PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION Please view the disclaimer. AWARD and

							PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION

Please view the disclaimer.

    AWARD and ROUTE TITLE                  BSc (Hons) Software Development
    INTERMEDIATE AWARD TITLES              BSc Software Development
                                           Diploma in Software Development
                                           Certificate in Computer Studies
    Name of the Teaching Institution       Sheffield Hallam University


    Mode(s) of Attendance                  FT / PT / SW
    (e.g. FT/PT/SW/DL)
    UCAS CODE
    Professional/Statutory/Regulatory
    Body Recognising this
    Programme
    QAA Subject Benchmark                  Computing
    Statement or other relevant
    external reference point
    Date of Validation                     February 2008



1       PROGRAMME AIMS
This is a practically oriented, vocational and specialised programme in Software
Development, which lies within the broad area of Computing. It is intended to provide a
systematic understanding of key aspects of the field and develop a coherent set of practical
and professional understandings, insights and skills in developing software systems. In
particular, emphasis is placed on presenting a balance of theory and practice to support the
specification, design, implementation and evaluation of software-based systems in the
context of an organisational and professional environment.
The modules for this Programme were developed using the principles of the QAA(UK)
methodology and the guidelines drawn up by the British Computer Society using the
principles of SARTOR 3. The module descriptors are already validated for use within the
BSc Technical Computing Programme.

The programme aims to:

     Produce computing graduates equipped to work as software professionals across the
      spectrum of industry, commerce, business, the professions and public service.
     Give graduates substantial knowledge and practical skills in the development of "fit for
      purpose" software systems by the appropriate use of current software development
      methods and methodologies.
     Provide experience, analysis and discussion of contemporary software development
      methods, methodologies, tools and technologies in order to support critical and
      evaluative judgement.
     Equip graduates with requisite key skills and install a sense of the need for continuing
      professional development and lifelong learning.
     Provide a vocational, technical and commercially relevant education accessible to
      students with entrance qualifications from a wide range of disciplines.

2        PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES

2.1      Knowledge and understanding covered within the Programme. By the end of
         the programme you will be able to

         Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

      1. Computer systems and processor architecture, features and technologies.
      2. Information Systems and Databases.
      3. Underlying theories supporting the software development process, including
         appropriate use of mathematical methods.
      4. Formal and semi-Formal techniques.
      5. Software Design.
      6. Programming, using a range of approaches (including Structured and Object-
         oriented), a variety of languages and covering a wide range of applications.
      7. The Software Development Life Cycle and its role in the production of high quality
         software systems.
      8. The planning and management of (large-scale) software projects.
      9. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of computer and network engineering,
         their underlying technologies, operation and environment in which they operate.
      10. Professional and ethical responsibilities.
      11. The role and significance of industry-standard tools and methods in the development
         of a range of software systems.

2.2      Intellectual/Subject/Professional/Key skills covered within the Programme: by
         the end of the programme you will be able to

INTELLECTUAL SKILLS

To be able to interpret, explain and justify approaches taken and exercise critical
judgement across a range of issues.

Students will be able to demonstrate ability to:

      1. Analyse requirements, evaluate and synthesise alternative solution strategies for
         problems requiring software solutions.
      2. Evaluate and select suitable programming and development techniques in the
         analysis, design and implementation of appropriate software systems.
      3. Analyse and evaluate options for planning and implementing software engineering
         projects.
      4. Utilise project management principles to justify and plan the solution, development,
         implementation and testing of software systems.
      5. Evaluate and resolve trade-off issues which arise throughout the software
         construction process.
PRACTICAL/SUBJECT SPECIFIC/PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
To contribute significantly to the analysis, design, development and construction of
software and information solutions, including both well defined and loosely defined
problem situations, which are fit for purpose.

Students will be able to:-

   1. Apply practical skills in the use of ICT.
   2. Use formal and semi-formal methods in the specification and design of software
      systems.
   3. Select and apply contemporary design and implementation approaches to provide
      robust, high quality and considered software solutions.
   4. Implement software solutions, using a range of software platforms, to meet given
      specifications and standards.
   5. Plan and manage, with professional integrity and judgement, the software
      development process.
   6. Apply techniques and controls for the management of IT-based projects.
   7. Assess quality and fitness for purpose of the software produced and methodologies
      adopted.
   8. Use standard support environments, tools, methods and techniques of the software &
      systems industry.
   9. Evaluate and reflect on professional and ethical codes of conduct, practices and
      responsibilities and resolve tensions through "thoughtful consideration of
      fundamental principles rather than blind reliance on detailed regulations."


KEY SKILLS

To demonstrate relevant key skills and comprehend the need for continuing
professional development.

