SKILLS LAB AND MODULE EXAM

There are two invigilated assessments in this unit

1. Skills Lab (40%)
2. Module Exam (40%)

All students have TWO attempts for each of the invigilated assessments. 

For each invigilated assessment, a third attempt will be by invitations (only for students who have made at least one attempt at that invigilated assessment but their overall mark is below 50) sent out at the end of week 14 or the beginning of week 15. For example, if you made at least one attempt at the Skills Lab, but did not make any attempts at the Module Exam, and your total unit grade is under 50, you will be invited to sit one capped attempt at the Skills Lab Exam, but not the Module Exam. You should make travel plans only after end of week 15 (Saturday 24th November), as that's the last possible date of assessments. For equity reasons, anyone sitting the third attempt for one or both invigilated assessments will have their overall unit mark capped at 50. This also means that anyone who has a mark of 50 or more does not need to sit the third attempt, and that anyone sitting the third attempt does not get an unfair advantage.

 

Universal design for learning (UDL) - Invigilated assessments have been designed with universal design strategies in mind, which may remove the need for individual reasonable adjustments. All students will have up to 50% extra time to complete these assessments. This extra time has been applied to all students. Students with IEAP arrangements do not need further overrides, and if they have more questions about UDL, they should contact the accessibility team at accessibility@mq.edu.au.

 

ASSIGNMENTS

There is one major assignment worth 20%. More information will be provided on iLearn. 

 

RELEASE DATES

The latest dates the assignment will be released by are listed below:

• Major Assignment - To be released no later than Sunday 11:55pm Week 9

 

SGTA PARTICIPATION

Students are strongly encouraged to attend SGTAs every week.

 

LATE SUBMISSION POLICY

• 5% penalty per day: If you submit your assessment late, 5% of the total possible marks will be deducted for each day (including weekends), up to 7 days.

  • Example 1 (out of 100): If you score 85/100 but submit 20 hours late, you will lose 5 marks and receive 80/100.

  • Example 2 (out of 30): If you score 27/30 but submit 1 day late, you will lose 1.5 marks and receive 25.5/30.

• After 7 days: Submissions more than 7 days late will receive a mark of 0.

• Extensions:

  • Automatic short extension: Some assessments are eligible for automatic short extension. You can only apply for an automatic short extension before the due date.

  • Special Consideration: If you need more time due to serious issues and for any assessments that are not eligible for Short Extension, you must apply for Special Consideration.

Need help? Review the Special Consideration page HERE

 

ASSESSMENTS WHERE LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED

• Major Assignment: YES, Standard Late Penalty applies 
• Skills Lab: NO
• Module Exam: NO

 

REQUIREMENTS TO PASS THIS UNIT

Achieve 50 or more marks overall.

 

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: 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/.

RESOURCES

We have developed several resources that can help you get a headstart as well as assist you over the session to stay on top of the game. These include,

• Practice questions
  • Codingbat: https://codingbat.com/home/gaurav.gupta@mq.edu.au
  • CodeRunner practice questions (on iLearn)
  • Practice Package
  • Software Technology Lecture Notes
• YouTube videos
  • COMP1010 Video Library on YouTube
• Computing Drop-in Centre - The support centre is located in 4RPD G02 across Esc Cafe, and is open every weekday. Although almost all support assistants are proficient in COMP1010, please use the live roster (to be announced on iLearn) to check which sessions have a support person skilled to help with COMP1010.

 

CLASSES

Each week you should attend

• a two-hour lecture, and,
• a two-hour practical class

For details of days, times, and rooms, consult your personalized timetables page.

 

WEEK 1 CLASSES

Note that Lectures and Practical classes commence in week 1.

You should have selected a practical class during enrolment. You should attend the practical class in which you are enrolled. You won't always get the class of your choice. Teaching staff do not have the ability to move students into their preffered class. Check availabilities via eStudent regularly.

 

TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

Lecture notes are available online at https://softwaretechnologymq.github.io/

Practical classes and Video teaching materials: details to be announced via iLearn

 

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS: 

1. T. Gaddis, Starting out with Java: From control structures through objects (Pearson), Global edition (6th). ISBN 9781292110653
   • Online edition of this book is available through MQ Library. There can be up to 5 simultaneous accesses.
2. Kathy Siera, Bert Bates, Head First Java, 2nd edition. ISBN 9780596009205

 

TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

Audio and Video Lecture

Digital recordings of lectures are available from within iLearn via Active Learning Platform.

 

TECHNOLOGY

• Java SE - download the latest Java SE to be compatible with the labs.
• Visual Studio Code (preferred, troubleshooting provided) or Eclipse (if you are proficient, independent) - the IDEs we shall be using during the session.
• Learning Management System iLearn.
• https://code2flow.com/ for a better understanding of control flow.
• http://codingbat.com/ for programming exercises.
• https://pythontutor.com/java.html for tracing your code.

 

DISCUSSION BOARDS

The unit makes use of forums hosted within iLearn. Please post questions there, they are monitored by the unit staff.

 

METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

We will communicate with you via your university email and through announcements on iLearn.

IMPORTANT - Use discussion forums for general queries (that relate to a significant portion of the cohort)

 

Note that three important themes will pervade the entire unit:

1. Problem-solving. A crucial skill for all of the weekly topics will be to write appropriate code to meet a given problem specification. This theme relates to the first two learning outcomes for this unit.
2. Software development. The use of JUnit testing framework is an important development practice that will be taught from the beginning and used throughout the unit. This theme relates to the third learning outcome of this unit.
3. Comparing different solution methods. Very often different algorithms are available for the same problem. Another important skill to develop throughout this unit is the ability to compare different algorithms in terms of efficiency and other criteria. This theme relates to the fourth learning outcome of this unit.

The following schedule is tentative. See iLearn for the most up to date unit schedule.

Week	Topic	Assessment
1	Problem solving, Unit testing
2	Visual Studio Code, JUnit testing
3	ArrayLists - 1
4	ArrayLists - 2
5	Classes and Objects - 1
6	Classes and Objects - 2
Teaching recess, week 1	Catchup on your studies
Teaching recess, week 2	Catchup on your studies
7	Classes and Objects - 3
8	File I/O, Terminal/Command Prompt
9	Recursive Data Structures - 1	Skills Lab in SGTA
10	Recursive Data Structures - 2
11	Recursive Data Structures - 3	Major Assignment due Sunday 11:55pm
12	Stand-alone recursion
13	Topics for transition to Second-year programming units	Module Quiz in SGTA
14		Skills Lab in self-enrolled session Module Quiz in self-enrolled session

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.