IT Foundation & Specialist Programmes

Lesson 1: Reviewing AI Fundamentals

• Topic A: AI Concepts
• Topic B: Uses for AI
• Topic C: Benefits of AI
• Topic D: Challenges of AI

Lesson 2: Defining the Problem for AI

• Topic A: Machine Learning Workflow
• Topic B: Formulate the Machine Learning Problem
• Topic C: Select AI/ML Tools

Lesson 3: Accessing and Managing Data for AI

• Topic A: Collect and Assess Data
• Topic B: Extract Data
• Topic C: Transform Data
• Topic D: Load Data

Lesson 4: Analyzing Data

• Topic A: Examine Data
• Topic B: Analyze Data Distribution
• Topic C: Visualize Data
• Topic D: Preprocess Data for AI and ML

Lesson 5: Designing a Machine Learning Approach

• Topic A: Identify ML Algorithms
• Topic B: Test a Hypothesis

Lesson 6: Developing Classification Models

• Topic A: Select, Train, and Tune Classification Models
• Topic B: Evaluate Classification Models

Lesson 7: Developing Regression Models

• Topic A: Train Regression Models
• Topic B: Regularize Regression Models
• Topic C: Evaluate Regression Models

Lesson 8: Developing Cluster Models

• Topic A: Train and Tune Cluster Models
• Topic B: Evaluate Cluster Models

Lesson 9: Launching an AI/ML Project

• Topic A: Security and Privacy in AI/ML Projects
• Topic B: Considerations for Ethical Use of AI/ML
• Topic C: Communicate Results

Lesson 10: Deploying and Monitoring an AI/ML Model in Production

• Topic A: Communicate Model Capabilities and Limitations
• Topic B: Deploy and Test Models in Apps
• Topic C: Support and Monitor AI/ML Solutions

Lesson 1: Examining Cloud Computing Fundamentals

• Topic A: Cloud Computing Concepts
• Topic B: Describe Cloud Service Models

Lesson 2: Planning a Cloud Computing Project

• Topic A: Identify the Project Approach and Team
• Topic B: Establish Key Criteria
• Topic C: Evaluate Project Requirements
• Topic D: Evaluate and Recommend Cloud Solutions

Lesson 3: Selecting Cloud Solutions

• Topic A: Evaluate Cloud Models
• Topic B: Create a Process Flow Diagram

Lesson 4: Determining Hardware and Storage Requirements

• Topic A: Determine Hardware and Network Requirements
• Topic B: Determine Storage and Database Requirements
• Topic C: Create Virtual Machines

Lesson 5: Designing Cloud Apps and Solutions

• Topic A: Determine a Design Approach
• Topic B: Determine Approach for Connecting Solution Components

Lesson 6: Developing and Testing Cloud Apps

• Topic A: Cloud Application Development and Operations
• Topic B: Configure, Deploy, and Manage the Development Environment
• Topic C: Perform Testing

Lesson 7: Integrating and Deploying a Cloud Solution

• Topic A: Plan App Integration
• Topic B: Evaluate and Plan App Containerization
• Topic C: Deploy Apps

Lesson 8: Managing Cloud Operations

• Topic A: Manage Cloud Solutions to Address Demand and Costs
• Topic B: Create a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Policy
• Topic C: Support and Monitor Cloud Solutions

Lesson 9: Evaluating Cloud Governance

• Topic A: Identify Why Cloud Governance Is Needed
• Topic B: Promote Security
• Topic C: Promote Compliance through Practices and Processes
• Topic D: Maintain Governance over Time

Chapter 1: Data Storage

• 1.1 Bits and Their Storage
• 1.4 Representing Information as Bit patterns
• 1.8 Data and Programming

Chapter 2: Data Storage

• 2.4 Arithmetic/Logic
• 2.6 Programming Data Manipulation

Chapter 5: Algorithms

• 5.1 The Concept of an Algorithm
• 5.2 Algorithm Representation
• 5.3 Algorithm Discovery
• 5.4 Iterative Structures
• 5.5 Recursive Structures
• 5.6 Efficiency and Correctness

