Curriculum Information

The core of the project will be an 'implementation' typically taking one of the following forms:

-The design and creation of a piece of software, software testing and user testing where appropriate.

-The design and execution of an experiment and an analysis of the experimental results.

-The production of a policy or strategy document for a specific context and evaluation by relevant stakeholders.

All projects will include a literature review and an appropriate evaluation of the implementation.

All projects will be expected to follow the basic guidelines as set out within the project handbook. The project topic must be non-trivial and related to the student’s award. Projects will involve the following activities:

- setting objectives;

- consideration of ethical issues;

- research and assimilation of information from a variety of sources;

- analysis of requirements;

- synthesis and taking significant design decisions;

- development and implementation of an end product;

- justification of rationale and decisions taken;

- evaluation and critical appraisal;

- original/creative and reflective thinking;

- planning and monitoring.

These rely heavily upon the student's ability with respect to time management and application of the skills and knowledge they have acquired from the taught modules undertaken throughout their course.

The project will be supported via regular meetings with an academic member of staff who is the student's project supervisor. The minutes of these meetings will be recorded and included within the final project report.

At the early stages of the project, a number of lecture seminars will be provided on topics such as research methodology, literature searching, information gathering, project management, referencing guidelines, legal, social, ethical and professional issues, etc. This will be supported by online material available through the VLE. The main source of information for the development and assessment of the project will be documented within the project handbook.

There will be a staged assessment process. The actual submission dates for the below deliverables will be documented within the project handbook.

An initial project proposal, which includes ethical consideration, the setting of objectives and an initial project plan.

An interim report, which documents the information gathering activities such as academic research, investigations, literature review, selection of appropriate tools and methods for the undertaken project. The student will be expected to include a section on Legal, Social, Ethical and Professional issues that relate to their personal project. Also included as part of this report will be a design section, detailing the system design and project progress. This milestone report will be required to identify the relationship between the outputs from the research and literature review and how they have been applied to the design of the required system. It will also be expected that this document will provide a section upon the initial development of the final deliverable.

A final project report, detailing the full process undertaken for the project. The assessment criteria at this stage includes:

- elucidation of the problem and the objectives of the project;

- an in-depth investigation of the context and literature, and where appropriate, other similar products;

- where appropriate, a clear description of the stages of the life cycle undertaken;

- where appropriate, a description of how verification and validation were applied at these stages;

- where appropriate, a description of the use of tools to support the development process;

- a critical appraisal of the project, indicating the rationale for any design/implementation decisions, lessons learnt during the course of the project, and evaluation (with hindsight) of the project outcome and the process of its production (including a review of the plan and any deviations from it);

- a description of any research hypothesis;

- references.

A final presentation, which is a formal presentation assessed by both assessors comprising:

- an in depth description of the student's final deliverable (not necessarily a demonstration);

- presentation material such as a poster or project overview;

- personal reflection on the project and what has been learnt.

If in failing this module the student’s submission is deemed to be of a very poor level (i.e. irredeemable via the normal referral process), then the student will be expected to commence a new project in the next academic period.