Without Specialisation – Graduate Diploma in Information Sciences

Introduction to techniques and issues involved in using data to support organisational decision making.

An examination of current issues in the rapidly developing area of social media. A socio-technical approach is adopted to examine how social media networks are being used in business processes.

A comprehensive study of major technology trends and organisational contexts within which information systems are developed and used from user, manager, organisational and societal perspectives.

Prerequisites: 157150 or 157151 or 115107 or 1581xx or 1591xx Restrictions: 157242

An examination of the role of information systems in creating business value in a knowledge economy.

Prerequisites: 1142xx or 1522xx or 1572xx or 1582xx or 1592xx

Designing and managing technology-based solutions for realising organisational strategy.

Restrictions: 57301, 157373, 157341

Agile project management and design thinking as methodologies for implementing technology projects and programmes.

Prerequisites: 1142xx or 1522xx or 1572xx or 1582xx or 1592xx

A study of the rudiments of structured and object-oriented software development methods and techniques. Students will utilise a modern integrated development environment to gain practical skills.

Prerequisites: 1581xx or 1591xx

A study of methods used to capture, analyse and model system requirements. Students will acquire practical skills through case study work utilising techniques and software tools used by industry.

Prerequisites: 157150 or 157151 or 115107 or 1581xx or 1591xx Restrictions: 158254

A study of the basic principles of digital communications, Internet technologies, communications software, local area network design, client-server system design, middleware and available wide-area network services from the viewpoint of a software engineer/designer developing networked information systems.

Prerequisites: 1581xx or 1591xx or 157150 or 157151 or 115107

A discussion of testing concepts and techniques that can be applied to all software projects. This course explores a selection of topics relevant to the design and implementation of test plans in software including web-based applications. The course also looks at activity design to ensure that the project conforms to stakeholder expectations. This course will be of assistance to students who would like to become a Certified Tester through International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISQTB) foundation level exams.

Prerequisites: One of 1571xx or 1581xx or 1591xx

The design of Web sites using modern mark-up, styling and scripting languages for the Web focusing on the client-side Web design as well as Web user-interface design.

Prerequisites: 158120 or 159171 Restrictions: 158258

An introduction to web-based application development. Students will gain practical experience in the use of modern techniques relevant to the design and development of web-based systems.

Prerequisites: 1581xx or 1591xx Restrictions: 158256

An advanced study of methods used to model, design, build and test robust software artefacts. The course provides an in-depth study of multiple techniques to support software design and implementation. It takes a practical approach using current methods and tools.

Prerequisites: 158256 or 158258 or 159234 or 159270

An in-depth exploration of methods for developing intuition and insights about data that enables effective problem formulation and its solution through data-driven methods. A broad range of advanced machine learning and data mining algorithms will be used to build predictive models from real-world contexts. A particular emphasis will be on developing data-products, rapid prototyping and effectively communicating their value through visual storytelling and interpretable summaries. Practical skills for processing large datasets will be taught.

Prerequisites: 158222

This course involves participants in solving problems whose solutions require active, sensing and connected “things” augmented with Cloud Computing capabilities. Students will design and implement things that participate in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing environments.

Prerequisites: 158235 and (158212, 158256 or 158258)

A study of enterprise data models, including how data storage and retrieval methods have changed over time. Modern techniques for handling relational and non-relational data and their implications in transactional and analytical processing are evaluated. Students will gain practical skills in designing, creating and querying databases using database management systems.

Prerequisites: One of 1582xx or 1592xx Restrictions: 158247

This course provides an advanced study of social and professional issues in the information sciences. It will involve the exploration, through appropriate resources, of issues relevant to practitioners, including ethics, legal issues, communication, teamwork and professional contexts.

Prerequisites: 1572xx or 1582xx or 1592xx

The course will move from conceptual analysis to the design, prototyping and implementation and evaluation of user interfaces. It will emphasise development processes that result in interfaces that provide a superior user experience. Examples of real-life interfaces, from sources such as desktop, multimedia, web, novel, and mobile technologies will be used. There will be a significant practical work component.

Prerequisites: 1572xx or 1582xx or 1592xx

An introduction to the analysis and implementation of algorithms and data structures including linear data structures, trees, graphs, hash tables, searching algorithms, sorting algorithms, optimization problems and complexity analysis. The course includes a significant practical component covering the implementation and application of important data structures and algorithms.

Prerequisites: 159102 Restrictions: 159271

This course continues the study of computer programming with an introduction to declarative programming languages. The principles of the declarative programming paradigm are explored through practical examples. Key topics include recursion, list processing, lazy evaluation and higher-order functions.

Prerequisites: 159102 Restrictions: 159272

An introduction to the principles of object-oriented programming. It covers both object-oriented programming techniques and their application to program design including classes, objects and objects lifecycle, abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and generic programming, as well as some advanced programming features. The course includes a significant practical component involving designing and implementing object-oriented programs in Java.

Prerequisites: 159102

An introduction to the programming principles, methods and techniques of computer graphics. The course covers general graphics methods and techniques, graphics transformations, drawing algorithms, 3D rendering and animation. These are implemented using basic approaches as well as modern shader-based pipelines.

Prerequisites: 159102 Restrictions: 159360

A study of embedded programming using low-level programming languages. The course covers the hardware architecture of an embedded system and the techniques needed to write programs for simple peripherals such as switches, LEDs, timers and accelerometers.

