Online Degree Programs

Undergraduate Course> Athabasca University

Indigenous Studies (INST) 112
Introductory Cree II

Delivery mode: Grouped study.

Credits: 3 - Humanities

Prerequisite: INST 111. A senior-level high school Cree course is an acceptable equivalent.

Precluded course: INST 112 may not be taken for credit if credit has already been obtained for NTST 112.

Centre: Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research

INST 112 is not available for challenge.

Overview

INST 112 continues the introduction to Plains Cree (Y dialect) grammar and vocabulary with practise in speaking and working in the language laboratory. The course prepares students for INST 211/212, the first-year university Cree course.
Objectives

Upon completion of INST 112, students will be able to comprehend simple written sentences, converse with relative ease, read with a moderate ability in the Roman orthography, and feel comfortable with a substantial vocabulary. Students will have a basic understanding of Cree culture and protocol, and some exposure to Cree syllabics. The course will increase the students’ understanding of the Y dialect with a growing vocabulary, and will increase the students’ fluency in spoken Cree.
Outline

Each week vocabulary, grammar, and context for various topics are introduced and practised.

Week 1: Overview of course, oral tradition and protocols, Cree sounds, introduction to syllabics

Week 2: Oral presentations, grammar, greetings, pronouns, verbs, root words

Week 3: Conjugating verbs, common expressions, colours, description, verbs, kinship terms

Week 4: Presentation by an elder, traditions, discussion

Week 5: Cultural knowledge, oral presentations, discussion, project proposals due

Week 6: Geography, weather, history: do Indian map, describe land

Week 7: Food and preparation, oral presentations, calendar

Week 8: Presentation by an elder, feast protocols, discussion

Week 9: Health, spiritual, oral presentations

Week 10: Traditional Cree teachings, discussion, oral presentations

Week 11: Literature, arts, crafts, dances, oral presentations

Week 12: Review

Week 13: Class project due, course evaluation

Undergraduate Course> Athabasca University

Human Services (HSRV) 455
Project Design I (Revision 1)

Delivery mode: Individualized study.

Credits: 3 - Reading course - Social Science

Prerequisite: HSRV 311 and HSRV 322 and professor approval. Before registering, contact the course professor to discuss an acceptable project proposal.

Centre: Centre for Work and Community Studies

HSRV 455 is not available for challenge

Overview

This is an independent study course. It involves student-initiated units of study that are based on a contracted study arrangement worked out between an individual student, an approved project’s supervisor and Athabasca University (via the program coordinator). Topics are chosen in consultation with the program coordinator, and can be adapted to local, comparative, or international contexts.

The primary purpose of this course is to enable students to use independent study and research to develop a workable plan that would allow students to implement the research design in the community, workplace, or other human services related setting. It emphasizes the steps that lead to the development of a project that would, if implemented, produce knowledge that had not previously existed.

The project may seek to confirm previous findings for a new population, lead to other research questions, or be specific to the needs of a particular organization and be finite in its application. Ideally, completion of Project Design I will prepare the student to implement the finished product.

It is an advanced course, intended for students who have completed foundational courses in Human Services such as HSRV 311 and HSRV 322, or equivalent courses from another institution.

Undergraduate Course> Athabasca University

History (HIST) 204
A Survey of Western Art II (Revision 2)

Credits: 3 - Humanities.

Prerequisite: None; however, we strongly recommend successful completion of ENGL 255; ARHI 201 provides a good historical background.

Precluded course: HIST 204 is a cross-listed course—a course listed under two different disciplines—with ARHI 202. HIST 204 may not be taken for credit by students who have obtained credit for ARHI 202.

Centre: Centre for Language and Literature

Overview

HIST 204 is a continuation of HIST 203. The course introduces students to the developments in artistic expression from the sixteenth century to the present.

