Course Title: Automotive Project 2

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Automotive Project 2

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
AUTO1030	City Campus	Postgraduate	115H Aerospace, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 2 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 2 2013

Course Coordinator: Dr. Xu Wang

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 99256028

Course Coordinator Email: xu.wang@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This course aims to provide a practical and creative outlet for the technical skills being developed in the other courses offered within the Master of Engineering (International Automotive Engineering) program. The primary focus of the course is to develop your personal communication and management skills in a real-world project situation. The Automotive Project 1 & 2 courses will develop your ability to apply technical expertise to a design problem of your own interest, whilst enhancing your social and business skills through guided group project work and topical guest lectures.
In the Automotive 2 course, you will form teams of 4-8 students to undertake a collaborative automotive design project, with the suggested intent of developing a system from feasibility study stage to the point of beginning prototype manufacture. As distinct from the management and planning emphasis of the Automotive Project 1 course, in this course you will be focusing on the implementation phases of the design process. This entails the design, modelling, analysis and planning for the manufacture of your prototype automotive system.
The scope and topic of your project will be negotiated with the course mentor, and it will be structured to align with the skills being developed by the team members in their concurrent courses. You may wish to continue the project developed in the preceding Automotive Project 1 course.

Consultation with professional automotive engineers has stressed the need for engineers to not only be technically competent, but also to be highly capable in the social and business aspects of professional life. These generic capabilities include the ability to lead and work in teams, resolve conflicts, innovate, research, negotiate, and communicate in a wide range of contexts.
A feature of the Automotive Project courses is that we specifically aim to develop such generic capabilities. Guidance will be provided through mentoring from the course leaders, and also through guest speakers on relevant project management topics.
Emphasis will be placed on team self-management. As a team you will be expected to assess your own pooled resources (experience, technical skills, etc), and the skills you will be developing in the concurrent courses, to develop a management plan to navigate your way through the project requirements.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

In summary, this course develops the following graduate capabilities:
• Problem solving and decision making
• Advanced technical competence
• Working in teams and professional networks
• Leadership
• Professional, legal and ethical standards
• Research
• International and cultural awareness

Upon completion of this course you will have the skills to:
• Research an automotive design topic from beyond the initial conceptual stage up to the beginning of prototype manufacture.
• Perform detail design and analysis of an automotive system using state-of-the-art engineering tools and techniques
• Report on professional and ethical standards relating to your design work
• Lead a design team through aspects of a collaborative design and analysis process
• Work effectively in a professional team environment
• Plan strategies to enhance your own professional capabilities

Overview of Learning Activities

Project based learning.

Lectures.

Team meetings

Meetings with project supervisors.

Overview of Learning Resources

Microsoft Project or similar software for the purposes of project management.

Specific texts and/or reference books

Journal papers and other relevant published articles

Analytical software, dependent on individual project area.

As these are dependant upon individual project areas, assistance will be provided by the project supervisors in identifying relevant resources. Students are to meet with their first supervisor at least fortnightly.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment in this course is based on the following tasks:
a) a) Group Project – This will entail submission of a mid-term milestone report and a final group report relating to your project work. These reports will focus on your teams design and analysis findings, your understanding of professional and ethical standards relating to your work, your plan for and your overall research findings. The Group Project reports will be submitted as a team, to encourage team self-management. Within the group project, you will also negotiate with your team and with the course mentor to undertake additional tasks specifically oriented to develop leadership skills, teamwork and cultural awareness skills not specifically focussed on in your previous Automotive Project 1 assessment. For example, you may wish to demonstrate leadership skills by recruiting undergraduate or cross-disciplinary students to join your project team, or you may wish to prepare a mini-presentation to your own team on differing cultural viewpoints that you are familiar with. Assessment of these additional tasks will be by submission of a report reflecting on the value of the completed tasks, with specific attention to prior personal development goals laid out at the completion of the Automotive Project 1 course.
b) Group Presentation – as a team you will present to the class a Final Presentation, delivering your research findings as an automotive system ready for prototype manufacture. These presentations will be held in an open forum atmosphere to encourage group debate and shared learning. You will be assessed on both your technical solution and the quality of your team’s presentation.