The assesment tasks include individual and group written submissions, module exams, workshop and project participation. The project participation is a hurdle assessment. 

Requirements to Pass

To pass the unit, you will have to achieve:

• a total mark equal to or greater than 50%, and
• pass the hurdle.

Hurdle Assessment

Working in teams on a substantial software engineering project mostly takes place in the weekly workshops and is a hurdle. You are required to complete no fewer than 8 out of the12 weekly workshop tasks to pass the hurdle requirement. If you have failed the hurdle, but have made a genuine effort on four weekly tasks, it is possible to remedy that. See section Delivery and Resources for details.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

Assignment 1, Assignement 2, the interim and final report are to be uploaded by the due date. Late submissions are allowed. Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day a written report or presentation assessment is not submitted, up until the 7^th day (including weekends). After the 7^th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience technical issues.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration. 

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Week 1 Classes

Both lectures and workshops start in Week 1.

Weekly Workshops (includes a hurdle task)

There are weekly workshops with set tasks and time allocated to working on the assessment task Working in teams on a substantial software engineering project. You will need to conscientiously attend the workshops and engage with the work, with your tutor and fellow students. Contribution to the workshop and the group project is a hurdle task meaning that you cannot complete COMP1050 satisfactorily without completing the hurdle task satisfactorily.  We expect you to be involved every week, but we know, of course, that things happen, you might be ill, for example.  You need to be present and actively engaged in at least eight of the twelve sessions to be eligible to meet the hurdle, and if illness or anything else leads you to miss more than four sessions, you should speak to the convenor.  

Contribution is assessed as follows:

• Weekly contribution to the workshop: This entails participation and completion of weekly tasks. It contributes for (10%) to your final grade. Your best 10 out of 12 weekly tasks will be used for your grade. IMPORTANT. This is a hurdle. If you complete fewer than 8 out of 12 weekly tasks, you will not pass the hurdle requirement. However, if you made a genuine effort on four weekly tasks but still failed to pass the hurdle, you have the option to take a viva examination in the week 13. The viva will cover the exercises completed during the workshops and the software engineering project.
• Interim project report: Due in week 6. It contributes for (10%) to your final grade. It describes the first weeks of the software engineering project. This is a collaborative document.
• Final project report: Due in week 12. It contributes for (20%) to your final grade. It builds on the interim report and describes the entire software engineering project. This is a collaborative document.

The "0 hours" estimated time required for that task is because the task is to be completed during your scheduled workshop class (and class hours are recorded separately). 

Lectures

This course includes 2-hour weekly lectures. Attendance at these lectures is highly recommended as they introduce the concepts that will be used in the workshops and will be covered in the assessments for Assignment 1, Assignment 2, and the module exams.

Assignments

Assignments play a crucial role in evaluating student understanding. They are based on the lecture material, workshop activities and weekly tutorial material, and require students to integrate what they have learned, think critically and creatively.

Module exams 

There are three module exams. All module exams are designed to test student understanding of the course content and the application of the concepts to a number of scenarios or problem statements. 

Two of the module exams are held in workshops during the semester, one in Week 4 and another one in Week 9. The third module exam is held during the exam period.

Unit Resources

Although there is no required textbook, we suggest that students read:

• David Farley, Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2021.

This is a valuable resource for understanding the day-to-day tasks of software engineers. The book is available in the library in both online and ebook formats. 

The workshop exercises and the software engineering project are outlined in the workshop manual. Additionally, lecture notes and recordings will be made available after each lecture.

Methods of Communication

We will communicate with you via your university email, through announcements on iLearn and in lectures. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn. 

Topics are tentative, subject to adjustments. Workshops start in Week 1.

Module exams instead of a final exam

In response to student feedback the final exam has been replaced by module exams.

The workshops and the software project.

While the software engineering content is the same as, the order in which topics are covered, the exercises, and the nature of the project may change.

Lectures

While the topics of the lectures remain the same, the order in which they are covered, and the application examples may change.

Repeating Students

Students who retake this unit are expected to fully participate in all learning activities, just as first-time students do. Previous participation in the unit does not exempt you from any requirements. Completing homework or assessments in a previous iteration of the unit will not exempt you from completing the assignments again this time around.