Deakin College

SIT101
FUNDAMENTALS OF
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

TRIMESTER 2 2018

This unit guide is applicable for the year and teaching period specified above only
C0NTENTS

A note from your Unit Coordinator ................................................................................. 3

Contact details .............................................................................................................. 3

Unit overview ............................................................................................................... 3

Unit description ......................................................................................................... 3

Learning objectives .................................................................................................... 3

Unit learning outcomes .............................................................................................. 4

Deakin College Transitional Attributes .......................................................................... 4

Unit learning Resources ................................................................................................. 4

Assessment .................................................................................................................. 4

Assignment submission ................................................................................................. 7

Late submission of assignments ...................................................................................... 7

Learning support ........................................................................................................... 7

Grading system ............................................................................................................. 8

Student evaluation of this unit ....................................................................................... 9

Trimester 1 2018 Timetable ......................................................................................... 10

Appendix A: Exam Requirements and Instructions ................................................................. 11

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A note from your Unit Coordinator
Welcome to SIT101 Fundamentals of Information Technology. This unit outline explains the aims of
the unit and describes the assessment requirements. You should always read this unit guide first and
check it frequently when preparing to study, or embarking on assignment work.

I hope that you enjoy studying this unit as you develop knowledge and skills that will assist you in
your further studies and also give you insights into the IT profession you have chosen.

Contact details
Staff Room la4.111, Level 4 Building la
Telephone: (03) 9244 5197

Unit Coordinator/Lecturer: Annegret Goold

agoold@deakin.edu.au
Tutor: Robyn Kress
rkress@deakin.edu.au
Lecturer: Alireza Moayedikia
amoayedi@deakin.edu.au

Unit overview
Unit: SIT101
Unit title: Fundamentals of Information Technology
Prerequisites: Nil
Teaching Method: Four hours of class contact per week are allocated to this unit.

Unit description
This unit is the foundation unit for all the information technology areas of study. It covers an
introduction to the major areas within IT including: hardware, software, communications and
networks, system and application programming, system development, programming languages and
programming development, security, as well as ethics and privacy. Students will have the
opportunity of exploring a number of applications including word processing and spreadsheets in the
context of the wider curriculum. Professional skills including time management, study planning,
library and communication skills will be emphasised as the foundation to becoming an efficient and
effective tertiary student.

Learning objectives
The aim of this unit is to form a background to the study of Information Technology through the
study of computer hardware, software, computer networks and security. The unit has a number of
specific learning objects, and it is expected that on completion of this unit students will:
 have a good technical knowledge and understanding of basic issues and areas of Information
Technology that will provide a platform for their future studies in the course;
 understand computers, hardware and software, networks, security and how they can work
together to solve real-world problems;
 understand how software is developed and have gained an understanding of the languages and
associated development environments used;
 have acquired skills of basic run-time environments and packages;
 understand the influence of IT on industry, engineering, business, and society, and the role of IT
professionals and their need for lifelong learning;
 have acquired skills in verbal and written communication; and
 have improved generic skills.

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Unit learning outcomes

ULO1 Develop knowledge of various components in IT systems for professional IT Practices.

ULO2 Differentiate between IT Systems and Information Systems in order to solve real world
problems.
ULO3 Discuss IT professional practices and information technologies that influence Industry and
society.

Deakin College Transitional Attributes

All Deakin College Diploma units contribute to the following graduate attributes:
 independent learner
 knowledge base
 research skills
 time management skills
 report writing skills
 awareness of ethics of tertiary education
 use of appropriate technologies
 ability to work alone and as part of a team

Unit learning Resources

Essential learning resources

There is an Ebook which you are required to purchase:

Vermaat M, Sebok S, Freund S, Campbell J, and Frydenberg M. Discovering Computers 2017.
The link for purchase is: http://www.cengagebrain.com.au/shop/search/9781305657458

Note: At point of purchase use the Discount Code STUDYSMART and you will receive a 10%
discount off the price.

Assessment

Assessment task Weighting Due date Unit learning

outcome(s)

1. Revision tests 20% (5% x 4) Week 4, 6, 8, 10 ULO1, 2, 3

2. Assignment 1 15% Week 6 ULO3

3. Assignment 2 15% Week 9 (in class) ULO1, 2

4. Final Examination 50% End of trimester ULO1,2,3

Assessment details
Revision Tests
The revision tests are intended as revision for topics covered in the textbook, the lectures and the
practical sessions. There are four tests, each worth 5%. The tests consist of multiple choice questions.
These are online tests that will be conducted under examination conditions during the practical class.

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Assignments
Assignment 1 will focus on current advances in information technology and presentation of this
information.

Students must keep a ‘backup’ copy of their work for Assignment 1 work and be able to provide their
work if an original assignment goes missing. Electronic loss of data is NOT a satisfactory excuse for an
extension of a submission date.

