Academy for Continuing Education (ACE)

In this module, students will be introduced to visual design theories and principles. Students will learn how colour theory, gestalt principles, ratio and proportion, visual hierarchy, and other fundamental visual design concepts that can be applied to the design of user interfaces. By the end of the module, students will be able to create the visual design of a user interface using industry-relevant tools and techniques, as well as critique user interface designs and layouts.

In this module, students will be introduced to the process of conducting User Experience (UX) research. Students will be taught the various theories and techniques in UX research to enable them to collect, analyse and visualise data about users’ needs, preferences and behaviours. Students will learn how to use these insights to inform the design of a digital platform. By the end of the module, students will be able to plan a research study, collect data for a design problem, as well as to analyse the collected data. Students will be also able to present insights to inform the design of an evidence-based solution to a design problem for a digital platform.

This module introduces principles and design considerations for the development of effective information architecture and interaction design. Students will learn to apply these principles to create the structure for the content and the flow of the interfaces. Through a series of practical assignments rooted in professional settings, students will practice the application of information architecture and interaction design principles to optimise user experience on digital platforms. They will also design, create and evaluate information architecture blueprints and modes of interactions for digital platforms. By the end of this module, students will be able to design intuitive interfaces, as well as devise and conduct usability test.

This module introduces students to a range of design processes and activities employed in a user-centered design environment. Through hands-on exercises and discussions, students will develop skills to identify critical business questions, pain points, and opportunities for User Experience (UX) projects. Students will also be exposed to User Experience Design (UXD) project under different contexts/industries and the various UX methods to address those needs. By the end of this module, students will be able to lead requirements gathering workshops to gain alignment with the client on the UX problems which the UX project aims to solve, as well as to plan and manage a UXD project.

The module introduces students to the concepts of object-orientation in software or program construction. Students will learn how to model and write programs that are composed of objects that interact with one another, using the Python programming language.
The key topics covered in this module include:

• Variables, assignment, conditional and repetition statements
• Unified Modelling Language (UML) diagrams
• Classes and Objects
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance

This module introduces how humans can instruct computers to perform tasks and computations by writing programs using a programming language. Students will learn the structure of a program and how to write statements that contain constructs such as variables, expressions, selection and iteration to express the computation logic. Students will also learn how to use the Input/Output (I/O) library of a programming language to read from and write to files on computer disks for storage and other peripheral devices for display. Data structures to keep information in the working memory of the computer, including one called an object, will also be presented with the explanation of how they facilitate the organisation of information and computation.

This module introduces students to the basic building blocks of developing a website that can process and present information from various forms of data sources: forms, database and web services. Students will learn how to manage a sequence of requests so that information can be presented coherently. Students will also learn how to organise and represent the information in HTML Document Object Model (DOM) through JavaScript programming using CSS templates. Certain information is best presented visually, so students will learn the basic ways to visualise information through social networks, tag clouds and geo-coding.

This module is about understanding human strengths and limitations and designing systems that fit them. Human Factors and Systems Design gives students an overview of the underlying philosophy, aims and approaches of human-centered systems design. Students are introduced to the human sensory and physiological systems and cognitive processes. They are exposed to basic principles of designing and evaluating workplaces and interfaces. Issues on accidents, human error and designing for safety are also covered in this module.

This module will provide both theoretical and practical insights on the management of projects. Students will be taught the characteristics of different industries, and how project management skills apply in them. These give undergraduates a solid foundation in the appreciation and application of project management. It prepares them for an in-depth understanding of project management in science and technology.