Ministry of Education

BSc in Information Systems

Test Blueprint Document for Exit Examination

January, 2022
Ministry of Education
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Objective/significance of Test Blueprint Preparation ......................................................................................... 2
3. Expected Profile of the Graduates ...................................................................................................................... 2
4. Objective (General and specific) of the program ................................................................................................ 3
6. Themes, List of Course and credit hours ............................................................................................................ 5
7. Share of the Themes/Courses/Items in Percentage (%) ...................................................................................... 6
8. Learning outcomes in terms of the three domains (Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor) ........................... 12
9. Test blueprint Table (Table of Specification) ................................................................................................... 13
10. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 20

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List of Tables
Table 1: Professional and Graduate Profile ................................................................................................. 3
Table 2: Themes, Courses and Cr. Hrs. ....................................................................................................... 5
Table 3: Shares of Themes, Courses and Items ......................................................................................... 11
Table 4: Specification of Competencies and Learning Outcomes ............................................................ 19
Table 5: Determination of Number of Items for each Courses ................................................................. 21
Table 6: Linking the Curriculum to Course/program Learning Outcomes ............................................... 23

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 1. Introduction
The Ministry of Education of Ethiopia has announced the implementation of exit exam for all
undergraduate program students (public and private), beginning with the 2022/2023 academic year, in
order to improve the quality of graduates produced by higher learning institutions. The exit exam aimed
at checking whether students have acquired the required knowledge, skills and attitudes or not. To
implement this, it requires determining competency areas for a specific program, which is already
completed. Based on the competency areas prepared, it needs to plan the construction of tests.
Planning of a test is a first and vital step in the construction of an achievement test. An achievement test
demands very systematic and careful planning, as a fact that good planning is a symbol of success. Tests
are the tools that provide scores that measure level of student learning and study program learning
outcomes. In order to achieve the valid and reliable measurement of student learning and program
learning outcomes, the development of valid and reliable test is the mandatory. Test should be able to
measure student performance in all dimensions of knowledge, skill and attitude. The carefully planned
test construction contributes to improve the overall quality of the test in terms of test content validity,
difficulty level, discrimination power and test reliability. Test preparation is not an easy task; it requires
a careful planning and guideline to make the task simple. Test construction needs the preparation of test
blue print. Test blueprint is defined as a complete plan that explains how to develop a test. The term
refers to a map or specification of assessment to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum and educational
domains are covered by the assessment programs over a specified period of time. It helps curriculum
developers/test constructors to match various competencies with the course content and the appropriate
modality of assessment.
Generally, test blueprint will help to ensure tests: 1) Appropriately assess the achievement of
instructional objectives of the course; 2) Appropriately reflect key course goals, objectives and the
material learned or covered during the instruction period; and 3) Include the appropriate item formats
along with the knowledge and skills being assessed.
Keeping this in mind, the team has prepared this test blueprint document in order to help the test
developers or content specialists in their process of valid and reliable test construction. The major points
considered in the process of preparing this test blue print guideline were the core competencies that have
been already identified for the themes of courses, the course contents, course credit hours, and the
learning outcomes with their corresponding levels of achievement by learning domains. In line with
these, the number of test items that should adequately assess the performance of students in all the
content topics will be determined through discussion with the content specialists who construct the
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blueprint and test for their corresponding study program.
Therefore, the main purpose of this manual is to give direction on how to develop blueprint for content
specialists so that they can develop a test blueprint for their respective program.

2. Objective/significance of Test Blueprint Preparation

It is important to develop a blueprint for information systems undergraduate program in order to evaluate
its effect as a tool to increase the content validity of assessment with an appropriate distribution of
questions across topics, weightage given to topics, and the examinations quality to become fair and
measuring graduates based of learning outcome in terms of cognitive, affective and psychomotor
domains. Generally the significance developing a blueprint of the program help to ensure alignment with
course goals, selected competency and program objectives.

