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 S101
Introduction to Information and Communications Technology
IT S101 Introduction to Information and Communications Technology is a 10-credit, fundamental 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 to develop a broad understanding on the basics of information and communication technology (ICT) and its applications and impacts on our daily lives. ICT has permeated through nearly every aspects of society, so it is essential for you to know how it works and is used. This course gives you a thorough view on 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 programmes through hands-on practices. The course will explore some special aspects of programming such as user interface and network security to review on 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 the information on how the course is organized and what we offer you in this course. This guide 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 S101 aims to:
Course learning outcomes
Upon the completion of IT S101, you will be able to:
The course consists of nine 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 learned. 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 on your understanding.
Assignments are incorporated into the course as part of continuous assessment, accounting for 30% of your final grade. You are required to submit three assignments out of four in which Assignment 2 is compulsory. 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 unit.
Study units
There are nine study units in IT S101.
Unit 1 describes the rise and development of the 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.
Unit 6 dissects the design of human computer interface.
Unit 7 explores various communications networks and related security issues and solutions.
Unit 8 demonstrates the process of software development and debugging.
Unit 9 discusses the technological trends and their impacts on society.
Course overview
The following chart gives a general overview of the course structure.
| Units | Study 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 | 5 | Assignment 2 |
| 5 | Modular programming and reusable components | 5 | Assignment 3 |
| 6 | Human-computer interface | 4 | |
| 7 | Communications and security | 4 | Assignment 4 |
| 8 | System development | 4 | |
| 9 | The future of information and communications technology | 2 | |
| Revision | 2 | ||
| Total | 36 | ||
There are also 12 tutorial and 16 surgery face-to-face sessions in between the study units. The course ends with an examination being part of your assessments.
Equipment requirement
You will need a computer to do some exercises, access the Internet and the Online Learning Environment (OLE) of the course. We recommend the following computing requirements:.
Hardware
Software
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
The course is supported by an online platform called the Online Learning Environment(OLE). Through the OLE, you can find online course materials with URLs for reference and further readings.
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 provides lots of useful information:
IT S101 includes two assessment components, a continuous assessment and a final examination. The continuous assessment is worth 30% of the course score, while the examination component is worth 70% 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 counts on the total of the three out of four assignments in which Assignment 2 is required.
During the course, your performance are continuously assessed by the assignments, which act as a benchmark to check your learning progress, and test your understanding on the contents and your capability to apply the knowledge learned to daily life situations.
Assignments generally contain problem-solving questions which resemble the one being asked in the final examination. You have to submit the assignments on time which will be marked by the tutors and returned together with comments. You are encouraged to read those comments carefully to review your understanding, strengths and weaknesses on the topics, and be prepared for the final examination.
The total marks of three assignments will be counted as 30% 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. (Assignment 2 is a required programming assignment, where the best two out of the other three will be counted towards the continuous assessment score.)
| Assessment | Course units covered | Weighting |
| Assignment 1 | Units 1–3 | 30% |
| Assignment 2 (required) | Units 3–4 | 40% |
| Assignment 3 | Units 5–6 | 30% |
| Assignment 4 | Units 7–9 | 30% |
IT S101 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 their 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 12 tutorial sessions throughout the course, comprising 24 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 16 surgery sessions, two hours for each, which are held roughly every two weeks.
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.
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, US, 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 founded four 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 BSc in Cognitive Science, Electrical Science & Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering and MSc in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering.
