The assessment tasks include an individual submission, a group written submission and a final exam. These are unlikely to be successfully completed unless students actively participate in lectures, workshops and the group project. 

Working in teams on the Group-based Software Engineering Project mostly takes place in the weekly workshops. You are required to participate in the workshop tasks, either individual or group, and contribute to the submission at the end of each workshop. Attendance will be taken, and your name will be associated with the weekly submissions only for the weeks that you have attended the workshop. 

Requirements to Pass

To pass the unit, you will have to achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

The Individual Software Engineering Assignment and the Final report for the Group-based Software Engineering Project are to be uploaded by the due date. 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. 

Summary

• 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:

  • 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 

• Individual Software Engineering Assignment – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies unless Special Consideration has been granted
• Final report for the Group-based Software Engineering Project – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies unless Special Consideration has been granted

If you fail to sit the Final exam, you could apply for Special Consideration and if granted, you will be invited to sit a Supplementary exam - notifications will be sent out to your student emial for any approved supplementary exam.

Checkpoints for early feedback

Both the Individual Software Engineering Assignment and the Final report for the Group-based Software Engineering Project have half-way checkpoints as an opportunity for students to receive feedback on their work. The due dates for the checkpoints are:

• Part 1 of Individual Software Engineering Assignment: Any time during week 6.
• Interim report for the Group-based Software Engineering Project: Any time during week 6.

While there are no marks associated with these submissions, late submissions may not receive feedback, which is likely to have a negative impact on the final mark for that assessment.

Release dates

• Individual Software Engineering Assignment: No later than Monday 9 March
• Group-based Software Engineering Project: No later than Monday 9 March

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 http://connect.mq.edu.au/.

Week 1 Classes

Both lectures and workshops start in Week 1.

Weekly Workshops 

There are weekly workshops with set tasks and time allocated to working on the assessment task Group-based Software Engineering Project. You will need to conscientiously attend the workshops and engage with the work, with your TA and fellow students.  We expect you to be involved every week. Attendance will be taken, and your name will be associated with the weekly submissions only for the weeks that you have attended the workshop. 

Assignments

Assignments play a crucial role in evaluating student understanding. They are based on the lecture material, workshop activities and weekly tutorial material, and require students to integrate what they have learned, think critically and creatively.

Final exam

The final exam is designed to test student understanding of the course content and the application of the concepts to a number of scenarios or problem statements. 

The exam is held during the exam period.

Unit Resources

Although there is no required textbook, we suggest that students read:

• David Farley, Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2021.

This is a valuable resource for understanding the day-to-day tasks of software engineers. The book is available in the library in both online and ebook formats. 

The workshop exercises and the software engineering project are outlined in the workshop manual. Additionally, lecture notes and recordings will be made available after each lecture.

Methods of Communication

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

The unit schedule will be provided within the learning management system for 2026 as there are some changes being made based on student progress.

In the 3 hour face to face classes each week, you are expected to attend the class you are enrolled in and engage in the activities and submissions curated as part of the class experience.

Assessments

As was the case in 2025, the current offering has three assessments and the hurdles have been removed.

The workshops and the software project

While the software engineering content is the same as previous years, the order in which topics are covered, the exercises, and the nature of the project may change.

Class changes

Topics being covered have been pushed to online recordings due to low attendance of the past few years. We have also increased the workshop class time to 3 hours to add more interactive engagement and activities to scaffold the learning experiences.

Repeating Students

Students who retake this unit are expected to fully participate in all learning activities, just as first-time students do. Previous participation in the unit does not exempt you from any requirements.