Course Title: Final Year Thesis Project 2

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Final Year Thesis Project 2

Credit Points: 12.00

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
AERO2365	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	115H Aerospace, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2006, Sem 2 2007, Sem 1 2009, Sem 2 2010

Course Coordinator: Dr. Jie Yang

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 6169

Course Coordinator Email: j.yang@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Bundoora East Campus, 251.03.30

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

The course Final Year Thesis Project 2 requires successful completion of the course Final Year Thesis Project 1.
There are no other pre-requisite courses.

Course Description

The project is a follow-on continuation of the project started in course Final Year Thesis Project 1.
The course is intended to represent the second half (completion phase) of a project that is roughly equivalent to a two-month full-time task that a new graduate might be expected to undertake shortly after starting work as a professional engineer; (i.e. half of a total of about 340 hours).
It is a project-based course which requires students to demonstrate technical skills and personal attributes at levels which are commensurate with professional engineering practice.
This engineering project activity either is done in conjunction with industry or simulates a real engineering work environment, thereby contributing to Work Integrated Learning.
Students receive supervision from an Internal RMIT Supervisor and they may also have an External Supervisor.
Students are expected to perform their project work independently with only limited guidance from staff and/or external industry supervisors.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

It is expected that students will apply their knowledge of basic science and engineering fundamentals throughout the course. Students are required to demonstrate an in-depth technical competence in at least one engineering discipline. They should develop the ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution. Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in design and to execute designs at an appropriate professional standard. Students will develop the capacity to undertake lifelong learning.
Students will develop the ability to communicate effectively, not only with engineers but also with the community at large. They will learn to function effectively as an individual and in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams, with the capacity to be a leader or manager as well as an effective team member.
Students will develop an understanding of the social, cultural, global and environmental responsibilities of the professional Engineer, and the principles of sustainable design and development. An emphasis will be placed on the understanding of and commitment to professional and ethical responsibilities.

The project will be of an analytical, experimental, design or computational nature (or a combination of these), with significant elements of originality. Due to the individual nature of the projects, each student will have a different learning outcome for this course.

Overview of Learning Activities

Learning will take place primarily through independent research, guided by the student’s supervisor(s).
Learning will be augmented to a small extent by lectures and class discussions.

Overview of Learning Resources

Individual reference material will apply to each student depending on their chosen project.
Course-related resources will be provided on the Course Blackboard site. These will include information for students related to the management of their projects.
More so than for most other courses, the Course Blackboard site will be the primary means of distributing information to students.
It is absolutely vital that every student has a valid email address and that it is correctly listed on the Course Blackboard site.

Overview of Assessment

The Progress Report has been replaced by the requirement to maintain a web-based journal, or diary, or log, i.e. a Blog. The tools for creation and updating the Blog will be provided though the PebblePad package. The expectation is that students will make weekly updates to the Blog throughout the semester. The Blog will be assessed at the end of the semester to evaluate the consistency of effort throughout the semester. Therefore the Blog also contains a significant “Project Work” component. The Blog avoids forced compliance with an "arbitrary" date (in relation to actual project progress) for writing a Progress Report and it will result in a more comprehensive and overall view of the day-to-day work completed by students throughout the entire semester. The Blog will provide additional means for moderation at the end of semester. It is anticipated that much of the material used for the Blog will end up in final ePortfolio, or WebFolio for the project
Students will continue to develop the WebFolio started in AERO2361. The WebFolio will be assessed by the supervisor and other staff. The WebFolio should provide a complete web-based description of the project.
The final Thesis Document, and a Paper of refereed conference standard must be submitted before the end of the semester. The submission deadline for these documents will be distributed by email at least four weeks in advance. Student supervisor(s) will award marks for these documents and for the day-to-day Project Work performed throughout the semester.
Note that ALL these final documents MUST be submitted at a designated location since this provided a means of auditing student performance.
The mark awarded by the student supervisor(s) for Thesis Document will audited at a special Moderation Session, attended by Aerospace & Aviation Discipline staff. Every Thesis Document will be considered independently by at least one additional staff member. A difference of more than 5 marks between the supervisor(s) marks and the independent assessment will result in further independent assessment. The mark for the Thesis Document may revised on the basis of this moderation procedure.
Students will give a 20-minute oral presentation in front of staff and students. The presentation will be assessed by all academic staff attending the presentation. The assessment recognizes and rewards good professional practice such as appropriate inter-personal communication, punctuality, demonstration of appropriate written and oral communication skills
As part of Work-Integrated-Learning in final year project courses, industry representatives will be invited to provide feedback on some item of students’ project work