Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must:

• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%

There is no hurdle assessment. But students need to obtain 50% overall marks to pass the unit.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

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 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, 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.

COMP8290 is taught via lectures and informal tutorial/practical sessions. 

Lectures

Lectures are used to introduce switch/router design and cloud architectures and protocols and put them in a wider context. You are encouraged to ask questions of the lecturer, both during and outside the lecture, to clarify anything you might not be sure of. Lecture notes will be made available each week but these notes are intended as an outline of the lecture only and are not a substitute for your own notes or the recommended reading list.

It should be noted that no single text book completely covers the content of this unit. A large portion of the lecture material is drawn from research papers, white papers and standard documents . Students are encouraged to read the weekly recommended reading list to gain a solid understanding of the topics that are covered.

Quizzes

There will be two quizzes in the following weeks: 5 and 10. These quizzes will be held in the practical class. A quiz is a short test that will be based on your previously covered lecture material. For example, week 5 quiz will be based on lectures done in weeks 1-4. The quiz questions will be handed over to you at the beginning of your Lecture class. These quizzes contribute 20% of the total mark and serve as a feedback mechanism to monitor your progress in the unit.

Assignments

Assignemnts 1 and 2 are subjec to Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

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 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, please apply for Special Consideration. 

Tutorial

Problem solving session: Tutorials are posted every Friday on ilearn. Even though these tutorial exercises are not formally assessed, it is important that students solve them on a weekly basis as these questions are often previous exam questions or structured like test/exam questions. The more practice you have at such questions, the more likely you are to do yourself justice in quizzes/exams. Solutions to these exercises will be regularly posted on ilearn unit site. If need be, this will also allow you to discuss the problems effectively with your lecturer/peers and maximise the feedback you get on your work. In case of any difficulty, seek help from the teaching staff.

Practical

The purpose of practical sessions is to reinforce the concepts that were taught in the lectures.

Note: Practical classes are not held every week. Please refer to  the ilearn unit web page for updates.

TEXT

There is no single text book containing material that could address all topics of unit. All necessary reading material and elaborate and detailed notes on lecture topics will be provided by the lecturer every week.

Other Useful Books (You need not buy unless you believe you need to own one)

• Jenq-Neng Hwang Multimedia Networking: From Theory to Practice Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-88204-0 
• RTP - Audio and Video for the Internet Addison-Wesley, 2003 ISBN-10: 0672322498 ISBN-13: 978 0672322495 First Edition

Methods of Communication

Our primary means of communication will be through your university email and announcements on iLearn. It is crucial to consistently check your university email for important updates and information related to the course. Additionally, significant announcements will be posted on iLearn, a centralized platform for accessing vital details about the course. Should you have any queries or require assistance from the teaching staff, including the unit convenor, you have two communication channels. Firstly, you can post your queries on the iLearn discussion board, providing an interactive space for instructors and peers to engage in discussions. Alternatively, you may send emails to the corresponding addresses of the teaching staff using your university email address for official communication. Through these communication methods, we aim to ensure effective and timely dissemination of information and provide the necessary support throughout the course.