Diploma in Computer Science

Purpose

The purpose of the qualification is to prepare individuals to apply programming and software engineering principles to provide solutions to a range of problems in industry. The main focus of this qualification is on the design, development and implementation of computer programming solutions on different platforms, including the web and mobile devices. The qualification includes instruction in computer hardware and software, basic operating systems, databases, software engineering, Internet programming, information security and mobile computing. Upon successful completion of the qualification, the graduates would be able to implement and recommend solutions to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) problems, thereby assisting in strengthening the country's economy. With the ever-increasing speed of technology change, especially in mobile and communication devices, the shortage of software developers for these new technologies will become a major problem in the Information Technology (IT) industry in South Africa.

There are three elective modules allowing students to specialise more in database programming, web server management or distributed systems and students will choose one of the three modules.

This programme is following the general pathway from Diploma to the Doctor of Computing.

On completion of this qualification students will be able to provide the needed knowledge and skills to function as a: junior business/system analyst; junior project manager; junior database administrator and junior requirement and user acceptance tester, within any organisation, as all organisations require Information Technology to further itself. This includes the research, identification, analysis, and design; propose expansion, testing, maintenance and deployment of organisational IT systems to aid innovation, and for betterment of organisational responsiveness, effectiveness and/or efficiency, which improves the social and economic stance of the country.

The various modules' learning material is developed by academia, the staff members in the Department of Computer Science. These staff members have the background of the content either in the form of their own studies or as area of research in which they are furthering their knowledge.

Rationale

With rapidly changing technology associated with mobile and communication devices, the shortage of software developers for these new technologies is becoming a major problem in the Information Technology (IT) industry in South Africa. The Diploma in Computer Science will provide these developers. This qualification is aimed at school leavers who would like to study a field that exposes them to the forefront of new technologies. According to industry reports, web and mobile device software developers are already in great demand, and this will exponentially increase in the future. Students with this qualification would be able to help companies, specialising in providing web and mobile device solutions, to improve its competitive advantage through the application of the acquired theoretical and practical knowledge, thus increasing the profits of the organisation and improving the economic stance of the country.

This qualification will provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary and relevant to provide computing-based solutions to address the problems that are important to the society and the economy. The emphasis of this qualification is to provide adequate theoretical and practical knowledge to implement and recommend solutions to main-stream Computer Science problems.

The demand from employers for candidates capable of working effectively in an IT sector continues to grow, as does their demand for technical skills and expertise. This new Diploma aims to provide the necessary skills and depth of knowledge to ensure that candidates remain attractive to relevant employment markets. The qualification is a combination of learning outcomes that has the defined purpose of capacitating the learner with workplace applicable competencies. This will provide the learner with a solid foundation for any future learning endeavours in the Mobile and Web Application Development in particular, and in Software Development, in general. The learners will be equipped with the necessary skills to apply for several job positions in demand in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Most of the students completing this qualification will be expected to join industry as computer programmers. Currently the top tier programming languages in industry are Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, C#, C++, and Objective-C languages. A quick search on the largest job search website in South Africa indicates that there are currently more than a thousand programmer vacancies for each of the two main groups of languages (Java and C++). While some top tier languages may be fading, it will still be the best foundation to have and potential programming employees need to know one or more of these languages to easily find a job. Second-tier languages are waiting to break into the mainstream but haven't quite made it. They have proven their worth by building strong communities of support, but they still aren't used by a large number of more conservative software companies. Scala, Go, Swift, Clojure, and Haskell are examples of second-tier programming languages. It is important to note, however, that the aim of this qualification is not to produce a programmer in a particular language, but to produce a programmer that understands programming concepts and structures and can easily adapt to a different programming environment.

