Official programme of record · SWY-12

Professional Master of Education in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Pedagogy & Digital Leadership

This page is the single official record of this programme. Transcripts, syllabus PDFs, the learner workspace and the public verification page are all generated from it, and each printed syllabus carries the version and fingerprint shown below so evaluators can compare them line by line.

Total learning hours

1800 h

Scheduled class / seminar

540 h

Guided study, lab & research

1260 h

Credits

60 ECTS

30 learning hours per ECTS credit. Taught units: 20 h seminar + 30 h guided study. Research stages: 20% supervision, 80% independent research. Programme version 2026.10 · fingerprint 1C3130CD01BA3B92

Graded courses on the transcript · 7

Code	Course	Hours	ECTS
SWY-12-S1	Spiral 1 — Applications, Software & Society	150	5
SWY-12-S2	Spiral 2 — Data Structures & Algorithms	150	5
SWY-12-S3	Spiral 3 — Programming & Software Development	150	5
SWY-12-S4	Spiral 4 — Computer Organisation & Architecture	150	5
SWY-12-S5	Spiral 5 — Networks & Security	150	5
SWY-12-S6	Spiral 6 — Database Systems	150	5
SWY-12-CRP	Capstone Research Project (Months 7–12)	900	30

S1 Spiral 1 — Applications, Software & Society · Month 1 · 150 h

From 'using software' to 'analysing software ethics & system architecture'.

Unit 1.1Advanced socio-economic impact analysis20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — socio-economic implications
Content: Critical analysis of the global digital divide. Policy frameworks for ICT integration in rural vs. urban schools across emerging and mature economies.
Required output: Policy brief: Global ICT Equity in Secondary Education.

Unit 1.2Operating-system internals & kernel design20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — software / OS
Content: Monolithic vs. microkernel architectures. Real-time vs. batch scheduling. MMU, virtual memory, paging.
Required output: Simulate a CPU scheduler in Python; benchmark against standard algorithms.

Unit 1.3Software licensing & open-source pedagogy20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — proprietary vs. open source
Content: Legal frameworks of GPL, MIT, Apache. Strategic FOSS adoption to reduce school IT costs.
Required output: FOSS Integration Plan for a secondary-school IT department.

S2 Spiral 2 — Data Structures & Algorithms · Month 2 · 150 h

From 'writing loops' to 'algorithmic complexity & computational theory'.

Unit 2.1Advanced algorithmic analysis20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — algorithms
Content: Big-O / Ω / Θ proofs. Amortised analysis. NP-completeness, P vs NP.
Required output: Seminar paper proving the time complexity of three sorting algorithms.

Unit 2.2Advanced data structures & graph theory20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — arrays, lists
Content: B-Trees, Red-Black Trees, hash collision resolution. Dijkstra, A*, Kruskal for routing.
Required output: Pathfinding visualiser using graph-theoretic algorithms.

Unit 2.3Functional & logic programming paradigms20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — programming paradigms
Content: Lambda calculus, recursion theory, Prolog for AI logic. Imperative vs. declarative in education.
Required output: Lesson plan comparing Python (imperative) vs. Haskell (functional) for teaching logic.

S3 Spiral 3 — Programming & Software Development · Month 3 · 150 h

From 'coding in C/Pascal' to 'compiler design & software-engineering research'.

Unit 3.1Compiler construction & language translation20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — language translators
Content: Lexical analysis, LL/LR parsing, semantic analysis, code generation. Build a mini-compiler.
Required output: Interpreter for a small educational programming language.

Unit 3.2Advanced software-engineering methodologies20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — software dev II
Content: Agile / Scrum at scale (SAFe). DevOps pipelines. Formal verification. Cyclomatic complexity.
Required output: Manage a simulated software project with Jira and CI/CD tooling.

Unit 3.3Object-oriented design patterns & architecture20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — OOP
Content: GoF patterns (Singleton, Factory, Observer). MVC / MVVM. Advanced UML 2.0.
Required output: Refactor a legacy monolith into microservices using design patterns.

S4 Spiral 4 — Computer Organisation & Architecture · Month 4 · 150 h

From 'logic gates' to 'processor design & parallel computing'.

Unit 4.1Advanced digital logic & FPGA design20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — logic gates
Content: VHDL / Verilog HDLs. FPGA simulation. Pipeline hazards.
Required output: Simulate a 4-bit ALU in VHDL.

Unit 4.2Processor architecture & instruction sets20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — Von Neumann
Content: RISC-V vs. x86-64 assembly. Superscalar execution. Branch prediction. MESI cache coherence.
Required output: Performance analysis of optimised assembly for a numerical kernel.

Unit 4.3Parallel & distributed computing20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — parallelism
Content: MPI. CUDA / GPU programming basics. IaaS / PaaS / SaaS architectures.
Required output: Run a parallel processing task on a cloud cluster.

S5 Spiral 5 — Networks & Security · Month 5 · 150 h

From 'setting up LANs' to 'protocol analysis & cybersecurity forensics'.

