ASSOCIATE DIPLOMA IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Learn about both hardware and software.

Build your foundation for a lifetime career or business

Designed to allow you to adapt to rapid change in a fast moving industry

Up to 2 yrs f/t - covers

Expand Your Practical Knowledge and Skills in IT

A solid foundation for a career in I.T., this course focuses on developing awareness of industry, knowledge of valuable skills and a capacity to adapt to change in order to remain abreast of what is a rapidly changing discipline. This course does not require any previous IT experience as it takes you right from the basics to a higher level.

The course encompasses a wide range of practical subjects including programming languages such as VB.net, ASP, SQL, Javascript, HTML as well as providing a wide range of elective modules including e-commerce, marketing subjects, editing and more.

Change is fast and inevitable in the IT industry

Most courses simply don't keep up to date; but if you learn the fundamentals across a wide enough swathe of the industry, from people who are not only teachers, but also practicing programmers and technicians; you have the capacity to be part of the changes that are moving the IT industry forward.

Our courses are structured and delivered to prepare our graduates for the uncertain, yet exiting future. This is a substantial and broad based course. Graduates from our courses have been exceptionally successful for decades. They are not the same as what you find elsewhere; but they are focused on what you need to develop an outstanding future in the industry.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Included in this learning bundle is 100hrs work experience. This requirement can be satisfied through paid or unpaid work in the industry or by providing proof of attendance at 100 hours of industry meetings such as professional association committee meetings, seminars, conferences or trade shows.

Modules

Core Modules

These modules provide foundation knowledge for the Learning Bundle 1500 hours in Information Technology.
Industry Project BIP000
Computer Operations VIT101
Cybersecurity
Html (Writing a Website) VIT102
Visual Basic.Net BIT101
ASP.NET BIT200
Computer Servicing I VIT203
Computer Servicing II VIT204
Photoshop CS - Beginner To Medium Level VIT202
SQL For The Web BIT201

Elective Modules

In addition to the core modules, students study any 5 of the following modules.
E Commerce BIT100
Editing I (Editing and Proofreading) BWR106
Marketing Foundations VBS109
Networking Foundations BIT103
Publishing I BWR107
Advertising and Promotions BBS202
Computer Servicing III VIT205
Digital Photography BPH202
Graphic Design BIT205
Information Security BIT203
Internet Marketing BIT204
Javascript BIT202
Publishing II BWR202
Editing II BWR302
Editing Practice BWR305

Course Duration - 1,500 hours

WHAT DO THE MODULES COVER?

Here are some of them:

Computer Operations

Hardware Components
Peripherals
Operating Systems
Files & Folders
Office Applications – Saving Files & Documents, Switching Windows
Windows Accessories Programs
Disk Management
Installation Of Software
Trouble Shooting
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Access
Microsoft PowerPoint
Writing a Web Site (HTML)

Introduction to the Internet and HTML

The most important HTML Tags
Simplification through HTML Construction Software
Creating Links
Loading a Site onto the Internet
Adding Graphics
Designing a Web Site that Works
Advanced Features
Visual Basic .Net Programming

Visual Basic.Net

Code Theory (Part 1)
Code Theory (Part 2)
Objects (Part 1)
Objects (Part 2)
Application Design

ASP.Net

Introduction
VB.NET Essentials
Web Forms
Web Server Controls
Form Validation
Classes and Namespaces
ASP.NET Applications
Interacting with Databases
Error Handling
Email from Your Applications
Project: Creating an Online Store

E-Commerce

Introduction – what is e-commerce (more than the internet)
Success and failure – what makes the difference
Promotional strategies – are different on the internet
Optimizing web site potential
Increasing web site exposure
Automating supply of goods, services and cash flow
Managing constant change
Dealing with e-commerce problems

SQL

Introduction to Databases
Fundamentals of SQL
Building a database with SQL
Storing & Retrieving Data
Advanced SQL database access methods
Database Security
Using SQL in applications
Cursors
Stored procedures
Error Handling
Dynamic SQL
Advice & Tips

Javascript

Introduction
JavascriptEssentials I
Javascript Essentials 2
Functions
Events and Event handling
Advanced Javascript
Dynamic HTML
Writing Simple Web Applications
Pop Ups and Navigation Menus.
Javascript Applications

Photoshop

Learning the menus Working with digital image files Understanding the Tool Palette Using Layers, Actions and History Digital painting, shapes and colours Selecting, Resizing, Transforming and Masking Adjustments and modifications Adding Filters and Styles Preparing files for print and web

Computer Servicing I

The Computer Workshop. Computer and Workshop safety. Hardware Components. Different Systems & Basic Disassembly. System Assembly. Peripherals. Installation of software. Computer Maintenance. Troubleshooting.

