Information Technology

Designed to teach the student concepts and skills needed to succeed in an entrepreneurial venture. It will include understanding unique characteristics an entrepreneur should possess, and it will view marketing, economics, finance, accounting, management, communication and legal issues from a small business perspective.

Course Hours: 3

The symbiotic relationship between the computing disciplines and mathematics has a long history. The foundations of hardware, software, networks, security, and digital multimedia rooted in theoretical and applied mathematics. This course will explore the mathematics of basic algorithm analysis, data structures, Boolean logic, sets, relations, functions, countability, computability, and complexity as applied to the computing domains. Special emphasis will be given to the practical applications of the binary and hexadecimal number system across the computing disciplines and the development of the theoretical finite-state automation.

Course Hours: 2

Enterprises today gather massive amounts of data that are archived using a variety of storage systems and technologies. Organizations now realize the value of accessing, synthesizing, and analyzing that vast data store to create business value. The ability to transform this data into business information that will enable managers and executives to make informed strategic business decisions has now become essential to business competitiveness. Using a variety of innovative analytical tools, the student will learn to harness the power of data to solve business problems as well as suggest new directions to create value for business.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Data and Database Management

Course Hours: 3

Technology is all around us. It is deeply embedded and integrated into our daily lives. More than ever technology and design is the fabric of our culture, society, and core for modern business. Not only is technology a key enabler for strategic growth in today's digital economy, but it is also a foundational pillar in communication around the world. From social media to online commerce, software or programming is the core foundational tool that organizations use to run their businesses. More than ever businesses need creative problem solvers to help expand their reach through technology enablement. You will begin your journey here in this course to empower modern businesses to succeed in our digital economy. You will begin to learn the fundamental principles that are the underlying framework for technology. That is to say that programming software is the key element that drives the capabilities of simple to advanced systems. In this course you will be learning a creative approach to problem solving with code that is both scalable and timeless. 

Course Hours: 3

The ubiquitous aspects of the web are at all intersections of modern life. Instead of having social and business communications and applications walled off and only accessible as desktop applications, the Internet provides a development environment and ecosystem to facilitate serious and powerful computing, accessible to people around the globe. In this course students will learn the core fundamental principles and tenets of web technologies and development methodologies. This course is designed to provide in-depth, hands-on instruction in designing and scripting web sites. Major web scripting languages are covered in detail. Students will also learn how to implement visual design principles and digital design software. Through a project-based approach, students will develop the skills needed to develop web sites in a business environment.

Course Hours: 3

Computers in all visible and hidden forms, from embedded chips to supercomputers, must input, output, store, and process data. Foundationally critical is the understanding that the digital world is binary data in all forms, including computer instructions we call software. The characteristics, structure, and meaning of this data must be understood by the computing professional to adequately protect and transform it into meaningful information and appropriate uses. Digital representations of our world requires professionals to accurately and efficiently store, search, retrieve, classify, analyze, and report this information. In this course the student will lay a foundation of understanding to accurately interpret what “digital” means and how binary data is stored, retrieved, and moved in software applications, operating system file subsystems, communications networks, and more complex relational and non-relational databases. Through problem sets and hands-on exercises, students will apply concepts to practice. There is no area of study in computing technology that is not touched by the storage, retrieval, and manipulation of binary data.

Course Hours: 3

Because of increased cyber threats on financial, health, and other information, securing what is important to us has become a priority to companies and individuals. This course is designed to provide an in-depth introduction to wide range of cybersecurity issues confronting organizations today and the methods by which practitioners can secure a business environment. Since significant investments are being made in the security of networks and the IT infrastructure today, specific emphasis is placed on global network based threats and vulnerabilities. Other topics include physical security, access control, authentication, authorization, data security and integrity, encryption, recovery, computer forensics, penetration testing and business continuance. Students will learn about and work with firewalls, network security, application security, email security, and tools for securing, monitoring, and auditing the IT environment.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Networking