Assignment 2 will focus on data analysis (practical use of Excel) using an information technology or
information systems scenario and on other software used in the practical sessions. Students will be
required to complete some practical tasks under examination conditions during the practical class.

Examination
The examination will be held during the exam week at the end of trimester. All work presented
during lectures and the practical sessions is examinable. More information about the exam and its
format will be provided towards the end of trimester.

Determination of Final Grade

This unit does not have a hurdle requirement. Students must achieve at least 50% in the unit overall,
to obtain a passing grade in the unit.

In-Trimester Assessments
It is the responsibility of a student to sit for a test/assessment on the scheduled date, according to
the class they are enrolled in.

Assessment Reviews
Review of Assessment During a Trimester
During the course of a trimester, students will be provided with feedback on their performance in all
assessment tasks. It is expected that students will discuss any issues directly with their lecturer.
Limited grounds for a review of assessment are available and students are referred to the Review of
Assessment Policy for further information (available from the Deakin College website or the Student
Portal under Students/Forms/Policies and Procedures). A Review of Assessment Application Form
must be completed and submitted within 5 working days of publication of the result for the
particular piece of assessment.

Review of Assessment at the End of a Trimester

If a student reasonably believes that a final grade has not been added or processed correctly, he or
she may apply for a review of final grade by completing the Review of Final Grade Application.
Applications must be submitted to Deakin College Reception within 5 working days of the publication
of the final results.
A review of final grade involves review and checking of marks - it does NOT involve a review or
remarking of individual pieces of assessment.

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Special Consideration
Special Consideration may be provided to students who are prevented from performing to the best
of their ability in a particular piece of assessment, including a scheduled examination, due to serious
and exceptional circumstances beyond their control. Examples of such circumstances are provided in
the Special Consideration and Deferred Examinations Policy (available from the Deakin College
website or the Student Portal under Students/Forms/Policies and Procedures) and include serious
illness or injury, hardship or trauma.
Students are required to complete a Special Consideration Application (available from the Student
Portal under Students/Forms) and submit this to Deakin College Reception, together with supporting
documentation before the assessment due date, or within 3 working days after the
submission/timetabled date of the relevant piece of assessment. Page 3 (‘Health Practitioner
Certificate’) of the Special Consideration Application must be completed by a health practitioner for
applications on medical, health or psychological grounds. Please refer to the Special Consideration
and Deferred Examinations Policy for further information.
Students who require an assignment extension should not apply for special consideration but must
complete a Request for Extension of Assignment Dues Date form (available from the Student Portal
under Students/Forms).

Academic Misconduct
Students should familiarise themselves with the Academic Integrity Policy (available from the Deakin
College website or the Student Portal under Students/Forms/Policies and Procedures).
Academic misconduct is a serious offence in academia. These include plagiarism, collusion, cheating
and ‘misrepresentations’ (which includes falsification of documents). Penalties will be applied
consistently with the Academic Integrity Policy.
Plagiarism occurs when a student intentionally or accidentally presents the work of another
person(s) as though it is their own original work without proper reference to that source or
sources. For example, copying or paraphrasing an author’s work without referencing that work,
translating foreign works into English without acknowledging those sources, or reusing one’s
own previously submitted or assessed work.
Collusion occurs when work is produced by collaborating with other person(s), without
permission, and then presenting that work as if it is your own. For example, copying any part of
another student’s assignment, allowing another student to copy any part of your assignment, or
allowing another person to rewrite or make changes to your assignment.
Cheating occurs when a student engages in other forms of dishonest conduct, whether in an
assessment or in any representation. For example, communication with another student during
an examination, having unauthorised notes during an examination - the notes may be on or in
an object, a data storage device or on any part of the body, or ‘contract cheating’, which is the
purchasing work or commissioning another person or website to produce a work which is then
passed off as your own.
Misrepresentation occurs when a student presents falsified documents, or by words, conduct or
non-disclosure of information creates a false status or an impression inconsistent with facts, for
example, falsely asserting attendance at a lecture or a laboratory session or submitting a
falsified medical certificate.
Whenever you refer to another person’s research or ideas (whether by directly quoting or by
paraphrasing them) you MUST acknowledge that source. Copying paragraphs from the internet and
presenting them as your own work is plagiarism. If you download and copy paragraphs from the
internet, you must identify the source.

