Information Technology with Foundation Year BSc (Hons)

You will be introduced to the basic concepts, architecture and components of computer systems including:

• information representation
• operating systems
• computer networks
• distributed systems
• cloud computing.

This module covers basic programming concepts and fundamentals using Java programming language. Content includes:

• an overview of programming paradigms and techniques
• analysis of problems and design using pseudo-code and flowcharts
• basic program elements and structure
• development supported by version-controlled code repositories.

This module will help you to gain a range of academic and transferable skills that will support your studies. Topics will include tools and techniques for managing small-scale projects, effective group-work strategies, employability and PDP, and skills in quantitative methods to lay the groundwork for future modules.

In this introductory module, you will create a website. Along the way, you will learn the basic principles and practical skills of good design and apply these in an appropriate layout that visually communicates your own online identity. In building your site, you will use popular web development software and gain background knowledge of underlying technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

You will gain the knowledge and skills to design and implement a relational database. It will cover information security and database management issues and an awareness of the central role of relational and other types of databases.

You will gain a broad understanding of business management in the modern world and learn about the external and internal business environments. The external business environment covers the political context within business, legal structures of businesses in private and public sectors and corporate responsibility. The internal business environment covers organisational structure and functional areas, organisational behaviour, culture and values, individual and personal behaviour, group and team processes, accounting and finance.

You will evaluate the skills and approaches the entrepreneur brings to the process of value creation and the factors that encourage the move to entrepreneurship.

You will understand how to locate, analyse and evaluate sources of information related to the development of a business plan which demonstrates the commercial viability of a proposed business start-up.

IT infrastructure refers to the composite hardware, software, network resources and services required for the existence, operation and management of an enterprise IT environment. On this module you'll explore a range of IT infrastructure lifecycles within organisations and enterprises, with a focus on developing a professional attitude and understanding of current practice.

This module will allow you to gain experience in developing mobile web applications, and have an introduction to the tools, languages and design techniques required for building functional applications. During the module you will gain exposure to a programming language that can support native mobile application development, and you will be introduced to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) software design pattern.

On this module you will identify fundamental issues in computer networks and their security, and study approaches for addressing these issues. By learning these principles, you will be able to understand emerging network technology more quickly.

This module will introduce you to collaboration and research skills, and develop your basic understanding of research approaches. You will gain experience of working collaboratively as part of a project team and have opportunities to adopt different team roles to deliver a solution and project.

This module aims to give you an understanding of how to manage information system (IS) development projects so as to deliver quality projects on time and within budget. Your studies will apply to the management of your individual project as well as to team leader roles in the management of larger scale commercial projects.

You will investigate a topic of interest and prepare a project proposal. You will then present your ideas to the school for approval and once this has been approved, you will begin a detailed literature review of your chosen field. You will choose and follow a suitable development methodology leading to an implementation which you will evaluate.

By taking this module you'll be introduced to machine learning and data mining techniques that are typically used in business applications. You will develop a toolbox of quantitative analytical techniques and skills from which you can build solutions for various business scenarios.

There has been an explosion in data, much of which is not fully structured, but contains valuable information such as search trends, consumer behaviour and other patterns. This module aims to cover some of the developments in the broad range of "Big Data" problems. It will give you a good understanding of data structures, software development procedures and the range of analytical tool used to undertake a wide range of standard and custom analyses to provide data solutions to these issues. 

The module aims to introduce managerial approaches to information security in modern enterprises. It considers how to manage the use of information assets securely and support the goals and objectives of enterprises through effective information security governance, risk management, and contingency planning.