Chapter 6: Programming Languages

• 6.1 Historical Perspective
• 6.2 Traditional Programming Concepts
• 6.3 Procedural Units
• 6.5 Object-Oriented Programming

Chapter 7: Software Engineering

• 7.1 The Software Engineering Discipline
• 7.2 The Software Life Cycle
• 7.3 Software Engineering Methodologies
• 7.4 Modularity
• 7.5 Tools of the Trade
• 7.6 Quality Assurance
• 7.7 Documentation
• 7.8 The Human-Machine Interface

Chapter 8: Data Abstractions

• 8.1 Basic Data Structures
• 8.2 Related Concepts
• 8.5 Customized Data Types
• 8.6 Classes and Objects
• 8.7 Abstract Models

Chapter 9: Database Systems

• 9.1 Database Fundamentals
• 9.2 The Relational Model
• 9.3 Object-Oriented Databases
• 9.5 Traditional File Structures
• 9.6 Data Mining
• 9.7 Social Impact of Database Technology

Chapter 11: Artificial Intelligence

• 11.1 Intelligence and Machines
• 11.2 Perception
• 11.3 Reasoning

Chapter 12: Theory of Computation

• 12.1 Functions and their Computation
• 12.2 Turing Machines
• 12.3 Universal Programming Languages
• 12.4 A Non-computable Function
• 12.5 Complexity of Problems

Lesson 1: Essential Security Principles, Incomplete section

• Skill 1: Define essential security principles.
• Skill 2: Explain common threats and vulnerabilities.
• Skill 3: Explain access management principles.
• Skill 4: Explain encryption methods and applications.

Lesson 2: Basic Network Security Concepts

• Skill 1: Describe TCP/IP protocol vulnerabilities.
• Skill 2: Explain how network addresses impact network security.
• Skill 3: Describe network infrastructure and technologies.
• Skill 4: Set up a secure wireless SoHo network.
• Skill 5: Implement secure access technologies.

Lesson 3: Endpoint Security Concepts

• Skill 1: Describe operating system security concepts.
• Skill 2: Demonstrate familiarity with appropriate endpoint tools that gather security assessment information.
• Skill 3: Verify that endpoint systems meet security policies and standards.
• Skill 4: Implement software and hardware updates.
• Skill 5: Interpret system logs.
• Skill 6: Demonstrate familiarity with malware removal.

Lesson 4: Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Management, Incomplete section

• Skill 1: Explain vulnerability management.
• Skill 2: Use threat intelligence techniques to identify potential network vulnerabilities.
• Skill 3: Explain risk management.
• Skill 4: Explain the importance of disaster recovery and business continuity planning.

Lesson 5: Incident Handling, Incomplete section

• Skill 1: Monitor security events and know when escalation is required.
• Skill 2: Explain digital forensics and attack attribution processes.
• Skill 3: Explain the impact of compliance frameworks on incident handling.
• Skill 4: Describe the elements of cybersecurity incident response.

Lesson 1: Data Basics

• Skill 1.1: Define the concept of data.
  • Define data and information.
  • Differentiate between data and information.
  • Define statistics and its relation to data.
• Skill 1.2: Describe basic data variable types.
  • Define variables.
  • Identify different data types.
  • Define type checking.
• Skill 1.3: Describe basic structures used in data analytics.
  • Define tables.
  • Define arrays.
  • Define lists.
• Skill 1.4: Describe data categories.
  • Differentiate between structured and unstructured data.
  • Identify and use different types of data.
• Summary
• Labs
• Quiz

Lesson 2: Data Manipulation

• Skill 2.1: Import, store, and export data.
  • Describe ETL processing.
  • Perform ETL with relational data.
  • Perform ETL with data stored in delimited files.
  • Perform ETL with data stored in XML files.
  • Perform ETL with data stored in JSON files.
• Skill 2.2: Clean data.
  • Perform data cleaning common practices.
  • Perform truncation.
  • Describe data validation.
• Skill 2.3: Organize data.
  • Describe data organization.
  • Perform sorting.
  • Perform filtering.
  • Perform appending and slicing.
  • Perform pivoting.
  • Perform transposition.
• Skill 2.4: Aggregate data.
  • Describe the aggregation function.
  • Use aggregation functions like COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, and AVG in SQL.
  • Use GROUP BY and HAVING in SQL.
• Summary
• Labs
• Quiz

