This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
IT 1010SED
Introduction to Information and Communications Technology
IT 1010SED Introduction to Information and Communications Technology is a six-credit-unit, 1000-level course in the Bachelor of Computing programme. This is also an optional course in the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Science with Honours in Computer Engineering programmes. There is no prerequisite for this course.
This course helps you develop a broad understanding of the basics of information and communications technology (ICT) and its applications and impacts on our daily lives. ICT has permeated nearly every aspect of society, so it is essential for you to know how it works and is used. This course gives you a thorough view of the topics of computing and networking, and the white-hot issues brought up by the extensive use of the Internet worldwide. You can also learn how to create an interactive webpage and write up some simple programs through hands-on practice. The course will explore some special aspects of programming, such as user interface and network security, and review the latest developments of ICT. We hope you will be able to identify the opportunities and risks of ICT on our lives after completing this course.
Purpose of this Course Guide
This Course Guide provides you with information on how the course is organised and what we offer you in this course. It describes the structure and learning outcomes of the course. You can find details of the complementary resources and the teaching and learning support for the course. The assessment procedures are also provided. This guide will give you a better understanding of the course and will help pave the way for your study. Please read the Course Guide carefully and refer to it when needed.
Course aims
IT 1010SED aims to:
Course learning outcomes
Upon the completion of IT 1010SED, you will be able to:
The course consists of eight study units. Each unit begins with an overview which outlines the main focus of the subject area at the beginning, followed by an introduction that sets off a discussion or describes a phenomenon of the topics concerned. The units include different topics and also activities to help you not only to understand, but reflect, on what you have learnt. You are encouraged to engage in these activities and read through the feedback afterwards. We believe that you can benefit from them. There will be self-tests after each main section to reinforce and check your understanding.
Assignments are incorporated into the course as part of continuous assessment, accounting for 50% of your final grade. You are required to submit three compulsory assignments. There is a final exam at the end of the course.
Now let us have a quick look at the main themes of the study units.
Study units
There are eight study units in IT 1010SED.
Unit 1 describes the rise and development of information and communications technology and its applications in our daily lives.
Unit 2 reviews the representations of data, manipulation and exchange of data between different systems.
Unit 3 employs the use the HTML mark-up language to create structured and formatted Web pages.
Unit 4 demonstrates the use of JavaScript to create programs and dynamic Web pages.
Unit 5 explores the benefits and use of program libraries as reusable components to build more powerful programs and dissects the design of the human-computer interface.
Unit 6 explores various communications networks and related security issues and solutions.
Unit 7 demonstrates the process of software development and debugging.
Unit 8 discusses the technological trends and their impacts on society.
Course overview
The following chart gives a general overview of the course structure.
| Units | Weeks | Assessment | |
| 1 | Introduction to computing and networking | 2 | Assignment 1 |
| 2 | Data representation and standards for information exchange | 4 | |
| 3 | HTML and webpages | 4 | |
| 4 | Dynamic webpages with JavaScript | 4 | Assignment 2 |
| 5 | Modular programming and human-computer interface | 6 | |
| 6 | Communications and security | 4 | Assignment 3 |
| 7 | Software development | 4 | |
| 8 | The future of information and communications technology | 2 | |
| Revision | 2 | ||
| Total | 32 | ||
Equipment requirement
You will need a computer to do some exercises and access the Internet and the Online Learning Environment (OLE) of the course. We recommend the following computing requirements:
Hardware:
Software:
Internet access:
Supplementary readings
The course will provide supplementary reading materials which can be accessed online or via HKMU's E-Library. For the E-Library readings, you will be instructed to read articles in the E-Library E-Reserve. For the online readings, click on the URLs in the online units (e-book) which is available on the Online Learning Environment.
E-Library E-Reserve readings
To read these items, go to HKMU E-Library and click on 'E-Reserve'. Log in, click 'Accept/Agree' on the Copyright Restrictions page, fill in the 'Course Code' box, and click 'Search'.
Online and multimedia materials
Online Learning Environment
This course uses the Online Learning Environment (OLE). There you will find course materials and the latest course information. You can also make use of the platform to communicate with your tutor, Course Coordinator and fellow students. You are recommended to visit the OLE regularly. For details about the OLE and how to access it, please refer to the Online Learning Environment User Guide.
