluate the trade-offs in system modelling using Event-B and LTL;
• Develop basic LTL specifications and formulate LTL properties;
• Apply a model check to verify LTL properties.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• understand how IT applications are developed, including all aspects of the development process;
• understand the roles and responsibilities of clients, system users, management and developers in a development project;
• apply, in a practical setting, aspects of the theoretical work covered in their course;
• develop an IT application using a prescribed methodology, conducting all activities associated with the development methodology;
• work with clients or client representatives, communicating effectively with them to meet their requirements;
• operate effectively as a member of a development team.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the relationship between IT and organisational management and current trends in IT and IT management;
• operational management requirements of a system and their inter-relationships;
• evaluating the philosophies and processes behind IT resourcing.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• consider ethical issues in IT and IT management.

Developed the skills to:

• access resource management strategies and applying these in case studies;
• identify the processes and potential problems involved in IS development and IT planning.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the basic concepts of human visual perception and its impact on cognition;
• the functions of visualisation with respect to amplifying cognition;
• the properties of data and the rules for mapping data to images;
• the role of factors such as pattern, space, color, interactivity and animation in visualisation;
• the range of applications to which visualisation approaches can be applied, particularly with respect to geospatial data.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• critically select from the range of available visualisation techniques and apply the one that is best for the domain at hand.

Developed the skills to:

• evaluate a given data set and infer valid conclusions based on a supplied visualisation;
• design and construct an appropriate type of visualisation for a given data set;
• manipulate visual variables such as color and size to optimise a visualisation;
• identify the principle components of a map and describe map projections commonly used;
• import, display and manipulate data within a Geographic Information System (GIS).

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• work as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• develop a comprehensive knowledge about global information infrastructure;
• understand the threats to electronic commerce on the Internet and potential security problems;
• understand the process for the design of secure systems;
• demonstrate the understanding and need for security protocols and procedures;
• understand the security issues and vulnerabilities of eCommerce servers and know the defensive strategies;
• be aware of the problems arising from active content technologies;
• be familiar with the XML standard and examine how it can be applied to develop ecommerce applications;
• be familiar with the mobile commerce technology and the services it offers.
• understand and evaluate electronic payment mechanisms;
• appreciate the privacy and legal issues and be familiar with anonymity technologies;
• understand the applicability of intelligent software agents in electronic commerce.Students will:
• appreciate the importance of a secure information infrastructure in conducting electronic commerce;
• appreciate the privacy and legal issues;
• grasp the ongoing development in emerging electronic commerce technologies including mobile commerce.Students will:
• develop skills in XML to produce small applications.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• recall the history of mobile platforms and the development of software for those platforms;
• describe the MVC design pattern and explain the importance of this design pattern in mobile applications development;
• analyse and distinguish between the design considerations for mobile application interface development and traditional interfaces;
• analyse and implement the use of graphic and audio components in the development of mobile applications;
• design, construct and publish applications for mobile platforms with particular focus on Android and IOS.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• describe OSI security architecture;
• describe common security standards and protocols for network security applications e.g. electronic mail, IP, web and network management;
• understand common information risks and requirements;
• explain the operation of conventional and public-key encryption techniques;
• describe the concepts and techniques for digital signatures, authentication and non-repudiation;
• understand privacy and ethics issues;
• appreciate the need for the digital certificates and public key infrastructure;
• appreciate the importance of system security against intruders and malicious software using firewalls;
• appreciate the relevance of privacy and ethics issues to organisations and individuals;
• apply simple security configurations to PC based applications e.g. email, Internet, computer administration;
• design information systems with security compliance.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• strategies for developing a non-trivial programming, hardware, or theory-based project.
• how to locate and utilise prior research and methods on a particular topic;
• how to cite bibliographic references the student has used to understand various components of the project, support claims on knowledge, events, hypotheses and theories;
• how to document software development from a user and application programming perspective;
• software development methods: analysis, design, implementation and testing applied to the design and development of a non-trivial project.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• acknowledge the importance of attending and contributing to meetings as a method of gaining important information and ideas about the project;
• understand the basic requirements of software development from both user and developer perspectives;
• appreciate the importance of correctly acknowledging the work of others in researching solutions to problems;
• value the role of work books in documenting a projects progress and keeping track of its development.