Course Hours: 3

Deeply rooted in the success of digital experiences is a key intersection between psychology and sociology. User Experience design (or UX Design) is the study and practice of the psychological and design principles of how users interact with interactive systems. This course is a formal study of human computer interaction, information architecture, and usability design. Students will learn analysis and design techniques that will help them to evaluate users, styles, tasks, and other factors of the human-computer interface. The course provides a foundation for students to be able to build effective computer interfaces that support human needs and improved productivity. Students are also introduced to UX history and current research. The total spectrum of human-computer interaction is contained within the field of User Experience design. This course focuses on the iterative design process in order to generate rapid prototypes that are used to steer business and product design decisions. This course will teach students how to take a concept from prototype to digital product. Students will learn how to transform ideas into tangible reality. Students will learn how to develop user stories and user tasks that will be utilized for the shaping of the product definition and functionality, while at the same time learning how to build a design and development roadmap.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Software Design and Development or permission of instructor/program director.

Course Hours: 3

As an exponential number of devices are added to the global network, including cameras, thermostats, and security systems, the ability to understand how the Internet of Things (IOT) works has become paramount to both the individual and to the corporate environment. This course is designed to introduce the student to a wide range of network architectures, infrastructure, and configuration options. Throughout the course the student will explore the concepts of physical and virtual environments and network designs as well as the knowledge required to manage these complex environments. The course will cover the topics of wired and wireless networking including system virtualization, virtual local area networks, and network hardware and software.

Course Hours: 3

The world is composed of objects of various kinds that interact with one another. Gaining an understanding of how to program using the perspective of objects will help the student to develop software that will be understandable and reusable. Students will explore features of object-based design and development using Java including UML, encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance. Java has gained a significant foothold in nearly every facet of technology in society and learning to program with it will provide a solid foundation for those wishing to pursue a knowledge of other object-based languages. An introduction to writing even-driven graphical interfaces will provide students a solid foundation for creating interactive software.

Course Hours: 3

Designed to introduce students to hardware and operating system concepts including hardware components, file structures, memory usage and paging, scheduling, and peripherals. In addition the students will acquire hands-on experience in installing and working with several operating systems including Microsoft Windows and Linux. Other UNIX operating environments such as AIX may be explored along with the Apple Mac operating system. Students will also learn how to network these diverse platforms together to meet business needs. The goal is to have students become skilled in installing, networking, and maintaining diverse operating system environments. The course will also help in preparing those interested in A+ certification.

Course Hours: 3

Virtualization of computing hardware, networks, and software has revolutionized the way that IT professionals architect and implement systems. Grounded in distributed systems and scalable software systems principles, virtualization reached critical mass in recent decades and provided a foundational component and catalyst for the globalization of the Internet and cloud computing. Virtualization has provided the technical means to support the exponential growth and business rationale for large data repositories, while cloud computing has been the result of its application in creating new business models. Infrastructure as a service, platforms as a service, and software as a service continue to provide foundational cloud-based computing resources for the 21st century global business. This course will introduce the student to the theoretical foundations of parallel and distributed systems that are applied in the technology of virtualization. These system architectures exist in the cloud as infrastructure, platform, and software services. The student will gain hands-on experience observing and implementing cloud-based services and evaluate their advantages, disadvantages, and common uses.

Course Hours: 3

Organizations now recognize the extreme importance in managing large technology projects in order to meet strategic objectives and provide a competitive advantage. Knowledge of project management techniques has now become essential to career growth. This course is designed to teach the fundamentals of project management with an emphasis on managing the unique challenges of information technology (IT) projects. Students will be introduced to the IT project management process using industry accepted methodologies including the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Agile, and Six Sigma. Extensive case related work will be used to help students understand the important aspects of time, performance, and cost estimation in relation to the unique conditions often present in information technology projects. Each of the critical phases of the IT project management process will be reviewed in detail using practical examples from the IT industry. Students are also introduced to computer-based project management software.

