mini project- student & staff guides

Mini Project- Staff and Student Guides

Student Guide

1. Summary of key points

Start with Module Introduction Lecture Then three projects each lasting three weeks: Introductory lecture, preparation session and two 6-hour days for each project On project days, stay in the lab and fill in e-log, as you go along. Submit three e-logs, three reflection sheets and one formal report for each project in PDF

format No reflection sheet (or wrong template) = project marks halved! Pass each element separately : preparation, project day 1, project day 2, and report or fail

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2. Module Format

3 weeks 3 Weeks 3 Weeks

General Module Introduction

Project 1 Project 2 Project 3

During this module, you will undertake a series of three short projects. The topics have been chosen to cover key areas of your chosen field of study.

An important point for you to realise before you start this module is that these projects are “problem-based”. This means that you will be asked to do a task and will have to work out for yourself how to go about achieving it – just as if you were at work! The staff supervising the project have been asked to make sure that you have as much opportunity as possible to demonstrate what you can achieve on your own. They will therefore refrain from giving you answers and will instead try to help you to work out solutions for yourself.

“Problem-based” learning is an extremely powerful and effective technique for increasing your self-confidence and resourcefulness – skills which are highly valued by employers. It is probably quite unlike anything you have come across so far during your degree and you may find it challenging at first but do persevere and you will reap the benefits!

3. Project Format

© University of Hertfordshire 2009 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

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Project Title: [Insert Project Title here]*CTN/GGHT/ITC/MBDT/MMT/MT Project *1/2/3 Day *1/2

[Insert your name here]’s Mini Project Log for [Insert Date here]

All three projects will follow the same three-week format:

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Introductory Lecture and preparation session

Project Day 1 Project Day 2

In week 1 you will have:

A two-hour introductory lecture to give you any background information you will need A 3-hour preparation session to familiarise yourself with techniques or equipment

In each of the two following weeks (weeks 2 & 3) you will have a 6-hour project day. On each day you will be given an aim for the day and will have to achieve as much of it as you can within the six hours. Planning is essential, and you will be asked to break down the day’s objective into a series of smaller tasks each morning before you start work, and to monitor your own progress during the day.

To be successful in this module, you will have to do a number of hours of preparation work in your own time throughout the duration of the project.

4. AssessmentNote: Each of the practical sessions and the report must be passed for an overall pass on the course.

5. PracticalsYou will be based in the lab and should remain there to do your work as you will be assessed on your progress throughout the day. The labs will be closed for lunch between 1pm and 2pm. Marks for achievement and e-log for each day of the project are available as follows:

Preparation session (10%)

Project Day 1 (30%)

Project Day 2 (30%)

Each project will have its own specific details for the submission of your practical work and these will be explained to you during the project’s introductory lecture.

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6. Document Submission

In addition, you will have the following on-line document submissions to make

Three Completed e-logs (one at the end of each practical session)

There is a template for the e-log. You should fill this out as you go along. There will be no extra time at the end of the practical session for you to finalise it. Do not spend hours creating complicated e-diagrams – you should record circuit diagrams or block diagrams on paper and add them to your final report in your own time.

Three Completed reflection sheets (one after each practical session)

Make sure that you have downloaded the correct reflection sheet template for the practical session you have just finished. Your submission will be invalid if you answer the wrong questions.

Note: Reflection is an essential part of the learning process therefore if you do not submit your completed reflection sheet by the deadline, your progress marks for the day WILL BE HALVED!

Formal report (30%)

There is a template for this Report. The deadline for this will be three days after the end of the project so write it up in your own time as you go along – don’t leave it to the last minute. You will lose marks if you do not follow the template.

Document Submission Format:

All online document submissions for mini projects should be in Adobe Acrobat .PDF file format. Please note that anything submitted in Microsoft Word 2007.docx file format will NOT be marked. This is because our plagiarism detector will only accept .PDF format

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Staff Guide

This paper summarises the way in which Mini-Projects will be organised and assessed.

Twenty seven unique Mini-Projects are required in total, 3 per pathway, 9 for B.Eng & 18 for B.Sc.

1. Key Objectives

Each project must be self standing; hence no project can act as a prerequisite for another.

Projects must be relevant to research or industrial applications and reinforce employability through skills acquisition.

Whilst individual projects must be tailored to meet the Learning Outcomes of specific degree pathways no distinctions should be made between B.Eng and B.Sc projects, hence the basic philosophy and approach must be the same regardless of cohort or degree.

Each project must be carried out individually; hence no team working is allowed although the sharing of resources is permissible.

All projects must be presented and supervised by staff using a common approach.

All projects are essentially lab-based, thus time spent in labs by students whilst completing project work must be consistent across all projects and must comply with any timetabling constraints.

