Everyone communicates, but are they doing it well? Communicative competence takes practice and self-awareness. In this foundational course, students will learn through discovery and project-based activities to practice approaching situations critically and collaboratively. By developing their communication skills, students will improve their interpersonal ability, intercultural competence, and digital fluency to prepare for success in the workplace and beyond. The strategies students will gain in this course will be useful throughout their program and in their chosen industry.
This foundational course focuses on essential communication skills for entering and advancing in industry. Students will develop skills for effective resumes, cover letters, and job interviews that are tailored to the specific needs of prospective employers. Additionally, students will enhance their interpersonal skills and digital fluency while applying speaking, writing, and collaboration techniques crucial for job searching, adapting to new roles, and achieving long-term career goals. Students will also develop strategies for continuous learning to remain competitive in an ever-changing job market.
Students will build on the skills they practiced in Communication Strategies by focusing on the information technology sector. Students will develop their ability to think at a systems level by analyzing problems to come up with innovative solutions. Learners will collaborate to manage, analyze, and communicate information to various audiences across different channels. This collaboration will involve active listening, networking, and persuasion strategies in an information technology context.
This course will equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the integral role that networking plays in maintaining strong information security. With a specific focus on the current practices and principles of secure networking, this course will delve into the areas of network fundamentals, network design and protocols, network types, network configuration and network infrastructure. Learners will also discover what it takes to harden a network and apply forensic investigative techniques for mitigating network security incidents.
The ability to secure information in our world today is changing rapidly. This course will provide hands on experience related to principles and practices used in security operations. Students will build a foundational understanding of how organizations protect their information assets and respond to security incidents while ensuring continuous business functions and maintaining security operations. In this course students will cover concepts such as automation, IT as a Service (ITaaS), incident management, and effective communication strategies needed in this field.
As cyber threats continue to evolve and intensify, the ability to identify, evaluate, and address vulnerabilities becomes paramount for ensuring organizational security. This course offers an introduction into the critical processes of identifying, assessing, and mitigating vulnerabilities in information systems. A major emphasis of this course is on Patch Management - the processes and strategies involved in updating and fixing software applications to address known vulnerabilities. Students will gain experience with various patch management tools, learn how to create patch implementation plans, and when to apply mitigation strategies.
In this foundational course, students will learn to manage common services that are provided by IT Operations professionals. Students will be introduced to core principles of IT service management such as customer service orientation, continual service improvement, and a focus on meeting the needs of the business. Students will get hands on experience troubleshooting common IT problems. They will learn how to manage incidents, identify and address systematic problems, and manage changes in IT services. The course also gives learners practice writing change tickets and training customers how to use new technologies.
IT solutions exist in order to meet business needs. In this course, students will learn foundational principles of IT architecture and design. They will learn how to interpret architectures and Detailed IT Design (DID) documents IT architects and engineers create and how to map the dependencies between infrastructures. Learners will also apply these architecture and design principles to create a simple IT solution.
This course covers common IT concepts including the structure of typical IT departments and the roles of various IT professionals. Students will learn how an operating system interacts with applications on a device. Students will be introduced to computer hardware and networks and will install peripherals such as printers. They will also learn foundational software development and database concepts. By the end of this course, students should use common IT best practices.
Customer Experience (CX) is a philosophy that makes the customer the focal point for all IT services. In this introductory-level course, students will get an overview of CX philosophies and processes, including the value delivery model. They will engage in role plays and simulations to provide customer service through responsiveness, tailored communication, and application of conflict management techniques. Students will apply user experience tools and a full design sprint to create a technology solution.
Information security skills are important for all IT professionals. Students will conduct security assessments, implement solutions, use software to monitor threats, and respond to specific events. The course covers standard security processes for containing threats. Students will learn to operate with an awareness of relevant laws and policies and demonstrate ethical reasoning. Learners will gain familiarity with security terminology and principles.
This course will provide students with an understanding of the critical processes involved in identifying, monitoring, and responding to security threats. Students will cover a variety of key topics such as utilizing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), the phases of the Security Incident Management lifecycle, and how cloud security differs from other environments. Students will also gain exposure to various monitoring methods and tools, be able to apply security event correlation techniques, and learn how to contain malicious activities.
This course provides an overview of the strategic, tactical, and operational aspects of Security Operations within a company. Upon completion, students will demonstrate the ability to operationalize an IT service by ensuring the operational health, reliability, and effectiveness of the service. Students will be provided with the opportunity to develop skills that contribute to the creation of technology strategy and roadmaps and to gain an understanding of how Organizational Change Management (OCM) is critical to the adoption and stability of new or changed IT services. Automation skills, security service levels concepts, and data security are also covered.
This course explores contemporary techniques, tools, and strategies associated with information technology security infrastructure. Students will be introduced to and receive hands on experience with the lifecycle of security infrastructure. In addition, this course will provide the opportunity to develop skills with Identity and Access Management (IAM), Cloud Security, and with configuring rules and policies for rule-based security systems. Students will apply data security principles and recognize best practices for maintaining a secure IT environment.
Organizations have various methods of delivering IT services to internal and external customers. This course covers models such as DevOps (Development/Operations), agile service delivery, SecOps (Security/Operations), and SIAM (Service Integration and Management). Students will learn project management basics including agile and waterfall methodologies, gather requirements from customers, and provide requirements to a project team. Students will use innovation best practices to create a service solution improvement.
Co-operative education integrates related on-the-job experience with classroom theory by incorporating a term of paid or unpaid employment in the final term of the program. Students are given the opportunity to practice and apply the skills gained during the academic semesters of their program as productive full-time employees on their work term. Student performance will be monitored and evaluated by both the department and the employer.
The Industry Project provides real world experience in applying Information Security skills to a project requiring cross-functional teamwork. Project teams will work jointly with industry partners at the ACE Project Space facility. Each project team will evaluate, analyze, plan, research, model, design, document, develop, test, and manage a project. This option provides practice to further develop interpersonal, verbal, and written communication through teamwork and collaboration with project stakeholders. All team members will enhance their critical thinking, problem solving, research, independence, and life-long learning skills.