Information Technology
‎ Master of Science

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Improve your understanding of information technology concepts and systems and provide companies with the tools needed to achieve their goals.

Program Overview

Computers are the central nervous system of any organization. As an IT specialist, you will design computing systems that provide companies with the crucial information they need to achieve their business goals, including streamlining operations, designing marketing strategies, and hiring employees. Strong leadership and problem-solving skills are also in demand by today’s IT managers. With an MSIT degree from LTU, you’ll arm yourself with the skills and knowledge that every organization around the world is looking for and significantly advance your career prospects.

Why LTU?

  • Online, in-classroom, and hybrid course formats to accommodate working professionals.
  • Diverse networking opportunities.
  • Latest research in the positive sciences, strength-based theories techniques.
  • Accreditation by the American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business (AACSB).

Contact

Minakhi (Mina) Jena

mjena@ltu.edu
248.204.3071

Curriculum

» Curriculum Documents

Foundation Courses

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Statistics for Data Analytics and Visualization

This course will introduce the basic concepts of data analytics as applied in various business contexts. After learning the basic concepts, students will learn how to differentiate between various topics such as statistical analysis, data mining, business intelligence, business analytics, and data science to describe which approach is most suitable given a certain problem. Finally, students will gain exposure to the various tools and programming languages that are relevant to both business and data analytics, and how these tools yield critical analysis leading to improved business decisions.

MBA6103

3

Management Information Systems

This course introduces students to the strategic and operational uses of information systems. The use of information systems is examined for achieving and maintaining competitive advantage, as well as managerial issues concerning the development, implementation, and management of enterprise information systems. Case studies address the impact of information systems on the organization, the challenges involved in managing technological change in organizations, and the impact of emerging technologies. Students will develop a socio-technical perspective on the use of information systems to solve real-world problems.

INT6043

3

Total Credits:

6

Core Courses

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Python for Data Analysis and Visualization

This course is designed to introduce students with little or no prior programming experience to the art of programming through the lens of exploring data. Students will build a core foundation in the Python programming language as well as data analysis and visualization. This course is a hands-on, experiential class that students learn by solving actual business problems using Python under the guidance of the instructor. Topics will include programming fundamentals and logic such as variables, input & output, control structures, functions, data types, data manipulation, and object-oriented concepts. Students will apply the Python programming language and essential data science techniques to solve various problems. At the
end of this course, students will complete a final project as a team which cohesively ties together all the covered concepts.

INT6103

3

Project Management

This course is designed to provide students with the necessary skills, tools, and techniques to effectively manage a major project on time, within budget and with successful results. The course focuses on planning and control over the life of the project with an emphasis on Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices and real life scenarios. The course will cover project lifecycle planning, PERT and CPM, computer based project control tools, resource loading, scheduling, costing, and decision making in the project environment.

MBA7063

3

Database Management Systems

This course covers the principles, practices, design, and development of database management systems (DBMS) with an emphasis on the relational
database systems. More specifically, it focuses on logical modeling, physical data modeling, normalization, and database query languages. Additionally, this course will explore database implementation, concurrency control, Data models, normal forms, relational systems, object-oriented systems, object-relational systems, transaction processing and even business intelligence and data warehousing. This course emphasizes on hands-on skills. Students are required to use database applications to practice database design and implementation through assignments exercises and conduct a class project involving the data modeling, database development and implementation.

INT6113

3

Systems Analysis and Design

This course provides a methodical approach to implementing computer systems including systems planning, design, testing, implementation and software maintenance. Emphasis is on the strategies and techniques of systems analysis and design for producing logical methodologies for dealing with complexity in the development and implementation of information systems. The course approaches the development of information systems (IS) form a problem-solving perspective.

INT6123

3

Advanced Computer Networking

This course provides an in-depth study of the fundamental concepts and principles in communications and computer networking. The course examines the technical, design, and management issues related to enterprise computer networking. Students will have deep knowledge and understanding of networking concepts, protocols design, and popular network technologies. Topics covered include network design and architectures, telecommunications and networking standards, approaches to scaling services, virtualization, redundancy, network security and management, data center design, hosting and cloud services, and emerging technologies and trends. The course also covers server architectures, cluster computing, grid computing, storage area networks and network attached storage, and data center design and implementation.

INT6143

3

Cybersecurity

As networks continue to grow and as computing becomes more and more ubiquitous, today’s IT Managers need to have a thorough understanding of security and the risks associated when inappropriate security exists. Students will explore basic security concepts, principles and strategy, how to develop and manage IT security program and how to strategize and plan an IT architecture. Students will also discuss other IT security issues as it relates to current market trends.