Developed the skills to:

• search, access, and analyse research literature as part of the process of developing solutions to problems;
• understand the importance of analysis, design, documentation, and testing in developing a non-trivial software project;
• write a moderately detailed report explaining methodology, outlining their contributions and the contributions of others, documenting the developed project from developer and user perspectives.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• understand the role of the client (or user) in the software development process;
• appreciate the importance of written communication in documenting project development;
• understand the importance of assessing time and resource requirements in the successful completion of non-trivial projects;
• appreciate the importance of time and resource management in order to deliver non-trivial projects to deadlines.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the continuing software crisis, problems encountered in the development of large software systems: poor quality, late delivery and budget overruns;
• techniques used in software engineering to counter these problems;
• the role of software lifecycle models in project control and planning;
• different categories of software metrics;
• software estimation methods;
• methods for specifying real-time systems;
• techniques and tools to support configuration management;
• strategies for testing software;
• the roles and responsibilites of project team members.

Developed the skills to:

• apply techniques for scheduling and control of large projects;
• construct and validate a software specification;
• formal methods specification of software systems;
• functionally design of software systems;
• describe large software systems using appropriate language and technical sprecification techniques to suit the intended audience;
• be aware that quality software is not a luxury but essential in solving the software crisis.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the roles and responsibilities of clients and developers in a multimedia or games development project;
• the methodologies, tools and techniques required for delivering a functional multimedia system or game.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• approach the development process ethically and professionally.

Developed the skills to:

• develop a significant multimedia/game application, primarily project definition, design, and prototyping;
• apply project management techniques to a multimedia/game development project;
• integrate multimedia, programming, and technical skills in the design and development of a system prototype;
• develop effective user and system documentation;
• evaluate personal performance and performance of a development team.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• communicate effectively with clients and members of the development team;
• work effectively in a team.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the roles and responsibilities of clients and developers in a multimedia or games development project;
• the methodologies, tools and techniques required for delivering a functional multimedia system or game.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• approach the development process ethically and professionally.

Developed the skills to:

• develop a significant multimedia/game application, primarily testing, evaluation, finalisation, documentation, and delivery;
• apply project management techniques to a multimedia/game development project;
• integrate multimedia, programming, and technical skills in the testing and evaluation of a system prototype;
• develop effective user and system documentation;
• evaluate personal performance and performance of a development team.

Demonstrated the communication/teamwork skills necessary to:

• communicate effectively with clients and members of the development team;
• work effectively in a team.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• knowledge of the Unix philosophy at shell and system call levels;
• comprehension of Unix shells and the POSIX standard;
• knowledge of the variety of tools available and understanding of a core selection of them;
• knowledge of the Unix system call interface and associated systems programming;
• programming skills at the Unix shell level using pipelines and shell scripts applying a number of tools;
• programming skills at the system call level for systems programming.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an understanding of web environments and their components;
• an understanding of the principles of object oriented Internet applications development;
• the knowledge and skills to design and implement web based applications, using a server side applications development environment;
• the knowledge and skills to design and implement mobile applications;
• the knowledge and skills to implement data stores in web based applications;
• a professional attitude towards the development of web based information systems.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• the fundamental elements of an XML documents structure and the processes involved in reading and handling such a document;
• the advantages and limitations of XML in comparison to other formats such as HTML, EDI, Flat files etc;
• the role of the XML Schema Definition Language and its relationship to Document Type Definitions (DTDs);
• the role of XML Stylesheet Language (XSL) in document publishing;
• the role of XML in rich media/multimedia presentations through the use of Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL);
• the issues involved with audio/video streaming on the web.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• adopt a flexible approach towards application development by consideration of the wide range of XML approaches available;
• appreciate the importance of systematic and structured approaches to program development.

Developed the skills to:

• create an XML document and its associated Document Type Definition (DTD);
• create an XSL style sheet and use it to convert XML into HTML or other XML formats;
• use Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) to author interactive audiovisual presentations;
• write Macromedia Flash applications which access web services via Flash remoting;
• use a scripting (php) approach for manipulating images, creating PDFs, and creating Flash content;
• setup and configure a basic web streaming server.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• work as a member of a project team.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the application of information technology in meeting business needs in terms of effective communication, measurable deliverables, meeting target dates and producing quality output.

