Course Title: Software Engineering Postgraduate Project

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Software Engineering Postgraduate Project

Credit Points: 36.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

COSC2616

City Campus

Postgraduate

140H Computer Science & Information Technology

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2015

COSC2616

City Campus

Postgraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

Sem 2 2017,
Sem 2 2018

Course Coordinator: Barti Murugesan

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 3496

Course Coordinator Email: barti.murugesan@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: City campus, Building 14, Level 8, Room 6A

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Enforced Pre-requisites:  ISYS1106 Software Engineering Project Management
 
You may not enrol in this course unless it is explicitly listed in your enrolment program summary.
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 designed to provide you with hands-on practical experience developing software in a project environment. Your project team of 4-6 students should complete projects from inception to implementation.

The emphasis is on understanding and working within a corporate environment, using formal project management and software delivery methodologies and integrating all the skills and knowledge that you should have acquired from your previous courses into a solid base to progress from into your professional life.

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.

Type of WIL activities involved:

projects with industry and community based organisations


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course is a core course in MC208 Master of Information Technology and MC061 Master of Computer Science programs contributing to the following Program Learning Outcomes:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Team Work

You will learn to work as an effective and productive team member in a range of professional and social situations, in particular to:

  • Work effectively in different roles, to form, manage, and successfully produce outcomes from collaborative teams, whose members may have diverse cultural backgrounds and life circumstances, and differing levels of technical expertise.

6. 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.

7. 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.


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

  • CLO1: Apply the many aspects of project management and project delivery in an environment that emulates the corporate world
  • CLO2: Apply standard software development and delivery principles and methodologies in new contexts
  • CLO3: Identity the key factors for successful project completion, as well as the risks and issues associated with project and software delivery
  • CLO4: Negotiate the project deliverables and milestones with your corporate sponsor and/or project manager and assume responsibility for a successful outcome
  • CLO5: Communicate using the proper language of the field including reports written with a professional approach
  • CLO6: Apply effective team dynamics and discuss why this is critical to your project’s success


Overview of Learning Activities

All your learning activities in this course are based on applying your discipline knowledge in a process of planning and executing a substantial research-based project or industry-sponsored capstone project experience.

The learning activities included in this course are:

Face-to-face activities, where the project coordinator and industrial partners present project proposals;
Group discussions, where you will discuss and analyze with the course coordinator project issues for effective outcomes;
group presentations to industrial partners, colleagues and RMIT academics; and
guest lectures/discussion leaders from industry experts on key topics.
You will be completing your project as a team devising optimal solutions for the business problems provided combined with timely deliverables. This means that you will work face-to-face in a dedicated project office type environment on a full time basis to complete your project in constant, dynamic interaction with your team members and regular interaction with your project manager and project sponsor.

The Project Proposals from the various industrial sponsors are presented during the first week of work. You will nominate your choice of project during the first week where after teams will be formed and the projects will begin.

 A total of 360 hours of study is expected during this course, comprising:

Teacher-directed hours (48 hours): Introductory lectures, presentation of project proposals, sprint meeting, consolations, final project presentations.

On the first week the course coordinator and the industrial partners will present you a number of project proposals to set your preferences.

From the project start, each week there will be project meetings (with each team) to keep the teams on track. Participation in the meetings is compulsory; the schedule will be coordinated with the team.

Student-directed hours (312 hours): You are expected to be self-directed, working as an independent team at the RMIT labs or from the office of industrial partner.


Overview of Learning Resources

There is no single text or reference but you will be sourcing a variety of tools and materials, some of which will be provided for you and some of which you will source yourselves. You will also be sharing your ideas, skills and knowledge with your student team colleagues. You will be in regular contact with your sponsor and other technical relevant resources to collaboratively deal with issues that may arise, and to ensure that the initial project objectives are met.

As the project teams and projects will be created based on the activities on Week 1, it will not be possible to transfer to this course after Week 1. In a limited number of projects, industrial partners might provide opportunity to work in their offices to gain more mentoring from industrial colleagues. A limited number of working places might be also provided at VXLab: https://www.rmit.edu.au/about/our-locations-and-facilities/facilities/research-facilities/virtual-experiences-laboratory/


Overview of Assessment

This course has no hurdle requirements.

Assessment tasks
Early Assessment Task: Draft Project Documentation

Weighting 10%

This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 4 & 5

Assessment Task 2: Team Project Report

Weighting 45%

This assessment task supports CLOs 1-6

Assessment Task 3: Presentation, communication and self-management tasks  

Weighting 45%

This assessment task supports CLO 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6