Students will be able to:

   1. Structure and communicate cogent, concise and comprehensible information
      effectively through a variety of mechanisms (oral, written and electronic).
   2. Manage time, resources, work to deadlines and accept full responsibility for the work
      produced.
   3. Use technology to support research/investigation and discover suitable sources of
      information to describe, support and justify approaches taken.
   4. Participate constructively as a member of a (interdisciplinary) team, assess the
      relevance and importance of the ideas of others and manage such teams through
      effective negotiation, persuasion and organisational skills.
   5. Draw upon, and acknowledge, the knowledge and experience of others and of
      published resources to establish the range of skills and knowledge of workplace
      issues demanded in areas of employment relevant to their own future careers.
   6. Evaluate, reflect on and form action plans to improve their own skills in relation to
      employability, within the context of the course and to take responsibility for their own
      lifelong learning and career development.
   7. Be creative and innovative in their work.
3     LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

3.1   The approach to Learning and Teaching within the Programme
      Knowledge is acquired through engaging in directed-learning activities, investigating
      specific topics, presenting your work in various ways, participating in discussions and
      preparing for examinations. This work is organised around and supported by formal
      lectures presented by your academic tutors.

      A significant amount of the required learning is gained through tutorial, guided
      reading and problem based activities. These activities, which promote active
      learning, are supported by the academic staff team and are enhanced through
      access to contemporary materials available in the University's Learning Centre.

      Your intellectual skills will be enhanced through practical work, group discussions
      and investigation projects, where you will be asked to design and implement
      solutions to a variety of types of problems and to justify the choices you make in
      solving these problems.

      You will gain basic skills in laboratory based practical exercises and, later on, apply
      more advanced techniques and complex skills through working on extended industry
      based case studies. Specialist computing equipment and industry standard tools are
      used to support your learning ensuring that the skills you gain with these tools are as
      up to date as possible. Academic staff will be present at tutorials and spend time with
      you, answering your questions and suggesting ways to approach solving the
      problems you are working on.

      An indication of the proportion of class contact or directed time to self-managed study
      is given with each of the module hand-books in this programme.

      Much of your working time will involve working with others in groups, which demands
      effective time management along with good verbal and written communication skills.
      You will develop verbal skills through presentations, demonstrations of work and
      discussions. Writing skills will be developed through producing essays and reports.
      Problem solving and design skills will underpin most of the work done in tutorials,
      coursework assignments and other practical working situations.

      You will also be encouraged to use the University's Key Skills OnLine system and
      workshops to support and enhance key skills. ICT skills will be used and developed
      across all areas of the course.

      An understanding of the software engineering discipline, professional issues and
      practices is introduced early in the course and enhanced throughout in specific
      taught modules and other activities such as your Personal Development Portfolio
      (PDP) and industrial placement.
         The PDP provides a permanent, personal record of your progress and
          performance. You will receive specific guidance and support on developing this
          portfolio during your course.
         The year out on placement provides rich opportunities for personal development,
          for enhanced understanding of the software industry and for interacting with
          professionals in the work environment over a lengthy period of time. It also
          greatly improves your employability.
      Throughout the course, you are expected to develop independence in your approach
      to your learning. In particular, you are given the opportunity to choose from a set of
      options (at level 5 and 6  second and final year). You will also work on a
      substantial project on a topic of your choice in your final year. This enables you to
      choose to either broaden or deepen your knowledge of particular areas of study.

      All of these activities and experiences will support your personal development and
      will enable you to become an independent learner and a creative, reflective and
      successful professional in the world of work.

3.2   The approach to Assessment and Feedback within the Programme
      Specific methods of assessment are indicated in each module descriptor. They are
      designed to offer you a learning situation adapted to the specifics of that module and
      to check that you have achieved the required learning outcomes. Typically,
      assessment methods include a combination of individual and group work, continually
      assessed coursework and end of year examinations.

      A variety of formative and summative assessment methods are used to enable you to
      demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and to
      reinforce your learning.

      Case study and problem solving activities will allow you to apply your knowledge and
      demonstrate your understanding of the subject material. Where appropriate, your
      knowledge may be assessed through the quality of the software you develop, the
      quality of the justifications and explanations you provide for decisions you make and
      through the
      critical evaluations you provide of the products and processes involved in your work.

      Formal examinations will allow your individual depth of knowledge and understanding
      of a topic to be assessed. Writing essays and the final year project dissertation
      provide the opportunity for assessment of your ability to bring together and apply
      different strands of your learning to a particular problem domain.

      Practical skills are assessed using a range of methods. These include: laboratory
      exercises, the implementation, demonstration and documentation of software
      projects, the production of written reports or other presentations of findings, and the
      presentation of results and explanations of approaches you have taken in your work.

      Self and peer assessment will be used where appropriate to help you to develop a
      critical self-awareness and to help you to assess your own level of professional
      conduct. Through the medium of student presentations and walkthroughs you will
      learn how to contribute to peer review and receive and give feedback to your fellow
      students.

