70810 PROJECT

Year	No.	Offer	Mode	Description			Cred. Pts
97	70810 	S12 	D 	PROJECT                   	1.00

Contents


STAFFING:

Examiner: N. HANCOCK
Moderator: D. DOWLING

RATIONALE:

Project units offered by the Faculty have limitations on their use as indicated below. The Council of the University of Southern Queensland, its Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, and the staff of the University of Southern Queensland, do not accept any responsibility for the material associated with or contained in this Project. Persons using all or any part of the Project do so at their own risk, and not at the risk of the Council of the University of Southern Queensland, its Faculty of Engineering and Surveying or the staff of the University of Southern Queensland. The sole purpose of the unit entitled "Project" is to contribute to the overall education process which may assist the diplomate or graduate enter the workforce at a level appropriate to the award. The Project Report is the end of an educational exercise and the report, associated hardware, drawings, and other appendices or parts of the Project should not be used for any other purpose and, if used, are used at the risk of the user.


SYNOPSIS:

Projects are intended to apply the student's total formal knowledge to a real problem. In this sense they test the ability to define and analyse the problem, to develop solutions to the problem, to make the necessary decisions, convert ideas into hardware and to cope with the unexpected problems encountered in testing. All of this must be accomplished against a tight timescale. In short, the project is a good test of overall engineering ability.


OBJECTIVES:

  1. To develop the student's self confidence in handling
    engineering problems and/or situations.
  2. To develop in the student those attitudes and personal skills
    necessary to "get a job done" which includes reporting to an
    appropriate professional standard within specified time and
    resource constraints.
  3. To integrate all sections of the student's formal education
    and bring them to bear on a substantial task.

TOPICS:

 Description                                                    Weighting(%)
  1. Students will tackle an individual, generally open ended 100.00 task which will encompass a range of engineering skills appropriate to the student's major study. These will include some (or all) of the following : . planning and management . investigation . feasibility assessment . experimental work and trialling . fieldwork . data analysis . design . prototype construction and testing . simulation and modelling . financial analysis The work will be undertaken with the guidance of a supervisor or supervisors, normally appointed from the academic staff of the Faculty. Sponsors and supervisors external to the Faculty may also by involved.


TEXT and MATERIALS to be PURCHASED:

Nil.


RECOMMENDED REFERENCE MATERIALS:

The project will require full use of the resources of the Library eg
literature searches, research papers, journals and trade literature
files.

"Guidelines and Requirements for the Preparation and Submission of
the Project Report",
(available from the Examiner in August).


STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

	ACTIVITY				HOURS
Tutorials/Workshops                           	10
Seminars                                      	10
Project Work                                  	125
Report Writing                                	30

ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

No  *F/S Marks     Due        Description                              Wtg(%)    LBL
1   S              22/07/97  PROGRESS ASSESSMENT                                 N
2   F              17/10/97  DRAFT PROJECT REPORT                                N
3   S              06/11/97  PROJECT PERFORMANCE                       100.00    N