Lesson 3: Data Analysis

• Skill 3.1: Describe and differentiate between types of data analysis.
  • Perform descriptive analysis.
  • Perform diagnostic analysis.
  • Perform predictive analysis.
  • Perform prescriptive analysis.
  • Perform hypothesis testing.
• Skill 3.2: Describe and differentiate between data aggregation and interpretation metrics.
  • Define data aggregation and data interpretation.
  • Define data interpretation.
  • Describe data aggregation and interpretation metrics.
• Skill 3.3: Describe and differentiate between exploratory data analysis methods.
  • Find relationships in a dataset.
  • Identify outliers in a dataset.
  • Drill a dataset.
  • Mine a dataset.
• Skill 3.4: Evaluate and explain the results of data analyses.
  • Perform a simple linear regression.
  • Interpret the results of a simple linear regression.
  • Use regression analysis for prediction.
• Skill 3.5: Define and describe the role of artificial intelligence in data analysis.
  • Define artificial intelligence, algorithm, machine learning, and deep learning.
  • Discuss how machine learning algorithms help in data analysis.
  • Discuss how artificial intelligence algorithms work in data analysis.
• Summary
• Labs
• Quiz

Lesson 4: Data Visualization and Communication

• Skill 4.1: Report data.
  • Use tables and charts to display information.
  • Disaggregate data.
• Skill 4.2a and 4.3a: Create and derive conclusions from visualizations that compare one or more categories of data.
  • Use different types of charts:
  • Column chart.
  • Bar chart.
• Skill 4.2b and 4.3b: Create and derive conclusions from visualizations that show how individual parts make up the whole.
  • Differentiate between the following types of graphical representations:
    • Pie Chart.
    • Donut Chart.
  • Other variations on bar and column charts such as stacked bar and column charts.
• Skill 4.2c and 4.3c: Create and derive conclusions from visualizations that analyze trends.
  • Use different types of visualization:
  • Line chart and variants of the line chart.
  • Waterfall chart.
  • Sankey Diagram.
• Skill 4.2d and 4.3d: Create and derive conclusions from visualizations that determine the distribution of data.
  • Use different types of visualizations:
  • Box and Whisker plot.
• Skill 4.2e and 4.3e: Create and derive conclusions from visualizations that analyze the relationship between sets of values.
  • Use different types of visualizations:
  • Scatter plot.
  • Bubble chart.
• Summary
• Labs
• Quiz

Lesson 5: Responsible Analytics Practice

• Skill 5.1: Describe data privacy laws and best practices:
  • Describe the fair information practice principles.
  • Understand data privacy laws in the US.
  • Understand data privacy laws in Canada.
  • Understand data privacy laws in the EU.
• Skill 5.2: Describe best practices for responsible data handling:
  • Handle PII, secure data, and protect anonymity within small datasets.
  • Balance the trade-off between interpretability and accuracy.
  • Generalize from a sample to a population.
• Skill 5.3: Given a scenario, describe the types of bias that affect the collection and interpretation of data.
  • Explain and identify different types of bias that affect the gathering of data.
• Summary
• Labs
• Quiz

Lesson 1: Database Design

• Skill 1.1: Given a scenario, design tables for storing data
• Skill 1.2: Given a scenario, identify the appropriate primary key
• Skill 1.3: Given a scenario, choose data types to meet the requirements
• Skill 1.4: Given a scenario, design relationships between tables
• Skill 1.5: Normalize a database
• Skill 1.6: Given a scenario, identify data protection measures

Lesson 2: Database Object Management using DDL

• Skill 2.1: Construct and analyze queries that create, alter, and drop tables
• Skill 2.2: Construct and analyze queries that create, alter, and drop views
• Skill 2.3: Construct and analyze stored procedures and functions
• Skill 2.4: Given a scenario, choose between clustered and non-clustered indexes

Lesson 3: Data Retrieval

• Skill 3.1: Construct and analyze queries that select data
• Skill 3.2: Construct and analyze queries that sort and filter data
• Skill 3.3: Construct and analyze queries that aggregate data