3. Expected Profile of the Graduates

A graduate profile is a document that uses to specify the cognitive, personal, and
interpersonal competencies that students should have when they graduate. It describes the
attributes that the students should have at the end. The graduate profile for information
systems program are showsas follow:
Graduate Profile (Competence) Professional Profile

1. Analyze, Design, Implement, Test  Develop business application

andMaintain Information Systems  analyze information systems

 Design information systems

 Write software programmes

 Analyze business processes

 Design user interfaces

2. Design, Implement, Test, Administer  Administer database systems

andMaintain Database Systems  Analyze database systems

 Develop database

2
3. Analyze, Design, Configure, Test,  Design and Develop Computer Networks
Administer and Maintain Networks
andNetwork Resources

4. Plan, Organize, Direct, Control, Lead  Manage web content

Information Systems, Services and  Manage e-business
Resources
 Serve as ERP specialist

 Serve as chief information officer

 Shoulder responsibility of information

auditing andcompliance specialist

 Manage information systems architectures

 Manage information systems assets

 Manage information systems operations

 Manage information system projects

Table 1: Professional and Graduate Profile

4. Objective (General and specific) of the program

Graduates, in general, will specifically have the chance to have knowledge and understanding in the
following major areas: Theoretical background on the functionalities of computer and application of
computer to businesses; Theories, principles, processes and techniques of organization, storage, retrieval,
dissemination and utilization of all forms of information; Understanding of computers and
communication systems, including basic software engineering, network design, database development,
implementation and management; Various types of academic and business information resources,
systems and services; Knowledge of basic principles of ICT-based business information processing
techniques; Theories, practices and principles of information systems analysis, design, development and
management in the business environment; Principles and different approaches of computer programming
and algorithm development to solve real world problems; Theories, practices and principles of business
process engineering in a creative manner to solve information related problem of businesses and
organizations.

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Major Practical Skills of the Graduates will be:
To be able to write high and middle level computer programs using different technologies to solve
information related problems like storage, retrieval and management of information.
 to design, implement and evaluate various information systems and multimedia resources
including the Internet;
 to manage business information systems and services (organization and retrieval of business
information);
 to manage and actively participate in information system development projects;
 to analyze, design, develop, manage and evaluate business information systems from different
perspectives;
 to provide information system/technology consultancy services;
 to solve problems in business enterprises through application of Information communication
technology and development of decision support information systems;
 to plan and execute projects related to information systems development and resources and
services;
Graduates will have the chance to be equipped with transferable skills:
 to work in teams specially in information systems projects and systems development;
 to have good communication skill
 to have time and self-management skill
Attitudes and Values: The graduates will be inspired:
 to have professionalism at the center of their mentality;
 to have a positive and responsive attitude towards the value of information resources;
 to have good personal confidence in their jobs and professional activities;
 to have a positive attitude towards their profession (love, dedication, commitment, etc.);
 to have the sense of co-operation, honesty, loyalty, etc.; and
5. to be ethical.

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6. Themes, List of Course and credit hours

No Themes List of courses Course credit hours themes credit hours

1 Computer programming and Basic Computer Programming 3 10
Web-Technology Object Oriented Programming 4
Internet Programming 3
2 Computer networking and Data Communication and Computer 3 6
information security Networks
Information System Security 3
3 Database and Information Database Systems 3 9
Management Introduction to Information Storage 3
and Retrieval
Multimedia Information Systems 3
4 Intelligent Systems Fundamentals of Artificial 3 9
Intelligence
Knowledge Management 3
Introduction to Machine Learning 3
5 Information Systems Management of Information 3 12
Development and Management Systems and Services
Information Systems Project 3
Management
Enterprise Systems 3
System Analysis and Design 3

Table 2: Themes, Courses and Cr. Hrs.

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 7. Share of the Themes/Courses/Items in Percentage (%)
To know the share of the identified themes, courses and question items are calculated using the
following formula stated blow and the expected results is and the number of items for themes and
courses in sated in table 5 at appendix 1 and alignments of the competency, selected course goals and
program at appendix 2.