*F=Formative, S=Summative

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

1    A  student  will not normally be permitted to commence a  project
     until he/she is in the final year of the Bachelor of Engineering.
     The  following regulations relate to the assessment  of  students
     performance in their projects.
2    TOPICS AND SUPERVISORS
     2.1  Both project topics and supervisors will be allocated by the
          examiner  on  the  advice of one of the assistant  examiners
          depending  on  the student's major study, staff availability
          for supervision and, where practicable, student preferences.
     2.2  The  student  shall  meet  with the  supervisor  at  regular
          intervals,   normally  weekly,  or  as  indicated   by   the
          supervisor  and  keep  whatever  records  of  progress   the
          supervisor may require (eg a log book).
3    PROJECT SPECIFICATION
     3.1  An  individual project specification will be written by  the
          supervisor  for  each project endorsed by  the  student  and
          lodged with the examiner.
     3.2  A  revised  project specification may be written during  the
          course  of  the  project if the work diverges  significantly
          from the original project conception.
     3.3  The  project  specification will be used for management  and
          assessment purposes throughout the duration of the project.
4    SEMINARS
     4.1  The  student shall present a SEMINAR which will normally  be
          late  in  the  first  semester and must  be  a  satisfactory
          standard.
     4.2  A  student  whose seminar is not of a satisfactory  standard
          shall  present  further seminar(s) until a  satisfactory  is
          achieved.
     4.3  Attendance  throughout the seminar programme  is  compulsory
          and  a  register  will be kept. Students with unsatisfactory
          attendance  will be required to find and attend seminars  on
          topic(s)  of  relevance  to the engineering  profession  and
          provide satisfactory written report(s) on these seminar(s).
5    PROGRESS ASSESSMENT
     5.1  A  mid  unit  progress assessment will be conducted  by  the
          supervisor and may comprise:
          . an interview, and/or
          . a demonstration, and/or
          . a written report at the discretion of the supervisor.
          The  result  of  the  assessment will  be  lodged  with  the
          examiner.
     5.2  Where  a student has failed to maintain a satisfactory  rate
          of progress he/she will be required to show cause why he/she
          should not be dropped from the unit.
     5.3  Where  unsatisfactory  progress is  the  result  of  factors
          beyond the control of the student this shall be recorded.
6    DEADLINES
     6.1  The deadline for receipt of the project report is 4.00 pm on
          the  day indicated in the Assessment Details section of  the
          specification.
     6.2  Credit will be given for projects completed significantly in
          advance of this deadline.
     6.3  Extension   of  this  deadline  will  only  be  granted   in
          exceptional  circumstances, such as  prolonged  illness  and
          only by the Examiner. Application for such an extension must
          be  made in writing to the examiner, fully justified, and be
          endorsed by the supervisor.
     6.4  For certain exceptional projects a non standard deadline may
          be  set.  This will be stated and justified on  the  project
          specification.
     6.5  Certain students may need to undertake the unit entirely  in
          S1  or entirely in S2 to suit their other study commitments.
          For  these  students  appropriate seminar  presentation  and
          deadlines for the mid unit and final assessment will be set.
     6.6  Any  student  unable to submit by this deadline  must  state
          briefly in a letter to the Examiner why he/she should not be
          graded F at this time.
     6.7  Projects  not  submitted  by  the  deadline  above  will  be
          eligible for a C grade only.
     6.8  The  FINAL DEADLINE for project submission is 31 January  of
          the  following  year. Projects not submitted by  this  final
          deadline  will automatically be graded Fail and the  student
          will normally be required to undertake a NEW project in  the
          following year.
7    SUBMISSION
     7.1  At  least  three  copies  of the  project  report  shall  be
          submitted  in  a  format stipulated by the examiner  of  the
          unit.  This  currently outlined in the document  "Guidelines
          and  Requirements for the Preparation and Submission of  the
          Project Report", (available from the Examiner in August).  A
          report  that  is  not  in the required format  will  not  be
          accepted.
8    ASSESSMENT
     8.1  Assessment of the project and project report shall  be  with
          respect  to  the  final  version of the  individual  project
          specification  and  will take into  account  the  degree  of
          difficulty  of  the work and all of the three  (3)  workload
          activities listed above.
     8.2  Project   assessment  may  also  involve  demonstration   of
          hardware constructed, software written and/or inspection  of
          fieldwork as appropriate.
     8.3  At  least  two members of academic staff shall  perform  the
          assessment, one of whom will normally be the supervisor.
9    In  the  case  of  any  dispute that cannot be  resolved  by  the
     assistant  examiners or examiner, the Dean's  decision  shall  be
     final.
10   The   Faculty  of  Engineering  and  Surveying  will  NOT  accept
     submission  of  hand written or typed assignments  by  facsimile,
     email  or computer diskette. Students in remote locations who  do
     not  have regular access to postal services may be given  special
     consideration.
11   A  minimum  standard of communication skills must be demonstrated
     in order for a passing grade to be achieved.

This information is accurate as at 28/11/97