Course Hours: 3

Database Programming is the study of the design and implementation of algorithms common to database environments by developing a programmatic extension to SQL. This course studies the de facto architectural standards for manipulating data in both transaction processing systems and in analytical processing systems. The architectures studied include those provided by open-systems Linux platforms and Windows-based platforms. Hands-on projects will include programming application programming interfaces and object repositories to manipulate SQL and NoSQL databases for the inclusion and retrieval of data.

Course Hours: 3

The Portfolio I course is designed to prepare students to create a digital online presence in order to competitively position themselves in the marketplace. Students are prepared to develop a communication and presentation strategy that best suits their career goals.

Course Hours: 1

Students choose an organization to work hands-on in the information technology industry. A partner should be selected with the help of the placement office that will provide a substantial learning experience in the area of the student's interest. The student must complete a minimum of 55 hours of work experience for each credit hour. IT majors are expected to complete a total of 3 credit hours of ITI 4900 for graduation which requires a total of 165 hours of work in the information technology domain. Graded S/U.

Course Hours: 1-3

This senior presentation course is the culmination of your studies, meant to help you demonstrate talent, skills and presentation, and communication abilities. This experience will not only provide you the opportunity to begin honing your skills in presenting your work to be used for expanding your career, but it will allow you to receive feedback from experienced designers and developers from the industry on ways you can improve your portfolio as you begin your job hunt. While it is critical to show finished work which reflects strong concepts, design and technical abilities, it is also important to be able to demonstrate the process used to create the work along with the reasoning which led its final form. Each senior is allowed to present 4- 5 projects. These projects can have multiple components but, in total, can't exceed a total of 10. Presentations are to be, at least, 10 minutes and no longer than 15 and are to be made digitally online or with a projector. The presentation should cover your creative process from beginning to end.

Course Hours: 1

The senior seminar is a learning space where students actively evaluate and critique the questions, controversies, and complexities of the information technology, information systems, computer science, and graphic design disciplines. While developing disciplinary and research skills, students lead discussions that explore current topics and challenges of intellectual importance. The seminar is facilitated by the faculty member with the goal of preparing students for academic research and professional success.

Course Hours: 3

This course in digital forensics takes the approach that there has been an attempt to breach your organization's data or individual systems, or there has been an actual breach. This process of forensics includes the methods and means necessary to determine who, what, where, when and how a breach occurred. This course will cover the methodological, scientific, technical and legal matters as they relate to digital forensics.

The security arena is made of vulnerabilities, threats, attacks, loss of data, viruses, trojans, etc. The issue is frequently a matter of detecting that an intrusion or an attempted intrusion took place. Once it has been determined that an intrusion has occurred, it is necessary to manage the crisis both internally and externally. Many requirements for reporting exist and this course will cover the basics of both crisis management as well as the determination of the extent of the security failure.

This course is designed to be a general overview of security on the Internet and networked systems through the architecture of the organization. The issues facing security personnel relative to the network are ubiquitous. The techniques that provide security through cryptography and other options that encrypt data and communications are discussed in this course. Being anonymous is not possible given the number of tools available to the hacker, but the ability to be as anonymous as possible and to secure the data will be discussed as a means to make it difficult for the hacker to achieve their goal of viewing the data within the organization.

Information assurance addresses the need to know the network and the information available on the network, both internal and external to the organization. Through a study of the various aspects of confidentiality, integrity and accessibility, this course will present the concept that the information must be protected at each level with the proper level of security, but the first step is determining what data is available, such as email, calendars, chat rooms, Internet access, etc. and then determining the level of security that is applicable to each. Control is the key to assurance, but recognizing the components of the system because a tool that can be audited, verified, and controlled.

In this course, students learn and apply game design principles for real-world projects. Students engage in the core principles of game systems and logic through the design and creation of finite state machines. Students learn how to create project documentation in order to analyze business products and needs in conjunction with technical and design solutions.

Game design is one of the fastest-growing and largest sectors of online digital products. During this course, students learn how to create game design solutions that fully integrate 3D modeling, materials, and Lighting in real-time 3D environments. Students develop their skills in creating immersive experiences through the implementation of core principles. Students learn advanced 3D software applications while developing solutions for digital products and consumption by international audiences.

