COMP SCI 3006 - Software Engineering & Project

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2024

Within the context of a semester-long, group-based software engineering project, this course provides an introduction to the production of high quality software solutions to large tasks. Among the topics covered in this course are the following: models of the software life-cycle, requirements analysis and specification, program design techniques and paradigms, software specification techniques, configuration management and version control, quality assurance, integration and testing, project management, risk analysis, case study of ethical considerations in Software Engineering.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code COMP SCI 3006
    Course Software Engineering & Project
    Coordinating Unit Computer Science
    Term Semester 2
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 4 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Prerequisites One of COMP SCI 1103, COMP SCI 1203, COMP SCI 2103, COMP SCI 2202 or COMP SCI 2202B
    Incompatible COMP SCI 3015B, COMP SCI 3018, COMP SCI 3303, COMP SCI 3304, COMP SCI 3310, COMP SCI 3311, COMP SCI 3312, COMP SCI 3313
    Assumed Knowledge (COMP SCI 1106 or COMP SCI 2006) and COMP SCI 2201
    Restrictions Not available to BE(Software) students
    Course Description Within the context of a semester-long, group-based software engineering project, this course provides an introduction to the production of high quality software solutions to large tasks. Among the topics covered in this course are the following: models of the software life-cycle, requirements analysis and specification, program design techniques and paradigms, software specification techniques, configuration management and version control, quality assurance, integration and testing, project management, risk analysis, case study of ethical considerations in Software Engineering.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Dr Amali Weerasinghe

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

     
    1 Discuss software development techniques and methodologies
    2 Apply various Computer Science methods and algorithms
    3 Apply in group-based software development
    4 Demonstrate appropriate professional conduct
    5 Discuss professional codes of conduct of Computer Scientists and Engineers
    6 Demonstrate skills in investigating, analyzing, and using software tools

     
    The above course learning outcomes are aligned with the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standard for the Professional Engineer.
    The course is designed to develop the following Elements of Competency: 1.1   1.2   1.3  1.4  1.5   2.1   2.2   2.3  2.4  3.1   3.2   3.3   3.4   3.5   3.6   

    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)

    Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth

    Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.

    1,2,3,5,6

    Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving

    Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.

    1,2,3,5,6

    Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills

    Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.

    3,4,5

    Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness

    Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.

    1,2,3,4,5,6

    Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency

    Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.

    5

    Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

    Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.

    5
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    The prescribed textbook for the course is "Scrum: a Breathtakingly Brief and Agile Introduction" - Sims and Johnson.
    Alternatively, the slightly longer book "The Elements of Scrum" by the same authors.

    Recommended Resources
    • Software Engineering: A Practitioners Approach, 5th Ed., R. Pressman, McGraw-Hill, 2001.
    • Object-Oriented and Classical Software Engineering, 5th Ed., S. Schach, McGraw-Hill, 2002.
    • Software Engineering Principles and Practice, 2nd Ed., H. VanVliet, Wiley, 2000.
    • A Discipline for Software Engineering, W.S. Humphrey, Addison-Wesley, 1995.
    • Managing Technical People, W.S. Humphrey, Addison-Wesley, 1997.
    • Introduction to the Team Software Process, W.S. Humphrey, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
    Online Learning
    The Software Engineering and Project course currently uses a MyUni Canvas for communication (the link will be published in time). 
    All students are required to subscribe and check the forum on a regular basis for announcements relating to the course and project.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    The course aims to introduce students to a wide range of Software Engineering terminology, techniques and processes throughan eight week block of lectures. The concepts taught in these lectures will be practised and reinforced by participation in asemester long, group-based software engineering project. This project will take students through the entire software development lifecycle, from requirements gathering, through to implementation, testing and deployment.

    Weekly group meetings will be held with students, in which students will gather requirements for their project, demonstrate software prototypes, and present on various topics relevant to their project. Agendas will be prepared for the meetings, andeach meeting will be fully minuted by the students. Feedback will be given to students at the group meeting, in order forstudents to improve on their presentation, demonstration and meeting management skills. Attendance at all the lectures of thecourse is encouraged as the engineering practices and principles taught in these lectures will be assessed during the entire semester in the group meetings. At the end of the project, students will give a final presentation and demonstration reflecting on their experiences in the project and the lessons learnt.
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    Software Engineering and Project is a 3 unit course. The expectation is that students will be spending 12 hours per week working on the course. For the first 8 weeks of the course, this will include 3
    hours per week of lectures. From week 3, students are required to attend a weekly group meeting with one of the lecturers, approximately 25 minutes in duration. Students are also required to attend their own group meeting to solve the relevant issues involved in the project, approximately 25 to 35 minutes in duration. The remainder of the time should be spent working on the project – students are expected to learn the content presented in lectures by doing the project.

