An on-line Module Work Book will be provided which will guide students through a series of tasks which will give structure to independent academic research, work based investigation and practical work based learning.

Independent Academic Research
Students will be expected to undertake around 50 hours of independent academic study during the course of the module. This will be guided by a series of academic tasks such as producing research reports, working through case studies etc and will require access to academic resources.

Work-based Component
Students will need to spend circa 50 hours over the course of the module undertaking their work-based tasks. This will include investigation of how aspects of the academic learning apply to the workplace and development of new skills. Students will have access to a workplace based mentor while it is not prescriptive, Mentors will usually devote around 5 hours in total to their mentees on a one to one basis or in groups if possible. The time will be used to support the mentees in their completion of set tasks.

Academic contact time will be used to provide academic support for student learning on an ad-hoc basis via the VLE. Students will be put into study groups (4 students) where possible and there will typically be 8 scheduled 15 minute sessions for each group of up to 4 students (2 academic contact hours)

1 hour of Academic Contact time will be used for two individual 30 minute formative reviews. Where necessary, reviews will be conducted virtually using appropriate tools. Employer Feedback Forms will be completed by the work-based mentor and Self-assessment forms will be completed by the student. These will inform the reviews.

None

Essential Text:

IT Systems Management, Scheisser R (2009), Prentice Hall, ISBN 0137025068

The following are not essential texts but will provide useful background reading:
A Dictionary Of It Service Managment: Terms, Acronyms And Abbreviations, Hanna, MacFarlane, Rance and Lillicrap (2008) itSMF, ISBN0955124573

It Service Management Based On ITIL V3: A Pocket Guide, Van Bon, J (2008), Van HAren publishing, ISBN 908753102
Beyond reflective practice : new approaches to professional lifelong learning, Bradbury, Helen. (2010) Routledge, ISBN: 0415467934;

None

A COURSEWORK weighted at 100% addressing all learning outcomes

A course work assignment comprising 3 milestones weighted at 80% and assessing learning outcomes 1-3
- Milestone 1 - report (minimum 600 words) on analysis of requirements and planning for the acquisition or development of an ICT resource as part of business strategy (25%) which will assess Learning Outcome 1.

- Milestone 2 -report (minimum 600 words) proposing measures to secure, maintain and protect ICT system resources (25%) which will assess Learning Outcome 2.

- Milestone 3 - research report (minimum1200 words) discussing temporary issues in ICT systems acquisition, management, control or audit relevant to the student's workplace and advising on future strategy (50%) which will assess Learning Outcome 3.
A course work assignment weighted at 20% and assessing learning outcome 4
- Development of a career action plan (minimum 600 words) with related career evaluation paperwork

This module explicitly focuses on significant elements required for the achievement of the STAFFORDSHIRE GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES:
- Work-ready and employable
- Communication skills
- Understanding of global issues and their place in the global economy
- Ability to carry out inquiry-based learning and critical analysis
- Skills of problem solving and creation of opportunities
- Technologically, digitally and information literate

Management of ICT Systems:
- Organising For Systems Management
- Staffing For Systems Management
- Customer Service
- Ethics, Legislation and Outsourcing
- Global Isses
- Comparison to ITIL Processes
- Availability, resilience and reliability
- Performance and Tuning
- Change Management
- Problem Management
- Storage Management
- Network Management
- Configuration Management
- Capacity Planning
- Strategic Security
- Business Continuity and disaster Recovery
- Facilities Management
- Software Licensing and FAST compliance
- Integrating Systems Management Disciplines
- Contemporary Issues
- Lifelong Learning
Career Planning
- Reflective writing revisited
- The ICT Industry - what's out there?