Developed the ability to:

• set achievable and measurable goals;
• apply what was learnt in prior IT classroom studies in real work situations;
• develop initiative, communication, interpersonal and teamwork skills in a business environment;
• develop solutions to business problems using information technology and other techniques;
• prepare documentation and written reports of a professional standard;
• address performance improvement opportunities identified by industry supervisors particularly in the mid-placement evaluation;
• complete business tasks, participate in work teams, comply with the norms and rules of the industry partner, recognise personal strengths and weaknesses particularly after feedback from industry supervisors, cooperate within groups, and adopt and practise professional ethics that influence work behaviour;
• develop information technology skills (including business process modelling, performance enhancement of installed software, updating current software and developing new software) oral and written skills (including local and international business phone calls, and business emails) in a complex, corporate business environment; and
• develop communication skills, teamwork skills and leadership and management including time management skills.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• know the general purpose and functions of operating systems;
• understand the hardware and software mechanisms used to carry out these functions;
• be familiar with the principal differences between common major operating systems such as Windows and Linux;
• be able to install new operating systems on PC hardware;
• be willing to select operating systems based on their merits rather than their marketing.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• understand how IT applications are developed, including all aspects of the development process;
• understand the roles and responsibilities of clients, system users, management and developers in a development project;
• apply, in a practical setting, aspects of the theoretical work covered in their course;
• develop an IT application using a prescribed methodology, conducting all activities associated with the development methodology;
• work with clients or client representatives, communicating effectively with them to meet their requirements;
• operate effectively as a member of a development team.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• understand how IT applications are developed, including all aspects of the development process;
• understand the roles and responsibilities of clients, system users, management and developers in a development project;
• apply, in a practical setting, aspects of the theoretical work covered in their course;
• develop an IT application using a prescribed methodology, conducting all activities associated with the development methodology;
• work with clients or client representatives, communicating effectively with them to meet their requirements;
• operate effectively as a member of a development team.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• familiarity with, and ability to apply, relevant decision support systems to the solution of financial problems;
• the ability to formulate, frame and solve financial problems in the context of appropriate decision support systems;
• an understanding of relevant finance concepts and understand how to apply those concepts in a practical setting.

A theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

• basic concepts of decision support systems;
• basic concepts of operational (investing and financing) finance;
• basic concepts and principles of decision support criteria as applied to operational finance;
• how decision support are applied to operational finance in organisations;
• opportunities, risks and liabilities arising from the usage and application of decision support in the context of operational finance in organisations;
• processes of acquiring, developing and managing decision support in the context of operational finance in organisations;
• techniques and tools (Excel spreadsheet modelling and Expert Choice for describing and analysing problems in operational finance in organisations under multicriteria decision making framework.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• recognise the importance of decision support systems in the context of operational finance to organisational processes and functions;
• recognise the opportunities and limitations of the role that decision support systems play in managing operational finance in organisations.

Developed the skills to:

• assess the potential scope for using decision support systems as part of the solution to an organisational operational finance problem;
• understand how to apply decision support systems to help solve the operational finance problems of an organisation;
• appreciate the limitations of decision support systems and appreciate the role that human judgement plays in determining solutions for operational finance problems.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• Recognise the team skills necessary for successful development and implementation of decision support systems to operational finance problems in organisations;
• Appreciate the importance of the inter-relationships between IT professionals and the stakeholders in decision support systems in organisations.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• some of the main security concepts and issues involved in the development of software, including: Software security versus other aspects of computer security; goals of secure and trusted software; vulnerabilities versus threats; best software development principles and practices; buffer overflows; security of programming platforms; authentication and authorisation; principle of least privilege; security features are not equal to secure features; secure use of encryption; user input validation; reliable software components; data privacy; auditing and logging; security testing;
• the importance of developing secure software in today's electronic world.

Developed the skills to:

• design applications with security in mind;
• validate user input;
• implement secure authentication mechanisms;
• authorise users access to various protected resources;
• encrypt files and hash passwords;
• store session data securely in web applications;
• perform secure database access;
• set up secure transfer of data;
• create security logs;
• test software for security vulnerabilities.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the underpinning theories relevant to HCI;
• the principles and practices of HCI in designing user interfaces;
• the importance and role of usability and evaluation in systems design;
• the issues relating to user diversity, different types of systems, interaction styles, devices and environments.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate the development of systems from a user perspective;
• differentiate between good HCI practice in systems development from other development practices;
• formulate attitudes which enable them to interact effectively with users;
• empathise with all users particularly those with specific needs.

Gained practical skills to:

