Bachelor of Information Systems
Course 615-AA (2008)
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| Year and Campus: | 2008 |
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| Fees Information: | Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date |
| Level: | Undergraduate |
Contact
Faculty of Science Office Ground Floor Old Geology Building University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 AUSTRALIA Telephone +61 3 8344 6404 Facsimile +61 3 8344 5803| Course Overview: | The degree in information systems focuses on the design, specification, and creation of information systems, and on the human and organisational arrangements needed to use information systems to achieve organisational goals. To cover these increasingly interrelated topics, the course offers study in five key areas: information systems, information technology, organisations, analytical skills, and professional competencies. |
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| Objectives: | The objective of the Bachelor of Information Systems course is to prepare students to be part of teams that imagine, specify, design, justify, build, implement, manage and use information systems. To accomplish this objective, graduates must understand how to use information technology, including hardware, software, and telecommunications, as a conduit for the value-added information content of formal organisational systems. This understanding is based on a solid theoretical grounding in both technology and organisations, as well as on experience working both individually and in teams to apply the theory to practice. |
| Subject Options: | Students must complete a minimum (and maximum) of 300 points of approved studies, comprising:
Compulsory core information systems subjects (100-level)Compulsory 100-level information systems subjects (or approved alternatives): 615-110, 615-140, 615-145, 615-150, 615-160*.615-160 Tools of Analysis will not be offered after 2007. Approved alternative subjects are 800-101, 316-130 or any 100-level subject taught by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (except for Introductory Mathematics which is reserved for students who have not completed VCE Unit 3/4 Mathematical Methods or equivalent). 615-140 and 615-145 will be offered for the last time in 2008 and will only be available to students invited by the Head of Department. From 2008 the sequence of 615-145 and the 200-level subject 615-240 will be replaced by 600-151 Informatics 1: Practical Computing and 600-152 Informatics 2: People, Data and the Web. From 2008 the sequence of 615-140 and the 200-level subject 615-230 will be replaced by two alternative new subjects to be available from 2009 (Shaping the Enterprise with ICT and Informatics 3: Content Management). Students who had not completed either 615-140 or 615-145 prior to 2007 are required to complete the first year sequence 600-151 and 600-152. Students who had completed 615-140 in 2007 or earlier, but not 615-145, will be required to undertake 600-151 and 600-152 from 2008. Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: Compulsory core information systems subjects (200-level)Compulsory 200-level information systems subjects (or approved alternatives): 615-230, 615-237, 615-240, 615-245, 615-251, 615-252. From 2009 the subject 615-230 will be replaced by Informatics 3: Content Management; and the subject 615-240 will be replaced by 600-152 Informatics 2: People, Data and the Web. Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: Compulsory core information systems subjects (300-level)Compulsory 300-level information systems subjects.Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: Elective information systems subjects (200-level)Elective 200-level information systems subjects.Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: Elective information systems subjects (300-level)Elective 300-level information systems subjects.Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: Business-oriented subjectsBachelor of Information Systems students select one business-oriented subject from this list. Some of these subjects have prerequisites. Subject Study Period Commencement: Credit Points: |
| Entry Requirements: | A study score of at least 25 in each of English (any) and Mathematical Methods (either). The VCE Mathematical Methods prerequisite for a course can be satisfied by the completion of Specialist Mathematics at the required level. |
| Core Participation Requirements: | It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student’s participation in the University’s programs. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their active and safe participation in a subject are encouraged to discuss this with the relevant subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit. |
| Further Study: | An honours option is available for graduates of the Bachelor of Information Systems through the Bachelor of Information Systems (Degree with Honours) course. |
| Graduate Attributes: | Upon completion of the Bachelor of Information Systems course, students should: understand how people use information and information systems;understand the business value of information and information systems in organisations;understand the organisational settings in which information systems are used, including major business functions and processes;have familiarity with, and some experience in, studying large, complex information systems;understand, and be able to specify, the technical aspects of an information system;be able to build small information systems;be familiar with a range of techniques, standards, and tools for building and using large information systems in an organisational setting;be able to participate in imagining, designing, justifying, implementing, and managing large information systems;have professional competencies for effective work in organisations, including listening, writing, researching, analysing, presenting, and working in teams; and know how to operate ethically within society's legal framework. |
| Generic Skills: | Specific capabilities will be developed through work in the five key areas of the course. 1. Information systems This is the central theme of the course: information systems collect, process, store, and distribute information so that it can be used to make decisions, to keep track of resources, and to plan for the future. Particular focus is placed on imagining, specifying, designing, justifying, building, implementing, managing, and using information systems to add value in organisations. 2. Information technology An understanding of the potential of information technology to add value is essential to the successful implementation and use of information systems. Students will become familiar with computer hardware and software, telecommunications, databases and data structures, information technology architectures, and information technology infrastructures. Practical experience in these areas will help students learn how to assess the current and future capability of information technology. 3. Organizations To implement information systems efficiently and effectively in organisations requires the ability to analyse and understand organisational functions, processes, environments, characteristics, and cultures. This organisational perspective on information systems, and its relationship to the technical perspective developed in the information technology theme, is a distinguishing characteristic of the Bachelor of Information Systems course. 4. Analytical skills Effective design, development, and implementation of information systems in organisations requires a broad range of analytical skills, including data classification and modelling, information mapping and representation, systems analysis and design, and statistics. These and other analytical skills are essential for understanding, and communicating about, complex organisational situations and the potential and performance of information systems. 5. Professional competencies Graduates will, in the course of their jobs, work with people across a broad spectrum of technical and business interests and skills. Success in these interactions will require a well-developed set of personal competencies, including listening, collecting and synthesising information, writing, presenting, and working in teams. |
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