Software Engineering

Whichever career pathway you choose to follow, there are certain professional skills that you will need 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 your successful career.

You will practice and build confidence in a wide-ranging set of skills, as part of your transition into Higher Education. By establishing and pursuing a personal development plan, you 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 an outstanding CV and professional LinkedIn profile, this module also raises your digital skills competencies. The module covers the Microsoft Office suite and specific digital skills of particular relevance to the discipline that you are 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. You will be encouraged to consider the impact that you have on the environment, especially in terms of the efficiency of your algorithms and consumption of computing resources. You will engage in activities which allow you to practice and apply your computational thinking skills and 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. 

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 and will explore and understand the security threats to an IT system and the operational impact of these threats on an organisation. This module introduces topical case studies of attacks on organisational information systems, highlighting the business consequences. 

Within this module, you will be supported 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 the module, you will be engaging 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 the practical application of programming principles, with industry-led examples. Initially, you will focus on smaller programmes, gradually building to more complex 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.

You will build on the knowledge you gained during your first year to develop larger, more complex applications. You will explore how applications can be used to solve (or mitigate) challenges which are experienced by end-users. You will propose an application to overcome an issue, before using industry-standard tools and techniques to design the system. Finally, you will implement a system using a specified programming language and a provided design.

The module develops both your theoretical and practical skills for software engineering including (but not limited to) object-oriented design and development, data persistence, abstraction, encapsulation, aggregation and inheritance.

This module presents a systematic approach to systems testing as an extension to Systems Design and a core element of all software development methodologies. It considers the Seven Principles of Software Testing and their integration within testing processes. You  will be introduced to various methods for planning and conducting tests and as part of the testing process, you will be required to use your plans and previous development activities to implement your tests. You will reflect on how the systems testing techniques you encounter can support the development of resilient infrastructure and systems.

• Web Development  - 15 credits 
  Within this module, you will be exploring the design 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. You will be supported to develop progressive web-apps, which will assist the development of cross-platform applications. Upon completing this module, you will know how to design, develop, host, manage, and maintain interactive websites.
  
  
• 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, you will develop your 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. 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 also be evaluated.
  
  
• System Administration - 15 credits 
  Within this module, you will be exploring the command line interface of the Linux Operating System. Throughout the module, you will be learning about the core functions of the operating system, together with developing the skills required to administer, maintain, secure, and monitor systems. You will focus on the core aspects of system administration: Operations Deployment, Security, Networking Operations, File Storage, and Users and Groups.
  
  
• Disruptive Business Innovation - 15 credit
  Unleash your entrepreneurial prowess with the Disruptive Business Innovation module! Explore the realm of groundbreaking ideas and emerging technologies that are revolutionising industries. Dive into the art of challenging conventions, identifying market gaps, and creating innovative business models. Gain the skills to navigate uncertainties, foster a culture of innovation, and leverage technology as a catalyst for disruption. Engage in stimulating discussions, collaborate with like-minded students, and learn from real-world examples of successful disruptors. Embrace the opportunity to become a catalyst for change in the dynamic world of business.

Mobile devices are ubiquitous within the modern world. However, the diversity of devices often results in the need to develop multiple versions of applications to meet the needs of users. In recent times, cross-platform development has become increasingly popular. On this module you will develop the skills you need to design, implement and test applications which work on a host of different devices from a single codebase. You will design an application, develop the code, then test the outcome on a range of devices.

Since the seminal text The Cathedral and the Bazaar was written, open-source development is becoming increasingly popular within Software Engineering. On this module, you will explore the history, values and use of open-source software development within the technology field. You will participate in social development, through engaging with open-source projects, such as those available on GitHub and other websites. You will learn how to get started with open-source development, choose projects for your skillset, understand projects, participate in social development, and document your code.

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 use the 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.
  
  
• DevOps for Organisations - 30 credits
  DevOps represents the intersection of development and operations activities. Within this module, you will focus on the use of containerisation and scripting languages to support DevOps activities. Containerisation allows us to deploy applications within self-contained environments which include all the required dependencies for the software. In this module, you will learn how to create these containers, develop applications, test their code, and deploy the applications. You will explore the creation and orchestration of containers, with consideration for the different environments which are available (such as Docker and Kubernetes). Additionally, you will build on the skills developed in the Level 5 Systems Administration course to support  the use of scripting languages, such as Bash, Perl, Python, etc. to automate the system administration processes. You will engage in practical activities to support your learning and implementation of scripts for systems administration.