• recognise the principles of HCI design required in systems development;
• gather user requirements effectively;
• design an effective user interface;
• conduct appropriate evaluation of systems from a HCI perspective and interpret the outcome.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• work in teams to complete assessment tasks;
• empathise with users particularly those with some form of disability.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• explain the business processes that recordkeeping activities support, and the evidential requirements for business activities in various organisational settings;
• explain at an operational level how systems are designed and implemented to meet business needs and evidential requirements;
• identify and discuss the suite of policies, standards and best practice guidelines that relate to quality records management;
• undertake basic forms of business analysis in support of records management activities;
• contribute to the design and implementation of recordkeeping systems; and
• advise team members and function managers on records management programs and recordkeeping systems for business purposes.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• modelling and design of flexible software at the architectural level. Basics of model-driven architecture;
• Architectural styles and patterns, Middleware & application frameworks;
• product lines. Design using COTs software;
• configurations and configuration management;
• in-depth look at software design, design patterns;
• design of distributed systems using middleware;
• design for qualities such as performance, safety, reusability etc;
• evaluation and evolution of designs, reverse engineering.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• apply variety of design pattern;
• appreciate analysis fundamentals;
• analyse well-formedness (completeness, consistency, robustness, etc);
• analyse correctness (eg. static analysis,simulation etc.);
• analyse quality requirements (eg. root cause analysis, safety, usability, security, etc.).

Developed the skills to:

• take requirements for simple systems and develop software architectures and designs at a high level;
• use configuration management tools effectively;
• apply a variety of frameworks and architectures in designing software.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the historical and conceptual development of AI;
• the goals of AI and the main paradigms for achieving them including logical inference, search, nonmonotonic logics, neural network methods and Bayesian inference;
• the social and economic roles of AI;
• heuristic AI for problem solving;
• basic knowledge representation and reasoning mechanisms;
• automated planning and decision-making systems;
• probabilistic inference for reasoning under uncertainty;
• machine learning techniques and their uses;
• foundational issues for AI, including the frame problem and the Turing test;
• AI programming techniques.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• appreciate the potential and limits of the main approaches to AI;
• be ready to reason critically about claims of the effectiveness of AI programs;
• analyse problems and determine where AI techniques are applicable;
• implement AI problem-solving techniques in Lisp;
• compare AI techniques in terms of complexity, soundness and completeness.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

Developed the ability to:

• understand the processes of image formation, acquisition, processing and analysis;
• develop programs for manipulating grey level, colour and multi-spectral images; and
• use standard image processing software;
• undertake computer analysis of medical, remotely-sensed, document, and other images.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• understand the role of visual information processing and analysis; and
• apply the theory and methods in practical problem solving.

Developed the skills to:

• write programs to carry out basic image processing tasks such as image denoising, image filtering and segmentation of an image in its constituent parts or objects;
• write programs to carry out advanced image processing and analysis tasks such as image segmentation, image, image classification, image data mining, and robotic vision; and
• build a software system for processing and analysis of image data.

Demonstrated the communication and teamwork skills necessary to:

• function as an image processing specialist in a group which is involved in developing a major software system; and
• produce appropriate documentation.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• client-side programming ((X)HTML, JavaScript, CSS, DHTML, DOM);
• server-side programming (ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, JSF);
• basic XML technologies (XML, DTD, XPath, XSLT, XMLSchemas);
• web Servers (IIS, Apache);
• current, popular IDEs and programming technologies
• security (encryption, transport and document level, Digital Signatures, SSL, TSL, Access Control Standards);
• standards Bodies (IETF, W3C, OASIS, OAGIS etc);
• eBusiness formal and de jour Standards;
• mobile Application Development.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• have an appreciation that eBusiness Systems are better designed and managed by professionals with a sound knowledge of the technologies used to build these systems;
• have an appreciation that underlying technologies often directly impact the business goals of an eBusiness System via constraints and opportunities presented by the technologies;
• have a belief that all existing technologies in back-end systems can be integrated by appropriate middleware;
• value the importance of choosing to use established technology standards where possible.

Developed the skills to:

• develop a small eBusiness system (B2B or B2C and IDE/implement the appropriate technology;
• create an appropriate Technical Architecture for a specified, non-trivial eBusiness solution;
• create XML documents, schemas for these documents, transforming and querying such documents using fundamental XML skills.

Demonstrated the communication skills necessary to:

• identify and communicate the technical opportunities and problems associated with a particular technical solution to a business solution;
• understand the relationship between business and technical analysts within an eBusiness System Development.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• mathematical representations of basic geometric primitives in Euclidean space, such as points, lines, polygons and parametric curves;
• how to use homogeneous co-ordinates and transformations on geometric objects in two and three dimensions.
• how to combine multiple transformations efficiently;
• orthographic, parallel and perspective projections and their related homogeneous transformations;
• appropriate data structures for hierarchical representation of polygonal datasets;
• rasterisation algorithms for drawing in frame buffers;
• the use of Quaternions to represent object rotation;
• a synthetic camera model for viewing and projecting of two and three-dimensional geometry;
• algorithms for hidden surface removal and backface elimination. The capacity to analyse the space and time complexity of these algorithms to determine the most appropriate in a given situation;
• BRDF Shading models such as Lambert, Phong, Blinns Phong, Torrance-Sparrow-Blinn-Cook-Beckmann, Oren-Nayar;
• textures and texture mapping;
• basic knowledge of aliasing theory;
• interpolative shading models. Shadow algorithms. Local and global illumination models;
• the OpenGL state-machine, GPUs and graphics pipline.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• understand the role and value of visual communication in the arts and sciences;
• appreciate the uses and application of interactive, real-time graphics and software rendering.