INT7223

3

Data Science for Business

The emergence of massive datasets containing millions or even billions of observations provides the primary impetus for the business analytics field. Such datasets arise, for instance, in large-scale retailing, supply chain network, marketing channel, and social media. This course will emphasize theoretical foundation of business analytics and practical techniques for working with business data to support decision making. Specific topics covered will include statistical modeling, machine learning, predictive modeling, text mining, web mining, social network analytics in real world topics and case studies. The use of statistical and data manipulation software and basic programming skills will be required.

INT7623

3

Total Credits:

21

Concentration Electives (9 credits)

Business Data Analytics

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Business Analytics & Intelligence

Business Analytics and Intelligence (BA&I) are applications and technologies can be used to analyze data to improve business performance through fact-based decision-making. The demand for building and managing BA&I systems in today’s very competitive and challenging economy is high. This course is designed to provide in-depth Business Analytics knowledge of handling data and Business Intelligence tools that can be used for fact-based decision-making. The class will be hands-on and the emphasis will be placed on the “know-how” aspect – how to extract and apply business intelligence to improve business decision making. This course will cover the complete lifecycle for building, deploying and managing BA&I systems including defining and analyzing the business opportunity, creating a dimensional model, designing the ETL process, developing the data warehouse solution, and supporting the BI solution.

INT7213

3

Visual Analytics

This course is an introduction to grounded principles and techniques of design, cognition, perception, and human-computer-interaction for visualizing data interactively. Today, the amount of digital data has grown exponentially, which poses a major challenge for business to manipulate and analyze data efficiently. To gain useful insight from business data, the visual analytics techniques have drawn attention to the public. The major goal of this course is to teach business students, typically nonprogrammers, how to use visualization techniques to analyze big data. Students will work as groups and learn a wide array of visualization methods and be able to apply the techniques to our everyday life or research problems.

INT7253

3

Data Mining Algorithms

This course is an introduction to data mining fundamentals and algorithms for intelligent data representation and analysis, including: data pre-processing, data exploration and visualization, dimension reduction, model evaluation, predictive modeling, classification methods, association analysis, clustering algorithms, and neural networks. This is a project-based course where students solve a business problem through a data mining methodology.

INT7513

3

Cybersecurity

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Cyber Law, Policy and Ethics

This course will teach students legal and ethical issues related to the collection, analysis, preservation, and transmission of digital data. Students will
understand computer crime laws and analyze key legal cases related to cybercrimes. The course will examine the dynamic nature of the cyberspace, the impact of emerging technologies, and the legal and constitutional guidelines surrounding the use of those technologies within the cyberspace. The course will explore best practices and policies for protecting confidential and independent information.

INT7233

3

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

Many organizations that encounter an unplanned outage can tolerate only a short amount of downtime before they experience a significant revenue loss or other adverse business impact. In the event of a security breach or natural disaster that halts day-to-day operations, organizations need to recover as quickly as possible. Not having a disaster recovery plan in place can put the organization at risk of significant financial costs, reputation loss, and unintended consequences to customers. This course prepares students to lead an organization’s disaster recovery and business continuity program development. Students will learn how to develop, implement, and evaluate a disaster recovery and business continuity program based on established industry standards. Program components include risk assessment, incident response, technical recovery, crisis management, work area recovery, and pandemic plans. Student will learn how to mitigate risk and protect vital data and physical assets. This course will cover all the subject areas specified for the EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional (EDRP) Certification.

INT7243

3

Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

This course teaches students how to identify, analyze, and understand the impact of vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and applications in order to
prevent hackers from exploiting those vulnerabilities. Through hands-on lab activities, students will learn how to perform effective penetration tests using advanced techniques, tools, and methodology that hackers utilize to attack and compromise home and corporate network environments.

INT7263

3

Project Management

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Pick three of the following classes:

Reflective Leadership

The course is designed to provide professionals and managers with a broad understanding of leadership concepts, theories, and skills necessary for practicing leadership in the global economy. The course focuses on a variety of techniques and applications for assessing leadership competencies and generating action plans for applying leadership skills. The course emphasizes the requirements for effective leadership in multi-cultural organizations and the development of personal leadership skills.

MBA6043

3

Organization Development and Change Management

This course integrates the theory and practice of organization development using transitional and transformational leadership models for negotiating change. Values, vision, communication, and coalition building are explored to build the structure needed to overcome resistance to change and open the way to orchestrate change in complex global organizations. Cultural factors affecting individual and group dynamics are considered and integrated into the design and implementation of plans for strategic change.

