Requirements to Pass the Unit

To pass the unit you must:

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

This unit does not contain any hurdle assessments.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment at Macquarie University is standards-based, as outlined in the Assessment Policy. This means that your work will be assessed against clear criteria, and these criteria will be made available to you on iLearn.

Release of Assessments

Assessment will be released in the following ways:

• The Fundamentals assessment will involve practical work in each weekly class to develop student skills, commencing with the first scheduled class on 25/2/2026 and all materials will be fully released no later than 29/5/2026.
• The Project-based assessment will be released as specification documents in final form no later than the end of Week 8 (1/5/2026). Note, earlier specifications may be released by the end of week 4, but these will be previews and subject to refinement and change during the semester.
• The Individual retrospective assessment will be released by the end of week 4 (20/3/2026).

Submission of Assessments

All assessents must be submitted as descibed by the instructions provided on the iLearn page. Links for the submissions will be available on iLearn, although some assessments may need to be submitted by giving staff access to repositories or third-party sites.​ Do not submit your assignments via email or in hard copy. The due dates for all assessment tasks are not negotiable. If you have commitments that will significantly impact your study during the session then you must plan for this in advance as part of an effective individual study plan and you may need to contact the unit convenor for advice.

Marking of Assessments

Assessment marks and feedback will be given via iLearn, with marks accessible via the Grades Report on iLearn.

We aim to return assessments marks and feedback within three-four weeks of the due date. We appreciate your patience and will advise you through iLearn when your marks and feedback are available for viewing.

Late Submission Penalty

• 5% penalty per day late: 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:
  • Short Extension: Some assessments are eligible for a short extension. You can only apply for a 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.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted

• Fundamentals assessment - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
• Project-based assessment – NO
• Individual Retrospective - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies

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 https://connect.mq.edu.au.

Classes

There are no formal lectures in this unit, however interactive mini-seminars and discussions will be held in class each week, starting from week 1.

Alternating presentations of key concepts with hands-on activities will help students understand the material well. For this reason, it's very important that students bring their laptop or tablet computer with charger to each class.

Teams of students will work together to produce useful software during this unit. It's important for every student to be enrolled in one of the face-to-face classes for each week. Class timetables can be found on the University website at: https://publish.mq.edu.au/. Enrolment can be managed using eStudent at: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/technology/systems/estudent.

Some time in each class will be set aside for student teams to work together as a team. It is also expected that teams will work on their projects outside of class, but for those teams which have difficulty finding common free time to work together (in person or online), this in-class time should be used to plan, design, and coordinate team activities.

Unit communication

Staff will communicate with you via your university email or through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors should be emailed, or placed on the iLearn forum if the questions are of general interest to other students.

For matters of a more personal nature, and that do not concern other students, you should contact the Unit Convenors by email. 

Technology Used and Required

Students will need to have access to a computer and internet to use the university systems (e.g. iLearn, library) and complete the assessment tasks.

During this unit, many programming tools and techniques will be discussed and used, including:

• Git
• GitHub
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Weeks 1 - 3: Students form teams, and learn about version control (Git) and online repository hosting (GitHub). The team project is introduced, and a minimal viable product developed.

Weeks 4 - 6: Containerisation of software is introduced, and students learn how to package their software for testing and deployment.

Weeks 7 - 9: Students learn how to deploy their software to the cloud, by setting up a CI/CD pipeline. Work continues on the team project.

Weeks 10 - 12: Management of CI/CD is discussed, including configuration and automation. Work on team projects concludes.

Week 13: Individual presentations of final projects occur during classes in week 13.

Note, this schedule is subject to change.

2026 session 1 is the first offering of this unit. 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 or to the teaching staff directly.