Recent revalidation and restructuring of the programme has enabled us to update its relevance to modern business requirements, particularly by defining new specified pathways geared to particular careers and responsibilities within the general domain of information systems.
Various routes through the programme exist to cater for a range of experience, education and interests,
Although this is not a "conversion Masters", graduates from non-computing disciplines will be accepted, if they have appropriate experience of computing systems.
Why study Information Systems at Chester?
The capture, storage, communication, processing and presentation of information are the lifeblood of our 'information society'. Information may be textual, numeric, sound, or still or moving images. Increasingly communication is done electronically by means of email and the World Wide Web.
Organisations need to have the hardware, software, structure, skills, and understanding to utilise information, whether they be large or small, publicly or privately owned, profit-making or community-service focused, local or global. People with vision, commitment and a capacity to apply principles, techniques and technology have an important part to play in the survival and success of organisations, and as responsible citizens in the global community.
Whatever the subject of their first degree, graduates have the potential to contribute to the effectiveness of information systems. Those from a computing background have practical skills in programming and systems design, but others may contribute linguistic, mathematical, creative, interpersonal, or other equally relevant skills. The MSc is intended to build on and adapt the student's existing skill-base. Students without formal qualifications, but who can provide evidence of equivalent capabilities can be accepted onto the programmes
Optional "Study Pathways" are designed to guide the student to a programme of study most suitable for his/her background and aspirations. Each study pathway is a coherent set of six modules appropriate to the subject. Full-time students also have a set route of modules to take, in order to complete the taught modules prior to embarking on their final dissertation.
Features:
The department is an accredited Cisco Academy and includes vendor-qualification materials in the delivery of its programmes. We also subscribe to Microsoft's MSDN Academic Alliance, which entitles our registered students to obtain a wide range of Microsoft software free of charge. A range of specialist hardware can be obtained on loan from the Department for use in student assignments and projects.
Programme Structure:
The programme is modular in structure. This means that, in principle, you can study from a range of modules reflecting your personal interests, although if you study in full-time mode, or if you choose to follow a specified pathway, your range of choice will be reduced.
For the full MSc qualification the course consists of six taught modules and a research dissertation. There are also numerous ways in which credits can be given for previous experience, work and education qualifications.
The Postgraduate Diploma is taught concurrently with the MSc and follows the same overall programme structure, but without the dissertation.
The Postgraduate Certificate is also taught concurrently with the MSc and follows the same overall programme structure but with fewer modules and without a dissertation.
The programme was designed specifically to cater for people in employment who study part time in the evening. Therefore, all our modules are currently taught as evening classes. However, we do ensure that all core modules of the general Information Systems programme are presented at least once in every academic year, so it is possible for students to attend in full-time mode and complete the MSc within a twelve-month period. Students should be aware that daytime tutor support is necessarily limited.
The taught modules are divided into core and optional modules.
Three core modules must be completed by all Masters students:
- Research Methods 1 / Professional and Academic Standards and Issues
- Research Methods 2 / Project Management
- Information Systems Management and Strategy
Optional modules can be combined to form a specified pathway, or simply reflect your personal interests. The specified pathways currently available are:
- Internet Technologies and e-Business
- Information Systems for Professionals in Education
Each pathway requires the study of two topic-specific modules besides the three core modules, plus one "quasi-core" module. The effect of choosing one of these pathways is to restrict your choice of modules while ensuring a specialisation which may be of particular benefit to your career or field of work.
We are constantly updating the programme and designing new modules to reflect the interests of our students and the local community. Even if your particular interests are not currently represented (for example, public sector computing, educational computing etc), we may be able to set up new modules in these areas or arrange for you to study validated modules in other programmes of study.
The full list of available modules follows:
All students (core modules)
(except for PG Certificate and PG Diploma)
CO7100 Research Dissertation
CO7101 Research Methods 1 / Professional and Academic Standards and Issues
CO7102 Research Methods 2 / Project Management
CO7103 Information Systems Management and Strategy
Full-time students
(additionally to core modules)
CO7108 Comparative Methodologies for System Design
CO7111 Creative Programming and Problem Solving
CO7014 Usability and Interactive Systems
Internet and eBusiness pathway
(additionally to core modules)
CO7104 eBusiness, Fulfilment and Logistics
CO7105 The Technology of eBusiness
CO7014 Usability and Interactive Systems
Professionals in Education pathway
(additionally to core modules)
CO7109 I.S. for Professionals in Education: Managing ICT Resources
CO7110 I.S. for Professionals in Education: ICT for Teaching and Learning Strategies
CO7014 Usability and Interactive Systems
Optional Modules
CO7106 Data Communication and Network Management
CO7107 Data Warehousing and Multi-dimensional Databases
CO7112 Knowledge Management
CO7113 Applied Intelligent Systems
Notes:
1. Students enrolled only for PG Certificate and PG Diploma are required to undertake only one core module: CO7101
2. Not all optional modules will be available in any one year.
Each module will require you to attend University for approximately 25 hours in total - for seminars, lectures, tutorials or practical sessions. For each module you will be expected to study on your own for a further 175 hours, undertaking associated reading, learning new systems or working on assignments. Where possible, these assignments will be based on problems associated with your place of work or your particular interests.
The two Research Methods modules must be undertaken by all students before starting their dissertation. These modules will provide you with the necessary expertise to undertake a major research project. Again, we will encourage you to choose a dissertation topic that will be of benefit to you in your workplace as well as satisfying the programme requirements.
All assessment is done by coursework (i.e. there are no exams). For some modules this will take the form of a major written or practical assignment, to be submitted at the end of the module; for others, the assessment is divided into two or more smaller assignments with staged hand-ins, and continuous feedback where appropriate.
Employers of our graduates have commented very favourably on their broad range of relevant skills - a reflection of our commitment to employer liaison and continual updating of course content. Typical careers for graduates from this programme include the following key roles in modern organisations:
- IT Consultant
- Web Designer/Web Master
- Information Solutions Developer
- Information Services Manager
- Information Systems Manager
- Database Administrator
Normal entry requirement is a 2nd-class honours degree or equivalent, though this does not need to be in a computer-related discipline as long as you can show appropriate experience in the use of standard PC applications. For full-time study, some programming experience is required.
If you have no "traditional" qualifications, you will be considered if you can demonstrate an equivalent set of skills and knowledge; we will examine your learning and professional experience to date, in order to establish your suitability for masters-level study. We will also investigate whether you are eligible to claim credit exemptions, based on previous learning and/or work experience.