Percent share for Theme i = 100

Percent share for Course i = Percent share for Theme i

Total test items for Theme i = for the program

Total of items for course i =

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 Learning outcomes
Cognitive
Themes and Name and

Creation/Synthesi
Share of the Share of the Credi

Understanding
themes in % Courses in % t hour General Specific objectives /learning outcomes

Remembering

Psychomotor

No. of items
Application
objective/Competency

Evaluation

Affective
Analysis

s
Computer Basic Computer 3  Understand understand the principles of x x
programming Programming programming fundamental programming concepts x x
and Web- (6.6%) principles and logic using C++
Technology develop a program that uses each of x
(22%) the following fundamental
x x
programming constructs: structures,
arrays, functions, pointers
Implement I/O functionality to read x
from and write to data and text files.
Internet 3  Design and develop Demonstrate knowledge of website
Programming development concepts and x x
(6.6%) static and dynamic
terminology
web-based systems Design and develop static websites x x
using HTML, CSS, JavaScript x x x
and applications
Design and develop dynamic data x
driven websites using PHP and x
MySQL
Object Oriented 4  Develop applications Understand object-oriented x
Programming programming major concepts such as
(8.8%) using object oriented
abstraction, encapsulation, x
programing paradigm inheritance, polymorphism, interface
etc.
design and implement data and file x
driven small-scale object-oriented x x x
program using Java
7
Computer Data  Understand the Describe the basics of data x x
network and Communication 3 communications and network: types
and Computer underlying principles
information of Network, network devices, data
security (13%) Networks of Data Communication transmission, and Reference Model
(6.5%) x x x
Demonstrate cable crimping,
and computer
establishing, setup and
networking troubleshooting Networks
Understand network addressing, sub x
netting, network security and data
integrity
Information  Understand and Understand basic issues, concepts, x x
System Security 3 principles, and mechanisms in
(6.5%) identify security
information security
threats to information Identify risks and threats to x x
information systems
systems x x
analyze both early and contemporary
threats to information security
Data and Database 3  Design ,Develop and Explain database system, data x x
Information Systems management approaches, types and
administer database
Management its applications
(20%) (6.7%) systems Design conceptual, logical and x x
physical database models.
Design ER models and map them into x x x
relational tables
Understand database functional x x x x
dependency and normalization
Explain database query processing, x
optimization, transaction
management and database security
Introduction to 3  Understand concepts Understand the various Information x x
Information Retrieval Systems and processes
Storage and of information storage x
Understand the processes of
Retrieval (6.7 information storage and retrieval

8
 %) and retrieval : models; Design ,develop and evaluate x x x x x
information retrieval models
evaluations metrics
and techniques for
enhancing retrieval
effectiveness

Multimedia 3  Understand content- Understand multimedia systems, x x x x x x

Information multimedia elements and data
based multimedia
Systems characteristics, format and models
(6.7 %) systems and Describe the multimedia data x x
representation techniques
compression
techniques

Intelligent Fundamentals 3 Understand different Describe different types and x x

Systems of Artificial intelligent agents types characteristics of intelligent agents
(19%) Intelligence and characteristics and Explain the different perspectives and x x x
(6.3% their applications historical background of Artificial
Intelligence, and its type
Knowledge 3  Understand Understand the fundamental concepts x x x
Management of knowledge and knowledge
(6.3%) knowledge
creation, acquisition, representation,
management system dissemination, use and re-use, and
management.
concepts, x x x x
Apply knowledge generation,
representations, engineering, and transfer, and in the
representation, organization, and
sharing principles and
exchange of knowledge.
management aspects Describe the role and use of x x
knowledge in organizations and
institutions, and the typical obstacles
that KM aims to overcome.
Understand the core concepts, x
methods, techniques, and tools for