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You MUST acknowledge the sources that you have drawn on. This is a necessary courtesy to the
original authors, and also allows the readers of your work to follow up on any points that you have
raised.
If you directly copy another writer's phrase, sentence or paragraph, then you should use quotation
marks and note the source of the quote. If you use another writer's ideas, but not his or her exact
words, you should again note the source. There are a number of ways by which you can refer to
other people's work.
The main referencing method used at Deakin College is the Harvard referencing method, which
involves noting the author's name, the title of the article and journal, or book, the year of
publication, the journal's volume number, the book publisher's name and location, and the relevant
page numbers.
A copy of Guide to Assignment Writing and Referencing is available on the Deakin University
website: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing/harvard

Assignment submission
Assignments must be submitted by the due date. Students should complete the Assignment Cover
Sheet (available from the Student Portal under Students / Forms), attach it to their assignment and
then submit the completed assignment as outlined in the assignment details. (Assignments will not
be accepted at Deakin College Reception).

Students must keep a copy of each assignment submitted and must be able to produce the copy in
the unlikely event that the original assignment is misplaced. Students must maintain backup copies
of all their assignment work. Electronic loss of data is common, but is NOT a satisfactory excuse for
an extension of a submission date.

Late submission of assignments

Extension of an assignment submission date
If there is a compelling reason why you are unable to complete your assignment before the due date
you should complete a Request for Extension of Assignment Due Date form, available from the
Student Portal under Students / Forms and submit it to your unit coordinator. This must be done at
least 48 hours before the assignment due date.

Penalties for late submissions

Assignments received late and without prior approval will be penalised. A penalty of 5% of the total
available marks will be deducted for every day the assignment is late. Assignments submitted more
than 5 working days after the due date will be awarded a mark of zero.

Learning support
Students have access to group-oriented and individual learning support at Deakin College. During each
trimester, students can attend a series of study skills workshops conducted both at Deakin College and
Deakin University on topics such as time management, avoiding plagiarism, referencing, academic
writing, critical thinking and exam preparation.

Students can book individual consultations with the Deakin College Academic Skills Advisor. They can
also access the Deakin University Language and Learning Drop-in Centre. All students have access to
the Academic Skills Moodle site which contains a number of resources to improve students’ study skills
and language proficiency.

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Grading system
All students enrolled in any unit will be graded according to Deakin College’s standard grading system
as follows:

GRADE DESCRIPTION PERCENTAGE

HD High Distinction 80 - 100
D Distinction 70 - 79
CR Credit 60 - 69
P Pass 50 - 59
N Fail 0 – 49
DE Deferred Examination
EX Exemption Granted
RI Results Not Finalised
RPL Recognition of Prior Learning
RW Results Withheld
UP Ungraded Pass (Safety Units)
W Withdrawn without academic penalty
WN Withdrawn Failure
XN Enrolled Assessment Incomplete

Changes to Enrolment
Enrolment changes can be made through the student portal until 5.00 pm Friday of the second week
of the trimester.
 Withdrawal from any unit or course before the end of week 4 of a trimester will not incur an
academic penalty. Fees paid for the unit(s) will be credited to the following trimester. Fees will
be forfeited for any withdrawal after week 4;
 Withdrawal from any unit or course between weeks 5 and 8 of a trimester will incur a grade of
W (Withdrawn). This grade does not incur an academic penalty;
 Withdrawal from any unit or course between weeks 9 and 13 of a trimester will incur a grade
of WF (Withdrawn Fail). This grade will incur an academic penalty and a student’s course
progress will be assessed at the end of the trimester by the Academic Progress and Discipline
Committee (APDC);
 Overseas students are required to maintain a full time enrolment. Therefore, if a withdrawal
from one or more units constitutes a part time enrolment, withdrawal from such units will not
be permissible.

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Class Attendance
Deakin College takes attendance seriously. Attendance is an important element of a student’s
success in their studies and it is strongly recommended that attendance is maintained in all classes.
All work covered in class is examinable.
Attendance will be recorded in all sessions and students should make themselves aware of the
Attendance Policy (available from the Deakin College website or the Student Portal under
Students/Forms/Policies and Procedures).
Where alternative classes exist for a unit, students are permitted to attend a maximum of two
alternative classes per unit during the trimester. Students should collect a Lecturer Attendance
Variation Form from reception or from the Student Portal under Students/Forms and submit this to
the lecturer of the alternate class to sign and verify their attendance. The signed and verified form
must be submitted to Reception by the student within 7 days after the initial scheduled class.
Medical certificates are not required to be submitted to Deakin College to explain occasional
absences from class or short-term illness. However, where ‘compassionate and compelling’
circumstances exist, for example, serious illness or injury, trauma, or bereavement of close family
members, an Explained Absence Form can be submitted to Deakin College Reception with your
evidence within 7 days of the absence so that attendance records can be adjusted to show that
compelling or compassionate circumstances occurred. This does not change an ‘absence’ to an
‘attendance’ – it merely indicates that compelling or compassionate circumstances occurred which
explain a student’s absence. Please refer to the Attendance Policy for more information.

Student evaluation of this unit

At the end of trimester students will be asked to evaluate all of the units they have studied during
the trimester. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the Student Evaluation form for this
unit and give feedback.

