The Foundation Degree Project

1. The Foundation Degree Project Geoff Leese September 2008

2. What's it about? • It unifies everything you have covered throughout the modules on the FD program • Think of it more as a portfolio to show to an employer • It is student led • Tutors provide • administrative guidance • specialist support • assessment

3. How is it assessed? • Four milestones • Milestone • You must achieve 40% overall to pass, NOT 40% in each milestone! • Do not think of each milestone as a separate entity. They are each part of the whole

4. Project coordinator/supervisors • You will be allocated a specific supervisor who will • Meet with you every two weeks to check your progress • Some may be face to face, some may be by exchange of email • All are scheduled at mutual convenience • Mark your work depending upon what field your project is based upon • Yarnfield students – Geoff Leese (Semester 1 2008) • Cauldon students – Richard Hancock (ditto) • All tutors can assist you depending on your specific problem

5. The review process • Reviews take place every two weeks, face to face or by exchange of email • YOU produce and send a project review sheet to your supervisor, completing the header and sections one and two. • Electronic please! • Sections three, four and five completed during discussion • Keep copies, include them as an index in Milestone three.

6. What kind of project can I do? • Your project must be professionally conducted and be at a higher level of computing • Foundation Degree – must be workplace based • FD BIT - must have a business focus • Your proposal must be approved by your supervisor • Yarnfield – during week one • Cauldon – during week two • It is your responsibility to find a project • You must be capable of completing the project

7. Deadlines

8. Project identification • Identify title and brief outline for your project • Must be submitted to your project supervisor • Should be discussed at first review • No marks – formative only

9. Milestone 1 – Project proposal • Identify any ethical issues • Signed statement in proposal stating you have taken into consideration any ethical issues that may be involved • Projects must be unique • Components • Title • Ethical statement • Background

10. Milestone 1 • Aims and objectives • What is the purpose of your project? • In order to deliver your aims what are your objectives? (bulleted points) • Academic objectives, personal objectives, system and business objectives, functionality • Test objectives • Too ambiguous, misinterpreted • Too big, can you meet them? • Too trivial • Too many • Too broad, vague? • Skills to meet them • Resources? • Can success or failure be measured?

11. Milestone 1 • Justification • How will project meet requirements of the course? • Why topic interests you? • What you hope to gain? • Scope • What are you going to carry out • Functional, academic boundaries • List what you are NOT going to do • Deliverables • What you intend to produce i.e. project report, prototype system, requirements specification, time plans, test plans, supporting documentation

12. Milestone 1 • Constraints • Time • Existing skills • Resources • Data availability • Resources • People • Technical • Risks • Are you aware of anything that might have an affect on your project. Do you have a fall back strategy?

13. Milestone 2 – Research, analysis and design • Two types of research • Project specific • Subject matter, content , interface • Implementation specific • Technologies, OS, methodologies, development languages/tools, hardware/software • Project Gantt chart

14. Milestone 2 • Analysis • A description of the choice of problem solving method. Describe process used to choose method to show it is appropriate. • Description of the application of the chosen analysis method, indicating problems arising and how they were overcome • BIT students only should include a business case or marketing plan • Process and data models including supporting text, descriptions etc. Can be included in separate chapter or appendix

15. Milestone 2 • Analysis should follow chosen methodology • Appropriate tools should be chosen • Design • Logical models should be mapped to produce a detailed design specification • Should include where appropriate: • Tables, forms, queries, user interface designs • Algorithms, STD’s file systems etc. • Storyboards, webpage designs, site structures etc • Network diagrams, process charts, organigrammes etc

16. Milestone 3 – Implementation, testing and evaluation • Description of how the solution is realised • Selection of implementation method should be described and justified • Should include: • Discussion of technology used and how this was applied • How design was converted to a working system, any differences from design should be described • Discussion of what was successfully implemented and what was not and any key features of a challenging nature that involved more work than originally anticipated • System documentation including user manual, administrator information and technical support • Annotated page shots

17. Milestone 3 • Testing should address the evaluation of the solution against its objectives and success criteria • Describe testing strategy and choice of testing method • Include planning and application of the tests • Draw conclusions from the results and any modifications to the design and implementation that may be recommended

18. Milestone 3 • Evaluation deals with success of project in academic terms, compared to the success criteria for the solution • Evaluate the degree of success in carrying out the project • What you have learned by doing the project • Things you would do differently if project were to be repeated and any extra features you would recommend • Value of the learning process to you and the extent to which the project has added to the students professional and academic expertise • Gantt chart reflection - the actual time plan compared to the original time plan

19. Milestone 3 • Code should be handed in on disk or CDROM. • It need not be printed out and added to the report • Can include snippets in your report to illustrate points • Can include code listing as an appendix

20. Milestone 4 – Presentation and demonstration • 30 minute presentation • PowerPoint • Explain why you chose project, what you researched, how you went about project, conclusion and appraisal • Demonstrate prototype • Answer questions

21. Report style • Appendices should contain information that would disrupt the flow of the report • Reports written in formal style, in third person form • Use of grammar and spelling • Harvard referencing • Consequences of plagiarism • Times New Roman, 10-12

22. Final thoughts • Use specialist support – • Your supervisor will not be expert in all subjects • Checklist for project • Work-related • Non trivial i.e. no predefined solution • Choice of solutions that must be evaluated • Importance of design documentation - DIAGRAMS! • Project handbook • Project review document