      An essential aspect of the learning process is provided through direct interaction with
      your tutors when working in the tutorial setting. Tutors are present at tutorials and
      spend time with you, answering your questions and suggesting ways to approach
      solving the problems you are working on. This process provides a rich learning
      environment which enables you to develop your skills with the direct support of your
      tutor at regular timetabled sessions. Written and verbal feedback is provided for all
      assessed work submitted and, where appropriate, more general feedback on
      progress will be given to student groups during lecture and tutorial times.
          Your progress across all modules is monitored and formally reviewed by the Portfolio
          Manager and Year Tutor at the end of each semester. Also, if you are experiencing
          difficulties, individual progress report meetings will be arranged where you will have
          the opportunity to discuss specific problems with your Year Tutor and/or Portfolio
          Manager.



4         PROGRAMME DESIGN AND STRUCTURE


Level 4:                         Level 5:                            Level 6:
Foundations                      Applications Development -          Management and
                                 Techniques and process              Architectures


IT Essentials 1                   Elective 3                         Elective




Elective 2                        Elective 2                         Case Studies in Software
                                                                     Design




Fundamentals                      Elective 1                         Management of IT Projects
of
Programming



Maths for Software                Software Engineering               Option
Engineering                       Concepts and Practice.




Elective 1                        Databases                          Project (30 credit)




Communication
                                  OPTION                             Professional Skills (10
Skills and Professionalism
Issues                                                               credit)




          This route is designed to provide a practical and vocational introduction to the
          Software Development discipline. It focuses on the contemporary tools, methods and
          techniques required by professional practitioners within the field of software
          development.

          The first two years of the course are devoted to developing facility with the
          fundamental skills of software and systems development across a variety of
          application areas, including web-based, database and distributed applications.
          Different approaches to the development process such as the use of structured
          programming, object-oriented and incremental prototyping are also introduced. You
          will also be introduced to the major programming languages (such as VB, Java, C++,
          SQL etc) and environments (such as Visual Studio and JBuilder) used within the
software industry. These skills are refined and developed further in the final year
where you will be introduced to the additional skills and techniques required to
design, develop and manage large-scale, complex software applications. Elective
modules on the Software development programme are coherent and meet similar
learning outcomes. They are actually from various routes on the computing
programme.

The importance of adopting a professional and disciplined attitude to the
development task is also encouraged, with support to develop your employability and
professional skills being embedded throughout the programme. Specific modules at
levels 4 and 6 introduce and develop this theme as your knowledge and cognitive
skills develop. In addition to these the course incorporates a sandwich year before
level 6 which provides an opportunity to work in the IT industry where experience has
shown that students gain the most benefit from experiencing how professional and
employability skills can be applied.

In the level 5 year you will receive guidance and support on your preparation for the
placement year from the Faculty's Professional Experience and Employability Unit
(PEEU). During the placement you will be mentored by a member of academic staff,
who will visit you at your place of work. At the end of the placement period you will be
asked to reflect on your placement experience and present some aspect of the work
you have undertaken.

You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this placement year. However, the
course can also be taken in Full-Time mode, where a placement would not be
undertaken due to a range of possible reasons (e.g. previous professional
experience, personal circumstances or the unavailability of a suitable placement
opportunity).

Personal Project
At level 6 you undertake a substantive self-managed project which demands a high
level of independent study and practical work to achieve stated and agreed
objectives under the supervision of an academic tutor. The essential part of the work
submitted for assessment takes the form of a written dissertation and, where
appropriate, artefacts developed as part of the work. The project work will be
assessed using the general criteria of self-management, independent study, meeting
objectives and quality of writing.

Option Modules
A choice of option modules is available at Level 5 and 6. Before starting your level 5
and 6 studies you will be given the opportunity to choose from the range of available
options. An indicative list of recommended options (in some cases offered by other
SHU Faculties) includes:

Level 5
  Games Programming (12-5305)
  Human-Computer Interaction (12-5406)
  Interactive Multi-media and Design (12-5410)
  Microsoft Server & Administration (12-5405)
  Advanced Scripting Languages (12-5308)
  University Language Scheme (ULS) (e.g. 25-ULS Japanese)
 Level 6
         Effective C++ (12-6309)
         Virtual Reality - Technology and Applications (12-6303)
         Intelligent Systems (12-6304)
         Network Security (12-6403-01L)
         Advanced Databases (12-6212)




5      PROGRESSION/CAREER ROUTES
       Possible progression or career routes after you have completed this
       programme include

       The programme is designed to produce graduates with the ability to plan, manage,
       develop and maintain software solutions in a variety of domains and across different
       platforms. Additionally students will have developed broad skills in team working,
       presentation and management. This makes graduates suitable for developing
       careers across the software industry with typical initial opportunities in Systems & IT
       Support, Software Development, Web & Internet Applications. With further industrial
       experience, career paths as Project Managers, Solutions Architects and in
       Consultancy will open. Opportunities for employment arise across the spectrum of
       industry, finance, commerce and the public sector (the Health, Education and local
       government)

       This programme will also provide the qualifications and subject knowledge required
       for postgraduate study in Computing and IT.

