- An undergraduate course
in
Computing and IT
and
Engineering, Technology and Design.
Web technologies
- On this page
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | TT284 |
| Credits | 30 |
| OU Level | 2 |
| SCQF level | 9 |
| FHEQ level | 5 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-module assessment | |
| No residential school | |
The World Wide Web continues to provide a foundation for the development of a broad range of increasingly influential and strategic technologies, supporting a large variety of applications and services, both in the private and public sectors. There is a growing need for management and decision makers to gain a clearer understanding of the application development process, from planning through to deployment and maintenance. This course will give you an insight into architectures, protocols, standards, languages, tools and techniques; an understanding of approaches to more dynamic and mobile content; and demonstrate how you can analyse requirements, plan, design, implement and test a range of web applications.
Modules at Level 2 assume that you are suitably prepared for study at this level. If you want to take a single module to satisfy your career development needs or pursue particular interests, you don’t need to start at Level 1 but you do need to have adequately prepared yourself for OU study in some other way. Check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service to make sure that you are sufficiently prepared.
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What you will study
Over the last few years the internet and the World Wide Web have provided the basis for the development of a range of strategic business solutions.
As web technologies have entered the mainstream of IT development a wide range of applications in sectors such as marketing, selling, purchasing, banking and publishing have been deployed, positioning the Web in the relationship between providers and users.
This course starts with a focus on the foundations of web applications, including protocols, standards and content handling. It builds on these by exploring application architectures, components and alternative application designs before considering how applications and content can be made more dynamic and mobile.
The course is made up of four blocks and a project.
Block 1 Foundations of web technology: this block covers the basic technologies on which the Web is founded. Aspects covered include: historic development of the Web; 'architecture' and basic client server architecture; protocols such as HTTP; content markup (HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML) and issues of accessibility and usability; standards and standardisation organisations (W3C, Internet working group); and security (firewalls, HTTPS, certificates).
This block of the course covers all of the basic foundations on which the remainder of the course builds. You may already be familiar with some of these areas, especially if you have studied My digital life (TU100), but this block ensures that all students can gain comparable insight.
Block 2 Web architectures: this block develops 'architecture' by exploring different approaches and their properties as well as considering components (databases, registries etc.) which are used in different approaches and examining the nature of different server and client side languages. In addition, in this block you’ll consider other aspects related to architecture such as scalability and reliability.
These aspects include; tiered, service orientated, and network architectures; the role of the database; web services; registries; scalability; reliability; approaches to security (cookies, certificates etc); and server and client side implementation languages (proprietary and open source).
While this block considers a range of programming languages and their roles in developing applications, it does not teach programming and you are expected to have already acquired these skills.
This block includes both JavaScript and PHP programming activities. All the code required to produce a simple web application is provided and explained, but you should be prepared to utilise and adapt the examples in simple ways.
Block 3 Mobile content: this block examines the trend toward more portable content and content customisation and also explores mobile content and applications. It considers aspects such as Web 2, content streaming (RSS), content manipulation (DOM, XSLT etc) and approaches to delivering content to mobile devices. You will also undertake the development of a mobile application using Google App Inventor.
Block 4 Developing applications: this block explores how applications are planned, designed and developed by IT professionals, examining project planning, application design, development environments and tools as well as application deployment and maintenance.
Project: at the end of the course, you will carry out a substantial project drawing on earlier work on case studies and applying the skills and techniques from each block.
In addition, using three case studies, you’ll examine aspects of real world web applications.
- The Open University Running Club (OURC) – in the first case study you’ll follow the development of a web presence for a small professional organisation, from the requirements collection stage to deployment of the finished application.
- parkrun – next, you’ll examine the more challenging requirements and approach adopted by a not-for-profit organisation which helps community volunteers organise timed 5km runs in public spaces across the UK and beyond. This decentralised organisation has a web presence for organising and publicising events as well as receiving and publishing race results.
- London 2012 Olympics – in this final case study you’ll examine the provision of an internet presence for this high profile event that posed a particular set of problems in terms of meeting the expected level of demand for event information, results, news and multimedia feeds. The provision also had to support a diverse audience with differing needs; those attending events, the English speaking nation and a very large world-wide audience.
