Information Systems Major Requirements Prior to Fall 2006
The Information Systems (IS) major is offered only as a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. In addition to the major requirements outlined, below, IS students must fulfill all the H&SS General Education (GenEd) requirements. Students normally complete the GenEd requirements and major prerequisites in mathematics, statistics, and computer programming before their third year.
The IS curriculum is grouped into three parts: the professional core, the disciplinary core, and the concentration area. Students start the professional core in the fall semester of their third year. In this four-course sequence, students learn the basic skills necessary to analyze, design, and implement information systems using current organizational and technological practices. Two of the professional core courses are project-based experiences in which small teams of students must develop and deliver system solutions to real information problems.
In the disciplinary core, students become knowledgable in three areas that are fundamental to understanding and solving problems in information systems: organizations, decision science, and research methods. The organizations area emphasizes how groups of people can organize and coordinate their behavior to perform complex tasks. The decision science component focuses on the fundamentals of good decision making. The research methods course illuminates the process of gathering, summarizing, communicating, and evaluating information.
Finally, the concentration area requirement gives students the opportunity to personalize the major. One area of interest, including (1) Communication Design; (2) Policy, Organizations and Technology; (3) Decision Science and Computability; or (4), Statistics/Data Mining, must be selected for which students must take four courses.
Prerequisite Courses
All prerequisites must be completed by the start of the fall semester of your third year.
Mathematics & Statistics
21-111 (Calculus I) and 21-112 (Calculus II)
-or-
21-120 (Differential & Integral Calculus) and 21-122 (Integration, Differentiation & Approximation)
-or-
21-121 (Integration & Differential Equations) and 21-123 (Calculus of Approximation)
-or-
21-121 (Integration & Differential Equations) and 21-256 (Multivariate Analysis and Approximation)
-plus-
36-201 (Introduction to Statistical Reasoning)
Computer Science Fundamentals
15-100, Introduction/Intermediate Programming,
and
15-200, Advanced Programming/Practicum
-or-
15-111, Intermediate/Advanced Programming
Major Requirements
Professional Core
Complete all four courses:
67-271, Fundamentals of Systems Development (9 units)
Prerequisite: 15-111 or 15-200
67-272, Application Design and Development (9 units)
Prerequisite: 15-111 or 15-200
67-373, Software Development Project (12 units)
Prerequisites: 67-271 and 67-272
67-475, Information Systems Applications (12 units)
Prerequisite: 67-373
Disciplinary Core
Complete
one course from each area:
Organizations
70-311, Organizational Behavior
88-260, Organizations
Decision Science and Computability (check prerequisites)
73-200, Macroeconomics
80-211, Logic and Computability
80-305, Rational Choice
88-220, Policy Analysis I
88-223, Decision Analysis and Decision Support Systems
Research Methods (check prerequisites)
36-202, Statistical Methods
36-303, Sampling, Surveys, and Society
36/70-208, Regression Analysis
36-309, Experimental Design for Behavioral and Social Sciences
88-251, Empirical Research Methods
Concentration Area
Students must choose one Concentration Area and earn 36 units from that area. Courses taken to satisfy the Disciplinary Core requirement cannot also be counted for the Concentration Area requirement. Note that some of the concentration courses have prerequisites.
Communication Design
These courses help information systems designers understand how the structure and presentation of information affects how well (and how easily) it can be understood and used. Students become fluent in both electronic and print-based media and learn the fundamentals of visual, verbal, and on-line publication. They also learn the critically important skills of developing a user-centered perspective and designing information systems for a range of specialist and non-expert users. Thus, they gain both technical and problem-solving skills needed to solve a broad range of novel communication and information design problems.
Complete three courses (check for course prerequisites):
76-270, Writing in the Professions
76-382, Multimedia Authoring I
76-384, Online Information Design (78-385 lab section is optional)
Prerequisites: 76-270, 76-382, or 76-383
Plus, complete one course:
76-318, Communication in Global Marketplace
76-319, Environmental Rhetoric
76-373, Argument
76-356, Controversy, Media & Society
76-385, Discourse Analysis
76-386, Language & Culture
76-387, Introduction to Sociolinguistics
76-389, Grammar of Standard Written English
76-390, Style
76-392, Rhetoric & Public Policy
76-395, Science Writing
76-396, Writing & the Public Interest
76-397, Instructional Development and Design
76-419, Communication Revolutions & Technologies
76-420, Process of Reading & Writing
76-451, Topics in Language Study
76-457, Topics in Rhetorical Study
76-470, Advanced Professional & Technical Writing
76-476, Rhetoric of Science
76-479, Corporate Marketing & Communication
76-480, Document Design
76-481, Writing for Multimedia
76-494, Medical Communication
80-291, Issues in Multimedia Authoring
Policy, Organizations, and Technology Area
This concentration area provides students with a greater depth of study surrounding the issues of policy, technology, and organizations. The focus of this area is on how organizations, ranging from small groups of individuals to society at large, can be transformed by information technology. Students will develop a greater understanding of how to create effective information systems to meet key organizational needs, and how social policy can influence this outcome. Such knowledge can be readily applied by students purusing careers in both the private and public sectors.
Complete four courses (check for course prerequisites):
73-469, Economics of E-Commerce
79-230, Technology in American Society
79-342, Technology, Organization, and Information
79-441, Science, Technology, and Business in U.S. History
88-223, Decision Analysis and Decision Support Systems
88-340, Economics of Entrepreneurship in High Tech Industries
88-341, Organizational Communication
88-343, Economics of Technological Change
88-344, Organizational Intelligence
88-345, Rise of Industrial Research and Development
88-347, Complex Technological Systems: Past, Present, and Future
88-354, Economics and Psychology of Organizational Communication
88-385, Managerial Decision Making
Decision Science and Rational Choice Area
This area focuses on the decision making component of information systems, taking info account the social, political, and ethical issues in an information-driven society. We need to understand the technical complexities of economic, political, and statistical analysis, but we have also to reflect on basic moral and political values. This area builds on the analytic rigor of the social sciences and the enduring normative questions of philosophy to promote a critical understanding of the way that information technologies shape the contemporary world.
Complete four courses (check for course prerequisites):
19-448, Science, Technology and Ethics
73-325, Experimental Foundations of Equilibrium
73-359, Benefit-Cost Analysis
80-230, Ethical Theory
80-241, Ethical Judgments in Professional Life
80-305, Rational Choice
80-335, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
80-341, Computers, Society, and Ethics
80-405, Game Theory
80-223, Decision Analysis and Decision Support Systems
88-302, Behavioral Decision Making
Statistics / Data mining Area
Unprecedented masses of data are becoming available in industry, government, and scientific research, and companies, policy makers, and scientists will need people with effective tools for understanding these data. These courses prepare students to embrace and thrive in this environment, to gain useful insights from and make effective decisions with massive data bases. Students will learn: (i) how to build, test, and apply statistical models, (ii) how to construct graphical displays and visualizations of data that draw clear insights out of complex data sets, (iii) how to structure data collection to yield the maximum information, and (iv) how to develop statistical methods that are relevant and feasible for massive data sets.
Complete all three courses (check for course prerequisites):
36-310, Fundamentals of Statistical Modeling
36-315, Graphics and Visualization
36-350, Data Mining
Plus, complete one course: 36-401, Modern Regression
36-46x, Topics Courses in Statistics
80-316, Probability and Artificial Intelligence
80-321, Causality in the Social Sciences
Please see Mr. Pajewski for course substitutions and double counting of courses with second majors and minors.
Information Systems is available only as a primary major, and is not available as either an additional major, or minor.
