Course Title: Internet Business and Design Principles

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Internet Business and Design Principles

Credit Points: 24

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
COMM2240	City Campus	Postgraduate	345H Media and Communication	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006

Course Coordinator: Dr Fiona Peterson

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 9782

Course Coordinator Email:fiona.peterson@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

All first stage courses or equivalent

Course Description

The focus of this course is on researching communication and design best practice related to using the internet as a business and global marketing medium. The course will help you articulate and apply customer-centred design principles to an e-commerce website and a database-driven e-commerce site that supports community and knowledge sharing activities.

The following themes are developed:
· positioning businesses in the internet space, including marketing strategies, client trust
· strategies for building and sustaining online communities and knowledge sharing
· middle software for user participation mode
· managing, outsourcing or negotiating with different specialists
· wireless applications and design· ubiquitous and pervasive computing
· interface design, and emerging and future technologies

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

· research and present a proposal to establish an e-commerce web presence and support the client through the process of evaluating options
· apply entrepreneurial design, technical and communication approaches
· evaluate advanced navigational structures and graphical user interface design for e-commerce and engagement strategies in online communities
· develop a range of e-metrics related to the user experience and the commercial or organisational communication imperatives
· express a real-world enterprise in terms of the data stored in a database, and examine methods of data structures and access for knowledge management
· identify entrepreneurial opportunities and innovative industry trends related to emerging and future communication technologies

On successful completion of this course you will develop capabilities; for example:

· professional practice skills that facilitate the planning and implementation of e-marketing and e-branding strategies and tactics to support an e-business
· ability to research, critique, design and develop customer-centred interfaces
· advanced practice skills to research and evaluate new business opportunities that involve new and emerging communication technologies

Overview of Learning Activities

Underpinning theories, existing models and new paradigms will be explored. You will be expected to exercise the processes of independent analytical and critical thinking for assimilating concepts.

All courses in this program include individual research assignments and collaborative projects in virtual teams, reflecting skills and experience needed in the global workforce. The collaborative project in this course will focus on design, development and evaluation stages of constructing a prototype e-commerce site.

Collaborative communication tools will be used to facilitate project work through the Distributed Learning System (DLS), in addition to face-to-face seminar style sessions and workshops. Online and print resources may be used to support instruction and prompt activities such as online discussion. Internet research is a major part of the learning experience.

Overview of Learning Resources

A detailed learning map and guides are in the course area of the DLS. Themes of interest include e-business planning and e-marketing strategies; customer-centred design; websites, knowledge sharing and databases; designing, developing and implementing user participation solutions; next generation internet, emerging technologies and business applications.

Overview of Assessment

1. Individual business plan, 2000 words – write a business plan for a solely online company or an online presence for an existing ‘bricks and mortar’ business (30% individual grade)

2. Collaborative assignment – concept and proposal for business site incorporating features that support e-commerce, community building and/or knowledge sharing; and an evaluation short report (35% shared grade)

3. Individual assignment, 2000-2500 words for development of business proposal to establish an innovative mobile/wireless application service for a client (35% individual grade)

Due dates are listed in the learning map in the course area of the DLS.