The information and communication technologies project
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| 4 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-course assessment | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
This course enables you to explore an aspect of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in more depth and bring your knowledge up to date by completing an individual project. You might choose to analyse a particular new communication system, service or standard (or a significant enhancement to a current one) in terms of its technology, performance and services. Or you may prefer to compare two competing systems, services, or standards, at least one of which is new. You’ll be expected to develop your project topic, carry it out and write it up without close supervision – although you will have a tutor to advise and guide you.
Course content
About 80 per cent of your study time should be spent on developing your project, and about 20 per cent on understanding how to plan, monitor and critically evaluate your work. The emphasis is on reflective practice, so you will be required to keep a project log and use it for an assessed critical review.
There will be three elements to your project:
- getting information: finding out about developments
- choosing and using appropriate methods for a critical analysis of the development(s), and for comparison with other systems
- reporting: describing development(s) and drawing your own conclusions as to merits and prospects.
The emphasis will depend on the topic of your investigation and on your own preferences. Your project could be tightly focused and mathematical, or be more concerned with wider non-technical issues. Whatever topic and scope you choose, you’re expected to show an understanding of both the technology and the context of the development, and to demonstrate a degree of numeracy in making a reasoned evaluation. Your tutor will review your proposal to make sure that it meets the course requirements. You’ll be told more about those when you begin the course.
There are guidance notes and resources but no teaching material associated with the course. You will draw on a range of literature (technical papers, books, manufacturers’ literature, World Wide Web) to get behind the names and abbreviations to find out how the technology works and what it offers. Your report should demonstrate your ability to assess new developments, using appropriate methods to derive measures of performance that allow comparisons with other systems or what went before.
Entry
You must have successfully completed at least 30 points of the Level 3 courses specified for the BSc (Hons) in Information and Communication Technologies. For this reason, we recommend that you take your ICT project course in the last year of your programme of studies for this degree.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
You should refresh your knowledge of the relevant Level 3 courses that you have previously completed. You should also be thinking about a topic for your project to prepare you for the first assignment, which is due for submission shortly after the start of the course.
For further guidance here, please refer to the examples provided for an initial project outline and a full project proposal. You could also try our useful ICT literature search tutorial.
Qualifications
T455 is an optional course in our
- BSc (Honours) Information and Communication Technologies (B38)
- BSc (Honours) Information Technology and Computing (B13)
- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (B24)
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it can help to weight your degree towards a BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
Excluded combinations
Sometimes you will not be able to count a course towards a qualification if you have already taken another course with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this course, visit our excluded combination finder or check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service before registering.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
Because of the wide variety of projects and the emphasis on individual choice, you should have no particular problems if you have been able to take and complete an ICT course at Level 3. You will need to spend considerable amounts of time using a personal computer and the internet. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
All course materials, including assessments and supplementary materials are delivered online.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will be allocated to a tutor who will offer support through electronic communication and possibly group tutorials. You will also have the opportunity to discuss your project individually with your tutor. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
The TMAs help you to record progress with your investigation and build up the elements required for a project report of 6000-8000 words which comprises the major part of your end-of-course assessment (ECA). For the other part of the ECA, you will be asked to submit a poster of your project (or some aspect of it) and to reflect critically on how you tackled the project.
Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you will be required to complete all of the individual components. You’ll be given more detailed information about the assessment strategy when you begin the course.
Professional recognition
This course may help you to gain recognition from a professional body. Please note, however, that you must take responsibility for contacting the relevant institution to ensure that your choice of project topic and your study profile satisfy its current rules and regulations. For further introductory information obtain the Recognition leaflets 3.3 Professional Engineering Institutions or 3.7 Computing which you can access from your StudentHome.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2010. We expect a course in this area to be available at the same time once a year.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
An undergraduate course in Computing and ICT and Engineering and Technology.
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