Other online resources
You are encouraged to explore and read other online resources from the Internet. The resources are available at some popular websites which provide lots of useful information:
IT 1010SED includes two assessment components: continuous assessment and a final examination. Each is worth 50% of the course score.
There are a number of rules and regulations relating to assessment and these are provided in the Student Handbook. You are strongly recommended to read this handbook, as it explains the general requirements for all assessment and the way grades are actually determined.
Assignments
The continuous assessment consists of a total of three compulsory assignments. These act as a benchmark to check your learning progress, and test your understanding of the content and your ability to apply the knowledge learnt to daily life situations.
The assignments generally contain problem-solving questions which resemble those asked in the final examination. You have to submit the assignments on time and they will be marked by your tutor and returned together with comments. You are encouraged to read those comments carefully to review your understanding and your strengths and weaknesses in the topics, and be prepared for the final examination.
The total marks of the three assignments will be counted as 50% of your final grade of the course. Refer to the table below for details.
Assessment items
The assessment items are outlined in the following table.
| Assessment | Course area covered | Weighting |
| Assignment 1 | Units 1–3 | 15% |
| Assignment 2 | Units 4–5 | 20% |
| Assignment 3 | Units 6–8 | 15% |
| Examination | 50% | |
| Total | 100% | |
IT 1010SED offers various types of teaching and learning support to you, namely tutor guidance, online support using the discussion board in the OLE and Course Coordinator consultation.
You should contact your tutors as the first line of support. You can contact them for help through telephone, email and other online communications.
You are also strongly recommended to post questions and share your learning experiences with fellow course mates on the discussion board in the OLE.
You may also contact the Course Coordinator for consultation. The Course Coordinator is responsible for preparing the presentation of the course, ensuring that it progresses smoothly, overseeing the work of tutors, monitoring the standard of the assessment and grading you at the end of the course.
Tutorials
There are a total of 8 tutorial sessions throughout the course, comprising 16 hours of contact time. These tutorials are not compulsory, but you are strongly advised to attend them.
Your tutor will mark and comment on your assignments, monitor your progress and on any difficulties you might encounter, and will try to help you during the course. Do not hesitate to contact your tutor by telephone or by email if you need help! For example, contact your tutor if:
You will be notified of the dates, times and location of the tutorials, together with the name and phone number of your tutor, as soon as you are allocated a tutorial group.
Surgeries
Apart from tutorials, the course also has 4 surgery sessions of two hours each.
An on-duty tutor chairs each surgery. Each surgery aims to provide face-to-face consultation on your individual queries about the course contents. You can bring along your queries on the study units, assignments and the specimen examination paper and consult the on-duty tutor.
IT 1010SED has been redeveloped based on the materials of IT S101, a previous HKMU course. Information about the developers of the two courses is given below.
Developer of IT 1010SED
Lai Shek-lung is a founder of a Hong Kong company which specialised in the development of e-commerce, tourism and informative related web projects. Lai has over 15 years of ICT working experience and has been working in Hong Kong tertiary education institutions including HKMU, HKUSPACE, HKU, CUHK and HKUST. In 2015, he joined Octopus Cards Limited Hong Kong as a Senior Systems Engineer and is responsible for the development of CRM systems in the international team.
Lai also has research experience with publication: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Collaborative discovery of Chinese neologisms in social media. He was a research assistant of a blockchain technology related project at Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
Lai graduated from Hong Kong Metropolitan University with a BSc in Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University with an MSc in Software Technology and the University of Hong Kong with a Master of Buddhist Studies.
Developer of the original version of IT S101
Clifford Tse is the managing director of a global technology consulting firm. Clifford has over 20 years of international ICT experience and has worked in Hong Kong, the US, the UK, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka. Clifford's expertise is in building large-scale high-performance systems for finance, telecom and healthcare.
Clifford helped found 4 companies. Clifford's current business focuses on designing and building streamlined solutions to improve patient care.
Before his industrial experience, Clifford worked at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design massively parallel supercomputers, and at the Xerox Palo Research Center (PARC) to design concurrent programming languages based on mathematical logic.
Clifford graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BSc in Cognitive Science, Electrical Science & Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering and an MSc in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering.
