Overall you are expected to spend 150 hours or work and study in this unit. This will included time spent in the practical labs, but importantly a substantial amount of self-directed time working on electronics design tasks. The 'estimated time on task' for each assessment item is an estimate of the additional time needed to complete each assessment outside of all scheduled learning activities and non-scheduled self-directed learning. These estimates assume that you actively engage with the scheduled learning activities, as well as time spent on self-directed design development.

Grading and Passing Requirement

The assessment consists solely of the lab and design work and in-semester online activity - there is no final examination in this unit. In order for students to pass this unit, they must obtained an mark accumulated across all assessments of 50% or greater.

For further details about grading, please refer below in the policies and procedures section.

DESIGN TASKS (3 x 30%, estimate time on task = 36 hours)

• Demonstration and Oral Defence (3 x 22%)
• Reflective Journal (3 x 8%)

Each of the three design tasks is equally weighted and worth 30% in total. In the case of receiving an unsatisfactory (fail) grade for a design task, students will get a chance to undertake a supplementary lab in the final week of the semester, Week 13. In this supplementary lab, students will get a chance to improve on only one failed design task, and the grade for that task will be capped at 50%.

The first design task will released in Week 1 be due for completion in Week 5. The second and third design tasks will be released by Week 5. Students will have the remainder of semester until Week 12, to complete both the second and third design tasks. On the completion of the design tasks, students will provide an individual demonstration and oral defence of their design work. The Demonstration and Oral Defence accounts for 22% for each design tasks. For each design task, the demonstration and defence will be undertaken in the practical class time and take approximately 15 minutes.

During weeks 5 and 12 when the design tasks are due, students are required to submit a hand-written Experiment Design Log (like a journal). In the design log, which is to be completed periodically during the semester, students will be able to self-reflect on their work and experiences with the design task. Students should provide a description of the research, design, experimentation, and successful and failed attempts towards their final design for the course. In the same log, the students should also provide a detailed reference and online resource list that they used in order to complete the design task. The Experiment Design Log accounts for 8% (8 out of 30 marks for each task) of the total mark of each design task. The length of the experimental log/journal will vary, however entries to the log should be made regularly and each time you carry out work on the design task. 

At the conclusion and assessment of each design task, letter grades will be reported in iLearn and feedback will be provided on an individual basis. Note that although constructive collaboration with student colleagues is acceptable, students MUST prepare their own design and reflective experimental log.

More detail on the oral defence and log will be provided, including a template and rubrics.

GROUP-BASED ONLINE ACTIVITY/PARTICIPATION (10%, estimate time on task = 6 hours)

Students will be required to engage in online activity and participation throughout the duration of the unit via iLearn. This activity will be primarily via group-based discussion, centred and reflecting on the design tasks and professional engineering attributes. Meaningful contribution to these discussions will be required in order to gain a satisfactory participation score. Details of this assessment and the activities will be made available in iLearn.

Attendance and Hurdle Requirements

Please note that the practical component of ELEC4150 is to be carried out on-campus and there are no options for online practical classes.

There are no hurdle requirements in this unit.

Special Consideration

If you are unable to complete any of the assessments by the deadlines due to circumstances beyond your control, then you should apply for special consideration. If you receive special consideration for any of the demonstrations, a supplementary demonstration and oral defence will be provided at an appropriate time during semester if possible. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. Approved applicants will receive an individual notification to arrange an alternative assessment deadline. 

Late Submissions and Resubmission

There will be no opportunity for any late demonstration and oral defence unless special consideration is granted.

Late submission of the experimental design log will incur a penalty of 10% off the graded submission mark per day. Extenuating circumstances will be considered upon lodgement of an application for special consideration.

Resubmissions of work are not allowed.

General Information Important instructions and study materials are hosted on the iLearn webpage for the unit as are all announcements. You will find it at http://ilearn.mq.edu.au Please refer to it frequently! 

Asking for help: You are encouraged to ask questions on the unit, after the class times and by posting questions in iLearn discussion forums, in the first instance, rather than via email. ALL email enquiries should be made to the unit convenor and come from your student email address with ELEC4150 in the subject line, otherwise they will not be answered.

Preliminary consultation times for the unit are: Monday 3:00pm to 4:00 pm, Engineering Building, Level 1, 50 Waterloo Rd. On occasions, this consultation time will not be possible – in this event, an alternative time/location will be made available.

Keeping Informed: The main announcements regarding the course and its assignments will be made through iLearn. Announcements may also be made during classes but everything will be formally announced in the relevant sections of iLearn.

Please note that you will be deemed to have received this information, so you should take careful note of all announcements.

Technology and equipment: Personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, or laptops will be used for workshop consultations, self-directed study and design development within this unit. Students should have access to their own breadboard to carry out designs in this unit. The designs will also make use of software including Matlab and CAD packages such as SPICE for circuit simulation. Access to student versions of these packages will be necessary in order to be able to carry out the self-directed design development work at home.

Delivery Mode: Practical and Workshop classes

This unit consists of two different formal types of activity:

• Practical classes: Practical classes will start in week 2. The laboratory component is an essential component of your work in ELEC4150. Here, you will carry out the development and testing of your designs, with the electronics equipment in place and with support available for guidance. These are scheduled, but unstructured time in that from week to week, you do not have set structured instructions to follow. Students are expected to prepare for each of the design lab sessions (except for Week 1) prior to arriving at the laboratory. During the lab session, students will be guided and supported by the tutor. However, as this is an assessment exercise, the staff will provide careful guidance such that the fundamental contribution to the design task remains that of the student. Essentially, this means emulating a realistic work environment where the engineer must have the fundamental knowledge and design skills, but is able to solicit general guidance. These include: i) Design tasks that are formulated to enable the students to combine their theoretical knowledge acquired from technical subjects; ii) Assessments targeted at evaluating the students’ abilities and identifying areas for improvement in their skill base; iii) A laboratory organisation that in addition to the evaluation of the design process, provides the opportunity for students to improve their presentation and communications skills, as well as their sense of working in an engineering community; iv) Consultation to allow the students to seek assistance.

You will need to have a lab book used for the design log. Location: 9 WW:  Room 237.

• Workshops: There will be a workshop in week 1. A scheduled workshop time is provided on Monday afternoons (consult your timetable). This is also generally an unstructured time for presentation and discussion of relevant design concepts as well as Q&A. Further details of the frequency and location/online Zoom address will be outlined on iLearn.

Laboratory Safety: You are required to follow all safety guidelines given in the first Lab session, your lab notes, and the lab staff. Food and drink cannot be consumed in the lab, and students without suitable covered footwear will be refused admission.

Refer to iLearn and lecture notes for the unit schedule.

This is a unit that draws on knowledge and practical skills gained in your prior engineering studies in electronic and electrical engineering. This unit does not focus on teaching the design process itself, nor the basic concepts of any of the discipline areas. Instead, the combination of the students’ theoretical knowledge and design skills in these areas will be assessed.

This unit is being delivered for the first time in S2 2020.

This unit will be under constant revision in order to improve the learning outcomes for all students. Please forward any feedback (positive or negative) on the unit to the unit convenor or via the TEDS/LEU survey. Feedback IS important for the School of Engineering. As a result of feedback obtained for this unit and in our efforts to provide a rich and meaningful learning experience, we will continue to evaluate and modify our delivery and assessment methods.

Although the theoretical skills that students acquire during their time at university form a strong foundation for their future career, industry naturally place particular importance on the design skills of our graduates. The aim of this unit is to allow the students to demonstrate their ability to integrate the knowledge and concepts they have acquired so far throughout the Electronics Engineering degree program and apply them to carry out practical design.