ITEC 102
ITEC102 - "Introduction to Networks" provides students with a firm foundational understanding of the concepts and principles underpinning modern network design and implementation. This course is designed for graduate students and as such you will be expected to take responsibility for your learning. You will be covering a large amount in a compacted time frame, which requires dedication and smart study techniques.
Each weekly topic in this unit will comprise of:
- Topic Overviews
- Required Readings
- Assessment
- Online Quizzes
- Multimedia Presentations
- Conceptual Questions and Practical Exercises
- Weekly Classes
- Assignments
In addition you need to know about:
Topic Overviews are audio-visual presentations that provide you with a brief introduction to the concepts that will be covered for the week. They also provide some guidance about which subtopics are more important than others. Although the topic overviews sometimes explain important concepts for the week, the required readings are the principle source of information.
Required Readings will be from the Applied Data Communications (Fourth Edition) by Goldman & Rawles. We encourage you to process this content carefully and ask any questions that you may have as a result. The text is the primary resource that you will be working from and as such it is absolutely essential that you stay up to date with your reading and summaries.
Assessment The assessment structure for this course places emphasis on regular exercises and submissions. The breakdown of assessment weightings for this course is as follows:
|
Task |
Weighting
|
|---|---|
|
Online Quizzes |
10%
|
|
Weekly Classes |
20%
|
|
Assignment 1 |
5% |
|
Assignment 2 |
5%
|
|
Assignment 3 |
5%
|
|
Examination |
55%
|
|
Total |
100%
|
Online Quizzes will be based upon the readings for the week. There will be 10 questions each week for 12 weeks. These can be accessed via the "Quizzes" link on the left hand navigation panel and will be worth 10% of your assessment. If you are unhappy with your performance in a quiz you may resit it, but note that each time a different selection of questions will be set. A recorded mark of 100 out of 120 will result in full marks being recorded for this component of your assessment. Please note that you need to attempt your online quiz for each week at least one hour before the start of your weekly class.
Multimedia Presentations demonstrate procedural skills relating to the tasks that you are required to perform for this unit.
Conceptual Questions and Practical Exercises will be set for each week to provide you with the relevant theory and hands on skills required to learn the content deeply. This course places emphasis on creating expert practitioners through learning by thinking and doing. As such the Conceptual Questions and Practical Exercises will be the main learning activity that you undertake each week. These can be downloaded by following the Coursework link in the lefthand menu and selecting the appropriate week.
Each week's Conceptual Questions and Practical Exercises will comprise some "Preliminary" activities and some "In Class" activities. You need to attempt and submit your attempts at the Preliminary activities by midday the day before your weekly class so that your class convenor has time to review your work. Your responses to the Preliminary Conceptual Questions should be submitted as a word-processing document (please save in Rich Text Format if possible so that it will be more likely that other students can read your files). The format of your Preliminary Practical Exercise submissions will depend on the activities prescribed. All of your work should then be submitted as a single zip file.Please refer to the weekly submission schedule on the Submission Page. Be sure to record any questions and bring them along to the weekly class.
Weekly classes will begin by reviewing the Conceptual Questions and Practical Exercises you have submitted. A highly collaborative and student centred approach will be taken. The in-class activities will also be covered, and you will have a chance to ask questions of your peers and the class convenor. Weekly classes are held from 6-8pm on Wednesday evenings. Please be prompt because several of the activities will involve group work.
Assignments are used to form a summative assessment of the practical skills you have developed throughout the unit. There are three assignments in the course. Please refer to the Assignments page (at Blackboard Learning System)for more detail.
Staff Consultation is available by appointment or via email.
Laboratory Access is provided in rooms E6A127 and E6A267 for all Postgraduate Professional Development Program students who wish to use on-campus computing facilities. (Note that E6A267 is the networking lab.) Students who have scheduled classes in these laboratories have first priority, with other computers allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend that if you wish to use the PPDP laboratories you arrive early. Note that if you wish to access any of the audio facilities you will need to bring earphones.
References to "online classes". In previous years, this course was run entirely online. You will be attending weekly face-to-face classes instead of these online classes. If you come across any references to "online classes", "virtual classes", "breeze room" or "breeze live", you should read these as referring to your weekly class.