Lesson 4: Data Manipulation using DML

• Skill 4.1: Construct and analyze INSERT statements
• Skill 4.2: Construct and analyze UPDATE statements
• Skill 4.3: Construct and analyze DELETE statements

Lesson 5: Troubleshooting

• Skill 5.1: Troubleshoot data object management query failures
• Skill 5.2: Troubleshoot data retrieval query failures
• Skill 5.3: Troubleshoot data manipulation query failures

Lesson 1: Windows Installation and Configuration

• Skill 1.1: Install Windows using the default settings
• Skill 1.2: Configure user account options
• Skill 1.3: Configure desktop settings
• Skill 1.4: Manage accessibility settings
• Skill 1.5: Manage updates

Lesson 2: Application and Peripheral Management

• Skill 2.1: Manage applications and Windows features
• Skill 2.2: Compare and contrast capabilities of peripheral connection types

Lesson 3: Data Access and Management

• Skill 3.1: Describe cloud services
• Skill 3.2: Describe and configure file sharing and permissions
• Skill 3.3: Manage backup and restore
• Skill 3.4: Describe data access and retention policies

Lesson 4: Device Security

• Skill 4.1: Describe network firewall settings
• Skill 4.2: Describe user authentication
• Skill 4.3: Given an attack type, describe mitigation methods
• Skill 4.4: Manage User Account Control (UAC) settings
• Skill 4.5: Manage mobile device security

Lesson 5: Troubleshooting

• Skill 5.1: Perform troubleshooting tasks
• Skill 5.2: Troubleshoot operating system and application issues
• Skill 5.3: Troubleshoot device issues
• Skill 5.4: Troubleshoot device connections to networks and domains
• Skill 5.5: Troubleshoot peripheral device connections

Lesson 1: Application Lifecycle Management

• Skill 1.1: Describe the application lifecycle management stages
• Skill 1.2: Debug and test web apps

Lesson 2: Graphics and Animation

• Skill 2.1: Use the canvas element to create graphics and animations
• Skill 2.2: Use the svg element to create and display graphics
• Skill 2.3: Transform, style, and enhance text and graphics
• Skill 2.4: Apply CSS filters to images

Lesson 3: Forms

• Skill 3.1: Construct and analyze markup that uses form elements
• Skill 3.2: Configure input validation

Lesson 4: Layouts

• Skill 4.1: Manage content layout, positioning, and flow by using CSS
• Skill 4.2: Construct layouts by using responsive design
• Skill 4.3: Construct flexible responsive layouts by using CSS flexbox
• Skill 4.4: Construct grid-based layouts by using CSS grid

Lesson 5: JavaScript Coding

• Skill 5.1: Create and use custom classes
• Skill 5.2: Perform data access by using JavaScript
• Skill 5.3: Construct code that responds to events by using event listeners and handlers
• Skill 5.4: Construct code that uses JavaScript APIs
• Skill 5.5: Manage the state of an application

Lesson 1: HTML Fundamentals

• Skill 1.1: Construct well-formed page markup
• Skill 1.2: Construct markup that uses metadata elements

Lesson 2: Document Structure using HTML

• Skill 2.1: Construct and analyze markup to structure and organize data
• Skill 2.2: Construct and analyze markup that uses HTML5 semantic elements
• Skill 2.3: Construct and analyze markup that implements navigation
• Skill 2.4: Construct and analyze markup that implements form elements

Lesson 3: CSS Fundamentals

• Skill 3.1: Analyze and implement inline styles, internal (embedded) style sheets, and external style sheets
• Skill 3.2: Construct and analyze rule sets

Lesson 4: Multimedia Presentation using HTML

• Skill 4.1: Construct and analyze markup that displays images
• Skill 4.2: Construct and analyze markup that plays video and audio

Lesson 5: Webpage Styling using CSS

• Skill 5.1: Construct and analyze styles that position content
• Skill 5.2: Construct and analyze styles that format text
• Skill 5.3: Construct and analyze styles that format backgrounds and borders
• Skill 5.4: Construct and analyze styles that create a simple responsive layout

