Earn Your Degree from University of Fairfax
Master of Science in Information Technology
Faculty with both academic and industry backgrounds in information technology also provide a practical perspective. Real‐world problems and opportunities with software intensive systems are explored, and methods to evaluate, adopt and take advantage of emerging technologies are learned. MS‐IT students will be working closely with fellow IT professionals, to complete class assignments within teams, in order to prepare students for the real‐world work environment and build their professional networks.
Possible career paths:
- Network Administrator
- Network Architect
- IT Manager
- Chief Technology Officer
- Network and Security Engineer
- Web Developer
- Integration Engineer
- Network and Systems Administrator
Program Objectives
Upon completion of this degree program, graduates will be able to:
- Build a foundation of critical thinking skills on which to make professional judgments relating to information technology.
- Design and implement solutions aligned with information technology needs.
- Solidify an understanding of theoretical methods, principles, and tools used in the information technology industry.
- Examine the fundamental information technology issues and processes in today’s organizations relating to systems engineering, computer networking, database technologies, IT governance and strategy, Web development, and information assurance.
Credit Requirements
The MSIT degree program consists of 36 semester credits beyond a baccalaureate degree.
IT5230: Advanced Database Systems
This course covers the advanced fundamentals of database application development using C++, C, or Java by accessing a transaction-oriented database server. A commercial database environment such as Oracle is used. Optional topics may include enabling access to database via the web and administering large databases. (3 credits)
IT5310: Networking - Advanced Management
This course surveys the various levels of a packet-switched computer network, using the TCP/IP protocol suite as the primary model. Other network protocol stacks (e.g., Novell) may also be considered as time permits. At the Physical and Data Link Layers, various protocols are compared, and their implications for network topology are considered. At the Network Layer, a wide variety of routing protocols and name resolution protocols are studied. At the Transport Layer, students are introduced to the various methods for building end-to-end reliability on top of lower layers. Finally, at the Application Layer a variety of standard protocols such as telnet, ftp, and electronic mail are examined, together with the related issues of security and authentication. Some programming in the C language is required. (3 credits)
IT5400: Marketing Innovation and Technology Products
This course provides students with a strong understanding of the unique marketing challenges that surround innovation and high-tech products and services. Students will learn how traditional marketing strategies and programs must be modified and adapted for today’s global high-tech environment and how to bring together marketing with other business disciplines such as research and development, legal and management and strategy to achieve effective cross-functional interactions. (3 credits)
IT5500: Network Security
This course will involve a discussion of the methods and tactics used to keep attackers at bay as well as the mechanisms by which organizations can identify and potentially stop potential “bad guys.” The course will involve the following topics as they all relate to the overall security posture: Encryption, authentication, firewalls, NAT/PAT, restricted access policies, intrusion detection and other security frameworks. (3 credits)
IT5720: Web Application Development
Analysis of mobile history, architecture and applications. Students will examine design principles for creating usable and accessible mobile applications. Students will develop technical skills and apply industry standards. (3 credits)
IT5820: Systems Analyst
Examination of the systems approach to the design and development of information systems. Methods and tools for the analysis and modeling of system functionality (e.g., structured analysis) and data represented in the system (e.g., object-oriented analysis) are studied. (3 credits)
IT5900: Enterprise Architecture and IT Governance
Students will learn to develop a complete, comprehensive methodology and framework for adopting and managing a successful service-oriented architecture environment and how to set up an SOA Architecture practice defining the policies, procedures and standards that apply to IT developers and the enterprise for business applications. (3 credits)
IT6100: Global IT Products and Services Outsourcing
In this course, students will examine both historical and current perspectives on IT products and services outsourcing, the continuously evolving outsourcing marketplace, and the incentives and opportunities that drive management decisions on IT products and services outsourcing. Contributing factors to IT products and services outsourcing and offshoring market evolution such as globalization, technological advancement, politics, changing global economies, and changing vendor characteristics will be examined. Within this context, students will review different IT products and services outsourcing framework, models, vendor selection strategies, and outsourcing lifecycle from both client and vendor viewpoints. (3 credits)
IT6200: Decision Models for Technology Management
This course is an introduction to the application of various statistical concepts and methods as decision support tools to support decision making in technology management. The emphasis is on business application rather than mathematical concepts or problem solving. Students will learn to use statistical tools and quantitative analysis for forecasting, process, and quality management. (3 credits)
IT6230: Pattern Discovery in Data Mining
The goal of the course is to examine the current theories, practices, tools and techniques in data mining. Many topics and concepts in data mining are learned most efficiently through hands-on work with data sets, students will spend time with software analyzing and mining data. (3 credits)
IT6300: Data Warehousing - Cloud Based
In the Data Warehousing course, students will examine how data warehouses are used to help managers successfully gather, analyze, understand and act on information stored in data warehouses. The components and design issues related to Cloud Based data warehouses and business intelligence techniques for extracting meaningful information from data warehouses are emphasized. Oracle tools will be used to demonstrate design, implementation, and utilization issues. (3 credits)
IT6720: Advanced Web Development
Study of design and implementation of dynamic Web pages and applications using both client and server-side configuration and programming. Example topics include PHP, Ruby on Rails, and Javascript. (3 credits)

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into the Master of Science in Information Technology curriculum.
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