Subject Structure
To the instructor: if you are delivering these five modules as a self-contained University course, here are some suggestions for structuring assessment. Much of the work is done in teams of three or four people, with only the exam as pure individual assessment. The suggested approach does, however, allow for monitoring of participation and contribution to team submissions using the facilities of the Wiki on this website.(As entry requirements, of course, you would specify that students have a basic knowledge of signals and systems as taught by the foundation modules A through E.)
Assessment overview
The assessment is composed of the following components:
» 20% Written Assignment
» 40% Project Assignment
» 40% Examination
Assignment 1 (Written)
A topic in Signals and Systems will be assigned to your team. You are to write a Wiki article on http://www.softwarepractice.org about that topic. Your topic must include background, research, theory, Matlab code, and plots, as appropriate. This assignment is worth 20 marks.
Each team member is expected to make a significant contribution to each component of the assignment, and this will be checked using the Wiki article history. Furthermore, the article must be constructed incrementally – that is, the instructor will check that the article is being updated by each team member on a regular basis. Team members who do not make a significant contribution on a regular basis will receive reduced or zero marks.
Assignment 2 (Project)
You will be undertaking a project throughout the semester. Your team will be able to choose a project topic from a set of topics provided by the instructor. There are three deliverables:
- The design documentation. The documentation is to be delivered as an article or articles on the Wiki on softwarepractice.org. It should provide the background to the project, and include relevant theory, analysis, illustrative snippets of Matlab, plots, and so on. All members of the team are expected to actively participate in construction of the project documentation. The project documentation is worth 20 marks.
- The program. It is to be demonstrated in the laboratory at the scheduled time. At that time, the Matlab code and all supporting files must delivered to the instructor on a CD. All team members are expected to participate actively in construction of the program and in the demonstration. A presentation may be requested of you, which is factored into this portion of the mark. The Matlab program (including your demonstration and presentation) is worth 20 marks.
Final Examination
The final exam assesses knowledge and application of the concepts and principles of signals and systems. It contains a mixture of short-answer questions and design-related questions. The final exam is worth 4marks.
Bonus marks
In some semesters, there are various options for gaining additional bonus marks. Bonus marks are awarded on a go/no-go basis; that is, you either get the full bonus mark or you get zero.
Write a blog
Five bonus marks will be awarded to students who keep a blog on softwarepractice.org. For those who undertake this exercise, the blog will prove to be a rewarding way to explore and enhance your learning activities. Blog entries must be reflective on your learning – simply reporting on what you did in class this week or a problem you had with your team members is not sufficient. Entries are expected once a week for the whole semester.
Exemplar project
Some project teams will be given the option of preparing their project for execution and examination by future classes. Teams that accept and make the necessary changes to their deliverable will be awarded five bonus marks. Only exceptionally-good projects will be given this option.