Overall you are expected to spend 150 hours for studying 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. 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 20 minutes. 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%.

During weeks when the design tasks are due, students are required to submit a 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, marks 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.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following university standard late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information. 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written 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. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration. 

Resubmission of work is not allowed.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted 

In this unit, late submissions will accepted as follows: 

Design Task Journals – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies;

Defence & Demonstration, Group-based Online Discussion - NO, unless Special Consideration is Granted.

Context and Aims

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.

Assumed Knowledge

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.

Delivery Mode

This unit consists mainly of pratical classes in the laboratory on-campus. You will carry out the development and testing of your designs, with the electronics equipment in place and with support available for guidance. Students are required to attend all the practical sessions on campus, including Week 1. Please contact the convenor immediately if you are unable to get back to campus in time.

During the practical session, students will be guided and supported by the teaching staff. 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.

Technology and Equipment

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.

Keeping Informed

Assignment instructions, study materials and all announcements for this unit will be made avaiable through iLearn at http://ilearn.mq.edu.au. Please refer to it frequently. 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.

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. 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.

Refer to iLearn for details.

There are no changes from the previous offering.