| Unit name | Team Project |
|---|---|
| Unit code | COMS30043 |
| Credit points | 40 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Ms. Connolly |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
COMS20006 Software Engineering Project or equivalent. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | School of Computer Science |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
Why is this unit important?
This team project involves working in a group of approximately six students to specify, design, implement, test, evaluate, and document a software system of significant scale. The precise nature of the project will vary from year to year and is negotiated between the course director, the unit panel and student teams, and is usually a computer game.
A typical project from a previous year was the creation of a multi-user game. The system will be developed using a variety of hardware and software platforms as determined during an initial specification phase of the project. All work on this unit will be supported by teaching technologists and various unit collaborators, who will help introduce the specialist skills and knowledge required to complete the project.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit will build on the team working skills learned in the Year 2 COMS20006 Software Engineering Project Unit, and will be the largest unit undertaken in Year 3.
This unit is only available to Third Year Computer Science MEng students.
An overview of content
The project will integrate various aspects of computer science, for example: networking and communications, parallel processing, human-computer interaction, computer graphics, software engineering and so on.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
Students will acquire the skills and knowledge required to work effectively as a member of a development team in order to realise a computer system of significant scale. This ability will cover the entire software development lifecycle.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous, asynchronous, and self-directed sessions. These include group work, development meetings, and online software development activities supported by coaching sessions and project work.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Teams receive formative feedback throughout the unit via “project pitching” events as well as regular team tutorials with academic staff and Teaching Assistant mentors. These activities provide teams with the essential feedback to help them refine and extend their project work over the course of the unit.
In addition to the above, teams will have formative review points with the marking panel, so that they can demonstrate their work, receive feedback and experience the format of the final marking panels.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
100% Coursework, completed in teams to assess Learning Outcomes 1 through 5.
The final project mark is a single holistic mark determined by a panel according to the unit’s marking scheme and is informed by a variety of presentational formats at the end of Teaching Block 2. Information about the project is provided to the panel by a report, individual logbooks, a demonstration of the software and a video or a live presentation. The team’s codebase and developed assets are also considered during the marking process.
Individual marks are derived by agreement of the whole team under the guidance of unit staff, including contributions by individuals. This is reviewed and updated regularly throughout the project. Individual student marks will be decided upon by the academic panel after taking into account the Team Mark and the contribution weighting for the student agreed by the student team.
When assessment does not go to plan
Students who fail this unit will retake the assessment in a like-for-like fashion. This will normally be completed during the summer coursework reassessment period, and will involve making additions to the team’s project, working with original team-mates (if more than 1 student in a team has failed) or individually (if only a single student in a team has failed).
In order to undertake the summer resit as an individual, a student must have successfully demonstrated the achievement of learning outcome 1 (team working) during their first “term-time” attempt of the assessment. If this team working criteria has not been met, an individual student can only retake the unit in the next full academic year.
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. COMS30043).
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.
