CSCI 479: Computer Science Design Project Department of Computer Science

General Information

Websites

Course website: http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~cs479/

Course gitlab site: https://gitlab.bucknell.edu/

Course Moodle site: http://moodle.bucknell.edu/course/view.php?id=8787

Course Catalog Description

Students in teams use software engineering methodology to design and implement a semester-long project. Written reports and presentations are required. Prerequisites: CSCI 205 and senior standing in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Course Outcomes

Students will be able to

• function effectively in a project team (CAC d);
• use knowledge from previous courses in designing, implementing, and evaluating a culminating computing project (CAC b,c);
• organize, write, and deliver technical written document(s) and oral presentation(s) about the project (CAC f).

CAC Student Outcomes Addressed:

• CAC (b) An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements appropriate to its solution
• CAC (c) An ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process, component, or program to meet desired needs
• CAC (d) An ability to function effectively on teams to accomplish a common goal
• CAC (f) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

Course Structure

This is a project based course. You will develop a large piece of software using an Agile software development process which you will learn in class (if you haven't alredy seen it in other classes.)

The course meets three hours a week with a mix of lectures, collaborative learning activities, customer meetings, and team meetings. When necessary, we may move our meetings to a computer laboratory.

Since this is a W-2 course, students are expected to have substantial amount of writing and presentation.

During the semester (the software development process) we will set a number of milestones (short term goals) for the project that each team needs to meet. These milestones can be in the forms of written papers, presentations, deliverable software components, among others.

The Project

The instructor (and other customers) will propose projects for students to work with. Students may propose thier own projects. Since we have only one semester to work on the projects, we will need to make a decision on the project soon. Teams of students can work on different projects. A student proposed project needs the approval of the instructor.

Expected Work

Quoting from the university Academic Regulations

"Courses at Bucknell that receive one unit of academic credit have a minimum expectation of 12 hours per week of student academic engagement. Student academic engagement includes both the hours of direct faculty instruction (or its equivalent) and the hours spent on out of class student work. Half and quarter unit courses at Bucknell should have proportionate expectations for student engagement."

The ultimate goal of this course is for student teams to design, implement, test, and release a software project. Though the final product is important, the process of reaching the goal is equally important.

We will employ an agile software development process. Students are expected to accomplish a number of tasks to produce a product.

• Attendance and participation: CSCI 479 is a project course. While we will have three meetings a week at the specified hours, we will not have regular lectures. Instead we will discuss various issues and explore technologies needed to complete the product as a class and as a project team. Attendance and participation in these meetings are critical.
• Team assessment: A number of tasks throughout the semester, including the final project, will be completed in teams. Contribution to team work is an essential part of the course. Team work includes design, coding, testing, writing document, technical presentations, and research. At the end of each major team task, each member of the team will evaluate the performance of their teammates (examine, fill out, and submit the form at peer-rating-form.html.) This peer evaluation becomes a part of the grade.
• Project journals: Each student is asked to keep an individual weekly journals. Each journal should contain a summary of what happens during the week and your reflection. The expected length is somewhere between one and two pages (400 to 600 words.) There is a total of 14 weeks during the semester. Each student is required to turn in 10 sets of journals. The journals are to be graded as check, check+, and check-. The instructor will provide feedback to the journal as appropriate.
• Literature survey and presentation: Student teams will conduct a literature survey and present the result to the class early in the semester. This survey should contain two major sections. One section is a survey of the collection of technology needed to accomplish your project; why the technology is needed for the project; why your team choose this technology; and how multiple pieces of technology work together for your project. The other section is an in-depth survey of the core technology needed for the project: the origin; the history; and the present status. If multiple pieces of technology are critical to your project, the team can pick one for in-depth report. The report is expected 5-7 pages (2,000 to 2,500 words). The presentation is expected to be 10 to 15 minutes.
• Project progress report and presentations: While we will exchange information about the project at each of our meetings, two formal progress reports and presentations are required during the semester (sometimes during the 5th week and the 10th week). The reports are expected to be 3-5 pages (1,200 to 1,500 words) and presentations about 10 minutes each. Each report should include the following.
  
  • Current status of the project
  • Team plan for the remaining of the semester
  • Any successful stories or difficulties during the past weeks in the semester
  • Any suggestions
• Final project report and presentation: Each team will write a final report and make a final presentation about their project at the final exam time, as specified by the university calendar. Follow the link for details.
• Individual reflection: Because CSCI 479 is designed to be a culminating experience for students, each student is required to write an individual paper to reflect on their Bucknell education. Contents should include, but not limited to, your experiences as a student at Bucknel, your computer science education, your general education, and your extra-curriculum activities that help you grow intellectually. General length of the paper should be 2,000 to 2,500 words.

Grades

The course assessment is based on the following distribution of the grade.

Attendance and participation	10%
Team assessment	10%
Project journals	10%
Literature survey and presentation	10%
Project progress report and presentations	25%
Final project delivery, presentation, and report	25%
Individual reflection paper	10%
Total	100%

Academic Responsibility and Honor Code

Please read Academic Responsibility at Bucknell and Bucknell University Honor Code and Computer Science Department's Extension of Bucknell Policy for Academic Resposibility carefully.

Last modified: Fri Aug 16 11:05:07 EDT 2013