Unit 5.1Advanced network protocols & routing20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — OSI / TCP-IP
Content: BGP, OSPF, EIGRP. Software-defined networking. Network virtualisation.
Required output: Configure a multi-area OSPF network in GNS3 / EVE-NG.

Unit 5.2Cryptography & information security20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — security
Content: Symmetric vs. asymmetric (AES, RSA). SHA-256. Digital signatures. PKI.
Required output: Build a secure chat application with end-to-end encryption.

Unit 5.3Ethical hacking & penetration testing20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — malware / firewalls
Content: Kali Linux toolchain. Nessus assessments. Metasploit. Social-engineering defence.
Required output: Authorised pen-test on a lab network with full remediation report.

S6 Spiral 6 — Database Systems · Month 6 · 150 h

From 'MS Access tables' to 'big data, NoSQL & database administration'.

Unit 6.1Advanced relational theory & normalisation20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — ERD / normalisation
Content: 4NF, 5NF, BCNF. ACID. Concurrency control (locking, timestamping).
Required output: Optimise a SQL database for high-concurrency transactions.

Unit 6.2NoSQL & big-data technologies20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — relational DBs
Content: Document (MongoDB), key-value (Redis), columnar (Cassandra). Hadoop / Spark basics.
Required output: Migrate a relational dataset to MongoDB; perform MapReduce operations.

Unit 6.3Database administration & security20 h class + 30 h study = 50 h

Builds on: BSc foundation — DBMS tools
Content: Backup / recovery strategies. B-tree vs. hash indexing. SQL-injection defence.
Required output: Set up a replicated MySQL master-slave cluster.

R1 Research methods & proposal scoping · Month 7 · 150 h

Open the 6-month Capstone Research Project. Choose method, scope question, secure ethics approval.

Unit 7.1Quantitative research in CS education10 h class + 40 h study = 50 h

Builds on: Research methods
Content: Statistical analysis of student-performance data. SPSS / R for educational data mining.
Required output: Quantitative pilot study on a chosen pedagogy intervention.

Unit 7.2Qualitative research in CS education10 h class + 40 h study = 50 h

Builds on: Research methods
Content: Case studies and ethnography in computer labs. Interview techniques.
Required output: Qualitative case study with coded interview transcripts.

Unit 7.3Proposal & ethics review10 h class + 40 h study = 50 h

Builds on: Research methods
Content: Draft full research proposal. Submit to internal ethics board. Sign supervisor agreement.
Required output: Approved proposal + signed supervision and ethics record.

R2 Literature review & curriculum-design artefact · Month 8 · 150 h

Build the theoretical scaffolding. Produce a publishable design artefact alongside the research.

Unit 8.1Publication-ready literature review15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Research methods
Content: Master's thesis structure. Literature-review synthesis. Citation managers (Zotero, Mendeley).
Required output: Publication-ready literature-review chapter.

Unit 8.2Modernised ICT curriculum artefact15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Capstone design
Content: Integrates AI, cloud and cybersecurity into a national ICT syllabus, mapped to UNESCO ICT-CFT, ISTE and CSTA standards.
Required output: Full scheme of work, lesson plans and assessment rubrics for upper-secondary classes.

R3 Fieldwork & data collection · Months 9–10 · 300 h

Run the study. Collect, code and clean the evidence base.

Unit 9.1Fieldwork execution30 h class + 120 h study = 150 h

Builds on: Capstone Research Project
Content: Run interventions, surveys, interviews or observations in partner schools. Manage informed consent and data protection end-to-end.
Required output: Cleaned, anonymised dataset with audit trail.

Unit 9.2Mid-project review30 h class + 120 h study = 150 h

Builds on: Capstone Research Project
Content: Formal mid-point review with supervisor and one external assessor. Go / no-go on scope.
Required output: Signed mid-project review record.

R4 Analysis & writing · Month 11 · 150 h

Turn the dataset into a defensible thesis chapter set.

Unit 11.1Analysis (quantitative or mixed)15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Capstone Research Project
Content: Statistical or thematic analysis with stated limitations and validity threats.
Required output: Analysis chapter with replicable methods appendix.

Unit 11.2Discussion, policy and pedagogy contribution15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Capstone Research Project
Content: Synthesise findings into actionable recommendations for schools, ministries or curriculum bodies.
Required output: Discussion chapter + one-page policy / practice brief.

R5 Defence & professional portfolio · Month 12 · 150 h

Public defence and registry-anchored portfolio.

Unit 12.1Public oral defence15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Defence
Content: Defence before a panel of internal supervisor + one academic external + one industry / ministry external.
Required output: Pass with distinction / pass / revise — record anchored in the registry.

Unit 12.2Professional digital portfolio15 h class + 60 h study = 75 h

Builds on: Portfolio
Content: Compile curriculum designs, research papers and technical projects into a public portfolio.
Required output: Public, citeable portfolio URL anchored to the SWY registry.

Assessment weighting (every course)

• Written examination — 30% of the course mark
• Laboratory / practical portfolio — 40% of the course mark
• Project defence — 20% of the course mark
• Professional conduct & participation — 10% of the course mark