Year No. Offer Mode Description Cred. Pts 97 E0009 S12 X PROJECT 1.00
Graduates will undoubtedly be required to plan, supervise and report on some substantial element of work very early in their career. The Course must provide some opportunity for the students to work through some such substantial task. The project is seen as the avenue through which this can occur and an opportunity to demonstrate the skills acquired in the course. 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.
The project is normally undertaken during the final year of the student's course and it is intended to consolidate the material presented in the course and develop students' self confidence in their ability to apply that to real situations. The project may cover such activities as design; investigation; testing; construction; and evaluation. Project work in areas such as maintenance and engineering management will also be appropriate. General guidance (but not direction) will be provided by a staff member appointed as supervisor and (for external students) an advisor in their place of employment, if available. Every project must be approved by the examiner before commencement. The student will then plan, execute and document the work within the time and resource constraints available. Assessment may include a demonstration of hardware, but will always include a project report, an assessed copy of which will be returned to the student.
Description Weighting(%)
- At the beginning of this unit, the student will be invited 100.00 to nominate or select a suitable topic and indulge in suitable preliminary reading. The topic may be a small piece of research or part of a large research project or a small design problem. It may or may not involve experimental work. For external students, the project topic may cover aspects of routine work undertaken in a design office or testing laboratory as part of a much larger project.
- Alternatively, students either individually or in a group, may be presented with an open ended task encompassing a broad range of engineering disciplines. The task could involve investigation, design, manufacturing and/or testing.
- A fully written up report is required at the end of the project.
- As a general guide a typical project centred, for example on the design and construction of a piece of equipment or other device might comprise : . about 10 hours investigation of the engineering task; . about 20 hours planning and organisation of the resources required to execute the project; . about 90 hours design, prototype construction, and simulation; . about 20 hours testing and evaluation, and . about 35 hours documentation of the work and writing of the project report.
Strunk W and White E B, "The Elements of Style", 3rd Edition,
MacMillan, 1979.
E2001 Electronic Workshop and Production, USQ Publication.
Wilcox A D, "Engineering Design for Electrical Engineers", Prentice
Hall, 1990.
ACTIVITY HOURS Project Work 140 Report Writing 35
No *F/S Marks Due Description Wtg(%) LBL 1 F 27/03/97 PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM Y 2 F 18/07/97 PROGRESS REPORT Y 3 F 10/10/97 DRAFT PROJECT REPORT (OPTIONAL) Y 4 S 07/11/97 PROJECT HARDWARE (ELECTRICAL ONLY) Y 5 S 07/11/97 PROJECT REPORT 100.00 Y
1 ELIGIBILITY
1.1 A student will not normally be permitted to commence a project
until he/she is in the final year of their course.
2 RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL
2.1 There is no specific residential school in this unit. However
students may use the opportunity of being on campus for other
units to consult with their project supervisor and/or the
examiner.
3 TOPICS, SUPERVISORS AND ADVISORS
3.1 Each student must propose their own project and find a project,
advisor usually (but not necessarily) from the student's place of
employment.
3.2 Each project must be fully approved by the examiner before
commencement.
3.3 Proposals should be submitted well before the final deadline
above to allow adequate time for completion. Project proposals
submitted after the March deadline will not be accepted.
4 PROGRESS REPORT
4.1 Students must submit a brief progress report as indicated in the
Assessment Details, and if unsatisfactory other such progress
reports as the supervisor or examiner may determine.
5 DRAFT PROJECT REPORT (OPTIONAL)
5.1 A draft report is to be submitted in accordance with the
Assessment Details listed above. The draft report will normally
comprise of Table of Contents and perhaps no more than a dozen
pages of manuscript. The purpose of this formative assessment is
to enable the Project Supervisor to quickly gauge the students
writing style and sequence of personation, so that appropriate
feedback may be given well prior to the final submission. An
extensive manuscript is not necessary for this purpose. The Draft
Project Report submission is optional but is highly recommended.
6 PROJECT SUBMISSION
6.1 For a HD, A or B grade to be awarded and for grades to be
published at the end of second semester, the project must be
submitted by the due date above.
6.2 Extensions beyond this date may be granted by the examiner only
on the recommendation of the supervisor and only in extenuating
circumstances. Projects submitted after the normal deadline will
be eligible for a C grade at best, unless mitigating
circumstances can be proven to the satisfaction of the Examiner.
6.3 The FINAL DEADLINE for projects 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 Three (3) identical copies of the project report shall be
submitted in the format set out in the Project booklet. One of
these copies will be retuned to the student, one kept by the
examiner and one lodged in the USQ Library (unless a specific
request not to do so is made by the student).
7.2 Faculty of Engineering and Surveying project report covers will
be supplied by the examiner.
8 ASSESSMENT
8.1 Assessment of the project and project report shall be with regard
to the project proposal (and any subsequent modifications) and
any correspondence between the student, supervisor and/or
examiner. Guidelines regarding the award of HD, A or B grades are
provided in the Project Booklet.
8.2 Project assessment may also involve demonstration of hardware
constructed, software written and/or inspection of other work as
appropriate or practicable.
8.3 At least two members of academic staff shall perform the
assessment, one of whom will normally be the supervisor.
8.4 The project advisor may also be consulted with regard to
assessment.
8.5 Project reports are expected to be of high quality and to follow
the guidelines set out in the Project Booklet. If reports are of
inadequate standard, an I(M) grade will be awarded until a
satisfactory standard report is submitted prior to the final
deadline.
9 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.
10 A minimum standard of communication skills must be demonstrated
in order for a passing grade to be achieved.