Lecturers at DCU's School of Computing along with experienced IBM IT architects hosted a two-day workshop in IT architecuture.  The workshop offered DCU computing students the opportunity to learn, apply and demonstrate architectural thinking through a series of practical exercises. Assessment of the module involved students presenting written proposals along with making individual and team presentations.

This workshop has run successfully for the past four years and has been developed by IBM in conjuction with DCU and several UK universities. The IBM's IT architects all work at the Global Services division in Ireland and the UK and act as mentors, guest lecturers and tutors during the workshop.

• On completing this module, students are able to .....
• Explain the role of IT Architecture, the skills of the IT Architect, what IT Architects do, the processes involved in producing an architectural solution and the management issues involved.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the principles and practices of IT Architecture as well as the process as proposed by the IBM methodology.
• Relate theory to practice by modelling real world problems to an abstract analysis and design space.
• Critically appraise proposed IT Architectural solutions.
• Design and justify a articular architecture for a specified project taking into account the business and technical requirements of the project.
• Devise and communicate arguments for an architectural solution through presentations written proposals and in response to live questioning.
• Work collaboratively in self organising teams to produce and defend proposals based on the work carried out in the workshops.

The IT Architecture module runs over two intensive weeks for 3rd year students studying Computer Applications Software Engineering and Information Systems.