Course Title: Minor Thesis/Project Part B

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Minor Thesis/Project Part B

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
COSC2390	City Campus	Postgraduate	140H Computer Science & Information Technology	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 2 2006, Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 2 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2016
COSC2390	City Campus	Postgraduate	171H School of Science	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2017, Sem 1 2018, Sem 2 2018, Sem 1 2019, Sem 2 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 2 2020, Sem 1 2021
COSC2390	City Campus	Postgraduate	175H Computing Technologies	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 2 2023, Sem 1 2024

Course Coordinator: Dr Hai Dong

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 3736

Course Coordinator Email: hai.dong@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 14.10.10

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment, by email

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

You will need to have completed Minor Thesis/Project Part A (e.g. COSC2389).

Note it is a condition of enrolment at RMIT that you accept responsibility for ensuring that you have completed the prerequisite/s and agree to concurrently enrol in co-requisite courses before enrolling in a course.

Course Description

This course is the final part of a minor thesis/project. It is the continuation of the pre-requisite course, Minor Thesis/Project Part A.

A minor thesis is a substantial work of supervised research or development, requiring the equivalent of about four months full-time work from start to finish. A thesis involves identifying a task or problem, searching and reviewing relevant literature, a proposed, implemented, and critically analysed solution or partial solution to the task or problem, and a written report describing the problem, the relevant literature, the solution, and its relation to other work in the area.

Note: This course includes a work integrated learning experience in which your knowledge and skills will be applied and assessed in a real or simulated workplace context and where feedback from industry and/ or community is integral to your experience.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

This course contributes to the following program learning outcomes:

• Enabling Knowledge:

You will gain skills as you apply knowledge with creativity and initiative to new situations. In doing so, you will:

-- demonstrate mastery of a body of knowledge that includes recent developments in computer science and information technology

-- recognise and use research principles and methods applicable to computer science and information technology.

• Critical Analysis:

You will learn to accurately and objectively examine, and critically investigate computer science and information technology (IT) concepts, evidence, theories or situations, in particular to:

-- analyse and model complex requirements and constraints for the purpose of designing and implementing software artefacts and IT systems

-- evaluate and compare designs of software artefacts and IT systems on the basis of organisational and user requirements.

• Problem Solving:
  

Your capability to analyse complex problems and synthesise suitable solutions will be extended as you learn to: design and implement software solutions that accommodate specified requirements and constraints, based on analysis or modelling or requirements specification.

• Communication:

You will learn to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences through a range of modes and media, in particular to: interpret abstract theoretical propositions, choose methodologies, justify conclusions and defend professional decisions to both IT and non-IT personnel via technical reports of professional standard and technical presentations.

• Responsibility:

You will be required to accept responsibility for your own learning and make informed decisions about judging and adopting appropriate behaviour in professional and social situations. This includes accepting the responsibility for independent life-long learning and a high level of accountability. Specifically, you will learn to: effectively apply relevant standards, ethical considerations, and an understanding of legal and privacy issues to designing software applications and IT systems.

• Research and Scholarship:

You will have technical and communication skills to design, evaluate, implement, analyse and theorise about developments that contribute to professional practice or scholarship, specifically you will have cognitive skills:

-- to demonstrate mastery of theoretical knowledge and to reflect critically on theory and professional practice or scholarship

-- to plan and execute a substantial research-based project, capstone experience and/or piece of scholarship.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Develop a software and/or algorithmic solution to the task or problem
2. Implement solution to meet high quality requirements as guided by the supervisor
3. Carry out research under supervision
4. Present a written report (final thesis) describing the problem, the relevant literature, the solution, and its relation to other work in the area
5. Present the research in an oral seminar

  

Overview of Learning Activities

A minor project is a substantial work of supervised research or software development. You will choose an academic staff member as your supervisor to work on a research project. To successfully complete the course, you must demonstrate research skills: ability to undertake research under supervision, ability to analyse, develop, and present the research in a written form like that used for published papers, and ability to present the research in an oral seminar.

The major deadline for this course is the delivery of the final thesis by the due date. When scheduling your remaining thesis work, you will need to allow at least six weeks to write your thesis after all the research is complete.

Overview of Learning Resources

For extra support with study organisation, assignment planning or learning skills you may wish to contact any of the following:

Study and Learning Centre:
To make appointments or just drop-in for learning support, see location, times, and contact details, as well as self-help learning support resources, via: http://www.rmit.edu.au/studyandlearningcentre

Overview of Assessment

This course is the final part of the Masters minor thesis, which is assessed on the final report and on the merits of the report as a research publication. Each report is initially examined by an external examiner.

You must satisfactorily complete each of the following assessment tasks for this course:

• research project comprising an implemented and critically analysed solution to the task or problem
• written report (final thesis) describing the problem, the relevant literature, the solution, and its relation to other work in the area
• seminar on your research (of 20 minutes) soon after your thesis is submitted.

The minor thesis is assessed on its merits as a research publication. Each thesis is examined by two academics, usually from within the School; neither examiner is a supervisor of the student.