All ratings and comments are read and given careful consideration following completion of each
trimester and inform the changes which may be introduced in subsequent trimesters.

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Trimester 2 2018 Timetable
WEEK Week Commencing LECTURES PRACTICAL SESSION
1 Monday 2 July 2018 Introduction/Administration Familiarisation of the computer lab and
Fundamentals of IT software
Chapter 1 & Chapter 3
2 Monday 9 July 2018 Hardware: Components Word processing
Chapter 6 Walkthrough of Assignment 1
3 Monday 16 July 2018 Hardware: Input and Output Research Tasks
Chapter 7
4 Monday 23 July 2018 Hardware: Digital Storage Software
Chapter 8 Quiz 1: Hardware Components
Census Date Friday 27 July
5 Monday 30 July 2018 Operating Systems Excel Part 1
Chapter 9
6 Monday 6 August 2018 Programs and Apps Excel Part 2
Chapter 4 Quiz 2: Input, Output and Storage
Assignment 1 due 8.30 am Friday 10 August
Monday 13 August to Trimester Break
Friday 17 August 2018
7 Monday 20 August 2018 Building Solutions Excel Practice Test
Chapter 11
8 Monday 27 August 2018 Data Communications and Data Representation
Networks Quiz 3: Software and Solutions
Chapter 10
9 Monday 3 Sept. 2018 The Internet Assignment 2 to be completed in class
Chapter 2
10 Monday 10 Sept. 2018 Digital Security, Ethics and The Internet
Privacy Quiz 4: Data Comm. and Internet
Chapter 5

11 Monday 17 Sept. 2018 Working in the Enterprise IT Security

Chapter 12

12 Monday 24 Sept. 2018 Review Careers in IT

Revision and Review
Examination Week Monday 1 October to Friday 5 October 2018

Trimester 2 Census Date: Friday 27 July 2018

Results released on portal: Tuesday 16 October 2018

Portal opens for T3 re-enrolment: Saturday 20 October 2018

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Appendix A: Examination Requirements and Instructions

SUMMARY OF EXAM REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDENTS

1. You should arrive for your exam at least 15 minutes before it is scheduled to commence.

2. You will not be permitted to sit the exam if you are more than 30 minutes late after writing time
commences.

3. You MUST have your Deakin College student ID card with you for every exam you sit. You will
not be permitted to enter the exam room without it.

4. No electronic equipment whatsoever, with the possible exception of a non-programmable

calculator, may be used in an exam.

5. Personal items (purse, wallet, mobile phone) brought into the exam should be left underneath
your desk. Do NOT leave valuables in bags at the end of the exam room. Mobile phones MUST
be switched off. Any mobile phone which rings during an exam will be confiscated and not
returned until the exam papers have been collected and placed into storage.

6. Find out before the end of the trimester from your lecturer or unit outline whether your exam
is ‘Open Book’ or ‘Closed Book’.

7. Find out before the end of the trimester whether or not you can bring a non-programmable
calculator or a dictionary in book form into the exam.

8. The penalties for failing to behave in accordance with Deakin College standards for conduct
during the exam are severe. Make sure you know before-hand what authorised materials and
devices you can take into your exam. Students found with unauthorised material in their
possession are in breach of the Academic Integrity Policy.

9. Students who are unwell during an exam may apply for special consideration by completing the
Special Consideration form found on the Student Portal. An application for special consideration
MUST be accompanied by supporting documentation and submitted within three (3) working
days of the exam.

10. Students who are prevented from sitting an exam (e.g. a car accident) may apply for a deferred
exam using the special consideration form found on the student portal. An application for a
deferred exam MUST be accompanied by supporting documentation and submitted within three
(3) working days of the exam.

Students are advised to read all the exam regulations accessible on the student portal at
http://learning.deakincollege.edu.au/forms (under policies and procedures).

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 SIT101 Examination Instructions

1. All answers are to be written in the Question and Answer examination booklet.

2. All questions must be answered

3. The exam is CLOSED BOOK. Notes, books, calculators and electronic dictionaries are NOT
permitted in the exam. Extraneous written material must be handed in before the exam
commences. Any student found with unauthorised material will have their exam cancelled.

4. This examination paper is marked out of 100 marks and constitutes 50% of the overall
assessment for SIT101. There is no minimum mark required for the exam but you must achieve
50% or more overall for the assessment tasks to obtain a passing grade in SIT101.

5. Question 1 is a series of 20 definitions for which you will need to provide the answer (a word
or phrase) in the space provided. Each definition is worth 1 mark and Question 1 is therefore
worth 20 marks.

6. Questions 2 to 5 are four (4) short answer style questions and are worth 20 marks each. Each
question may consist of one or more parts. You will need to provide written answers in the
space provided in the Question and Answer Booklet.

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