Outline

The course consists of the following.
Lesson 1: The Early Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Italy
Lesson 2: High Renaissance in Italy
Lesson 3: The Late Renaissance in Italy and Mannerism in Sixteenth-Century Italy
Lesson 4: Renaissance and Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Northern Europe
Lesson 5: The Baroque in Italy and Spain
Lesson 6: The Baroque in the Netherlands
Lesson 7: The Baroque in France and England
Lesson 8: The Rococo
Lesson 9: Art in the Age of the Enlightenment, 1750—1789
Lesson 10: Art in the Age of Romanticism, 1789—1848
Lesson 11: The Age of Positivism: Realism, Impressionism, and the Pre-Raphaelites, 1848—1885
Lesson 12: Progress and Its Discontents: Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau, 1880—1905
Lesson 13: Toward Abstraction: The Modernist Revolution, 1904—1914
Lesson 14: Art Between the Wars
Lesson 15: Postwar to Postmodern, 1945—1980
Lesson 16: The Postmodern Era: Art Since 1980

Undergraduate Course> Athabasca University

History (HIST) 203
A Survey of Western Art I (Revision 2)

Credits: 3 - Humanities.

Prerequisite: None; however, we strongly recommend successful completion of ENGL 255.

Precluded course: HIST 203 is a cross-listed course—a course listed under two different disciplines—with ARHI 201. HIST 203 may not be taken for credit by students who have obtained credit for ARHI 201.

Overview
HIST 203 is designed to introduce the developments in artistic expression, from cave drawings and the monuments of ancient Egypt to the paintings, sculpture and architecture of 15th century northern Europe.

Outline

The course consists of the following.
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: The Ancient World: Prehistoric Art
Lesson 3: Ancient Near Eastern Art
Lesson 4: Egyptian Art
Lesson 5: Aegean Art
Lesson 6: Greek Art
Lesson 7: Etruscan Art
Lesson 8: Roman Art
Lesson 9: The Middle Ages: Early Christian and
Byzantine Art
Lesson 10: Islamic Art
Lesson 11: Early Medieval Art
Lesson 12: Early Medieval Art
Lesson 13: Gothic Art
Lesson 14: The Renaissance through the Rococo: Art in
Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Italy
Lesson 15: Artistic Innovations in Fifteenth-Century
Northern Europe

Centre: Centre for Language and Literature
ARHI 203 has a Challenge for Credit option.

Undergraduate Course of Criminal Justice > Athabasca University

Criminal Justice (CRJS) 487
Group/Independent Studies

Overview

Projects must be chosen in consultation with the program coordinator and intended for completion by an individual student (or group of students) interested in an area of Criminal Justice. Students registering in Criminal Justice Independent Studies must have completed Criminal Justice CRJS 350 and either SOCI 305 or SOCI 365 or equivalent courses from another institution.
Outline

The objective of this course is to facilitate a critical analysis of various trends currently impacting on the Canadian criminal justice system. Students are urged to choose a particular issue that in their opinion is currently having a profound impact on the Canadian Criminal Justice system. Students will engage in a critical analysis of their topic via a literature review, interviews, and document analysis. The purpose of this course is to enable students to exercise critical analysis, document research and assess policy

Undergraduate Course of Computers and Management Information Systems (CMIS) > Athabasca University

Computers and Management Information Systems (CMIS) 312
Custom Applications with VBA

Overview

CMIS 312 is designed as an introduction to programming. After completion of this course, students will not be experts in programming with VBA. However, they will have learned enough to build programs that do useful things with Microsoft Office. Students will also have learned skills and concepts that are used in many other modern programming languages. Most importantly, students will know if they enjoy programming computers. Students will be able to continue to build on their skills with courses at Athabasca University and elsewhere. Students will also have enough of a foundation to research and explore new ways to use Microsoft Office.
Outline

Students of CMIS 312 study the following units:

Tutorial 1: Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

Tutorial 2: Working with Objects and Properties

Tutorial 3: Using Variables, Assignment Statements, and Control Structures

Tutorial 4: Repeating Statements with Repetition Control Structures

Tutorial 5: Creating a VBA Application for Microsoft Word

Tutorial 6: Using VBA with Excel

Tutorial 7: Creating a PowerPoint VBA Application with Multiple Forms

Tutorial 8: Using VBA with Access

Tutorial 9: Integrating the Office Applications with VBA

Undergraduate Course of Communication Studies > Athabasca University

Communication Studies (CMNS) 425
Film and Genre

Overview

Film and Genre looks at the historical, economic, political and social factors that influence filmmaking, particularly genre films. The course explores the possibilities and the limitations of genres, and looks at some of the criticism that has dealt with the area over the years. Two of the primary questions that recur throughout the course are, “What constitutes a film genre?” and “How do we identify genres, and how does this identification influence what we see on the screen?”. The course concludes by examining specific genres that illustrate the complex issues that arise when we look at so-called escapist films.
Outline

Unit 1: The Usefulness of Genre

Unit 2: Genre History and Literary Precedents

Unit 3: The Effects of Economics and Social Change on Genre

Unit 4: Genre Development and Instability

Note: A short paper is due after Unit 2.

