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IS10060

Academic Year 2024/2025

Digital Technology (IS10060)

Subject:
Information Studies
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Information & Comms Studies
Level:
1 (Introductory)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Judith Wusteman
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

How do mobile phones actually work? Why are binary and hexadecimal of fundamental importance to computers? How do I read a CPU spec? What is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web? These questions and more will be answered in this module. It aims to provide students with a grounding in the principal technological components of modern information systems. This background will help students to successfully tackle some of the technological aspects of subsequent level 2, 3 and 4 I&CS modules.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

An understanding of:
* Binary and hexadecimal
*How computers work
* Networks, the Internet and the WWW
* Hardware
* Artificial Intelligence

Indicative Module Content:

*Data representation
Number systems
Decimal, binary, hexadecimal
How to convert between number systems, particularly between decimal, hex and binary
Uses of binary and hexadecimal in computers
How to name multiple bytes

*Hardware: binary to circuit boards
How binary numbers are stored via transistors
Boolean logic and how it is implemented in logic gates
How logic gates are combined to produce digital circuits
Hardware: circuit boards to PCs
CPUs and CPU specs
Hardware: Motherboard and memory
Buses, bridges and expansion slots
RAMs, ROMS, caches and more

*Mobile phones
How they work
How to read mobile phone specs

*Networks
The technology
5G

*The Internet & the WWW
HTML, CSS

*Artificial Intelligence


Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

79
Lectures

20
Online Learning

26
Total

125

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
2 lectures per week, 1 group exercise, 1 individual exercise, 1 quiz.

The use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, or WYSIWYG editors is prohibited (ie constitutes Student Academic Misconduct) in the production of submissions for assessments in this module.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Exclusions:

Students registered on ANY programme offered by the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering OR by the School of Computer Science are NOT eligible to take this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
COMP20020 - Digital Systems, COMP30010 - Foundations of Computing, EEEN20050 - Digital Electronics


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Group Work Assignment: Working in groups of 4 , you will create web pages using HTML and CSS on the topic of data representation
 Week 7 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Prepare a presentation proposing a 5 year IT plan for a social media consultancy company. The presentation should use Google Slides and be prerecorded via Zoom. Week 11 Graded No
60
 No
Quizzes/Short Exercises: May include questions on anything that has been taught in any of the lectures, as well as from readings recommended in the lectures. 1 hour; 60 minutes. Week 12 Pass/Fail Grade Scale No
0
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 10:00 - 10:50
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