Lesson 6: Accessibility, Readability, and Testing

• Skill 6.1: Construct well-formatted HTML and CSS markup that conforms to industry best practices
• Skill 6.2: Apply accessibility principles and evaluate content accessibility
• Skill 6.3: Evaluate the structural integrity of HTML and CSS markup

Lesson 1: Java Fundamentals

• Skill 1.1: Describe the use of main in a Java application
• Skill 1.2: Perform basic input and output using standard packages
• Skill 1.3: Evaluate the scope of a variable
• Skill 1.4: Comment and document programs

Lesson 2: Data Types, Variables, and Expressions

• Skill 2.1: Declare and use primitive data type variables
• Skill 2.2: Construct and evaluate code that manipulates strings
• Skill 2.3: Construct and evaluate code that creates, iterates, and manipulates arrays and array lists
• Skill 2.4: Construct and evaluate code that performs parsing, casting, and conversion
• Skill 2.5: Construct and evaluate arithmetic expressions

Lesson 3: Flow Control Implementation

• Skill 3.1: Construct and evaluate code that uses branching statements
• Skill 3.2: Construct and evaluate code that uses loops

Lesson 4: Object-Oriented Programming

• Skill 4.1: Construct and evaluate class definitions
• Skill 4.2: Declare, implement, and access data members in classes
• Skill 4.3: Declare, implement, and access methods
• Skill 4.4: Instantiate and use class objects in programs

Lesson 5: Code Compilation and Debugging

• Skill 5.1: Troubleshoot syntax errors, logic errors, and runtime errors
• Skill 5.2: Implement exception handling

Lesson 1: JavaScript Operators, Methods, and Keywords

• Skill 1.1: Complete and debug code that uses assignment and arithmetic operators
• Skill 1.2: Apply JavaScript best practices
• Skill 1.3: Evaluate the use of internal and external scripts
• Skill 1.4: Implement exception handling
• Skill 1.5: Complete and debug code that interacts with the Browser Object Model (BOM)

Lesson 2: Variables, Data Types, and Functions

• Skill 2.1: Declare and use variables of primitive data types
• Skill 2.2: Declare and use arrays
• Skill 2.3: Complete and debug code that uses objects
• Skill 2.4: Complete and debug code that uses built-in Math functions
• Skill 2.5: Complete and debug functions that accept parameters and return values

Lesson 3: Decisions and Loops

• Skill 3.1: Evaluate expressions that use logical and comparison operators
• Skill 3.2: Complete and debug decision statements
• Skill 3.3: Complete and debug loops

Lesson 4: Document Object Model

• Skill 4.1: Identify and construct the Document Object Model (DOM) tree
• Skill 4.2: Identify and handle document, form, keyboard, and mouse events
• Skill 4.3: Complete and debug code that outputs to an HTML document
• Skill 4.4: Complete and debug code that locates, modifies, and adds HTML elements and attributes to documents
• Skill 4.5: Create events using event handlers and listeners

Lesson 5: HTML Forms

• Skill 5.1: Complete and debug code that retrieves form input and sets form field values
• Skill 5.2: Complete and debug code that performs input validation
• Skill 5.3: Describe the form submission process

Lesson 1: Defense in Depth

• Skill 1.1: Identify core security principles
• Skill 1.2: Define and enforce physical security
• Skill 1.3: Identify security policy types
• Skill 1.4: Identify attack types
• Skill 1.5: Identify backup and restore types

Lesson 2: Operating System Security

• Skill 2.1: Identify client and server protection
• Skill 2.2: Configure user authentication
• Skill 2.3: Manage permissions in Windows and Linux
• Skill 2.4: Facilitate non-repudiation using audit policies and log files
• Skill 2.5: Demonstrate knowledge of encryption

Lesson 3: Network Device Security

• Skill 3.1: Implement wireless security
• Skill 3.2: Identify the role of network protection devices
• Skill 3.3: Identify network isolation methods
• Skill 3.4: Identify protocol security concepts

Lesson 4: Secure Computing

• Skill 4.1: Implement email protection
• Skill 4.2: Manage browser security
• Skill 4.3: Install and configure anti-malware and antivirus software

