Assignments

Assignment work must be written clearly, with good grammar, correct word usage, correct punctuation,and lack of spelling errors. Poor or bad expression will be penalized, Wherever required, all written work must be properly referenced and conform to standard stylistic conventions.

Practicals

Note that while the practical material is structured against the lecture material, you need to keep in mind that there will not always be a one to one mapping between the practical exercises and the lecture topics. This is because you need some practical sessions to get acquainted to new tools and devices thereby limiting the number of practical time slots available to experiment with technologies discussed in some lectures.

Classes

Each week you should attend three hours of lectures, and a two hour practical. For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

Note that practicals (lab sessions) commence in week 2.  The week-by-week details of the practical (lab) classes will be available from iLearn.

You should have selected a practical at enrolment. You should attend the practicals that you are enrolled in. 

Textbook and Reading Materials

The textbook for this semester is:

• Fitzgerald, J. & Dennis, A, Business Data Communications and Networking, Twelfth Edition, Wiley, 2015. ISBN 978-1-118-89168-1

Additional reading that you may find useful for this unit:

• White, C., Data Communications and Computer Networks, 8th ed., Cengage Learning, Inc, 2016. ISBN 978-1-305-11663-4.

• Kurose, J. & Ross, K. Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet 7th edn, ISBN 978-0-134-31095-4.

Web Resources

Unit Websites

Comp247 is administered via iLearn (http://ilearn.mq.edu.au).

This unit outline can be found on units.mq.edu.au.

Live Streaming

Digital recordings of lectures may be available. They will be linked from iLearn.

Technologies Used and Required

In this unit you will will be exposed to the following technology and tools:

• HP networking equipment and the Comware network operating system.
• Wireshark Packet Analyzer software.

General Notes

In this unit, you should do the following:

• Attend lectures, take notes, ask questions.
• Attend your weekly Practical session 
• Prepare for and strive to do well in the tutorial submissions
• Read appropriate sections of the text, add to your notes and prepare questions for your lecturer/tutor.
• Prepare answers to tutorial questions.
• Work on any assignments that have been released.

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.

Tentative teaching schedule, subject to change.

During previous offerings all practical classes were completed in a specialist networking laboratory.   This year we have reconstructed the practical work to include new material that also uses resources available in standard laboratories, and students will from week to week alternate between the normal computing laboratories and the specialist networking lab.  Many modern networking tools are now designed to run on standard computing equipment.

Last year the unit was run, unusually, with no hurdle assessments.  This year the hurdles have been reinstated.

Grading

At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade that reflects your achievement in the unit

• Fail (F): does not provide evidence of attainment of all learning outcomes. There is missing or partial or superficial or faulty understanding and application of the fundamental concepts in the field of study; and incomplete, confusing or lacking communication of ideas in ways that give little attention to the conventions of the discipline.
• Pass (P): provides sufficient evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes. There is demonstration of understanding and application of fundamental concepts of the field of study; and communication of information and ideas adequately in terms of the conventions of the discipline. The learning attainment is considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in relation to the specified outcomes.
• Credit (Cr): provides evidence of learning that goes beyond replication of content knowledge or skills relevant to the learning outcomes. There is demonstration of substantial understanding of fundamental concepts in the field of study and the ability to apply these concepts in a variety of contexts; plus communication of ideas fluently and clearly in terms of the conventions of the discipline.
• Distinction (D): provides evidence of integration and evaluation of critical ideas, principles and theories, distinctive insight and ability in applying relevant skills and concepts in relation to learning outcomes. There is demonstration of frequent originality in defining and analysing issues or problems and providing solutions; and the use of means of communication appropriate to the discipline and the audience.
• High Distinction (HD): provides consistent evidence of deep and critical understanding in relation to the learning outcomes. There is substantial originality and insight in identifying, generating and communicating competing arguments, perspectives or problem solving approaches; critical evaluation of problems, their solutions and their implications; creativity in application.

In this unit, the final mark will be calculated by combining the marks for all assessment tasks according to the percentage weightings shown in the assessment summary. The final examination in this unit is a hurdle requirement; you must get a mark of at least 40% in the examination to pass the unit. If you get a mark between 30% and 40% in your first attempt at the final examination, you will be given a second and final attempt. The practical classes are also a hurdle assessment, you will be required to perform to a satisfactory standard in at least six of the practical classes to pass the unit.

Concretely, in order to pass the unit, you must obtain an overall total mark of 50% or higher, a mark of 40% or higher in the final examination, and satisfactorily complete at least 6 out of the 10 practical exercises.

Students obtaining a higher grade than a pass in this unit will (in addition to the above)         

• • have a total mark of 85% or higher to obtain High Distinction;
  • have a total mark of 75% or higher to obtain Distinction;
  • have a total mark of 65% or higher  to obtain Credit.