To provide the students with a wide-ranging understanding of the discipline of computing, and to introduce students to concepts of professional ethics as well as social and legal aspects of computing.
To equip the students with the communication, time and project management, and employability skills required for a computing professional.
To allow the students to gain an understanding of the importance of appropriate and efficient system design strategies, at the conceptual and logical levels, and how to communicate them effectively to stakeholders.

(LO1) Identify and appraise professional, ethical, legal and social issues related to the work of a professional within the IT industry with particular regard to the BCS Codes of Conduct and Practice.

(LO2) Recognise employability and entrepreneurship skills that prepare students to undertake paid work experience during the course of their degree or independently

(LO3) Identify, describe and discuss economic, historical, organisational, research, ethical, and social aspects of computing as a discipline and computing in practice;

(LO4) Understand the importance of requirement analysis, and demonstrate the ability to extract, analyse and organise end-user requirements;

(LO5) Identity and apply principles of system design, including database conceptual design, using ER and UML design methodologies;

(LO6) Recognise database logical design principles, and issues related to database physical design;

(S1) Effectively communicate in writing and orally in a variety of styles, including the presentation of coherent and persuasive intellectual accounts/arguments

(S2) Develop the ability to work effectively in group to design a project from conception to deployment

(S3) Develop the ability to manage time effectively and to organise own skills

(S4) Reflect on their own learning and professional development by producing a professional portfolio recording the skills developed in the course, which they can enhance in subsequent modules

Overview of Computer Science as a discipline and computing in practice: Economic, historical, organisational, research, and social aspects. Building a professional identity.

Fundamentals of system analysis, roles of the system analyst, project management, time management and teamwork. Understanding the contexts in which the system will operate. Appreciating, evaluating and articulating ethical issues related to digital solutions, cyber-ethics principles. Writing and appraising a system proposal: literature search, evaluation of sources.

Designing applications to user's requirements. Requirement acquisition and analysis. Information gathering, interactive and unobtrusive methods. Appreciating and preventing potential biases. Communicating effectively with stakeholders. Pitching.

Conceptualisation of requirements, the importance of formal specifications. Application to database conceptual modelling: Entity Relationships and Enhanced Entity Relationships models, UML, capturing the needs of different users by modelling user views.

Producing effective and usable systems. Application to databases: the relational model and database logical design. Appreciating robustness and scalability in database models: the benefits and drawbacks of normalization.

Professional development: understanding and articulating skills that define a Computer Science graduate, CV and somal media profiles.

Legal framework, Ethical, Social and Professional issues, including data protection and standards.

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: Face to face lectures presenting the main topics.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 2 - Tutorial
Description: small class tutorials presenting case studies on system analysis and design techniques.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 3 - Seminar
Description: Career oriented sessions to build employability skills.
Attendance Recorded: Yes