Course Descriptions and Schedules

For individual graduate course descriptions along with their prerequisites, see  Graduate Catalog > Graduate Courses > Prefix (for example SIE  or BUA) > Filter. Course descriptions from the 2015-2016 catalog are provided below as well for the convenience of MSIS students.

Note: A student with an undergraduate degree in a specific field (e.g. business, computer science, education, engineering or new media) will likely have an easier time meeting graduate course prerequisites in that field than a student from another undergraduate field.

Required MSIS Courses

SIE 505 – Formal Foundations for Information Science
Increases student’s understanding of the approach to information systems and science by formalisms. Draws on mathematics to increase familiarity with formal syntax and language, develops understanding and technical ability in handling structures relevant to information systems and science. Includes a review of fundamental material on set theory, functions and relations, graph theory, and logic; examines a variety of algebraic structures; discusses formal languages and the bases of computation.
Prerequisites & Notes
SIE or MSIS student or permission of instructor. Credits: 3

SIE 507 – Information Systems Programming
Programming for those envisioning careers focused on developing and managing information systems and databases as opposed to software design. Data structures, algorithms, and their analysis. Lec. 3.
Prerequisites & Notes
SIE or MSIS student or permission of instructor. Credits: 3

SIE 515 – Human Computer Interaction
Students are introduced to the fundamental theories and concepts of human-computer interaction (HCI). Topics covered include: interface design and evaluation, usability and universal design, multimodal interfaces (touch, gesture, natural language), virtual reality, and spatial displays.
Credits: 3

SIE 525 – Information Systems Law
Current and emerging status of computer law in electronic environments: rights of privacy, freedom of information, confidentiality, work product protection, copyright, security, legal liability; impact of law on use of databases and spatial datasets; legal options for dealing with conflicts and adaptations of law over time.
Prerequisites & Notes
Graduate standing or instructor permission. Credits: 3

SIE 550 – Design of Information Systems
Cognitive and theoretical foundation for representation of knowledge in information systems and fundamental concepts necessary to design and implement information systems. Logic programming as a tool for fast design and prototyping of data models. Formal languages and formal models, conceptual modeling techniques, methods for data abstraction, object-oriented modeling and database schema design. Relational data model and database query languages, including SQL.
Prerequisites & Notes
Graduate standing or instructor permission. Credits: 3

Elective Courses

BUSINESS

BUA 561 – Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems
This course is designed to explore the dimensions of knowledge management that influence the competitive advantage of organizations.  Major topics include the ability to harness intellectual capital for innovation, knowledge creation, sharing, storage and accessibility.  Appropriate technologies will be used to apply these concepts.
Prerequisites & Notes
BUA 235 or equivalent, BUA 325 or equivalent, senior or graduate standing and permission of the University of Maine Business School. Credits: 3

BUA 664 – Databases and Data Mining in Industry
Provides a fundamental understanding of relational databases and the concepts of data mining, with emphasis on database design, database queries, market/profit segmentation, data warehousing and data mining approaches. Includes a comprehensive case study that integrates the concepts of the course as well as general business principles.
Prerequisites & Notes
BUA 135 or BUA 335 or equivalent or BUA 605; and permission of the University of Maine Business School; graduate standing. Credits: 3

BUA 668 – Electronic Commerce
Prepares current and future managers to gain an understanding of how e-commerce and technologies have radically altered the business environment and how to succeed and thrive in this new economy.
Prerequisites & Notes
BUA 605; or BUA 335 and BUA 370 or equivalents and permission of the University of Maine Business School; must have graduate standing. Credits: 3

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Any formally approved 400 level COS courses and above

DIGITAL CURATION

DIG 500 – Introduction to Digital Curation
Surveys the variety of digital artifacts that we consciously or unconsciously create and consume today, with a focus on how to collect and manage digitized and born-digital artifacts and their related data.  Students learn technical skills such as how to digitize analog documents, photographs, and videos, as well as curatorial knowledge such as how selection criteria vary as a function of type of institution (archives v. libraries v. museum) and field (art v. archeology). Credits: 3

DIG 510 – Metadata
Covers digital formats for describing the contents and contexts of artifacts with an emphasis on their use in libraries, archives, and online repositories.  Discussion on the need for and use of metadata in a variety of digital contexts, exposure to specific metadata standards used in a number of fields, and demonstrations of how these metadata are expressed in several output formats. Credits: 3

DIG 540 – Digital Collections and Exhibitions
Covers the technical means and social consequences of assembling and sharing cultural data and artifacts.  Topics include the fundamentals of relational databases; a survey of collection management packages, both proprietary and open-source; and an introduction to the special concerns and programming concepts necessary to customize off-the-shelf database solutions for domain and content appropriateness. Credits: 3

DIG 550 – Digital Preservation
Acquaints students with the challenges of, and best practices for, preserving digital artifacts.  Topics include a survey of the array of formats for digital media, along with their vulnerabilities and half-lives; analysis of various preservation strategies (storage, migration, emulation, reinterpretation); institutional, legal, and practical impediments to preservation; preservation standards and resources for digital media.  Credits: 3

EDUCATION

EDT 520 – Methods of Teaching with Computer Technology
Provides practical and understandable information about integrating technology in K-12 classrooms. Examines tool applications (WD, DB, SS and Telecommunications), multimedia and categories of software. Explores ways these support learning.
Credits: 3

EDT 545 – Information Security in the Educational Environment
Covers privacy and security in the educational environment from several perspectives:  legal issues, social and ethical concerns, standards and policy development.
Prerequisites & Notes
EDT 520 or permission of instructor. Credits: 3

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Any 400 level ECE courses and above

INTERDISCIPLINARY

INT 601 – Responsible Conduct of Research
Key topics in conducting research responsibly. Guidelines, policies and codes relating to ethical research. Skills development for identifying and resolving ethical conflicts arising in research. Address case studies in the context of ethical theories and concepts.
Credits: 1

INTERMEDIA

Only formally approved regular 500 and 600 level courses.