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 computer support of knowledge
management.
Introduction to 3 Able to prepare data Understanding about the fundamental x x
Machine and apply machine concepts in machine learning, the
Learning learning algorithms to different classes of machine learning
(6.3%) achieve a learning goal algorithms
within an intelligent Apply machine learning methods to x x x
system. achieve a learning goal within an
intelligent system on prepared
datasets.
Be able to evaluate the performance x
of learning systems.
Information Management of 3  Understand the Understand the principles and x
Systems Information theories of Management Information
Systems and principles and theories
Development System (MIS) and its impact on
and Services of Management organizations.
(6.5%)
Management Describe IT’s strategic importance in x x
Information Systems
(26%) business and the essential elements of
(MIS) and its impact strategic plan development,
Apply computer-based information x x x
on organizations and
systems and how they are used in
businesses. supporting for decision making.
Understand contemporary managerial x
issues in effectively choosing,
deploying, and utilizing IT/IS to gain
competitive advantage,
Information 3  Understand the Understand and value the essence of x
Systems Project management within the
Project concepts, best
context of organizational information
Management practices of managing systems
(6.5%) x x x x
Develop project proposal/ project
IS/IT related projects
plan by applying project management
and coordinate them in phases.
professional manner Understand the concepts, experiences x x x
and practices of managing IS/IT
related projects
Enterprise 3  Understand how Understand the fundamentals of x x x

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 Systems enterprise systems enterprise systems and issues
(6.5%) associated with their implementation.
integrate functional
Understand how enterprise systems x x
areas into enterprise integrate functional areas into one
enterprise wide information system.
wide information
Identify, describe, and evaluate the x x x x x x x
system major enterprise system software
providers and their packaged systems.
System 3  Understand and apply Understand the system development x x
Analysis and process, from planning though
software development
Design analysis and design to
(6.5%) process principles, and implementation and maintenance.
Demonstrate the application of x x
practices and create a
Unified Modeling Language (UML)
high quality software Apply software development process x x x x x

 using UML diagrams principles, and practices to create a

high-quality software

Total Number of Items 14 27 15 16 11 19 11 7 120

Table 3: Shares of Themes, Courses and Items

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 8. Learning outcomes in terms of the three domains (Cognitive, Affective and
Psychomotor)
In this document try to touch three domains such knowledge attainment (Cognitive), emotional
(Affective) arena and learning behavior (Psychomotor). As it shown in the table 4 below. From the
selected 15 core courses (46 credits hours) 120 question proposed. Learning outcome in terms of
Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor are try to address proportionally to align with program goals and
selected competency.

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9. Test blueprint Table (Table of Specification)

Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

Information Basic Computer  Understand programming principles - understand the principles of fundamental programming
Systems Programming and logic
concepts
- develop a program that uses each of the following
fundamental programming constructs: structures, arrays,
functions, pointers
- Implement I/O functionality to read from and write to data
and text files.

Object Oriented  Develop applications using - Understand object-oriented programming major concepts such
Programming
programming languages concepts, as abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism,
tools and techniques interface etc.
 To have good personal confidence on
- design and implement data and file driven small-scale object-
application and system development
oriented program using Java
 To have interpersonal group skills in
software development

Multimedia  Understand content-based multimedia - Describe digital multimedia data characteristics, format and
Information
systems and compression applications models
Systems
 Develop multimedia systems - Describe the multimedia data representation

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Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

Internet  Elaborate the underlying principles of - Demonstrate knowledge of website development concepts and
Programming
Internet and Web-Technology terminology
 Develop web-based systems - Design and develop static websites using HTML, CSS,
 To have good personal confidence on
JavaScript
application and system development
- Design and develop dynamic data driven websites using PHP
 To have interpersonal group skills in
and MySQL
software development

System Analysis  Explain the system development - Understand the system development process, from planning
and Design
process, from planning though analysis though analysis and design to implementation and
and design to implementation and maintenance.
maintenance
- Demonstrate the application of Unified Modeling Language
 Explain the need for object-oriented
(UML)
systems analysis and design
- Apply software development process principles, and practices
 Understand the object technology and
to create a high-quality software
modeling principles.
 Apply software development process
principles, and practices and create a
high quality software
 Design systems using UML diagrams

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Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

 To have good personal confidence on

application and system development
 To have interpersonal group skills in
software development

