Computer Science

Whatever your future career, there are certain professional skills that are required in the workplace. This module provides opportunities to acquire and apply essential skills for academic success, while also developing digital skills that are a prerequisite for a successful career.

You will practice, and build confidence in wide ranging skills, as part of your transition into higher education. By establishing and pursuing a personal development plan, you will develop a set of personal qualities such as self-awareness, confidence and resilience; and professional skills such as communication, teamwork, risk management, coaching and feedback. Whilst you learn to construct outstanding CVs and professional LinkedIn profiles, this module also aims to raise your digital skills competencies. The module will cover the general Microsoft Office suite and specific digital skills of particular relevance to the discipline that the student is studying. This module is taught as a mix of lectures, practitioner guest lectures, hands-on skills seminars and computer lab sessions.

This module aims to provide you with a thorough underpinning in the Science of Computational Thinking. You will learn about core mathematical concepts and their application, abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, algorithms, and data structures. As part of this module, you will be encouraged to consider the impact that you are having on the environment, especially in terms of the efficiency of your algorithms and consumption of computing resources. You will be engaged in activities which allow you to practice and apply your computational thinking skills. You will be encouraged to consider a variety of different problems and how they can be “solved” using computation.

The aim of this module is to introduce concepts of system and software design within an organisational environment. This module develops your skills in analysing business and technical requirements to select and specify appropriate technology solutions, capturing client requirements, and producing the solutions architecture and software design. Additionally, you will investigate the use of infrastructure to support business needs and design systems which will consider these requirements. You will develop an understanding of the OSI model, networking devices, and routing protocols. You will explore and understand the security threats to an IT system and the operational impact of these threats on an organisation. This module will introduce topical case studies of attacks on organisational information systems, highlighting the business consequences. Within this module, you will be encouraged to think about the design, security, and networking aspects of Computer Science using industry-led case studies.

Within this module, you will be supported to develop the practical skills required to implement software solutions using programming techniques. You will develop the necessary understanding of how the fundamentals of coding languages (such as variables, functions, input-output, control structures) are implemented together with exploring the use of databases within systems. Throughout this module, you will engage in problem solving activities, designed to build your confidence with both software development activities and the tools, techniques, and technologies used by Software Engineers in industry. You will be supported to engage with practical application of programming principles, with industry-led examples. Initially, you will focus on smaller programmes, gradually building to more difficult ones by the end of the module.

This module enables you to develop your understanding and competence in using diverse research methods for academic and professional purposes. You will explore a variety of research approaches and will develop practical qualitative and quantitative research skills including defining and scoping a project; designing an effective and manageable research protocol; collecting data and using appropriate analysis methods.

You will develop an appreciation of ethical implications of the research process to facilitate responsible research practice and will be introduced to the key stages required to complete an applied project from concept to delivery. You will learn how to manage a project and contribute effectively as a member of a project team, using ideas generation techniques and problem-solving skills to develop innovative solutions to business problems. This module contributes to your continuing professional development as you will gain key insights into how to perform technical process improvement tasks in a range of environments to solve real-world business problems.

This module will allow you to become a more confident programmer by introducing advanced programming techniques and systematically reviewing the principles behind the core components of programming languages. Interleaving theory and hands-on activities, you will gain the necessary skills to effectively solve complex algorithmic tasks. This will be complemented by developing your practical skills on essential programming tools and techniques, such as version control, documentation, and testing.

Additionally, you will gain an in-depth understanding of databases, and their roles in modern information systems. You will learn to analyse databases using the most comprehensive and widely used theories. You will use this awareness of the properties of databases to understand and compare alternative (NoSQL) data models, their applications, and the reasons behind their recent increase in popularity. Practical activities inspired by real-world examples will allow you to develop the necessary skills to select and implement suitable database systems for a wide variety of applications.

During this module, you will explore selected quantitative models and theories that have a widespread use in Computer Science, and that are necessary to understand fundamental concepts such as computational complexity, tractability, and data models. This will include elements of discrete mathematics, calculus, and statistics. Additionally, you will learn how computer hardware and intermediate abstraction layers support the operating systems and high-level programming languages that are commonly used. This includes the main components of computer hardware and their functions, how information is stored and processed, and how high-level programming languages are translated into basic instructions that machines can readily execute. Throughout this module you will experiment with the practical applications of this knowledge, such as the optimisation and debugging of software systems. Lastly, you will explore recent trends in these areas, where you will also consider the potential implications of the future of Computer Science.

• Artificial Intelligence - 15 Credits
  This module introduces you to the field of artificial intelligence, demystifying the notion that it is a single monolithic approach, and instead providing a clear map of its diverse range of subfields. You will explore fundamental concepts and techniques in the areas of problem solving, knowledge representation, and machine learning. You will apply Artificial Intelligence to a wide range of real-world problems and discuss its implications. This knowledge will be complemented by practical hands-on activities, that will allow you to experiment with different Artificial Intelligence tools and techniques.
  
  
• Web Development - 15 Credits
  Within this module, you will explore the design process and development of web-based applications. You will specifically focus on the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to develop interactive websites together with industry standard tools for managing code. The module will finish by supporting you to develop progressive web-apps, which will support the development of cross-platform applications. Upon completing this module, you will understand how to design, develop, host, manage, and maintain interactive websites.
  
