Course description

Information and communication technology (ICT) systems now dominate our everyday lives. This short course will explain what constitutes such a system and how ICT systems work.

This free programme is provided by the Open University. It guides you through a series of online instructional pages with illustrations and activities to carry out. You will look at how ICT systems convey, store and manipulate data, and how data is processed. You will also learn how ICT systems are used.

Course content

This course covers the following topics:

• Exploring systems
• Communication systems
• System components
• Communication links
• Sending and receiving data
• Manipulating data
• Storing data
• Different types of storage
• Networked computers
• ICT systems in a supermarket
• ICT systems overview
• Electronic commerce

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain the meaning of all the terms highlighted in the text;
2. Demonstrate undertanding of the main processes in an ICT system (sending, receiving, storing, retrieving, manipulating, conveying);
3. Discuss some of the hardware, software and communication components used in ICT systems;
4. Use a system map or a block diagram to identify the components of an ICT system.