Database Systems  Understand the underlying principles - Explain database system, data management approaches, types
of database and database management and its applications
systems - Design conceptual, logical and physical database models .
 Design ,Develop and administer
- Design ER models and map them into relational tables
database systems
- Understand database functional dependency and
 To have good personal confidence on
normalization
application and system development
- Explain database query processing, optimization,transaction
management and database security

Introduction to  Explain the data and file structures for - Understand the various Information Retrieval Systems and
Information Storage information retrieval processes
and Retrieval  Understand concepts of Information - Understand the processes of information storage and retrieval
Storage and Retrieval : models;
- Design ,develop and evaluate information retrieval models
evaluations and techniques for

15
Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

enhancing retrieval effectiveness

Data  Explain the underlying principles of - Describe the basics of data communications and network:
Communication and
computer networks and network types of Network, network devices, data transmission, and
Computer Networks
resources Reference Model
 Design and configure computer
- Demonstrate cable crimping, establishing, setup and
networks
troubleshooting Networks
- Understand network addressing, sub netting, network security
and data integrity

Information System  Acquire an understanding of network - Understand basic issues, concepts, principles, and
Security
security and its changing character mechanisms in information security
 Identify and investigate threats to - Identify risks and threats to information systems
information systems security
- analyze both early and contemporary threats to information
 To have information systems ethics
security

Fundamentals of  Describe different types and - Describe different types and characteristics of intelligent
Artificial
characteristics of intelligent agents agents
Intelligence
- Explain the different perspectives and historical background

16
Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

of Artificial Intelligence, and its type

Knowledge  Understand knowledge management - Understand the fundamental concepts of knowledge and
Management
system concepts knowledge creation, acquisition, representation,
 Represent knowledge and implement dissemination, use and re-use, and management.
inference techniques to provide
- Apply knowledge generation, engineering, and transfer, and in
solutions partially observable
the representation, organization, and exchange of knowledge.
environments
- Describe the role and use of knowledge in organizations and
institutions, and the typical obstacles that KM aims to
overcome.
- Understand the core concepts, methods, techniques, and tools
for computer support of knowledge management.

Introduction to  Develop intelligent systems - Understanding about the fundamental concepts in machine
Machine Learning
 Able to prepare data and apply learning, the different classes of machine learning algorithms
machine learning methods to achieve a - Apply machine learning methods to achieve a learning goal
learning goal within an intelligent
within an intelligent system on prepared datasets.
system.
- Be able to evaluate the performance of learning systems.

17
Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

Management of  Understand the principles and theories - Understand the principles and theories of Management
Information
of Management Information Systems Information System (MIS) and its impact on organizations.
Systems and
Services (MIS) and its impact on organizations. - Describe IT’s strategic importance in business and the
 Describe IT’s strategic importance in
essential elements of strategic plan development,
business and the essential elements of
- Apply computer-based information systems and how they are
strategic plan development
used in supporting for decision making.
 Define strategies for the effective
- Understand contemporary managerial issues in effectively
utilization of IS/IT in organizations.
choosing, deploying, and utilizing IT/IS to gain competitive
 To have the sense of co-operation in
system development. advantage,

Information  Understand the concepts, experiences - Understand and value the essence of Project management
Systems Project
and practices of managing IS/IT within the context of organizational information systems
Management
related projects - Develop project proposal/ project plan by applying project
 Develop project proposal and project
management phases.
plan
- Understand the concepts, experiences and practices of
 To have the sense of co-operation in
managing IS/IT related projects
system development.
 Coordinate and facilitate system
projects in a professional manner
 To have interpersonal communication
 To have responsibilities, and

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 Discipline Course Competencies Sample Learning Outcomes

characteristics of the IS professional

Enterprise Systems  Understand how enterprise systems - Understand the fundamentals of enterprise systems and issues
integrate functional areas into one associated with their implementation.
enterprise wide information system - Understand how enterprise systems integrate functional areas
 To have the sense of co-operation in
into one enterprise wide information system.
system development.
- Identify, describe, and evaluate the major enterprise system
software providers and their packaged systems.

