* Program Structure
* Degree Requirements
* Graduate Curriculum (MS)
* Courses Offered in 2006-2007 Spring
* News and Events
* Facts, Numbers
* Publications
* MS Projects
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Objectives
Informatics-Online aims at providing expertise on the rapidly developing subjects of information technology and systems. It is intended for working professionals who need continuing education at anytime and anywhere without the need to come to the METU campus for lectures.
Career Opportunities
Graduates of the program can work in any field related with information technology and systems.
Program Structure
Informatics-Online is a non-thesis program in which course participation will be exclusively through the Internet. Courses cover fundamental and current concepts of information technology and systems in depth. Personal appearance of students on the campus is required twice in every semester (at the beginning and at the end of the semester). Students are required to complete an applied project and present it in a seminar on the campus.
Performance of students is evaluated based on in-class final exams and self-tests administered on the web, as well as homework assignments, projects, and contribution to chats, seminars and forums. Further information can be found at the web address http://ion.ii.metu.edu.tr.
Students enrolled in Informatics-Online pay tuition fee based on the number of credit hours they register every semester. The amount of tuition fee per credit hour is determined at the beginning of every semester.
MS Degree Requirements -Non-Thesis Option
Core Courses
ION 501 Introduction to Information Systems
Description: The course introduces the students to the fundamental concepts of information systems. These include: systems theory; management information; conceptual models of information in organizations; MIS; decision support systems; enterprise resource planning systems; information systems planning; organizing for information system projects; IS project lifecycle models; IS development and maintenance principles; organization, management and control of IS; IS outsourcing.
ION 502 Introduction to Software Engineering
Description: The course introduces the fundamentals of software management and software system models with an emphasis on software development process models, project management techniques and contemporary modeling notations.
ION 503 Database Concepts and Applications
Description: Introduction to database concepts: data abstraction/independence, data models (Entity-Relationship model, Object Oriented model, relational/network/hierarchical model), database languages (DDL, DML), database administrator/user. Storage and File Structures. Indexing and hashing. Relational Model: formal query languages (Relational algebra, Relational calculus), commercial query languages (SQL). Relational database design: integrity constraints, data dependencies, normal forms. Transaction processing and concurrency control.
ION 504 Computer Networking for Information Systems
Description: Introduction to networking, Layered network architectures and standard layer functions. ALOHA, Ethernet and Token Ring networks. Framing and error control. Routing and switching. Internetworking. TCP/IP. The Internet. Application support protocols. Network security.
ION 505 Information Systems On-Line Group Project
Description: This course aims to integrate fundamental awareness and expertese obtained in earlier information systems and software engineering courses into a meaningful whole through an applied group project. Students are organized in teams and each team is responsible from a stage in a complete IS development project. Teams communicate via formal documentation prepared and reviewed over the Internet. Course material, in parallel with project stages, presents an overview of fundamental IS project planning and management techniques and approaches. The course aims to achieve a professional level of quality in all stages of work, through formal peer reviews, standards of documentation and quality assurance.
ION 589 Term Project
ION 590 Graduate Seminar
Students who have already taken some of the core courses listed above (or their equivalents) should take elective courses to replace them.
Elective Courses
ION 512 IT Governance
Description: Contemproray issues about IT Governance as a whole; but major concentration upon
* IT Organization
* IT Management
* IT Processes
* IT Project Management
* IT Control Standards & Security
* IT Risk Management & Audit
issues will be thoroughly discussed and practiced in this course. By focusing on Business Requirements and Business-Technology Alignment; well-applied Global Best Practices, Assessment Methodologies, Process Maturity and IT Risks will examined.
Besides experiencing the technology impact and its leverage on business world, the protection & control of information & information assets will be the common perspective of this lecture.
In addition to a medium weight of reading materials; membership to and follow-up of some major professional e-groups and discussion lists, research over the Internet, control risk assesment & audit project assignments, case studies, simulations and student prepared presentations will be the lecture s study/practice material.
ION 514 Multimedia Information Systems
Description: Architectures for Multimedia Systems, Digital Audio, Video Technology and Image Compression, Computer Graphics, Multimedia Information Systems, Multimedia Communication Systems.