Choose two units from Units 5 through 8

Unit 5: The Role of the Individual Artist in Genres

Unit 6: International Variations in Genre

Unit 7: Transcendence and Failure: Nongenre and Cult Films

Unit 8: Against Grains: Experimental and Cross-genre Films

Note: A major essay is due after completion of the fifth unit.

Choose two units from Units 9 through 12

Unit 9: Possibilities and Parameters in Science Fiction

Unit 10: Possibilities and Parameters in Mystery/Suspense

Unit 11: Possibilities and Parameters in Horror

Unit 12: Possibilities and Parameters in Comedy

All DBA students undertake the taught Research Methods Course (RMC) as the foundation of their development as a professional researcher. This is intended to provide them with all the skills they require both to complete successfully their DBA degree and to develop as a “researching professional”. Successful completion of the Research Methods Course is a prerequisite to progress onto the Research Project. The RMC is taught by expert staff in management research and is designed to lead to the development of a Qualifying Report (QR), a presentation of the research topic in which the DBA students explain how and why they chose their specific subject matter, what previous research and writing has informed their approach and the methodology and techniques which they will adopt. The QR forms the basis for the final thesis.

Full-time students take the RMC in the first year and finalise their individual research project in Years 2 and 3. Part-time students have a maximum of two years time to complete the RMC and the final thesis has to be submitted by the end of Year 4.
OverviewMode Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Full-time Research Methods Course Individual Research Project

Mode Year 1 Year 2 Years 3-4
Part-time Research Methods Course Individual Research Project

Time Limits Full-time Part-time
Earliest date for submission: after 2 years after 4 years
Maximum time allowed: 3 years 6 years

School of Engineering & Applied Science> Computing Science Programme> Aston University

Course Structure

Full-time study for one year, starting in October. Part-time study for 2 to 5 years, starting in October.

The MSc in IT Project Management requires the student to undertake 9 or 10 (depending on module choice) taught modules in two blocks of teaching between October and April, and to complete a major project of up to 15,000 words.

The programme is organised on a module-credit basis with a total of 180 credits, each taught module being 10 credits, the project preparation module being 20 credits and the major project being 60 credits

The course will run from October to September with examinations and/or assessments held in December and March/April, immediately following the period in which the module is taught. The project occupies the final six months.
Assessment

Assessment methods are chosen in relation to the particular requirements of a module. These modules vary from 100% examination to 100% continuous assessment. Currently the balance is approximately 30% examination and 70% continuous assessment.

The Major Project accounts for 60 of the 180 credits required for successful completion of the degree.

To complete the MSc programme successfully a student must satisfy the criteria in both the taught part and the research project.

School of Engineering & Applied Science> Computing Science Programme> Aston University

Course Outline
Designed for students with a prior degree in computer science and/or experience in software engineering who wish to develop their career further into Project Management.
Teaching delivered by staff from Aston Business School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
On successful completion of this programme, students are expected to have knowledge and understanding of:
the factors affecting the success of a project
the planning and control cycle
the structure and application of a software process and the use of appropriate tools and techniques
the management of budgets
the ways in which software metrics can be applied to support and improve activities contributing to the management of software projects.
Career opportunities

This programme is suitable for candidates seeking to develop their career towards Project Management, coving such areas as the management of change, planning and budgeting, and risk management.

Course Director - Dr Tony Beaumont

Dr Beaumont has been involved in several collaborations with local industry under the Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) programme. A recently completed KTP involved the development of object orientated software development skills in a company developing software for landscape design. A current KTP aims to develop new web services for the Geotechnical industry.