Lesson 1: Networking Fundamentals

• Skill 1.1: Define network concepts
• Skill 1.2: Define cloud and virtualization concepts
• Skill 1.3: Describe remote access methods

Lesson 2: Network Infrastructures

• Skill 2.1: Define the characteristics of local area networks (LANs)
• Skill 2.2: Define the characteristics of wide-area networks (WANs)
• Skill 2.3: Identify wireless networking methods and characteristics
• Skill 2.4: Compare and contrast network topologies and access methods

Lesson 3: Network Hardware

• Skill 3.1: Describe characteristics of switches
• Skill 3.2: Describe characteristics of routers
• Skill 3.3: Describe characteristics of physical media

Lesson 4: Protocols and Services

• Skill 4.1: Describe the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
• Skill 4.2: Describe the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) model
• Skill 4.3: Describe IPv4 concepts
• Skill 4.4: Describe IPv6 concepts
• Skill 4.5: Identify well-known ports
• Skill 4.6: Describe name resolution concepts
• Skill 4.7: Identify the roles of networking services

Lesson 5: Network Infrastructures

• Skill 5.1: Given a scenario, describe the troubleshooting process in a small-medium business network
• Skill 5.2: Given a scenario, use the appropriate hardware troubleshooting tools
• Skill 5.3: Given a scenario, use the appropriate Windows software tools to troubleshoot a problem
• Skill 5.4: Given a scenario, use the appropriate Linux software tools to troubleshoot a problem

Lesson 1: Operations using Data Types and Operators

• Skill 1.1: Evaluate expressions to identify the data types Python assigns to variables
• Skill 1.2: Perform data and data type operations
• Skill 1.3: Determine the sequence of execution based on operator precedence
• Skill 1.4: Select operators to achieve the intended results

Lesson 2: Flow Control with Decisions and Loops

• Skill 2.1: Construct and analyze code segments that use branching statements
• Skill 2.2: Construct and analyze code segments that perform iteration

Lesson 3: Input and Output Operations

• Skill 3.1: Construct and analyze code segments that perform file input and output operations
• Skill 3.2: Construct and analyze code segments that perform console input and output operations

Lesson 4: Code Documentation and Structure

• Skill 4.1: Document code segments
• Skill 4.2: Construct and analyze code segments that include function definitions

Lesson 5: Troubleshooting and Error Handling

• Skill 5.1: Analyze, detect, and fix code segments that have errors
• Skill 5.2: Analyze and construct code segments that handle exceptions
• Skill 5.3: Perform unit testing

Lesson 6: Operations using Modules and Tools

• Skill 6.1: Perform basic operations by using built-in modules
• Skill 6.2: Solve complex computing problems by using built-in modules

Lesson 1: Core Programming Concepts

• Skill 1.1: Describe computer storage and data types
• Skill 1.2: Construct and analyze algorithms and flowcharts to solve programming problems
• Skill 1.3: Incorporate error handling into applications or modules
• Skill 1.4: Construct and analyze code based on functional programming patterns

Lesson 2: Software Development Principles

• Skill 2.1: Describe software development life cycle (SDLC) management
• Skill 2.2: Interpret application specifications
• Skill 2.3: Construct and analyze code that uses algorithms and data structures
• Skill 2.4: Describe the purpose of version control systems
• Skill 2.5: Describe secure coding concepts

Lesson 3: Object-Oriented Programming

• Skill 3.1: Construct, analyze, and use classes
• Skill 3.2: Construct and analyze code that uses inheritance
• Skill 3.3: Construct and analyze code that uses polymorphism

Lesson 4: Web Applications

• Skill 4.1: Construct and analyze web applications
• Skill 4.2: Describe and configure web hosting
• Skill 4.3: Describe and configure web services
• Skill 4.4: Describe and identify architectural patterns

Lesson 5: Databases

• Skill 5.1: Design and normalize a database
• Skill 5.2: Construct, analyze, and optimize ANSI SQL queries
• Skill 5.3: Manage transactions
• Skill 5.4: Describe database access methods
• Skill 5.5: Describe types of NoSQL databases