Computer Servicing II

Introduction to hardware components
Basic Diagnostic Equipment
Electric Circuits and Components
Problem Solving and Fault Analysis
Diagnostic Testing [A] (Self Tests and Diagnostic Cards)
Diagnostic Testing [B] (System Board and Memory Tests)
Software maintenance and troubleshooting
Disk drives and CD-ROM
Video and Audio Systems
Developing a Maintenance Program

Computer Servicing III

Removable storage
Electronics
Audio systems
Video systems
Laptops and other portable devices
Diagnosis and regular maintenance
Networking – an introduction
The Internet
Printers

Networking Foundations

Networking Terms, Concepts and Standards
Network Topology, Architecture and Transmission Media
Network Components and Hardware
Network Design and Planning
Network Upgrading and Project Management
Network Protection and Maintenance
Understanding Network Connecting Options
Installation and Configuration of Network
Basic TCP/IP Services and Applications
Troubleshooting Tools for TCP/IP Networks

PROTECTING YOUR DATA

Data integrity is a term used extensively nowadays in the field of information security, so it is important to understand what the term integrity really means in this context.

Data integrity refers to data being unchanged when it is being created or stored on a disk or while being transmitted. To preserve data integrity, changes to data created, stored or transmitted should only occur when these changes are authorized. Data integrity is violated when stored data undergoes unauthorized changes whether these changes are caused by accident (such as bad disk sectors, hard disk crashes, transmission errors, noise in the transmission, etc.), by human error (from users, administrators, customers, etc.), or malicious intent.

There are many computational techniques used for verifying data integrity, the most common ones used are checksums, comparisons, message authentication, message digests and other mathematical algorithms. Cyclic Redundancy Check (also known as CRC) is one of the most important checksum technique and is used to check for errors on computers’ hard drives.
In order to preserve data integrity in information systems, it is important for any individual or business to understand and apply the protection, detection and correction models explained below.

Protection

Any business should be able to establish a set of standards and procedures in order to protect their information systems, and minimize the threats to data integrity.

These threats include but are not limited to: human errors, hardware and equipment failure, computer viruses and worms, cyber crime and natural disasters (such as cyclones, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, etc.)

Detection

It is also important to be able to detect any risks to data integrity before they start causing havoc and adversely affect the business.

Correction

Most businesses understand that data loss is never fully preventable, and regardless of how much they try to avoid it, data loss might still happen at some stage.

This is why every business should have business continuity plans in place, and they should be able to implement them as soon as data loss occurs, in order to minimize business downtime. As its name implies, a business continuity plan aims at recovering crucial data and allowing a business to resume its normal operations as quickly as possible, by minimizing business downtime and recovering crucial data.

To apply the protection, detection and correction models, individuals and organisations can follow a few primary ways to fully realise data integrity such as redundancy, frequent backups, offsite storage, disaster recovery planning, installing antivirus software, installing hardware and/or software based firewalls, using UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) devices, etc.

Full backup

A full backup is done when a copy of all the data is stored on the required media device (i.e. tape or disk). There are advantages and disadvantages for this type of backup. The main advantage is that a full backup allows you to store a complete copy of all the data on the system, although this would prove to be time consuming, resource consuming, and requires a lot of disk space for storing the backup copy.

When a person or a business performs full backup copies on their data every couple of days, weeks or months, some part of this data might be unchanged whereas other parts of the data might have changed. Therefore, performing regular backups on data that has not changed is considered as senseless work because the same data will be present on multiple backups. For this reason, a full backup should be used only when a complete disk image backup is required. In other cases, systems administrators should consider other types of backups such as incremental, differential or mirror, or a combination of a few backup options. These will be explained in the sections below.

Incremental backup

An incremental backup is a backup type that saves a copy of the files that have been created or modified since the last backup was run. An incremental backup is generally scheduled to run at regular intervals of time, after a full backup is taken of the data. As soon as some files get created or modified, the incremental backup will process those files and take a copy of them. Incremental backups rely on an index file in order to find out which files have been created or modified on the drive or drives being backed up.

Differential backup

A differential backup is somehow similar to an incremental backup but the main difference is that it does not update the index file when each task is executed which means that every task execution will process any modifications to the data since the last full backup.
The main advantage of a differential backup is its speed of data restoration, but on the downside this backup requires more disk space because every differential backup will be of the same size or larger than the previous one.

Mirror backup

A mirror backup is very similar to a full back up, but the main difference is that the backup files in a mirror backup cannot get compressed and cannot be password protected. The main purpose of a mirror backup is to create an exact copy of the source data so if the source data is lost, the mirrored backup data can be accessed using tools such as Windows Explorer.

Onsite backup

When data is backed up and saved locally using devices such as magnetic tapes, DVD drives, CD drives or other disk drives, the backup method is referred to as “onsite backup”. In order for a backup to be considered an onsite backup, the storage devices will need to be located in the same location as the place where the backup is being taken. With larger organisations, data is backed up using network attached storage (or NAS) drives. NAS drives are hardware devices that have special networking capabilities. Only medium to large businesses were able to afford NAS storage drives in the past, but these devices have since started to drastically drop in price and have since been used by home computer users and businesses alike.

Offsite backup

Unlike onsite backup, “offsite backup” refers to a data backup method whereby the data is backed up and stored in a remote location in order to provide an added layer of security for the data, in the event of a disaster.

WHAT WILL THIS COURSE DO FOR YOU?

This course is different to many others. It is an "experiential based" learning program; designed to get you involved with the I.T. industry as you study. The industry is changing faster than ever; and will continue to change; and for ongoing success you need to become "connected" and remain "connected", so that you see and adapt to recent changes, and ongoing changes as your career moves forward.