6      ENTRY REQUIREMENTS AND ENTRY PROFILE

All applicants to this programme must be at least 18 years of age on 31st August in the year
of Admission. Students will normally join the programme at level 5 or potentially at level 6
with advanced prior standing providing they can demonstrate achievement towards the
relevant learning outcomes.

The University sets minimum entry requirements for students entering onto a degree course.
These are listed on the University website. In addition specific entry requirements as listed
below will apply to this course.

The University has a number of terms and conditions which apply to students entering onto a
course. These are also listed on the University website. By accepting a place on this
course, you are agreeing to abide by the rules and regulations as set by the University.


6.1    Specific Entry Requirements for entry to the initial stage of this programme are

          Academic Qualifications               Normally 220 UCAS tariff points
           (including A / AS level grades        from level 3 qualifications.
           and subjects, where                   Appropriate level three
           applicable)                           qualifications include GCE A levels,
                                                 BTEC, AVCE.
                                                   10+2 score of at least 50% with
                                                   Mathematics as one of the subjects
                                                   studied at 10+2 level.
           Level of English language              GCSE English grade C or above.
            capability                             Equivalent qualifications will be
                                                   accepted.
                                                   International Applicants to be
                                                   competent to the level of TOEFL
                                                   570 (paper based tests) or 230+
                                                   (computer based tests) or IELTS at
                                                   least 6.0 or equivalent.
           Any other specific, formally           None
            certified qualifications

           Previous relevant work or              None
            work-related experience
           Any specific articulation              Currently Articulation arrangement
            arrangements recognised for            is being sort after for Bachelor of
            this programme                         Science in IT from Vidyalankar
                                                   School of Information Technology
                                                   (VSIT), Mumbai, India
           Professional qualifications            None

           Any other specific entry               GCSE Mathematics grade C or
            requirements                           above. Equivalent qualifications will
                                                   be accepted


6.2    APPLICANT ENTRY PROFILE: the knowledge, skills and qualities etc. required
       to enable you to benefit from, and succeed on the programme of study

Your prior educational achievement should include substantial experience of working with
computers. Since the course is aimed at Software Development industry, strong aptitude in
programming is highly desirable. This will determined by the learning outcomes achieved in
prior academic study.
     The volume of study undertaken and
     The level of study undertaken
In addition you will need a commitment to study and self development. The University can
support you in developing your study skills but you must have the determination to succeed
on this course.

6.3    The University will select non-standard entrants to the programme in the
       following ways.

Applicants with non standard entry profiles will be assessed individually on merit.
Appropriate credit will be given for industry based qualifications (e.g. Microsoft Certification)
as well as any international qualifications.

Those applicants without formal qualifications will normally be assessed via formal interview
which will seek to ascertain how prior experience has equipped the applicant with the skills
necessary to complete the course. If appropriate applicants will be asked to complete a
series of tests to ensure they have the required skills in IT, English and numeracy necessary
to be successful on the course.
6.4    Use of Prior Credit (APCL/APEL): prior certificated credit or prior experiential
       credit may be used within the Programme in the following ways

Applicants may be admitted to any appropriate point of the course providing you can
demonstrate that you have met the appropriate learning outcomes for previous levels of
study. For example a student may be admitted to level 6 study provided they meet both the
credit requirements for completion of levels 4 and 5 study and that their prior learning
matches most of the learning outcomes for this award.

The University's procedures for Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) and Prior Experiential
Learning (APEL) will be applied by the Portfolio Director to assess your suitability for the
course. This process will determine the entry point and required programme of study based
on the evidence supplied.


6.4     Model for future articulations onto this programme
As the intention is to attract other set students, Faculty would like to propose the following
process to ease the articulation of other courses.

The process would include
    Appropriate partner approval / risk assessment at University and Faculty level
    Mapping of volume and levels of credit in the partner's programme against the
       required core knowledge and competencies already on record
    Threshold performance levels
    External verification
    Approval by Collaborative Standing Panel, probably by Chair's Action

Admission Criteria: Students wanting to study this course at level 5 or at level 6, should have
completed appropriate level(s) of study with substantial element of computing. Since the
course is aimed at Software Development industry, we will be looking for strong
Programming ability. As minimum entry criteria, the students are expected to have scored at
least 55% or equivalent in their study.