COMP3100/COMP3500/COMP4500 - SE_Projects

Course Organisation

This course is organised a little differently from other courses you may have taken within the Research School of Computer Science.

Two lecture slots per week have been timetabled during both semesters. However, once teams are established and work is underway on individual projects we will have only one lecture per week. The other two-hour period is to be used to hold team meetings and to work as a team. During the first lecture we will determine which one will be used for lectures and which for team work.

Lectures will be workshops and discussions and will address general project issues with the aim of helping students understand the common pitfals and opportunities that one encounters when undertaking a project. There are many approaches but that there is not one which is suitable for all projects in all cases. Superficially this gives the appearance of a heavy focus on project management. This is not the case, however.

The aim of the early weeks of the course is to help teams develop a strong team culture and an effective relationship with clients. Later we will address topics such as standards, planning and control, requirements elicitation, estimation, architecture, quality and V&V, change control and professional ethics. The actual order these topics are covered will depend to a large extent upon what issues students raise.

All students are expected to attend lectures and to have prepared for each session by reading the material provided. Based on these readings and experience in your own project, each student is required to prepare two questions which are provoked by the topic, the reading material and their own project. (See Reflection Homework page for more detail.)

Individual students will be given an opportunity to ask their questions of the student group. However, discussion will commence with lecturers randomly selecting students to ask their question. So be prepared! When appropriate the lecturers will run mini workshops.

Contribution

Unlike other courses project work requires constant effort and meeting regular deadlines set by the team.

By enrolling in this course, each student is making a commitment to the other students in their team that they will spend an average of 10-12 hours per week working productively on the project. Projects have been costed at around 250-300 hours per student over the two semesters, which means that each project team is expected to deliver roughly 1500-2000 hours of effort to the client.

Peer Assessment

This course uses peer assessment as a way of helping to determine individual marks from team marks. Such marks more accurately reflect individual contribution to the project and to the overall value delivered to clients. (See the Peer Assessment page for further details.)