Release Dates

Assignment 1 (individual assignment) - release date Week 2 Friday 07/03/2025 23:55pm.

Assignment 2 (group assignment) - release date Week 7 Friday 11/04/2025 23:55pm. Group nominations start from Week 2 Monday 03/02/2025.

Descriptions of Assessment Activities and Other Information

• Assessment Criteria - Rubrics for assignment 1 and assignment 2 will be released in iLearn by the respective release dates.
• Submission of Assessments - Assessments need to be submitted via iLearn.
• Marking of Assessments - Marks and feedback will be provided via iLearn with a turn-around time of 2.5 weeks for the assignments and 1.5 week for the weekly tasks and module exams.

Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must:

1. Attempt all assessments
2. Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%, and,
3. Participate in, and undertake all hurdle activities for a minimum of 50% on 8 out of 12 weekly tasks and 50% on each module exam.

Hurdle Assessments

Weekly tasks (10%):

Development of knowledge and skills requires continual practice at authentic problems. This unit has weekly tasks and you must demonstrate your progress in developing and communicating knowledge and skills in a minimum of 8 of the 12 weekly submissions. Some of these tasks require written submissions, while some are multiple choice qustions. 8 out of the 12 weekly submissions are designated as hurdle requirements. This is a hurdle assessment meaning that failure to meet this requirement may result in a fail grade for the unit. To meet the passing criteria, you must achieve a minimum score of 50% on 8 submissions. 

Module exams (45%)

Similarly, module exams are also considered as hurdle requirements, with a minimum passing mark of 50% for each exam. This unit does not have a final exam, but instead it has 3 module exams over the semester. The topics of this unit are categorised into 3 modules (see below). Developing a good understanding of each of the 3 modules is important for this unit and is assessed as a hurdle requirement 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 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th 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. For example, if the assignment is worth 8 marks (of the entire unit) and your submission is late by 19 hours (or 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.4 marks (5% of 8 marks) will be deducted. If your submission is late by 24 hours (or 47 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.8 marks (10% of 8 marks) will be deducted, and so on.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted:

• Assignment 1 and Assignment 2 – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
• Weekly Tasks and Module Exams - NO, unless Special Consideration is Granted

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.

Written Assessments (Assignment 1 and 2): If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the written assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through http://connect.mq.edu.au/.

Weekly tasks: To pass the unit you need to demonstrate ongoing development of skills and application of knowledge in 8 out of 12 of the weekly tasks. If you miss at least 8 weekly tasks submissions due to a serious, unavoidable and significant disruption, contact your convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through http://connect.mq.edu.au/. Note that a Special Consideration should only be applied for if you miss more than four of the weekly tasks.

Module exams: Three module exams covering the three modules of this unit will be conducted over the semester (in weeks 5, 9 and 13). To pass this unit, you must achieve at least 50% mark in each of the 3 module exams. If you miss an exam due to a serious, unavoidable and significant disruption, contact your convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through http://connect.mq.edu.au/. 

COMPUTING FACILITIES

Please note that COMP2310 is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). You will be expected to bring your own laptop computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) to the workshop, install and configure the required software, and incorporate secure practices into your daily work (and play!) routines.

CLASSES

Each week you should complete any assigned readings and review the lecture slides in order to prepare for the lecture. There are three hours of lectures and a one-hour workshop every week. The hands-on exercises in works help to reinforce concepts introduced during the lectures. You should have chosen a practical on enrollment. You will find it helpful to read the workshop instructions before attending - that way, you can get to work quickly! For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

You should have selected a practical at enrollment. Please note that you will be required to submit work every week. Failure to do so may result in you failing the unit or being excluded from the exam.

WEEK 1 CLASSES

Lectures and workshops commence in week 1. You should have chosen a practical/workshop on enrollment. You will find it helpful to read the workshop instructions before attending - that way, you can get to work quickly! For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

DISCUSSION BOARDS

This unit makes use of discussion boards hosted within iLearn. Please post questions there; they are monitored by the staff on the unit.

METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

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

RECOMMENDED TEXTS

• Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations, by Bill Nelson, Amelia Phillips, Christopher Steuart, 6th edition, Cengage Learning, 2019.

• Digital Forensics and Investigations People, Process, and Technologies to Defend the Enterprise, by Jason Sachowski, 1st edition, 2018.

TECHNOLOGY USED

iLearn

iLearn is a Learning Management System that gives you access to lecture slides, lecture recordings, forums, assessment tasks, instructions for practicals, discussion forums and other resources.

The topics covered in this unit are as follows:

We value student feedback to be able to continually improve the way we offer our units. As such we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from teaching staff. As such, no change to the delivery of the unit is planned, however we will continue to strive to improve the level of support and the level of student engagement.