Developed the skills to:

• program basic interactive graphics applications in OpenGL;
• apply computer graphics theory and algorithms to the design of visual computing applications.

At the completion of this unit students will have:

• an ability to select and use various Artificial Intelligence techniques to build intelligent games;
• an understanding of the general capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies;
• an understanding of the possible opportunities where intelligence can be applied in the game development world;
• an ability to apply AI techniques in building games that challenge the players by learning/adapting to their style over time and thereby developing new strategies to take the games into the next level;
• an ability to evaluate the suitability of AI techniques in the development of various games;
• enthusiasm for the endless possibilities that AI technologies can enrich the game development world;
• motivation to develop further skills in AI techniques for games development;
• appreciation and open-mindedness that better collaborations between the game development industry and the academic AI research will open wider opportunities in the enhancements of smart games;
• skills in developing smart games using AI techniques;
• ability to design, develop and debug game applications written in C++;
• create interactive (2D and 3D) smart game environment that displays the AI techniques learnt in the unit;
• ability to engage in technical discussions on AI technologies for games.

At the completion of this unit, students should be able to:

• understand the social impact of information and communications technology (ICT) upon activities in the workplace, communities, and society;
• demonstrate a familiarity with contemporary debates concerning the changing role of ICT within the workplace, communities, and society;
• identify social informatics as a problem-oriented discipline;
• differentiate community informatics as an emerging discipline and professional practice;
• analyse and critique discussions of the social impact of ICT.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

A knowledge and understanding of:

• the meanings applied to the terms knowledge and knowledge management in organisational context;
• a range of approaches that may support knowledge management activities;
• the concept of ownership of knowledge and the validity of knowledge processes;
• the methods and approaches for implementing knowledge management initiative in the organisation;
• typical steps and activities associated with implementing knowledge management initiative in the organisation; and
• the approaches from information systems, artificial intelligence, documents and records management for representing and manipulating knowledge.

Developed attitudes which allow them to:

• be able to effectively communicate knowledge management perspectives to associated business and professional groups.

Developed the skills to:

• evaluate the sources and potential value of knowledge to perform the tasks within an organisation.

Demonstrated the teamwork skills necessary to:

• work productively individually and within a team.

At the completion of this unit students will have -

• a sound basis for Chinese computing in the business environment;
• the ability to use popular Chinese computing software and application packages and extend their capabilities to other non-Roman languages;
• an understanding of the techniques used to develop Chinese computing software;
• familiarity with Chinese language and multilingual computing environments;
• knowledge of the principles and skills of Chinese business computing through the practical use of Chinese software systems;
• skills that can easily be translated into using software in non-Roman languages;
• an understanding of Chinese and universal character encoding methods for multilingual information processing;
• the ability to understand the techniques used to develop Chinese and global software for business applications.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• create a database system for practical application utilising forms, reports and graphics;
• understand the principal aspects of setting up a complete database software system;
• apply professional form design processes and techniques to tailored database applications;
• produce a database system of professional quality.

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand the role of records and archives in organisations and society;
• understand and apply theories and models relating to recordkeeping and archiving;
• be able to specify recordkeeping requirements relating to the creation, management, and accessibility of records as evidence of social and organisational activity in a range of business and social contexts;
• have the skills to develop appraisal and metadata management programs in relation to contemporary and historical recordkeeping systems, including electronic recordkeeping systems; and
• be able to formulate appraisal and metadata management policies, strategies, tactics and tools with reference to international and national standards and best practice.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• implement decisions about applying organisational policies for reference and collection services, justify the principles of collection management strategies, and evaluate them;
• manage networked access for users in the case of electronic resources;
• develop information literacy programs; and
• select the best source of knowledge for a practical information need.

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• evaluate professional literature and knowledge in relation to practice;
• analyse current issues relating to the information industry;
• apply theories and practice of their selected specialisation to the workplace;
• demonstrate practical skills at a professional level in an information agency or information-related functional area, as well as an ability to interact effectively with work colleagues and clients;
• assess career opportunities within the information industry and develop a personal career plan;
• evaluate the role in professional practice of ethical codes, professional literature, professional networks and professional associations.