Every project must include an element of; specification, design, system and subsystem integration, simulation followed by implementation and testing.

All projects must reflect sustainability and ethical issues pertaining to the application of the specific project.

Each project must have a similar pattern of assessment points, deadlines and assessment outcomes although specific timing will be dependent on the phasing of each project (refer to the stages shown on the reflection sheets)

Each specific assessment point must be ‘closed’ so that assessment can be criterion driven and carried out with ease within a time constrained period (e.g. a dedicated 6 hour lab session). A simple but fair assessment method must be used at each stage of a project.

Student ‘Reflection Sheets’ will be used as part of the assessment process (this approach is already used on the existing projects).

Students will be required to submit formal reports for all three miniprojects.

2. Project Description TemplateEach miniproject must be summarised in the form of a briefing document comprising of 10 sections. The document should be no more than three pages in length and provide readers with a clear indication of the totality of the project.

A template has been produced for this purpose with the following section headings;

1. Cohort:

2. Project Title:

3. Project Objectives: (technical, specific to this project)

4. Project Summary: (50 words max)

5. Introductory Lecture (2hrs)

6. Preparation Session (3hrs)

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7. Day 1 Tasks (6 hrs)

8. Day 2 Tasks (6 hrs)

9. Facilitator guidance (key ideas to draw out from students):

10. Required Resources:

Students could be given sections 1 to 6 only. Sections 7 & 8 will only be announced at the start of each timetabled project ‘day’. Only staff receive sections 9 & 10.

3. Contact Time and Assessment Outcomes

The expected delivery pattern for each miniproject module will consist of 12 weeks of contact comprising;

An introductory session where a four hour ‘generic’ lecture will be given during week 1.

12 weeks of project work (4 weeks per project with 3 unique projects)

The delivery pattern for each of the three successive project-blocks is;

Project Weeks Tasks hours Assessment Outcomes

Week 1, 5, 9 Introductory Lecture 2 hours Attendance

Week 2, 6, 10 Preparatory session 3 hours Evidence of completion of preparatory work (use of reflection sheets)

Week 3, 7, 11 Project work: Day 1 6 hours Evidence of achievement at end of session

Week 4, 8, 12 Project work: Day 2 6 hours Evidence of achievement at end of session

Total hours per project: 17 hours

Referrals

Attendance, achievement, reflection and report submission are all key assessment elements. Students who fail to attend and therefore are unable to achieve practical results will be unable to submit reports and would logically be deemed to have failed.

We should only be offering referrals in this type of assessment in very specific cases based upon non-achievement in particular module Learning Outcomes. A student can only achieve a satisfactory standard in 3 of the 4 LOs through a combination of high contact hours and acceptable practical results. Hence a referral would be inappropriate if attendance and achievement was poor. Exceptions could be marginal fails due to poor report submissions which could then be resubmitted to a higher standard for an E3 grade (LO4: carry out a simple critical evaluation of the results taken).

Ethics and Sustainability

Both these topics will be introduced to students during the introductory lecture at the start of the semester. At least one case study will be outlined during this briefing session with additional materials being posted on StudyNet. Students will be encouraged to address both the ethical issues and sustainability aspects associated with the design processes needed to meet each specific project brief.

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Students will therefore gain awareness that the decisions and actions of engineers and technologists have a profound impact on the world and the society in which we live. Also that every design solution they propose must attempt to provide the best outcomes for economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of both human and natural environments, both now and for the future.

4. Agreed Peer Review Criteria

Every project description will be subject to peer review at various stages of the development cycle. It has been agreed that the following criteria will be used.

1. Is the title/topic relevant to the identified route?

2. Is the title/topic distinct enough from the other two in that group?

3. Is the title/topic distinct enough from the others outside of that group (students on different routes should not be doing similar projects)?

4. Is the project ‘stand-alone’ (must not require another project as a pre-requisite hence not dependant upon delivery order)?

5. Are the deliverables clearly stated and distinctly described (there must be clear outcomes from the prep, day one and day two stages of each project)?

6. Could a grade ‘A’ student complete all the tasks in the time given?

7. Are all the resources clearly defined?

Credits

This resource was created by the University of Hertfordshire and released as an open educational resource through the Open Engineering Resources project of the HE Academy Engineering Subject Centre. The Open Engineering Resources project was funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER programme.

© University of Hertfordshire 2009

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

The name of the University of Hertfordshire, UH and the UH logo are the name and registered marks of the University of Hertfordshire. To the fullest extent permitted by law the University of Hertfordshire reserves all its rights in its name and marks which may not be used except with its written permission.

The JISC logo is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that licence.

The HEA logo is owned by the Higher Education Academy Limited may be freely distributed and copied for educational purposes only, provided that appropriate acknowledgement is given to the Higher Education Academy as the copyright holder and original publisher.

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