| Unit name | Capstone Project |
|---|---|
| Unit code | EEMEM0017 |
| Credit points | 60 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Wang |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
Why is this unit important?
The project you will undertake in this unit is the capstone of your masters' degree: it will allow you to showcase the competencies of an engineer in your chosen discipline. You will bring together everything you have learned during the taught component of your degree, working on a challenging real-world problem, in a team of engineers from the same or different disciplines. This will synthesize the skills and knowledge you've acquired so far as you work on identifying an important challenge and coming up with a range of possible solutions. You will then narrow this solution-space by making evidence-based choices and communicate your findings in ways appropriate to a range of audiences. This will prepare you for the challenging, open-ended, time-bound projects which you will face in your career in industry or academia.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
This is a mandatory unit on your programme of studies and achieving a pass mark is required for the award of an MSc degree.
An overview of content
This unit provides students with an opportunity to develop the skills required to scope and solve real, open-ended problems, to plan and organise work, and to effectively communicate results. This involves evaluation of academic literature to establish the state of the art in the relevant discipline, which leads to work on addressing an open-ended engineering question using appropriate tools and methodologies.
The projects are wide-ranging and often multidisciplinary. Projects may be scientific and involve the study of certain phenomena, may be technology or product-orientated with a design emphasis, or may be on a topic related to systems and management.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
After completing this unit successfully, you will be able to work towards solving an engineering problem that you have never encountered before. You will be able to work as a member of a group while at the same time being able to clearly highlight your own individual contribution. You will know how to identify and critically analyse relevant information in the literature, and how to select a methodology appropriate to address the task at hand. You will be able to break the project down into smaller tasks and to create, and follow, a plan for the delivery of an engineering project. You will be able to report and defend your findings to familiar and unfamiliar audiences in writing, as well as verbally.
Learning Outcomes
Each team is allocated an academic supervisor at the beginning of the project. You will have regular meetings with your supervisor, who will be responsible for advising the team on how they might progress with the project. The overall specification of the project is decided by the supervisor with input from the students.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
You will be assigned an academic supervisor at the start of the unit. Formative feedback will be provided during regular meetings with your project supervisor. You will also have the opportunity to attend drop-in sessions and get feedback on draft versions of your coursework submission.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Group Coursework with Q&A viva (100%): The unit will be assessed through a group coursework submission that will assess all LOs and that will carry a 100% weight. Your submission will include multiple items:
After submission, you will be required to attend a brief Q&A viva, where you will be asked to reflect on your project, and you will be asked technical questions about your contribution.
Each group member will receive an individual mark for the submission and viva as a whole.
Attendance of the Q&A viva is a must-do component; You will be required to attend the viva in order to be awarded credit. If you are unable to attend the viva at the first scheduled opportunity, a second opportunity will be provided.
When assessment does not go to plan
Reassessment takes the same form as the original summative assessment.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EEMEM0017).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
