Bachelor of Arts (Digital Technology and Culture)

There will be no new intake into this degree from 2008

There’s plenty of freedom of choice in what to study in a Bachelor of Arts (Digital Technology and Culture) degree, but there are also a number of requirements that you will have to follow. These requirements are listed here and explained in detail below.

Let's go through what each of these requirements means in turn.

What are credit points?

• Students doing a BA (Digital Technology and Culture) degree study in a range of 'subject areas'. These include the compulsory subject areas of Information Systems and Digital Cultures, as well as in other subject areas of choice in Arts, such as Linguistics, English, and Philosophy.
• A semester-length component in a particular subject area is called a ‘unit of study’.
• Each unit of study is worth a certain number of ‘credit points’, depending on the level at which it is taught and the amount of work required. From 2006, most units of study at the University of Sydney will be worth 6 ‘credit points’ each.

How do I get 192 credit points?

• Most people studying full time take four years to complete a Bachelor of Arts (Digital Technology and Culture) degree.
• Full-time students usually earn their 192 credit points by taking units of study worth a total of 48 credit points per year (usually a total of 24 credit points per semester) over the four years of their degree, that is:
  48 credit points x 4 years = 192 credit points!

Before discussing the remaining requirements, which involve ‘senior’ and ‘intermediate’ credit points, it will help to explain about the ‘junior’ credit points you will need first.

What are junior credit points?

• You start your degree by taking ‘junior’ units of study. They form a foundation for more advanced ‘intermediate’ and ‘senior’ units. Junior units of study are worth 3 or 6 junior credit points each, most commonly 6.
• Junior units are sometimes referred to as 1000 level units because their unit of study codes all have the form 1XXX, e.g. ARIN1000, ISYS1003, LNGS1005, etc.

How do I get my junior credit points?

• Most full-time students take units of study worth 48 junior credit points in their first year (generally 24 credit points in each semester). It is important to remember that 48 credit points is also the maximum number allowed in first year.

What junior units of study should I do in my first year?

• To make up 48 credit points in your first year, most student take four 6 credit point junior units in each semester. However, you will need to make sure to include:
• the compulsory Digital Cultures junior unit ‘History and Theory of Informatics’ ARIN1000;
• the junior prerequisite for your Information Systems major, ‘Foundations of Information Technology INFO1003;
• any prerequisites you may need for your Arts (Part A) senior requirements (see below). You’ll need to check the Faculty of Arts Handbook, in print or online, the online Table of Units of Study or the Unit of Study Database to find out if there are any prerequisites for senior units in the subjects you plan to study.

Here is an example of how you might put together 48 junior credits in your first year:

• The pattern of units you choose may differ from that given in the example above (e.g. if you are taking some 3 credit point junior units). If you’re aiming to complete your degree over four years, however, just remember to make sure that you earn 48 credit points in your first year, and that you put in place the correct compulsory and prerequisite units.

Can I do more than 48 credit points altogether?

• Yes, you can take up to 72 junior credit points altogether in your BA (Digital Technology and Culture) degree. 48 is the maximum you can do in your first year. You can do a further 24 junior credit points in later years if you want to. On the other hand, it is okay if you choose to stay with just the 48 credit points that you already have from first year, and add extra ‘intermediate’ or ‘senior’ credit points later instead.

Could I do less than 48 junior credit points?

• Yes, as long as you have the compulsory units and the necessary prerequisites, but … for two reasons, it’s not a good idea to skimp too much on junior credit points!
• Firstly, remember that junior units form a foundation for further study. In some cases this is a necessary foundation for more advanced study in a particular subject area. In all cases, junior units provide an opportunity to work at developing the skills and ways of thinking that you will need for more advanced learning at the tertiary level.
• Secondly, junior units of study offer you the chance to sample a range of subject areas and gain a variety of learning experiences, even in subjects that you may not go on to specialize in.
• If you’re studying part-time, it is usually recommended that you do a minimum of 18 junior credit points in your first year of enrolment, so that you are eligible to meet progression requirements to be able to continue on to your second year.

What are senior and intermediate credit points?