MBA7033

3

Managing a Global Workforce

This course studies principles, techniques and strategies to manage a global workforce in a multi-cultural organization. The course explores differences in cultures, the origins of cultural differences, and the multiple and diverse impacts culture has on the management of human resources and performance of global organizations. Issues encountered in recruiting, selection, training, and retaining a skilled global workforce are addressed. The course also examines differences in ethical systems, values and beliefs, and their impacts on the practice of management, and on individual and organizational performance.

MBA7053

3

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management

This course aims to develop and nourish an entrepreneurial mindset, foster innovation & encourage out of the box thinking, by exposing the students to practical tools and techniques. The need for entrepreneurial thinking to differentiate yourself, is perhaps equally important whether you are interested in excelling as an intrapreneur in the corporate world or you are interested in starting/growing a successful business as an entrepreneur.
Topics covered in this course include: Ideation and opportunities assessment; taking calculated risks; business plans that adapt; business structure; funding and business development.

MBA7103

3

Project Risk and Quality Management

This course will provide students with an organized approach for managing the uncertainties to insure continuity and profitability. It also studies the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and issues concerning its implementation by covering the approaches of well-known leaders in the field. In this class, students will examine and apply essential tools and techniques by identifying, ranking and monitoring risks in the project management environment. The course, also, provides an adequate coverage of Project Quality Management concepts with an emphasis on quality improvement tools, cross-functional teams, leadership for quality, quality planning, quality assurance, statistical-process control, process capability & ISO 9000 standards.

MBA7173

3

Managing Outsourced Projects

In today’s world of global business management, most companies outsource their projects where much of the project management is being partially or completely performed at domestic and foreign suppliers or service providers. Most outsourced projects contain either an IT component or they may have to do with the creation of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes. This course is designed to achieve satisfactory outsourced projects outputs in helping with the management and leadership of outsourced (international) projects that are carried out in a complex environment.
The three main areas that are covered in this course are outsourcing, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and the foundation of international project management. The course starts with the coverage of outsourcing and its variants first, then it discusses the historical development and basics of ITIL as the most widely and globally-adopted framework of best practices for developing IT services followed by the application of project management to international projects. Here the course deals with the leadership of projects that are conducted in multiple countries and cultures introducing the many ways that a collaborative project enterprise (CPE) can be structured in alignment with the statutes, laws, or policies of the organizations that are buying and providing services. Also, the cross-cultural leadership intelligence (XQL) model is introduced and applied to manage the CPE which increases the leadership stature of the lead project manager. The Microsoft Project software will be utilized in this course.

INT6253

3

Agile Project Management

Organizations around the world have been switching to agile development for faster delivery, quicker response to customer feedback, iterative product improvements and frequent releases. Portfolio management which can help bridge the gap between agile teams and management to create a winning agile enterprise will be a key element of this course. Specific topics covered in this course are: Understanding Agile; Forming the Agile Team; The Agile Coach; Agile Planning, Customer Focus; Creating and Prioritizing the Product Backlog; Estimating; Release Planning; Building Cadence; Iteration Planning and Execution; Measuring and Communicating Progress; and Adopting Agile Project Management.

INT7563

3

Open Electives

Students may create a personalized concentration with an advisor’s permission.

Admission Requirements

Application to College of Business and Information Technology MSIT Program must possess an undergraduate degree from an accredited university or its equivalent in another country.

Application Materials Required
  • Online application which can be found at ltu.edu/admissions/graduate
  • Non-refundable application fee of $50 that can be paid online
  • Official transcripts must be submitted from all post-secondary institutions attended
  • Professional resume showing your work experience and education history
  • A GMAT or GRE score is not required if your undergraduate cumulative GPA is 3.0 or better (waived if a graduate degree was earned)
  • If your GPA is lower than a 3.0, please submit a one-page purpose/goal statement and one letter of recommendation
International Applicants

All international students must follow the same application process mentioned above in addition to the following:

Proof of English Proficiency

If English is not your native language, English proficiency requirements can be fulfilled with one of the following:

  • TOEFL iBT Internet-based Test score: 79 or better
  • International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS) 6.0 or better
  • Duolingo English Test: 105 or better
Graduate Credit Transfer Policy

Students must submit a Graduate Transfer Credit Request form along with course descriptions, syllabi, and transcripts before completing their first semester. Up to 12 credits may be transferred for the MBA program and up to 9 credits for MSIT and MSBDA programs, provided the courses are graduate-level, from an accredited university, and completed within the last 7 years with a minimum grade of 3.0. Pass/fail courses are not accepted. Additional documentation or proficiency exams may be required.

» Document Viewer

Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
  • Start in photo mode and aim the camera at whatever materials you would like to share
  • This is where you will have to position what you want to share to get the best view – but you will see ‘how you are doing’ in the main Zoom session.