Throughout this advanced game programming course, students execute a level design plan and perform the necessary programming to bring a level design fully to life. Students engage in optimization and performance issues and differentiate technical solutions for a variety of game platforms. Students learn how to program user interactions and animations in a real-time 3D game engine through the translation of design documents created in prior courses.

This hands-on course is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate all that they have learned through their course of study. In a world that is driven by results it is imperative for students to clearly demonstrate their skills and knowledge through portfolio materials. In this course students will build on their prior experience in order to create a final capstone project. Their final project will demonstrate their abilities in user experience thinking, product design and development, and problem solving with game design. Additionally, students will work with their professor to create and refine a resume that targets their career of choice. All efforts are aligned to the task of assembling an online portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to solve complex problems in game design and development.

Designed to provide in-depth, hands-on instruction in designing and developing multimedia applications using video, sound, images, and animation for interactive Web-based use. Students will gain experience with industry software used for designing multimedia such as Flash Professional, Director, and Dreamweaver. ActionScript programming is also explored to increase the power and flexibility required for an immersive multimedia experience online. Extensive lab time will help to develop skills needed when designing and developing multimedia applications for the Web in the business environment.

Designed to teach students the necessary skills to effectively communicate using the time-based medium, sound. During the course students learn the technical aspects of sound production while developing creative abilities to portray concepts in business and entertainment environments. Students will learn all the major aspects of digital sound production with a special emphasis on Web related work including multi-track recording, editing, mixing, mastering, and adding dynamics and effects.

Designed to teach students how to use video as a creative means of communication. Students learn camera and lighting techniques and non-linear video editing. Rigorous formal studies into the history of video art prepare students to create technically sound and creatively charged projects in the fields of business and entertainment.

Designed to teach students the necessary skills to effectively create and use digital animation and motion graphics. In addition to animation history and theories, students will learn all the major aspects of creating three dimensional animation and motion graphics for business and entertainment. Hands-on lab work with industry leading tools is a significant part of this course.

Determining why customers act and behave in certain patterns can help business leaders make informed decisions for their companies. In this course, students learn the core fundamental tenets of user experience design and the role of psychology in creating immersive and rewarding user experience. Students conduct applied research and data analysis for real-world business solutions in order to implement strategies for creating world-class customer experiences with increased customer retention and engagement.

In this course, students learn and apply game design principles for real-world projects. Students engage in the core principles of game systems and logic through the design and creation of finite state machines. Students learn how to create project documentation in order to analyze business products and needs in conjunction with technical and design solutions.

More businesses rely on digital communications and marketing than ever before. In order for companies to connect with their audience and to their products and services, there must be an integrated digital strategy in order for them to be found in the sea of business options. Social media and digital marketing allow companies to have highly targeted and focused digital strategies in order to increase their findability. This highly targeted approach allows for companies to optimize their marketing and advertising expenditures while yielding higher and more predictable results for their sales and marketing initiatives. The 21st century has brought about new challenges for businesses looking to succeed in the age of the Internet. This course is designed to help students turn today’s new challenges into a competitive advantage for businesses. Business owners, managers, IT staff, and even motivated individuals will find this course invaluable in discovering the digital potential that exists within an organization. 

During this course students work directly with business owners to be their marketing strategy and implementation team. Students select a company that needs a digital marketing presence and create a marketing strategy based on business strategies. Students employ digital literacy skills in the process of creating marketing automation and sales funnels.

A good understanding of algorithms is essential to most engineering and computing tasks today. Implementations of algorithms have allowed the Internet to grow exponentially, computer games to function in real time, and databases to be accessed quickly. We will begin the course with a serious introduction to algorithmic analysis, followed by a treatment of simple data structures and sorting algorithms. We will continue with more sophisticated data structures and graph algorithms, and end with advanced data structures as time permits. Throughout the course students will discuss the many applications of the data structures and algorithms considered.