  
• Machine Learning - 15 Credits
  In this module you will develop an advanced knowledge and skills in the Artificial Intelligence field of Machine Learning. You will explore theoretical principles of machine learning, to enable a deeper understanding of machine learning models. This will be complemented with a strong focus on practical activities to provide the necessary skills so you are able to implement Machine Learning solutions using industry-relevant libraries and tools. The skills and knowledge you gain will be put in context, by explaining how the covered Machine Learning techniques are used in commercial applications, and how they underpin the most significant recent advances in Artificial Intelligence.
  
  
• Cloud Infrastructure - 15 Credits
  Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet. Cloud computing is a consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. Within this context, the aim of this module is to develop an understanding of cloud technologies, infrastructure, and deployment. The values that cloud computing may bring to an organisation will be evaluated. An array of cloud products and services will be appraised in the context of how they may apply to different types of organisation and their operational functions. In this module you will appraise an array of methods used to provide virtual storage and network virtualisation. The security and ethical challenges inherent in an organisational transformation to cloud computing will be evaluated.
  
  

You can choose to take this optional industry placement between second and third year.

The aim of this module is to offer you the opportunity to undertake meaningful and relevant employment experience. The employment experience will take the form of a 30 week long work placement and you will be required to demonstrate the relevance of the work practice to the named route of study. The employment experience will involve you demonstrating your competency in key skills, such as communication and team working, and tasks relevant to your field of study. This will necessarily require you to apply learning from your studies to the workplace, thus providing the opportunity to fully integrate your academic study with meaningful employment experience.

This module provides an in-depth examination of distributed systems focusing on the fundamental concepts, principles, and practical aspects of designing, developing, and managing such systems. You will review the applications of distributed systems, with a particular focus on the Internet of Things (IoT). You will learn about the architecture and characteristics of IoT systems, and how they enable the connection between the physical and digital world through sensors and actuators. This module will combine theoretical study and hands-on projects, which will provide you with the necessary skills in designing, analysing, and developing distributed and IoT systems. 

This module explains and provides practical experience in how important real world problems can be modelled and simulated by computers. A selection of mathematical modelling and simulation techniques are explored in detail. You will apply software development and programming techniques to study a scientific or a real-world problem, and discuss the findings of your simulation. Additionally, you will explore development using parallel programming techniques together with the use of clustering of computers to compute complex calculations. You will be required to develop an application which uses one of these techniques, and demonstrate the outcome.

You must choose ONE of the four Capstone Project Options: 

• Capstone Project - Dissertation
  This module provides an exciting opportunity for you to draw on your learning across programmes and immerse yourself in a small-scale independent academic research project in an area of particular interest to you and relevant to your studies. The purpose of this module is for you to have the opportunity to author a substantial piece of structured academic work exploring a key area of personal interest within the discipline. By successfully completing this module you will gain a deeper understanding of what constitutes credible and ethical management research and have a critical understanding of an area of disciplinary interest.

• Capstone Project - Placement for Good
  This module provides an exciting opportunity for you to make a real difference to the community in which you live. The purpose of this module is to enable you to work in partnership with host organisations in the private or public sectors, via a work placement opportunity, in an area cognate to the discipline studied. By successfully completing this module you will have gained valuable work experience and carried out a strategic review of relevant CSR issues within the work placement, relevant to the discipline studied. The placement has the specific aim of improving the alignment of the host organisations activities to the UN 17 SDGs.

• Capstone Project - Consultancy Project
  This module provides an exciting opportunity for you to draw on your learning across programmes and immerse yourself in a small-scale independent consultancy project in a relevant field. The purpose of this module is to enable you to operate as a trainee management consultant for an external organisation or internal client. By successfully completing a consultancy project you will gain a deeper understanding of what constitutes a credible and ethical business consultancy project and a have a broader insight into consultancy within the discipline. 

• Capstone Project – Start Up For Good

  This module provides an exciting opportunity for you to draw on your learning across programmes, and work towards turning your pre commercial idea into a successful, sustainable, business enterprise, supported by a nine-month tenure within the Winchester Hatchery Incubator Programme. The purpose of this module is to enable you to work with our team of enterprise and innovation experts to develop a viable start up business that has sustainability values at its’ core. The aim is to register the company within the period and launch the business. By successfully completing this module you will gain a deeper understanding of what constitutes credible and ethical innovation research and have an invaluable insight into entrepreneurship.

• Developing for the Cloud - 30 Credits
  This Developing for the Cloud module builds on the content within the second year Cloud Infrastructure module. You will be expected to use your previous learning to propose, design, develop, and test a cloud-based application, which implements appropriate architectures, micro-services, and frameworks. This development will focus on ensuring applications are scalable, secure, usable, and maintainable.
  
  
• Artificial Intelligence and Creativity - 30 Credits
  In this module, you will learn how a fundamental type of data, images and videos, are processed by computer systems to solve complex tasks such as detecting specific objects or events. You will be introduced to the main properties of image data are introduced, along with the challenges and applications of Computer Vision systems. Additionally, this module will present the fundamental principles and theories behind Artificial Intelligence models that are capable of creating complex forms of media such as text, images and conversations in a human-like fashion. You will explore the relationship between these models and the concept of creativity, identifying your role and impact in creative endeavours and the arts. This module will provide practical skills in using, configuring, and adapting these models programmatically, a fundamental step towards developing novel and custom Artificial Intelligence applications including computer vision.