Project

School of Health Sciences, Technology and Trades

Course Number:

CST8160 / CST8163	Contribution to Program:

Vocational

Core	Educator(s):

Computer Studies Faculty
Applicable Program(s):

Computer Engineering Technology

Computer Technology - Computing Science	AAL :

06	Approval Date:

Winter 1998

Approved By:

Shawn McBride, Chairperson

Computer Studies/Math Dept.

Course Hours:

Delivered:	64/80

Normative:	64/80	Prerequisites:

CST8150

Corequisites :

None
Approved for Academic Year: 1997 - 1998

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This advanced course provides students with the opportunity the apply sound Software Engineering principles in the design and implementation of a major computer related project. Students work in teams under the direction of a staff advisor. The projects undertaken may be conceived either internally (by the College) or externally (local industry). In the case of external projects, industry professionals act as customers. Students must produce appropriate documentation to support the project progression. A formal project presentation to peers, faculty, staff and invited guests is required at the end of the course.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES

This is a vocational course that supports the following vocational program standards:	This course contributes to your program by helping you to achieve the following provincial generic skills standards:

COURSE CURRICULUM

I.	Course Learning Requirements/Embedded Knowledge and Skills

Course Learning Requirements	Knowledge and Skills
When you have earned credit for this course you will have demonstrated an ability to:
1. Organise, plan and manage the implementation of a major project.	Project Management techniques such as: Scheduling, assigning personnel, reviews and audits and configuration management.
2. Apply the system and software engineering techniques and/or methodologies learned in the Software Engineering course in the development of an actual product.	System Engineering concepts such as: OOA / OOD , 4GT , Waterfall, Prototyping.
3. Write and maintain valid and accurate documentation for the project.	Practical technical writing skills.
4. Work as an effective member of a group.	Negotiating skills, cooperation.
5. Deal effectively with a customer.	Interviewing techniques.

II.	Learning Resources

You will have access to computer hardware and software as required for the particular project. One laboratory is dedicated to the project groups but the equipment in the room must be shared by all project groups.

III.	Teaching/Learning Methods

During this course you are likely to experience:

Freedom to develop the project in concert with your peers. The advisors role is to provide guidance only. It is your responsibility to acquire the knowledge needed to complete the project.

IV.	Learning Activities and Assessment

Samples of learning activities include:

Planning, Analysing, Designing and Implementation of a project through group interaction and discussion, regular meetings with customers and/or advisors, and hands on development of computer controlled hardware and associated software.

V.	Evaluation/Earning Credit

The following will provide evidence of your learning achievement:

Although projects are generally team efforts, the project team members are evaluated individually.

Evaluation involves several components:

a)	An advisor mark	40%

b)	Peer evaluation	10%

c)	Documentation	30%

d)	Presentation of project	20%

A passing grade (D or above) is required in each of component a) and c). Should a project team disintegrate because of poor team work, each member of the team may receive a failing mark.

Further to the above, subcomponents to be evaluated are:

a) Advisor:	Each project group requires a faculty member or a department approved staff member as an advisor. The advisor has the authority to fail an individual student should it become apparent that the student is not doing her/his share of the project task. The advisor may also assign a failing to the entire group if it is determined that the group did not meet the requirements. For projects where there is both an external customer and an advisor, the the advisor will consult with the customer and shall consider the customers input when determining a mark.

b) Peer Evaluation:	Knowledge, Participation, Attendance, Personal Characteristics, and Contribution

c) Documentation:	See "General Information on Student Projects", attached.

d) Presentation:

Delivery:	- eye contact, posture, gestures, rapport with audience and appropriate audio visuals; naturalness, spontaneity, enthusiasm, clarity, volume and continuity.

Design & Content:	- clear introduction, coherence & transition among parts, and a strong conclusion

Language:	- grammar, appropriate use of technical terms

Effectiveness	- treatment of topic, achievement of purpose, impact on audience

(overall)

VI.	Prior Learning Assessment

Evidence of learning achievement for PLA candidates will include:

In general, because of the group nature of the project, PLA candidates will not be considered for this course.

RELATED INFORMATION

ALGONQUIN COLLEGE COMPUTER STUDIES DEPARTMENT

GENERAL INFORMATION ON STUDENT PROJECTS

I.	INTRODUCTION

Among other activities this department runs two three-year programmes:

Computing Science Technology in which the primary emphasis is on software development especially in the areas of systems programming and scientific applications, but also including work on data bases and data communications; and Computer Engineering Technology which offers an evenly balanced program in software and hardware.

In the last year of all of the three year programs our students are required to undertake a project. Any computer-related topic may be considered for a project. During the fifth semester the students undertake a preparatory course covering topics in systems analysis and design and software engineering to prepare them for the work ahead. During this course they are grouped in teams which usually consist of approximately four students each. Each team selects a project topic from a list compiled by this department. Topics on the list may originate from any source in the community such as local industries, government agencies and departments and various groups inside the college. Projects which originate from sources outside the department are especially welcome since they carry an air of realism; in comparison , projects generated within the department, however realistic they may be, can still be regarded as rather artificial.