The design of this qualification was informed by the curriculation guidelines provided by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and other Universities and Universities of Technologies in the country. The new programme is therefore aligned to international best practices. The new curriculum was also discussed at length during advisory committee meetings. The minutes of the 2013 meeting is attached. Furthermore, several discussions on this topic were held with advisory committee members and other industry stakeholders during industry visits and visits to students doing Work Integrated Learning (WIL) in industry.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

RPL may be used to demonstrate competence for admission to this programme. RPL may also be used to obtain credits for some learning outcomes. Credits obtained by RPL may not exceed 50% of the total credits and must not include credits at the exit levels. Evidence of prior learning will be assessed through formal Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) policies and procedures. There is a 10% cap on the number of students that will be allowed on the programme via RPL.

Entry Requirements

The minimum requirements for admission into Diploma studies are

• A Senior Certificate or an equivalent qualification.
• National Certificate (Vocational) at Level 4.

This qualification comprises compulsory and elective modules at Level 6 totalling 360 Credits.

Compulsory Modules Level 5, 120 Credits

• Computing Fundamentals A, 15 Credits.
• Computational Mathematics, 15 Credits.
• Principles of Programming A, 15 Credits.
• Communication for Academic Purposes, 10 Credits.
• Life Skills, 2 Credits.
• Information Literacy, 3 Credits.
• Computing Fundamentals B, 15 Credits.
• Discrete Structures, 15 Credits.
• Principles of Programming B, 15 Credits.
• Web Computing, 15 Credits.

Compulsory Modules Level 6, 225 Credits

• Advanced Discrete Structures, 15 Credits.
• Computer Architecture and Organisation, 15 Credits.
• Database Principles, 15 Credits.
• Object-oriented Programming, 15 Credits.
• Operating systems, 15 Credits.
• Advanced Object-oriented Programming, 15 Credits.
• Information Security, 15 Credits.
• Software Engineering Fundamentals, 15 Credits.
• Internet Programming, 15 Credits.
• Mobile Computing, 15 Credits.
• Software Project, 15 Credits.
• Work Integrated Learning (WIL), 60 Credits.

Elective Modules Level 6, 15 Credits (Choose1)

• Database Programming, 15 Credits.
• Web server management, 15 Credits.
• Distributed systems, 15 Credits.

1. Design and analyse algorithms and data structures to create efficient solutions.
2. Develop Web Applications.
3. Develop mobile device applications.
4. Optimise, test, maintain software applications on different platforms.
5. Design and implement databases to support programming solutions.
6. Apply software engineering principles to the application development lifecycle.
7. Develop secure mobile and web based applications.
8. Apply database programming techniques (elective).
9. Install and manage secure Web servers (elective).

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Identify, explain and design proposed algorithms.
• Identify and implement appropriate data structures.
• Explain algorithms and data structures in an appropriate computer language to understand error conditions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Design and develop appropriate platforms.
• Determine web applications by using appropriate test conditions.
• Deploy web applications on a selected platform.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Design and propose optimise algorithms for efficient and effective software programs. Design suitable test conditions.
• Use establish testing procedures.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Identify, explain, design, develop, test, and deploy appropriate platforms to maintain the solutions, maintain.
• Maintain applications on various platforms.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Propose and design database solutions using standard practices.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6

• Explain interpret and apply appropriate software development framework and methodology. Employ frameworks for the development of the software solutions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7

• Discuss security concerns in Web and mobile applications. Explain propose solutions to mitigate security concerns.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 8

• Explain and discuss database programming techniques.
• Incorporate quality enhancement factors in the programming process.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 9

• Explain, discuss and implement administrative principles of Web servers.
• Explain, install and configure Web servers.
• Support and maintain Web servers.
• Implement Web security principles.

Integrated Assessment

Integrated Assessment takes the form of an appropriate variety of assessment methods. This includes summative assessment in the form of written or oral exams, and formative assessment in the form of problem solving assignments, computer programs, projects, presentations, case studies, portfolios, log books, documentation, and in the final year, a reflective assessment where learners will complete a single information system project in their third year that will incorporate the identification, analysis, designing and development of a real life scenario based in the Computer Science environment.