All three case studies are provided as multimedia content with text, diagrams, pictures and video (transcripts are also provided).
Vocational relevance
The course helps develop important skills which are particularly relevant to the workplace, such as written communication skills, information literacy, independent learning and critical analysis.
In an IT context the course will provide practitioners with relevant experience, skills and insight into a range of important aspects, such as the source and appropriate use of standards, appreciation of the application life cycle from design to decommissioning, and the range of current approaches to web application design and implementation.
Entry
This is a Level 2 course and you need to have a good knowledge of the subject area, obtained either through Level 1 study with the OU, from equivalent work at another university or from experience as an IT professional.
You should be experienced in using a computer for working with documents, spreadsheets and accessing the internet and you should be able to install software on your computer. You will also need a good standard of academic English appropriate for this level of study.
You must be familiar with basic programming concepts (conditionals, loops, functions,arrays etc) and writing small programs in some language. The Level 1 course My digital life (TU100) or the Level 2 course Object-oriented Java programming (M250) would be ideal preparation if you are not familiar with basic programming.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
If you are returning to study you may find it helpful to look at the Study strategies section of our Skills for OU Study website and to read a suitable book such as The Good Study Guide by Northedge, (The Open University, 2005).
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the Module Regulations and the Student Regulations which are available on our Essential documents website.
If you have a disability
Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and some mathematical and scientific materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
You will need to spend considerable amounts of time using a personal computer and the internet. Students with hearing or sight impairments may find some of the practical-based computer work challenging, or may need additional study support, as the activities involve accessing on screen text, viewing and creating colour images, and creating audio and video material. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in operating a computer and have concerns about accessing or creating these types of materials you are advised to talk to the Student Registration & Enquiry Service about support which can be given to meet your needs.
If you have particular study requirements please tell us as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Visit our Services for disabled students website for more information, including:
- help to determine your study requirements and how to request the support that you need
- Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs)
- using a computer for OU study
- equipment and other support services that we offer
- examination arrangements
- how to contact us for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
This course is presented fully online within the Open University's virtual learning environment (VLE), which gives access to the study materials in electronic format, online forums and other online resources. There are no printed texts: all the study materials will be available online from the website.
You may wish to use a headset, with a microphone and earphones, to talk to your tutor and other students online during some of the course activities.
You will need
You should be prepared to spend significant amounts of time online (at least three hours a week). This may mean extra charges to your telephone bill unless you have a package which provides unlimited access to the internet.
In order to successfully run the module software, we recommend that you have a minimum of 1GB of memory (RAM) on the computer that you will use for your studies.
If you have an Apple Mac or Linux computer – please note that for Block 4 and the end-of-module assessment (EMA) of this course you can only use it by running Windows on it using Boot Camp or a similar dual-boot system.
Computing requirements
You will need a computer with internet access to study this course as it includes online activities, which you can access using a web browser.
- If you have purchased a new desktop or laptop computer since 2007 you should have no problems completing the online activities.
- If you’ve got a netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device check our Technical requirements section.
- If you use an Apple Mac you will need OS X 10.6 or later.
You can also visit the Technical requirements section for further computing information including the details of the support we provide.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.
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 must use the online eTMA system to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).
The end-of-module assessment (EMA) is an individual project.
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2013. We expect it to be available once a year.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.
Student Reviews
“You will need a basic understanding of xHTML and CSS plus a good working knowledge of Javascript and PHP to ...”
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“I would first like to say I work in IT but I'm not a programmer. I found this course interesting ...”
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“Students taking TT284 are expected, as stated in the module description, to have previous programming experience such as provided by ...”
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Distance learning
The Open University is the world’s leading provider of flexible, high quality distance learning. Unlike other universities we are not campus based. You will study in a flexible way that works for you whether you’re at home, at work or on the move. As an OU student you’ll be supported throughout your studies – your tutor or study adviser will guide and advise you, offer detailed feedback on your assignments, and help with any study issues. Tuition might be in face-to-face groups, via online tutorials, or by phone.
For more information read Distance learning explained.
Undergraduate
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | TT284 |
| Credits | 30 |
| OU Level | 2 |
| SCQF level | 9 |
| FHEQ level | 5 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-module assessment | |
| No residential school | |
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