• Senior’ and ‘intermediate’ units of study build on the foundation of learning established by junior units of study in a particular subject area.
• In the Faculty of Arts, units of study are classified simply as either ‘junior’ or ‘senior’, and from 2006 most senior units will be worth 6 senior credit points each. They are sometimes called 2000 and 3000 level units because their of study codes all have the form 2XXX or 3XXX, e.g. ARIN26XX, LNGS26XX, ARBC36XX, etc.
• In the Faculty of Science, units of study are classified as ‘junior’, ‘intermediate’, or ‘senior’. From 2006, most intermediate units will be worth 6 credit points and have 2XXX codes, and most senior units will be worth 6 credit points, with 3XXX codes.

How would I get 120 senior or intermediate credit points?

• Most full time students in the BA (Digital Technology and Culture) program will start to take intermediate and senior units of study in their second year, after having put the appropriate foundation of junior units in place in the first year. At this stage many students narrow down the range of subject areas in which they are studying.
• You can get the credit points required to complete your degree over your second, third, and fourth years by choosing subjects that add up to 24 credit points in each semester.
  24 credit points x 6 semesters = 144 credit points
• 144 credit points plus the 48 credit points earned in Year 1 = 192 credit points!
  
  If all of the 144 credit points you take over the second, third, and fourth years are from intermediate or senior units, then you’ll have more than the required 120 intermediate or senior credit points. If you prefer, you could choose instead to stay with just 120 intermediate or senior credit points, and make up the additional 24 credit points needed for your degree with extra junior units of study. It’s your choice!

Could I do more than 24 credit points per semester?

• You might want to take more than 24 credit points in one semester – perhaps to make up for a unit of study that you have failed or to try to get through your degree more quickly.
• You are permitted to do up to (but no more than) 30 credit points per semester in your second, third, and fourth years. However, be aware that 30 credit points in a single semester is a very heavy load; it’s unlikely that you’d be able to do your best in each unit you took (and very unlikely that you’d have a life while you did it!)

What intermediate/senior units of study should I do?

• It’s a good idea to first put in place the intermediate / senior units that are required, and then consider your other choices. Let’s look at the remaining requirements.

What is a major?

• To earn a major in a subject area (from Part A) in the Faculty of Arts, students will complete 36 senior credit points in THAT subject area.

How do I make up my major in Information Systems?

• The following are the compulsory intermediate and senior units for your Information Systems major in the BA (Digital Technology and Culture):
  * Information Systems ISYS2140
  * Systems Analysis & Modelling INFO2110
  * Database Systems 1 INFO2120
  * Management of IT Projects & Systems INFO3402
  * Information Systems Project ISYS3400
  * Information Technology Systems in Arts & Humanities ISYS3403
• Please note that the semesters in which these units are offered may change.

What is Part A of the Arts Table of Units of Study?

• The ‘Part A’ bit refers to the units of study that are listed in the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Handbook, ‘Table of Units of Study: Part A’. These units all come from subject areas taught within the Faculty of Arts.

How would I get 72 senior credit points from Part A?

• This requirement will be largely met simply by fulfilling the two final requirements:
  Requirement 5: a Part A major and
  Requirement 6: compulsory Digital Cultures units
• To make up the extra senior credit points you need to fulfil Requirement 4, you can take Digital Culture and Technology electives such as Cyberworlds ARIN2620 or Digital Arts ARIN2630 and/or any other senior units you choose in Arts (Part A).

• You MUST have at least one Arts (Part A) major to complete your Bachelor of Arts (Digital Technology and Culture) degree. This, of course, will usually require 36 senior credit points (a minimum of 32) in one subject area from Part A of the Arts Table of Units of Study.

Can I do more than extra major if I want to?

• Yes, you may be able to fit in another Part A major in addition to the required ones, as long as you plan your subject choices very carefully.

• The compulsory junior Digital Cultures unit, ARIN1000, has been mentioned above. The following are the compulsory senior Digital Cultures units required:
  * Web Production ARIN2610
  * Research Methods in IS, Humanities and Social Sciences ARIN3620
  * Techno-cultures ARIN2600
  * Informatics Project 1 & 2 ARIN3650 and ARIN3660
• Please note that you must finish your Information Science and Digital Cultures units by the end of third year, if you are a full-time student.

Bachelor of Arts (Digital Technology and Culture) - Degree Overview