Information Systems courses, part 2


Today, we will continue with introduction of mandatory Information Systems courses, which we started in the previous blog post.


TJTSM54 Advanced Topics on Systems Development (5 ECTS)
Designing and developing information systems is a long and complex process consisting of several phases where different methods and approaches can be applied. For me this was a very interesting course which introduced topics like: Agile approaches (history, pros and cons, …), Quality assurance, Automation, Global IS development (distributed teams), DevOps, etc. This course follows current trends, so it develops year after year and in the upcoming semester it seems to offer also topics as: BizOps, blockchain, Cyber-Physical System development, etc. There was a strong emphasis on really understanding the topics (not just learning them by heart) and own thinking, which I liked a lot.

TJTSM55 Information Systems Theories (5 ECTS)
I don’t blame you if you get scared by the word “Theories” in the name of this course, it was the same for me :-) Yes, this course contains a lot of reading and getting familiar with theoretical concepts. However, don’t expect long boring lectures in this course, because there is a strong emphasis on applying the theories in practice thanks to guest companies visiting the lectures. Our task was then to analyze companies’ problems, design solutions, and present them to companies’ representatives and course instructors. So, as you can see, it is very practical course and it is also very helpful in preparation for your master’s thesis.

TJTS504 Research Methods (5 ECTS)
Honestly, I was not extremely looking forward to this course based on a name and description and it felt quite difficult in the beginning (it was one of my first master’s courses). However, when looking back now, it helped me a lot in other courses during my master’s studies and it is extremely important for working on master’s thesis. It is therefore a good idea to take this course in the first year of your studies. We got familiar with qualitative, quantitative, and design science methods for collecting and analyzing data and I have to say that thanks to good examples some parts were very interesting and useful for critically evaluating news and reports in common live.

Basic Business Studies
In case you have not studied business or economics before, check what the admission criteria say about this situation. If they say that you can still be accepted, but you will have to include the “Basic Business Studies” module in your study plan, it means that you will have to study several courses offered by the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics. These courses will familiarize you with basics of entrepreneurship, management and leadership, corporate communication, accounting, and marketing. I think they were not difficult courses and they are well designed to give us overall understanding of mentioned topics with often interesting examples from real life (known companies, people, scandals and successes, etc.)

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