Fourth Year Projects - 2010/2011

Process Summary

PROJECT PROPOSAL

•  Start deciding early on what you want your project to be about (you may pick one from the staff suggestions or you may have an idea of your own).

• The plan is that you will consult with a suitable member of staff (whom you feel is a potential supervisor) - YOU MUST DO THIS! Do not leave this to the last minute, since the staff member you wish to consult may not necessarily be there at the last minute! (Note also staff members have a rough quota of the number of projects that they expect to supervise, when they reach this they may not be prepared to take on any more).

• Proposals (proposal form) must be signed by a member of staff willing to supervise the project.  UNSIGNED PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

• If I do not have a signed project proposal by the proposal deadline a standard project will be assigned to you.

• At this stage each project will be assigned a unique project code typically made up of your supervisor's initials (e.g CD - Charlie Daly, GK - Gary Keogh) along with a letter or a digit. E.g. GK2. This code is used to identify documentation, assign demo slots in the time table etc..You will find your supervisor and code in the supervisors spreadsheet (when they have been assigned).

• In addition to my usual e-mail convention of starting the subject field with the module code, I would ask you to also use the project code as well when communicating. E.g. If I see CA400/CD4 at the start of the subject field I'll know it's an e-mail about the project from the project CD4 (Charlie Daly project no 4). Also, to keep track of things, please put your project code in the top right hand corner of the front page of all documentation.

FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION

• This document is for delivery on 6th December 2010.
• Functional Spec. details (contents and layout of this doc etc..)

BLOGS and Supervision

• You will be expected to keep a blog of your work across the year. 10% of the marks will go for the blog. Please name your blog with your project code e.g., GK2, CD3 etc.. things like "JoesBlog" do not make them easy to identify!
• You can find the blog site at http://student.computing.dcu.ie/blogs/ please note you must use your computing e-mail (not your dcu e-mail)
• You will be expected to kepp in contact with your supervisor on a fortnightly basis, to discuss and monitor progress.

PRESENTATIONS

• The deadline for delivery of the project documentation is given below.
•  
• You must be available to demonstrate your project at any time throughout the Project Demonstration Week. Do not make any avoidable commitments for this week (e.g. book a flight to New York etc..).

• Projects demos typically take between 35 to 45 minutes and are examined by two examiners. Usually the supervisor of the project is also present.

• Please note the University's dates for consultation on exam results (below). If you go away before these dates it may not be possible to consult with some staff members.

• In the event that you have to do your demo in the Autumn, see the instructions concerning Repeats/Deferals.

Timetable

* Try to get your project documentation ready and bound earlier than this, since if everyone tries to do it on the same day the Xerox binding service (in the Hub) will get overloaded.

**Unless otherwise specified I usually use L221 as the collection point at 4.00.pm to 5.00.pm on the submission date.

^Time table for this is not usually ready until about the middle of the previous week, and is subsequent to change. Examiners are assigned on this timetable.

^^Up until now demos can be in any lab choosen by the student(s), though some have dedicated machines due to special hardware/software requirements. The proceedure is to e-mail supervisor and examiners as to your location. In the case of a confusion the lobby in front of the school office on the 1st floor is the rendevous point if you all have not met up 5 minutes after the start time.

 Project Ideas and Project Proposals

Ideas for projects come from a variety of sources : DCU Staff members, the student(s) themselves, and clients that a student(s) may have. Also this year both IBM and Microsoft are sponsoring projects (although in somewhat different ways). Details are at links below.

• Some Project Ideas of staff members in the School
• Links to Previous Projects 2007 - 2010
• Links to M.Sc Practicums (as a guide only to what a research project might look like)
• Outline of Areas of Interest of different staff members
• IBM Open Source Competition

• Prerequisites for the Project Proposal

Ensure the project can be demonstrated in the CA labs.

When submitting your project proposal, you must include

                 0.   General Information (on main proposal form)

                            Name, ID (CAO) and Stream (SE,IS etc..)

                            Project Title

                            General area(s) covered by the project

                            Supervisor (signed)

                        Background  - where the ideas came from

                        Achievements - what functions it provides, who the users will be

                        Justification - why/when/where/how it will be useful

              2.    Programming language(s) - List the proposed language(s) to be used

              4.     Learning Challenges - List the main new things (technologies, languages, tools, etc) that you will have to learn 

              5.    Hardware / software platform - State the hardware and software platform for development, eg. PC, Linux, etc. 

              6.    Special hardware / software requirements - Describe any special requirements.

Note 1 - In general the School of Computing is not in a position to supply and support special hardware / software for 3rd years projects. Accordingly, any special needs should be provided by the students and discussed with your supervisor.

• Attach the project description to the official proposal form and get it signed by whoever has agreed to supervise.

Marking :

Overall marks are given for your functional spec (10%), your blog (10%) and your final delivered project (80%). The break down of marks within the latter are given on the marks form. Note that the broad categories given there still stand for research like projects, although they may be interpreted in a slightly different manner. E.g you will still be marked for Design, Implementation etc..Note also for conveniece the totals in these categories add to 100% and are re-scaled to a mark out of 80% before being combined with the functional spec and blog marks.

Finally.......

• This year all projects will be individual rather than group based projects.

• It is very important to discuss and agree contents of the functional specification with your supervisor.

• Keep in touch with your supervisor as we have found that this is one of the main methods of ensuring a successful project. Almost without exception when a project fails, the supervisor tells me that they were never consulted (or only at the start). Contact with your supervisor should be reported regularly in your blog.

• The other reason is that some people have no idea of what is involved in a 4th year project (probably by not talking to their supervisor as the work proceeds) and produce something well below standard, thinking it will pass. Have a look at the previous projects page (above).

• Please note there is a two day period set aside specifially for consulting with staff in regard to all exam results (see table of dates above).

• Here is a link to the School's page on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and related issues - when in doubt, ask your supervisor.

• Plagerism, the passing off of another person's work as your own, is strictly forbidden

• If for any reason you need to seek a deferral of the demonstration please note deferrals are a matter for the Programme Board (not myself) and must be referred to either the Chairperson of the Programme Board or the 4th year head. Note also that good grounds must be given for a deferral with supporting documentation.