The students on each team are expected to manage their own affairs in the sense that they select a project leader, share out the tasks that must be done, conduct regular briefings. The final phases of every project include a public presentation of the project work and submission of detailed documentation on the project.

In those cases where the project topic originates from an agency outside our department the agency is asked to provide an individual to function as liaison person and consultant for the students on the project team. The agency representative may require a project group to submit periodic reports on the status of the project. Documentation should comply with standards specified by the agency. The Computer Studies Department requests that the liaison person submit a project team evaluation (by individual member, if possible) by the end of the winter semester. Representatives from the agency are, of course, welcome to attend the project presentations.

Outside agencies are warned that our department is not a software development company. We cannot be regarded as being under contract to deliver a finished product. The project activity is necessarily conducted in a limited time frame. In many cases there is simply not enough time to permit complete implementation and documentation of the project work. It should be remembered that the students involved generally have other course work they must keep up with during this final semester of their studies.

II.	OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the project are to demonstrate and exercise capability in the following topics, with due consideration of their relevancy in the project:

A.	analysis of a problem and its documentation;

B.	group approach to problem solving;

C.	project management;

D.	time management

E.	briefings and presentations;

J.	application of software engineering techniques

K.	systems and programming documentation;

III.	PROJECT MANAGERS (P.M.'s)

P.M.'s are authorized to manage their group; they are responsible for the efficient use of their resources (people, equipment and supplies). The position of the P.M. is not that of 'boss' but rather as a 'chief among equals'. The function of the P.M. is to coordinate, steer and participate in project development by means of meetings and discussions using democratic processes; if an impasse occurs during a meeting the P.M. may cast the deciding vote. The P.M. has a difficult and responsible job and group members are to accord him/her their full support and to comply with decisions he/she is required to make. For realism all group members are to look upon their respective P.M. as one who has the authority to recommend dismissal of employees. The P.M. will be personally responsible for maintaining a project notebook; these notes will be used as a source of evaluation of the team as a whole as well as individual members.

IV.	BRIEFINGS

Each project group will deliver a progress briefing at least once every two weeks to their staff project advisor. These briefings will consist of a short summary of accomplishments from the start of the project plus progress made since the last briefing.

V.	WORK TIME

Normally laboratory periods will be devoted to the project. All members are expected to attend these sessions and participate actively in the project for the full time. Attendance will be recorded in the project notebook. The magnitude of the project will require after-hours work (we assume that each member of a project group will spend approximately ten to fifteen hours per week on the project) and the P.M. may call meetings at his/her discretion with due regard to members' timetables and workload.

VI.	PROJECT ASSESSMENT

Towards the end of the project all members of every project group will be required to rate each other and themselves on a special assessment form. All ratings will be strictly confidential and are to be personally handed to the department coordinator. The objective is to develop experience in personnel assessments and to provide an input to final individual grades.

A project will be assigned a particular grade based on the level of difficulty, the appropriate documentation, and the presentation. This mark will be assigned by Department Faculty member(s).

An individual's mark may vary above or below the basic project mark and will be governed by:

(a)	the performance of the individual during the project development. The advisor's mark, and secondarily, the project notebook, will be used for this purpose. In fact, this evaluation may cause the individual to fail the project.

(b)	the project documentation

(c)	the individual's presentation, and

(d)	the peer group evaluation.

VII.	DOCUMENTATION

Documentation will be based on guidelines discussed in class with the prime objective of providing sufficient data for a competent technical person to understand, amend or complement the system. The group should prepare sufficient copies of their documentation, i.e., a master copy to hand in and one copy for each member of the syndicate. It is recommended that most documentation be prepared by a word processor or editor so that copies can be easily produced. It is therefore necessary that high standards be maintained in format, layout typing, grammar and spelling.

Documentation will be presented in a manual containing the following minimum information:

A.	All Projects:

(a)	a title page

(b)	a table of contents

(c)	an executive summary

(d)	a refined statement of system scope

(e)	allocations of system elements

B.	Software projects (includes software components of hardware projects) - in addition to the above:

(a)	a refined statement of the software problem

(b)	the Software Specification

(c)	data flow diagrams, structure charts, and coding

(d)	test plan and test results

C.	Hardware projects - in addition to I, above:

(a)	a refined statement of the hardware problem

(b)	the functional specification

(c)	schematic diagram of the system

(d)	for each subsystem (as applicable)

( i )	a block diagram

(ii)	a schematic diagram

(iii)	a timing diagram

(iv)	a layout diagram

(v)	a circuit diagram

(vi)	board testing description and test results

D.	General:

(a)	project notebook

(b)	user manual

(c)	maintenance manual