SPATIAL INFORMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

SIE 509 – Principles of Geographic Information Systems
Covers foundation principles of geographic information systems, including traditional representations of spatial data and techniques for analyzing spatial data in digital form. Combines an overview of general principles associated with implementation of geographic information systems and practical experience in the analysis of geographic information. Not open to those who have taken SIE 271.
Prerequisites & Notes
Graduate standing or instructor permission. Credits: 3

SIE 510 – Geographic Information Systems Applications
Introduces both conceptual and practical aspects of developing GIS applications. Covers application areas from natural resourse planning cthrough transportation, cadastral and land information systems and their spatial modeling requirements, and application development from requirement analysis to database design and implementation.
Prerequisites & Notes
ISE 201, or SIE 509 or permission. Credits: 3

SIE 512 – Spatial Analysis
Introduces students to techniques for spatial analysis. Covers methods and problems in spatial data sampling, issues in preliminary or exploratory analysis, problems in providing numerical summaries and characterizing spatial properties of map data and analysis techniques for univariate and multivariate data. Students will be responsible for completing several hands-on exercises.
Prerequisites & Notes
An introductory statistics course, graduate standing or instructor permission. Credits: 3

SIE 516 – Virtual Reality: Research and Applications
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the basic principles of virtual reality (VR) and virtual environment technology (VET). The goal is to learn enough about the strengths and limitations of VR technology in order to be able to construct simple immersive environments as well as to understand the human factors and cognitive issues that should be considered when using this medium.
Credits: 3

SIE 554 – Spatial Reasoning
Qualitative representations of geographic space. Formalisms for topological, directional and metric relations; inference mechanisms to derive composition tables; geometric representations of natural language-like spatial predicates; formalizations of advanced cognitively motivated spatial concepts, such as image schemata; construction of relation algebras.
Prerequisites & Notes
SIE 451 or SIE 550. Credits: 1 or 3

SIE 555 – Spatial Database Systems
Covers internal system aspects of spatial database systems. Layered database architecture. Physical data independence. Spatial data models. Storage hierarchy. File organization. Spatial index structures. Spatial query processing and optimization. Transaction management and crash recovery. Commercial spatial database systems.
Prerequisites & Notes
SIE 550 and programming experience in Java, C++ or C. Credits: 3

SIE 557 – Database System Applications
Study, design and implementation of object-relational database system applications. Introduction to database systems. Integrating database systems with programs. Web applications using database systems. Final database project.
Prerequisites & Notes
SIE 507.  Credits: 3

SIE 558 – Real-time Sensor Data Streams
This course is an introduction into the technology of sensor data stream management. This data management technology is driven by computing through sensors and other smart devices that are embedded in the environment and attached to the Internet, constantly streaming sensed information. With streams everywhere, Data Stream Engines (DSE) have emerged aiming to provide generic software technology similar to that of database systems for analyzing streaming data with simple queries in real-time. Sensor streams are ultimately stored in databases and analyzed using scalable cloud technologies.
Prerequisites & Notes
Graduate standing, programming experience in Java, C++, or C, or permission of the instructor. Credits: 3

SIE 559 – Geosensor Networks
Readily available technology of ubiquitous wireless communication networks, the miniaturization of computing and storage platforms as well as the development of novel microsensors and sensor materials has lead to the technology of wireless geosensor networks (GSN). Geosensor networks have changed the type of dynamic environmental phenomena that can be detected, monitored and reacted to, often in real-time. In this course, we will survey the field of wireless geosensor networks, and explore the state of the art in technology and algorithms to achieve energy-efficient, robust and decentralized spatial computing.
Prerequisites & Notes
Graduate standing, programming experience in Java, C++, or C, or permission of the instructor. Credits: 3

SIE 570 – Spatial Cognition and Computing
Study of cognitive aspects for understanding spatial representations and reasoning processes. Cognitive models are studied and related to Artificial Intelligence Systems.
Credits: 3

SIE 571 – Pattern Recognition and Robotics
Pattern recognition algorithms classify input data based on statistical information. A mobile robot needs pattern recognition algorithms to make sense of its spatial environment based on sensor input. The course will introduce the mathematical framework of pattern recognition and present practical applications in robotics. The course will also cover supervised neural network learning algorithms.
Credits: 3

SIE 580 Ontology Engineering Principles
Credits: 3

SIE 590 – Information Systems Internship
Utilization of knowledge gained from the information systems graduate program within a business, non-profit or government organization and acquisition of practical training. SIE590Syllabus_InternshipWithForms
Prerequisites & Notes
Successful completion of nine credits of required courses in a school graduate program. Credits: 3

Course Schedules

The official schedule of classes for each semester is available through MaineStreet. If you do not yet have an account, click Log In and then under Quick Links, choose University of Maine term, and then select Class Search and then Search. Choose Course Subject (SIE) and Course Career (Graduate). All courses offered that semester should be listed. Independent study and thesis courses may be arranged with appropriate professors at any time.

Many graduate courses offered in the School of Computing and Information Science are typically offered once per year during the same semester each year.  For planning purposes, you might consult the typical Annual Schedule of SIE Classes.

MSIS Course Materials and Syllabi

For a convenient point of access to materials for graduate courses offered to both online and on-campus MSIS students within the School, see computing and information science courses online