Just as there are many languages for communicating among peoples in the world there are many computing languages for communicating with computers. Some reasons new languages may be developed include to help simplify communication, make it more efficient, or add capabilities that did not exist before. In this course, students look at a variety of languages and programming paradigms and examine the relationship between the two. This will be done by examining the fundamental principles of programming language design, description, and implementation. Selected languages will also be explored in order to understand the design and purpose of their development. Some focus will also be given to specification and implementation of data types, grammar, and syntax.

Designing software is an integral part of engineering a software product. Poor design will lead to poor results introducing the users of the software to many risks. In this course, students learn to effectively design software to ensure that a developed product can provide the requested functionality and performance while allowing for maintainability and scalability. Fundamental principles and guidelines for software architecture design are introduced including architectural styles, patterns, and frameworks. Students will learn to use methods, techniques and tools for describing software architecture and documenting design rationale and, for performing software architecture design and evaluation.

We live a complex society comprised of many systems. Acquiring an understanding of how systems as a whole are designed, created, and maintained is essential for the individual who wishes to make a contribution in the area of systems development. In this course, the focus will be on the software engineering aspect of systems where they are implemented by applying the fundamental software engineering life cycle process from requirements specifications to the testing of a completed software system. Software development will allow students to implement a software system design regardless of the programming language that is chosen.

Front-end Engineering is at the forefront of modern businesses. Where software solutions used to be largely driven by native application development, the Internet has provided a serious business platform. Front-end engineers are at the front line of developing technical interface solutions to solve business problems. This course builds upon the knowledge and skills acquired in Foundations of Web Design & Development and Foundations of UX Design. With its project-centric approach, students learn advanced techniques of web production/administration as well as demonstrating their working knowledge of significant Web scripting languages in both the traditional desktop Web as well as modern mobile Web environments. The focus of this course revolves around the creation of interactive responsive Web design from the ground up with front-end engineering utilizing front-end frameworks and mobile responsive development.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Web Design & Development and Foundations of UX Design, or permission of instructor/director.

IT architecture involves both the science of engineering systems and the art of combining these systems using industry and de facto standards.  It is the architecture that defines the components and establishes the rules that allow hardware and software products from many vendors to interoperate seamlessly and scale globally. This course identifies the components and standards in a preeminent IT architecture, the world-wide web.  While studying the client-server architecture generally, and the web specifically, students will develop and demonstrate an understanding of the architectural components and foundational administrative activities necessary in both the Linux/Apache and Windows/IIS based platforms that serve web content to any browser-based client.  Web-based technologies outside the mainstream, like the Internet of Things, will also be explored.

Advanced Web Development builds upon previous Web courses by introducing key back-end development technologies for server-side development. With its holistic study of core language investigation, to direct practical application, students will learn to effectively implement server-side scripting to leverage the power of web servers and database architecture strategies. Students will gain experience with database integration to fully bring to life front-end frameworks through the development and implementation of content management system project which will connect front-end user interfaces to backend data sources. Students will learn the PHP language and practices through the building of Content Management Systems for Web applications. This PHP/MySQL course is designed to supply students with a practical approach to Web Development. Students will learn the core language and implementation of PHP/MySQL scripting. The specific objective of this advanced-level course is to enable students to use a programming language to augment a scripting language to provide robust web-based, database driven business solutions. Students will use a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) virtual machine in a hands-on environment.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Web Design & Development and Foundations of Data and Database Management, or permission of instructor/director

This hands-on course is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate all that they have learned through their course of study. In a world that is driven by results it is imperative for students to clearly demonstrate their skills and knowledge through portfolio materials. In this course students will build on their prior experience in order to create a final capstone project. Their final project will demonstrate their abilities in user experience thinking, product design and development, and problem solving. Additionally, students will work with their professor to create and refine a resume that targets their career of choice. All efforts are aligned to the task of assembling an online portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to solve complex problems ranging from UX Design to UX Engineering and back-end development.

Prerequisites: Foundations of Web Design & Development and Mobile UX/UI Front-End Engineering, or permission of instructor/director