CS39030 - MAJOR PROJECT

Module Identifier	CS39030
Module Title	MAJOR PROJECT
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Horst Holstein
Semester	Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Other staff	Mr David Price, Dr David Barnes, Dr Frederic Labrosse, Dr Frederick Long, Dr George Coghill, Dr Lynda Thomas, Dr Mark Ratcliffe, Dr Ross King, Dr Yonghuai Liu
Pre-Requisite	This course is for single honours Computer Science students, and for BEng students.
Mutually Exclusive	CS39110
Course delivery	Lecture	2 lectures
Assessment	Supplementary examination	Will take the same form, under the terms of the Department's policy. Resit candidates will not be entitled to BCS accreditation.
	Major Project	A mark of at least 40% in CS39030 is required for an honours degree.	100%
Further details	http://www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/ModuleInfo/CS39030

Aims

Students must complete a substantial piece of work, under the direction of a supervisor but involving self discipline, organisation and initiative. The projects typically involve developing a piece of software from an initial statement of requirements through specification and design stages, to successful implementation and testing. For students with a suitable background the project may contain a hardware element.

The purpose of the CS39030 project is to give students the opportunity to bring together the practical skills and theoretical understanding that they have acquired, by developing a complete product from the stage of specifying requirements through to demonstrating that the product does indeed satisfy those requirements. This process involves producing appropriate documentation, including documentation of the design decisions made.

A list of suggested projects is maintained by the third year co-ordinator. Projects are normally chosen from this list but we welcome students' own suggestions, especially those arising from industrial year experience.

(Joint Honours students are not normally encouraged to do a CS39030 project, but are instead offered a CS391?0 project so as not to leave them short of taught modules.)

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students should:

have completed a substantial piece of work, under the direction of a supervisor but demonstrating self-discipline, organisation and initiative;
have demonstrated an ability to gain expertise in a particular area of study largely through directed study;
have produced a critical appraisal of their work, evaluating all aspects of their approach;
be practised in giving industrial quality presentations.

Syllabus

1. Formal Lectures - 2 Lectures
There are a small number of formal lectures associated with the project.

2. Written Material
Various written material giving guidance on carrying out the project, assessment issues, and the project submission is provided by the department. Students are expected to spend perhaps ten hours in an average week on the project and to see their supervisor once a week. This course is assessed on the written report submitted by the student. Reports must be submitted by the end of the first week in May. Students will also be required to give a presentation of their project in the form of a seminar, which will account for 10% of the assessment.

Reading Lists

Books
CS39030 guidelines and a timetable are to be found on the Department's web site..
Under direction of their supervisors, students are encouraged to take out loan copies of reports produced by students from previous years..