Prerequisites: 159102 Restrictions: 159233, 159270

A study of techniques, methods and tools used to design and construct high-quality software systems.

Prerequisites: 159234

An exploration of a range of essential topics for implementing computer games including fundamental computer graphics, games software architecture and game physics systems. The course contains a significant practical computer lab component where students are guided through the games development process.

Prerequisites: 159101

A study of programming in a hardware-oriented language such as C and the construction of object-oriented software solutions using C++. The course has a practical focus based on concepts such as pointers, memory allocation, objects, classes, operator overloading, inheritance, and polymorphism. It addresses techniques such as structuring programs, software testing and debugging techniques, and the use of microcontrollers.

Prerequisites: 159100 or 159101 or 159172 Restrictions: 159236

An in-depth study of data structures and the design and analysis of algorithms to solve real-world problems. The course has a practical focus based on the correct implementation of algorithms in a high level programming language. An introduction to computability, tractability and strategies to address issues related to intractability.

Prerequisites: 159102 or 159172 Restrictions: 159201

An introduction to different programming paradigms with a focus on the functional paradigm – lists, recursion, lazy-evaluation, higher-order functions, currying and lambda expressions. The course includes a significant practical component designing and implementing functional solutions to problems using both pure and multi-paradigm languages.

Prerequisites: 159102 Restrictions: 159202

An advanced study of the principles and techniques used in developing Artificial Intelligence applications. The course includes the implementation and application of a range of AI methods including state-space representation and search, knowledge representation, constraint satisfaction, game playing, logic systems and machine learning.

Prerequisites: 159201 or 159234 Restrictions: 159372

A study of the programming and scripting languages, frameworks and tools used to develop web and distributed applications with a consideration of the security issues involved in these technologies.

Prerequisites: (159100 or 159101 or 159171) and (158256 or 158258) Restrictions: 159339

This course builds on concurrency theory giving practical experience in all aspects of concurrent programming, including issues of synchronisation. Operating systems, structures and techniques are presented as examples of complex, concurrent programs.

Prerequisites: 159272 Restrictions: 159335, 159341, 159342

Generating graphical images and animations involves a variety of concepts and tools, starting from basic modeling and algorithms to advanced tools for graphics programming. The course covers theory and underlying algorithms as well as practical programming exercises including games using 3D graphics.

Prerequisites: (159270, 159271 or 159272) and (160101, 160102, 160103 or 160105) Restrictions: 159235

This course continues the study of games programming by exploring the development of computer games using a modern game engine. The development of games and specific game systems within a modern architecture are covered with a significant practical component.

Prerequisites: 159235, 159261

This course introduces fundamental techniques to create intelligent machines, including formalisms for representing knowledge and reasoning about it, methods for searching and planning, and approaches to machine learning.

Prerequisites: 159271 or 159272 Restrictions: 159302

Vector spaces, linear transformation, matrix representation, inner product spaces, isometries, least squares, generalised inverse, eigen theory, quadratic forms, norms, numerical methods.

Prerequisites: 160102, 160112, 160133 or 228172

This course teaches methods to understand patterns and structures inherent in data sets containing many variables. The fundamentals of data visualisation, clustering, and dimension reduction with examples taken from a range of applications.

Prerequisites: One of 161222, 161220, 161221, 161250, 161251, 233214 Restrictions: 161762

A practical approach to data mining with large volumes of complex data; prepare, cleanse and visualise data; supervised and unsupervised modelling; ensemble and bundling techniques; use of leading software tools.

Prerequisites: One of 161122, 161220, 161221, 161250 or 161251 Restrictions: 161223 and 161777

Based on an initial project specification, students work individually or in groups on carrying out an information technology project. This includes understanding the project context, selecting appropriate methods and approaches, constructing the project artifacts, and reporting on project outcomes.

Prerequisites: At least two (2) 1582xx courses

A capstone computer science project. Students will develop a piece of software or conduct a computer science research project under the supervision of an academic staff member. Projects will be completed individually or as part of a team depending on staff availability. Students must produce a written technical report and give an oral presentation demonstrating their work.

Prerequisites: Two (2) of 158222, 1592xx

Management of the software engineering process. A group project will form a significant component of this course.

Prerequisites: 159251 and 159352

Understanding, visualising and analysing data in a practical context using R/RStudio. Topics are selected from: data collection including experimental designs, observational studies, and surveys, data cleaning and preparation, exploratory analysis, visualisation of multivariate and time series data, regression, analysis of variance and covariance, autoregressive models and categorical data modelling.

Prerequisites: 161101, 161111, 161120, 161122 or 161130 Restrictions: 161250

Statistical linear models for application in science, business and social science. Topics include simple and multiple regression; linear models with categorical explanatory variables; model diagnostics; inference for linear models; polynomial regression; models for time dependence; methods for variable selection; and weighted regression.

Prerequisites: (One of (161122 or 161220 or 233214) and one of (160101 or 160102 or 160105)) or one of 161101, 161120 or 161130 Restrictions: 161251

Biology, psychology, and other sciences require statistical methods for analysing and visualising data. This course is designed to be accessible to students from any discipline, first building a deeper understanding of fundamental statistical concepts, then teaching a range of practical approaches for exploring statistical relationships, testing hypotheses, evaluating models, and presenting conclusions.

Prerequisites: 1611xx Restrictions: 161220