ION 516 Computer Architecture
ION 516 Computer Architecture
ION 523 Data Mining
The course introduces principles and techniques of data mining. It emphasizes the advantages and disadvantages of using these methods in real world systems, and provides hands-on experience. Topics include: Data Mining using Decision-Tree based classifiers, Association-Rules, Clustering methods, Neural Networks, Statistical methods (Probability, Maximum Likelihood, EM algorithm, Bayesian methods, Markov and Hidden Markov methods, Cross-Validation, Regression), Visual methods, Text Mining, Web Mining.
ION 525 Artificial Intelligence
Description: Problem solving and search strategies. Game playing. Knowledge and Reasoning. Uncertainty. Machine learning. Artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms.
Introduction to Neural Networks
Description: This course aims to give basics of Artificial Neural Networks in an algorithmic approach. The following topics are to be covered in the course: Biological and Artificial Neurons, Perceptron Training Algorithm, Multilayer Perceptron and Back Propagation Training Algorithm, Hopfield Network as Autoassociative Memory, Bidirectional Associative Memory, Function Interpolation and Radial Basis Function Networks, Kohonen Self Organizing Feature Maps, Hopfield Network for Optimization Problems, Simulated Annealing and Boltzman Machine.
ION 528 Image Processing Algorithms
Description: This course is designed to introduce the basic concepts, applications and practical issues of Image processing. The teaching material presented through Internet has been prepared to provide easy and effective learning using visual effects and interactive Java applets. The following topics are covered in the course: Image processing in Java, Digital Image Fundamentals, Image Transforms, Image Enhancement, Edge Detection, Morphological Image Processing, and Segmentation.
ION 535 Introduction to Medical Informatics
Description: Medical informatics is the application of computers, communications and information technology and systems to all fields of medicine - medical care, medical education and medical research. This Course presents an overview of medical informatics and its main applications. Primary topics include : Medical informatics as a discipline, Associations and Institutes, Medical data and records, coding classification, database and reference models, Interfaces, data acquisition, processing and exchange standards, Medical Knowledge, decision and diagnostic support, Medical information systems, Administrative, Clinical and Ancillary Information systems, Implementations and evaluations, Telemedicine and Internet applications.
ION 541 Computer Networking Applications
Description: Introduction of the newest networking technologies with a special emphasis on wireless networking and optical networking, familiarizing students with current research areas. TCP/IP overview. Integrated services. Differantiated services. Multiprotocol Label Switching. Ethernet overview and gigabit Ethernet. Wireless Networks. Optical Networks.
ION 542 Information Technology and Business Processes
Description: This course covers the business process concepts and the impact of ICT as the enabling technology. Process organization and process innovation are the main emphasis. Methodologies such as integrated process engineering and extended integrated process engineering will also be in introduced.
ION 545 Software Quality Management
Description: Software quality.Quality assurance.Quality metrics. Construction of Software Quality. Quality management and control. Software Quality Assurrence planning. Quality standards. Software testing techniques. Black box and white box testing. Test strategies, Unit Test, and Integration Test.
ION 551 - Computer Security and Cryptography
Description: The course introduces fundamental principles and concepts in computer security and teaches cryptography as a leveraging tool for building secure computer systems. Topics on cryptography include simple ciphers, both symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hash functions, message authentication codes and digital signatures. Other main computer security issues such as authentication, access control, operating system security and secure programming are also given. Security standards are briefly presented.
ION 561 Fundamentals of Simulation
Description: This course covers simulation modeling in dynamic and stochastic systems, relevant fundamentals of statistical analysis, computer simulation and other application specifics. Discrete event simulation is the main emphasis; however, continuous and combined models will also be introduced. Input data analysis, model verification and validation, experimentation and output analysis will be introduced. Computer simulation will be taught in SIMAN environment.
ION 562 Optimization
Description: Introduction to optimization problems, problem formulation, mathematical preliminaries, convex analysis, unconstrained minimization, one dimensional search techniques, methods of steepest descent, Newton and quasi-Newton and conjugate directions, constrained minimization and Kuhn-Tucker conditions, linear programming, penalty function method, feasible direction techniques, evolutionary optimization, genetical algorithms.
ION 574 Medical Imaging Technology
Description: The course provides a basic overview of the fundamental medical imaging technologies at an introductory level for graduate students of any background. Physical principles, data acquisition techniques and mathematical formulation of imaging problems are briefly introduced. Digital medical image processing/analysis techniques, as well as telemedicine/teleradiology concepts (including digital image communication in medicine-DICOM) are also covered.