University of the West of England

Bristol Institute of Technology

Application Development Project (UFCEKW-20-3) Year 2009/10

Introduction

This is a 20 credit module which runs for the entire year. You are expected to work alone (under the guidance of a supervisor) to produce a complete and working application which demonstrates the breadth of the your skill, knowledge and understanding of your award.

Suitable Projects

The project must contain a significant amount of programming and/or scripting.

• Students attempting a typical application in a programming language such as Java, C, C++ or Visual Basic should expect to produce a minimum of 2000 lines of fully commented code.
• Students attempting a project using a scripting sysem such Flash, Maya, Perl, PHP/ASP, etc should expect to produce a minimum of 1500 lines of fully commented script, plus any necessary support files.
• Students are allowed to use systems which generate script or code (eg Dreamweaver, Fireworks, many GUI generators), but are warned that a project which consists only of automatically generated code/script may be marked down.
• Pure HTML web sites are not suitable projects, unless they also include more than 1500 lines of fully commented Perl/PHP/ASP script in addition to any necessary HTML. If you submit a web site then you should get it hosted by an inexpensive web hosting company to enable us to test it.

The student must discuss their project idea with a possible supervisor before starting work. All project ideas must be approved by the project co-ordinator.

Project Supervisor

Each student requires a project supervisor. You are recommended to meet with potential supervisors to discuss project ideas in the first two weeks of term. Where possible, student and supervisor will choose each other by mutual agreement. If you are unable to find a supervisor you will be allocated to one.

You must meet with your supervisor regularly during the term time. At these meetings, you and your supervisor should discuss your project's progress, and your supervisor will offer encouragement and support. Given the wide range of possible projects, you cannot expect the supervisor to be able to give specific advice on technical problems.

Finding a Supervisor

During the first two weeks of term, you should meet with at least one project supervisor to discuss possible projects. When both you and your supervisor are ready, the student should download, print and fill in this form. The form should be signed by both the student and the supervisor, then returned to Bob Lang in room 2P16 (just put it under the door if there's no one in the office).

Potential supervisors for this project are:

Frank Maddix (frank.maddix@uwe.ac.uk) [Now full!]
Julia Dawson (julia.dawson@uwe.ac.uk)
Maryam Atoofi (maryam2.atoofi@uwe.ac.uk)
David Coward (david.coward@uwe.ac.uk)
Bob Lang (bob.lang@uwe.ac.uk)

Deadline for return of the form: end of week FIVE of term. [Note: changed]

Download form here

Students who are unable to find a supervisor should email Bob Lang (bob.lang@uwe.ac.uk) as soon as possible.

Portfolio of Work

At the end of the project, you will be expected to produce a portfolio containing at least:

• Source files for the application.
• Executable program (if appropriate).
• Project plan.
• Requirements and design documents.
• Brief report including critical assessment and reflection (see below).
• Any other relevant files

Written Report

You should produce a written report which will be typically around 2000 words long (excluding any appendices and diagrams). The contents of the report will be used to help the markers assess your work against the marking criteria given below.

The topics covered in each report will vary according to the project type and you should take guidance from your supervisor about what should be put into the report. However, a typical report might include:

• A description of the problem that the project seeks to address, why this problem is important and a brief description of any existing solutions.
• A description of the development stages and life cycle chosen.
• If appropriate, a description of how validation and verification were applied during the project's stages.
• A description of the use of the tools used to support development.
• The project plan, requirement and design documents mentioned above may be incorporated into the report.
• A narrative describing what the student did during the development stages of the project.
• A critical appraisal and self-reflection - this is mandatory for all reports
• References

How to Submit Your Work

It is important that you follow these submission requirements exactly:

• By their nature, projects are not anonymously marked so you must clearly write your name on the front of each submission.
• You are required to submit TWO IDENTICAL copies of your report and associated electronic files. This is so that your project can be independently assessed by two markers. If you put something in one copy and not in the other, then only one marker will get to see it! The markers will probably read your report at home so it is important that the submission includes every file you created as part of your project.
• Each copy of your project report should be bound (spiral binding recommended) and include a paper or plastic envelope for the CD-ROM. Please make sure we can easily remove and replace the CD-ROM in the envelope; don't use sellotape to seal it shut, because if a loose piece of sellotape touches the disk while we're trying to remove it from the envelope then it becomes unreadable.
• Each copy of your report should have a separate standard module submission front sheet, on which you must clearly write:
  • COPY NO. 1 or COPY NO. 2, plus
  • YOUR NAME and STUDENT NUMBER, plus the
  • NAME OF YOUR SUPERVISOR.
• Your submission should consist of the following:
  • A written report (2 copies) as described above
  • A CD-ROM (2 identical copies) containing an electronic version of the written report (PDF if possible) together with all source files, program files, and all other files which make up your application. If you consider a CD-ROM unsuitable then you can use either a DVD or USB memory stick. Please note that your media may not be returned to you once assessment is complete. This might prove quite expensive if you use memory sticks as you will need to provide two of them!
  • You must ensure that your electronic media are correctly finalised and readable on Windows systems.
• Your CD/DVD/Memory Stick must contain absolutely every file that you want us to see.
• Important: If your electronic submission is not readable then your project will be treated as a non-submission. Under no circumstances will we accept replacements for unreadable media once the submission deadline has passed.

Submission deadline: Thursday 29th April 2010

Suggestion for students creatings a Web Site with Perl/PHP/ASP Scripting

If you're creating a web site with back end scripting then we really want to see it running on the web. This can be difficult using UWE's resources and you should consider getting your web site hosted by a web hosting company, such as Streamline. It costs less than a standard text book to host a site for two years, and the site remains yours once you've left university. Remember to choose a Linux server if you're using PHP, or a Windows server for ASP.

Don't forget, we will still need a copy of EVERY file on your CD/DVD/Memory Stick. This IS mandatory!

Marking Scheme

Your project will be independently assessed by two markers using the following criteria. One of the markers will be your project supervisor:

* Quality of Product is split into three equally weighted sub-components: Coding Standards, Testing, and Look And Feel.

When the two markers have agreed a percentage mark for each separate criterion then a set of weightings from the table above will be applied to give you a final mark. The weightings will be chosen to maximise your mark.

Questions

Please refer any questions to your project supervisor, or to the module co-ordinator: Bob Lang (bob.lang@uwe.ac.uk)

Completion date: Thursday 29th April 2010

Bob Lang
bob.lang@uwe.ac.uk
Module Leader and Co-ordinator