BR4008 - Fundamentals of Computing and AI

At The Bridge you learn through a blended approach where short, focused and interactive face-to-face sessions are underpinned by guided and independent online learning. Your attendance for scheduled activities is monitored regardless of whether you are on campus or joining the session remotely. This ensures you access all of the learning opportunities which have been purposefully designed for your success.

A range of teaching and learning approaches are adopted to accelerate your learning in this module.

During the first week of this module, you will receive information about the module and Teaching & Learning Plan. The teaching and learning plan (TLP) sets out
• Learning outcomes and overall module and programme aims
• Teaching, learning and assessment strategy
• Teaching schedule
• Directed reading references (text and journals) and core texts for the module
• References to data sources and details of lab activities

You will also receive the assessment brief which sets out the formative and summative assessments throughout the module.

There are three key sources of academic support available to you during your time at the Bridge in addition to Ask4Help who are available 24/7 for general queries related to your studies.

Your Module Tutor
Your module tutor is responsible for your learning outcomes on the module. They deliver the workshops and provide guidance in relation to learning and assignments. They develop all of the key resources and make them available through the eLP (electronic learning portal module) Blackboard, which is used to provide support materials, interactive learning tasks and give you regular opportunities to test and get feedback on your learning. You will be given both written and verbal feedback and guidance on your work and progress during the semester by your module tutor.

Your Learning Mentor
On programme, you will have your in-person and online engagement activity tracked against the learning plan with key check-in points built into the academic calendar to ensure you maximise your learning potential. Engagement with formative assessments will also be used by the learning mentor to discuss any action planning required to ensure success.

Academic Skills Team
The Bridge aspires to build a range of student skillsets, including digital skills, academic writing and discourse, working alone and in teams. Your learning mentor may refer you a dedicated academic skills team which is based in the centre. Here you can attend drop-ins or schedule 1-1 sessions on issues which have been identified at the diagnostic stages of the programme however you may also have self-identified areas for your own growth and self-refer yourself for support.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
MLO1: Demonstrate knowledge from first principles of set theory, logic and computer models and apply them in modelling software, systems and data
MLO2: Describe AI workloads and considerations, fundamental principles, features of AI workloads and their implementation on Azure.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO3: Specify and design simple computer- and AI- based systems for use in business

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO4: Discuss major paradigms of Computation and AI and their application in software systems

You will receive formative feedback throughout the module including at the following checkpoints:-

•Week 2: Navigating the course materials
•Week 4: Completing the in-module reflective tasks
•Week 6: Completing the in-module knowledge checks and tasks

Summative assessment will be a single assignment involving a mixture of Computing and AI written tasks (totalling no more than 2500 words). You may chose to do this as an essay or as a 2 Hour Open Notes exam.

Universal Design for Learning
This module allows the option for you to chose how you are assessed formally depending on your learning preference and approach to the specific module. In discussion and agreement with your Learning Mentor you should indicate your chosen assessment choice by the in-module reflective check-point at week 4.

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This module aims to provide you with a theoretical and practical foundation required to understand the fundamental underpinnings of a computing system. You will be introduced to the basic concepts involved in computer software, information representation and the operations and components used in computer system architectures. You will gain an understanding of the underlying theory of computation as well as the major computational and programming paradigms. To complement this theoretical underpinning, you will also study the standard von Neumann computer architecture and von Neumann machine programming.

Indicative topics include:

- Number representation (binary, hexadecimal, floating points, Unicode)
- Mathematical foundations for computing from first principles (set theory, relations and functions)
- Digital logic (logic notations, logic gates)
- Computer Systems architecture (CPU, computer functional units, memory, registers)
- Assembly programming
- Theories of computation from first principles (for example, the work of Turing, von Neumann, Babbage and/or the nature of state machines)

Lectures will be used to introduce you to theories and key concepts. You will explore these further in seminar and workshop sessions through practical exercises.