Course Code COMP1682
Course Title Final Year Projects
Course Leader Keeran Jamil
Level 6
Credit 60
Pre-requisites To have Passed Level 5 of an appropriate programme
Aims
Introduction and Rationale:
The Final Year Project requires students to work independently, abstract the essentials of a problem, obtain solutions
by appropriate methods, and present their arguments through a user acceptance testing of the end-product/artefact
as well as a well-reasoned formal dissertation report.
Prospective employers often require that the student is able to tackle a non-standard problem, organise their work,
show a high level of commitment with an awareness of their target audience and present their conclusions in a number
of forms. Projects develop practical, analytical and communication skills, and are specifically designed to encourage
students to initiate, plan and execute research programmes. Similarly, admissions tutors for Postgraduate courses and
Research awards need to be reasonably certain that an applicant will be able to employ these same skills in order to
carry out research and put those results in a thesis.
This core course for all final year programmes is designed to provide students with the opportunity to carry out an
individual piece of supervised work, a pre-determined, template project or an industry work practice project with an
agreed topic relevant to their degree.
Aims: The aims of the course are to:
• Provide the student with the opportunity to research, specify, design, implement and test a software product to an
appropriate level of professional competence.
• Encourage the student to evaluate critically the work of others and relate it to their own work where appropriate.
• Develop a student's ability to create, plan, organise and work independently on an appropriate product, drawing on
and extending ideas, skills and techniques encountered during the programme of study.
• Develop the student's ability to evaluate critically the work of others and relate it to their own work where
appropriate.
• Develop the student's ability to critically appraise their own academic, creative and technical practice, by means of
a written report, the product outcome and the process of its production.
Lectures cover; project proposals, research skills and methodologies, project planning, requirements analysis,
appropriate testing and implementation. Other skills covered include communication skills (project pitch), record
keeping, report writing, appropriate referencing, subject-specific Legal, Social, Ethical laws and professional practice.
Learning Outcomes: on successful completion of this course a student will be able to:
A. Produce a formal Project Proposal including a critical justification for the project and an appropriate set of
objectives and estimates for the project.
B. Critically evaluate and use appropriate project management tools and techniques to plan, organise, schedule
and control their project.
C. Undertake a critically evaluative and appropriate literature search, using a variety of sources and methods
for collecting reference material.

D. Carry a software development project through to a logical conclusion.
E. Document a project with evidence of appropriate research, development methodology, technical
documentation and critical refection on their progress and response to changing circumstances.
F. Satisfy any professional requirements specific to the student's programme.
Indicative Content
Investigation, Research and Planning Methods, producing a project proposal
• Literature searching, primary secondary and tertiary sources, referencing, annotated bibliography, literature
review.
• Primary and secondary research, primary and secondary data.
• Primary research methods, experiment, prototype, observation, surveys, questionnaires.
• Legal, social, ethical and professional issues and considerations.
• Research ethics, system and information security, data protection.
• Technical and commercial risk.
• SMART objectives, activities, estimates, critical path analysis, task scheduling.
Output:
Project Proposal

Information Retrieval and Requirements Analysis, producing a literature review
• Literature Review
• Requirements Specification
o Requirements Gatherng and Analysis
o Functional and Non-Functional requirements
o Analysis Tools and Techniques ( Development Frameworks and Methods)
o Outline Prototyping Plan
o Mapping Requirements to Prototypes
o Iterative and Incremental Prototyping
• Legal, social, ethical and professional issues, Professional Code of Conduct
• Security Implications, Acts and Standards
• Commercial and Technical Risk
Outputs:
Initial report of the literature Review
Requirements Specification
Commercial and technical risk implications,
LSEPi

Technical Project Development
• Product development
• Software Design
• Tools, Practices and Environments
• Software Security and Reliability
Output:
Design Documentation plus artefact


Assessment Details:
Acceptance Testing and Evaluation

• Verification and validation concepts
• Inspections, reviews, audits
• Testing types, including human computer interface, usability, reliability, security, conformance to specification
• Testing fundamentals, test plan creation and test case generation, black-box and white box testing, test-driven
development, object-oriented testing, system testing
• Limitation of testing
Output:
Critical Reflection
System testing and evaluation documentation
Final Report

Learning and Teaching Activities
This course will guide students through the stages of an individual substantive project through personal supervision and
tutorials. During these tutorials and personal supervisions, students will be directed to undertake a student led project,
which originates from within the department, from a sponsor, or from their own interests. Acceptable projects lead to
the design and implementation of a software product and a written report of the project and the development process.
This course is to be delivered via several complementary activities: lectures, tutorials, practical work and directed
unsupervised learning. The rationale for this mix of activities is to give the students an interesting and varied learning
experience combining theory and analysis to underpin the core practical work. Weekly tutorials and meetings with
supervisors where verbal feedback is given. Seminar sessions with verbal feedback from peers and lecturers.
Details of Summative Assessment:
Method of
assessment
Outcomes
assessed
Grading
Mode
(e.g.
pass/
fail; %)
Weighting
%
Pass
Mark
Word
Length
(if applicable)
Outline Details Last Item of
Assessment
Proposal A % 10 40 N/A Project Proposal with clear
statement of aims,
objectives and activities.
Supported by academic
references, project plan,
initial risk analysis and an
outline of any potential
legal, social, ethical or
professional issues that
may arise
N


Indicative Course Materials and Reading:
ISBN Number (for
printed material)
Author Date Title Publisher
9781403996855 Cottrell,
Stella
2005 Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis
and Argument
Palgrave
Macmillan
9780273721314 Dawson,
Christian W
2009 Projects in computing and information systems: a
student's guide
Addison-Wesley
9780335219285 Rugg,
Gordon and
Petre,
Marian
2006 A Gentle Guide to Research Methods Open University
Press

9780273678090
Weaver,
Philip L
2003 Success in your project : a guide to student system
development projects
Prentice Hall

Report
including
evidence of
the artefact
and user
acceptance
testing of the
artefact

B-F % 90 40 10,000-
12,000
The report will include the
literature review;
documentation of
contextualising the
research, requirements
specification and
development work
including any methodology
used; a critical reflection of
the work undertaken. The
delivery of the artefact as a
supplemental piece of
evidence. Note: the user
acceptance testing of the
artefact must be conducted
successfully in order to
permit successful
completion of the project.
Y
Must all elements of summative assessment be passed to pass the course? N
Nature of FORMATIVE assessment supporting student learning
Initial Project Pitch to approve the project idea
Initial Contextual Report (Literature Review)
Interim Requirements and Product Development
Written element covering critical reflection of project work


KIS Data
Activity Hours Overall percentage of total
Scheduled teaching Lectures 12 2%
Seminars 24 4%
Other scheduled time 6 1%
Guided Independent Study 240 40%
Independent Lab work 318 53%
Total 600 100%