Table 4: Specification of Competencies and Learning Outcomes

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10.Conclusion

Exit examination can have a vital role in producing knowledgeable, skillful and attitudinally matured graduates. It contributes to prepare
competent graduates as it can serve as a quality check for effectiveness. It also helps in improving academic programs quality and
effectiveness. Furthermore, it can create the platform for cooperation among academic programs at different universities to work jointly to
improve the programs quality.

In view of this, this document is produced to assist the setting of the exit examinations for all programs, which is being delivered by Ministry
of Education. To meet the graduation profile, competency and learning outcome, exit exam competency selection and identifying core course
was done for 2015 EC graduating students. As a result, preparing test blueprint is necessary to prepare fairly distributed items based on the
above criteria.

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Appendix 1

Cognitive Domain

Course Name

Weight for

Number of
Test Items
the course
outcomes
Learning

Cr. Hrs.

for each
Themes

course

Understa
Rememb

Psychom
Affective
Evaluate
Analyze

Create
Apply

Total
otor
nd
er
Theme 1 Item = 25 1 3 3/10= 0.3 0.3*25=8 - 2 1 2 1 1 - 1 8
Items from the total 2 4 4/10=0.4 0.4*25=10 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 10
4 3 3/10=0.3 0.3*25=8 1 1 1 2 1 1 - 1 8
Sub-total 10 2 5 4 5 3 3 1 3
Theme 2 1 3 3/6= 0.5 0.5*15=8 - 1 2 1 1 2 1 - 8
Item = 15 2 3 3/6=0.5 0.5*15=8
1 1 2 1 1 1 - 1 8
Items from the total
Sub-total 6 1 2 4 2 2 3 1 1
Theme 3 1 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*25=8 1 1 1 1 1 2 - 1 8
Item = 25 items from 2 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*25=8 - 1 2 1 2 1 - 1 8
the total 3 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*25=8 1 2 1 - 1 2 1 - 8
Sub-total 9 2 4 4 2 4 5 1 2
Theme 4 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*20=6 1 - 1 - 1 2 1 - 6
Item = 20 items from 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*20=6 - 1 2 1 - 1 - 1 6
the total 3 3/9=0.33 0.33*20=6 2 2 - - 1 - 1 - 6
Sub-total 9 3 3 3 1 2 3 2 1
Theme 5 3 3/12=0.25 0.25*35=9 1 - - 1 2 2 2 1 9
Item = 35 items from 3 3/12=0.25 0.25*35=9 - 2 1 1 - 2 2 1 9
the total 3 3/12=0.25 0.25*35=9 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9
3 3/12=0.25 0.25*35=9 - 2 1 2 2 - 2 - 9
Sub-total 12 2 5 3 6 5 5 7 3
Grand Total 10 19 18 16 16 19 12 10 120
Total for the program 46 8% 100%
in % 8% 16% 15% 13% 13% 16% 10%

Table 5: Determination of Number of Items for each Courses

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Appendix 2

S.No. Course Student Level of Emphasis

Learning 1 = Some Moderate Substantial
Outcomes Emphasis Emphasis Emphasis
1. Basic Computer Programming LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
2. Object Oriented Programming LO1 x
LO2 x
3. Internet Programming LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
4. Multimedia Information Systems LO1 x
LO2 x
5. System Analysis and Design LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
6. Database Systems LO11 x
LO22 x
LO33 x
LO44 x
LO55 x
7. Introduction to Information Storage and Retrieval LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
8. Data Communication and Computer Networks LO1 x
LO2 x

1
LO1:Learning Outcome 1
2
LO2:Learning Outcome 2
3
LO3:Learning Outcome 3
4
LO4:Learning Outcome 4
5
LO5:Learning Outcome 5
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 LO3 x
9. Information System Security LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
10. Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence LO1 x
LO2 x
11. Knowledge Management LO1 x
LO2 x x
LO3
LO4 x
12. Introduction to Machine Learning LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
13. Management of Information Systems and Services LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
LO4 x
14. Information Systems Project Management LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x
15. Enterprise Systems LO1 x
LO2 x
LO3 x

Table 6: Linking the Curriculum to Course/program Learning Outcomes

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