Certificate in Information Technology

At a minimum, all students entering the program need to have completed the following courses which are pre-requisites into the program:

• At least one business course (e.g. Organizational Management, Organizational Behavior).
• Object Oriented Programming.
• Quantitative methods for business or Business statistics.

These courses are offered at Cal Lutheran (and are not part of the certificate program). Relevant work experience in the IT field will also be considered.

An undergraduate degree in information systems, business, computer science, engineering, math, physics, and other natural sciences or related fields is required for admission to the program. Students with other backgrounds will be considered based on their work experience and/or completion of pre-requisite courses as noted above.

International students (who have completed a degree outside of the US) need to submit English proficiency requirements such as Toefl of minimum 88 or IELTS or minimum 6.5.

This course introduces students to important concepts and techniques needed to understand and leverage information technology within an organizational context. Students will learn the fundamentals of design and implementation of information systems in the modern organization, business process improvement thorough the use of information technology, organizational data modeling, project management concepts, data governance mechanisms, technology-enabled change management among other topics.

This course introduces the elements and architecture of computer and data communication networks, demonstrates the fundamental principles of computer networking, and provides experience in the practical use of current networking technology. Students will also learn to make knowledgeable decisions pertaining to strategies and architectures for the deployment of telecommunication technologies in organizations.

*Students who successfully complete IT 512 would meet the educational hours required to sit for either CAPM or PMP exams based on PMI standards. These courses must be taken first in the certificate program.

This is a required course that must be taken first in the certificate program. The course provides students with an introduction to the fundamental concepts, techniques and tools used in design, development and application of relational database technology in organizations. Topics include data modelling based on organizational requirements and data manipulation via structured query language tools.

This course uses structured software development methodologies to develop an understanding of the overall process of developing an information system starting with planning, analysis, design and implementation of the system. The course also exposes students to various graphic modeling processes such as data flow diagrams used in business process reengineering, design of user interfaces and system behaviors.

This course introduces the elements and architecture of computer and data communication networks, demonstrates the fundamental principles of computer networking, and provides experience in the practical use of current networking technology. Students will also learn to make knowledgeable decisions pertaining to strategies and architectures for the deployment of telecommunication technologies in organizations.

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to recognize threats and vulnerabilities present in current information systems and how to plan for such risks. Students will have the opportunity to try real security and attack tools to understand how they work and how they might be used and counteracted.

This course provides students an understanding of the principles on which the Internet and other distributed systems are based, their architecture, algorithms and design and how they meet the demands of contemporary distributed applications. The course addresses the skills needed to design and maintain software for distributed applications through topics such as client/server software and N-tier architectures, middleware, Internet technologies, application development, system management, mobile and ubiquitous computing and distributed multimedia systems. Students will also learn the distributed systems infrastructure that supports Google both in terms of core search functionality and the increasing range of additional services offered by Google.

This course explores strategic information technology management issues associated with doing business in digital times. It provides a framework to understand how information technology strategy aligns with business strategy and focuses on developing an understanding of the key information requirements for developing an information technology strategy and systems architecture. The course will focus on digital technology trends transforming how business is done, information management and architecture, e-business models and strategies, mobile commerce, social networking, engagement and social metrics and business process innovation.

The current trend towards computerizing the healthcare industry through interoperable electronic health records (EHR) is creating very exciting opportunities for IT and business professionals in a diverse range of organizations including hospitals, IT firms (EHR vendors), government departments and health funds. This course is designed to introduce students to the various aspects of information management in healthcare organizations. At the same time, the course focuses on unintended consequences resulting from deployment of advanced technologies in the healthcare filed including user responses and usability considerations. Privacy and security laws in HIPAA will also be discussed.

Enterprise systems attempt to integrate all departments and functions across an organization onto a single computer system that can serve every department’s particular needs for up-to-date and accurate data. These systems dictate a standard data format across the entire organization, they are modular and multifunctional. This course examines various types of enterprise systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, supply chain management systems (SCM), customer relationship management systems (CRM) and knowledge management systems (KM) that support and enhance business activities.

The ability to respond dynamically to changing business requirements is paramount for IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations. Virtualization, IT

modernization, and real-time infrastructure architecture are increasingly essential to this agility. This class will balance hands on interaction with infrastructure technologies and equipment as well as applications of technologies and services. Other topics include enterprise architecture and governance, cloud computing, enterprise-wide efficiency, green computing.

This course provides students with a basic understanding of emerging technologies as they relate to innovation and information systems in organizations, and the management strategies required to understand, leverage, and benefit from these technologies. Students will identify current, real technologies that are emerging or about to emerge into the mainstream, investigate those technologies, and ones from recent history, from a number of perspectives, to look at the impact of technologies on systems, business operations, and corporate and technology strategy. They will study the impact, benefits, and downsides of standards as they relate to information technology and delve into how those standards, and other factors, might affect the timing for implementation of emerging technologies in organizations.

Special topics courses vary and are used to introduce students to new topics in the Information Technology field.