    NOTE: the nature of the course means that it is very easy for students to spend more than the allotted 12 hours per week onthe course. The onus is on students to plan their tasks and time carefully to ensure they do not over commit to the project. Importantly students should start preparing for the project from Week 1, and should maintain a consistent workload throughoutthe semester. One of the learning objectives for this course is the development of good time management skills.
    Learning Activities Summary
    The following topics will be covered in lectures:
    • Project management: Group dynamics and management; project planning; communication; meetings
    • Requirements: Requirements gathering techniques; requirements analysis; requirements presentation
    • Process models: Traditional software development process models; development lifecycle activities; risk focused process models; agile process models
    • Configuration management: Configuration items; version and release control; source code control; change management
    • Cost Models: Metrics for cost estimation; project cost estimation techniques; software productivity and measures
    • Modelling and architectures: Software architectures; architecture design decision; system analysis; non-functional requirements; system organisation; modular decomposition; control styles
    • System modelling: Software system specification; context models; behavioural models; data models; object models; data flow diagrams; statechart; UML; sequence diagram
    • Testing: Unit testing; blackbox and whitebox testing; integration and system testing; testing tools; test coverage analysis
    • Real time modelling: Real-time system design; soft/hard real-time systems; stimulus types; real-time system programming; real-time operating systems; process scheduling; resource management; real-time data acquisition
    • Safety critical SE: Designing for safety; hazard analysis techniques; safety integrity levels
    • Formal specification: Limitations of natural language specifications; semi-formal and formal specifications; Z specification language
    • Software industry: Understand real-world software industry and their operations
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary

    Assessments Percentage Type Due Week Course Outcome CBOK
    Initial Report 10% Group 4 1,2,3,4,6 1.1, 1.2, 2.2,2.3,2.4,2.5,3.1,3,2,4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4,5.2
    Retrospective 1 10% Group + Individual 3 1,2,3,4,6 1.1,1.2,2.2,2.3,3.1,3.2,4.1,4.3,4.4
    Retrospective 2 10% Group + Individual 5 1,2,3,4,6 1.1,1.2,2.2,2.3,3.1,3.2,4.1,4.3,4.4
    Retrospective 3 10% Group + Individual 7 1,2,3,4,6 1.1,1.2,2.2,2.3,3.1,3.2,4.1,4.3,4.4
    Retrospective 4 10% Group + Individual 9 1,2,3,4,6 1.1,1.2,2.2,2.3,3.1,3.2,4.1,4.3,4.4
    Final Report 20% Group + Individual 12 1,2,3,4,6 1.1, 1.2, 2.2,2.3,2.4,2.5,3.1,3,2,4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4,5.2
    Quizzes 5% Individual 2,4,6,8 1,5 2.1,2.2,2.3,2.4,5.2
    Final Presentation 25% Group + Individual 12 1,2,3,4,6 1.1, 1.2, 2.2,2.3,2.4,2.5,3.1,3,2,4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4,5.2

    In accordance with the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, Procedure 1a. i: An exemption from the stated requirement that group assessment activities total no more than 30% has been granted.

    **CBOK is the Core Body of Knowledge for ICT Professionals defined by the Australian Computer Society. The alignment in the table above corresponds with the following CBOK Areas:

    1. Problem Solving
    1.1 Abstraction
    1.2 Design

    2. Professional Knowledge
    2.1 Ethics
    2.2 Professional expectations
    2.3 Teamwork concepts & issues
    2.4 Interpersonal communications
    2.5 Societal issues
    2.6 Understanding of ICT profession

    3. Technology resources
    3.1 Hardware & Software
    3.2 Data & information
    3.3 Networking

    4. Technology Building
    4.1 Programming
    4.2 Human factors
    4.3 Systems development
    4.4 Systems acquisition

    5. ICT Management
    5.1 IT governance & organisational
    5.2 IT project management
    5.3 Service management
    5.4 Security management


    Assessment Related Requirements
    Attendance at weekly group meetings with lecturers is compulsory.
    Assessment Detail
    Initial Report

    In the initial report, the teams will summarize their vision of the project based on the first kick-off meeting with the customer.

    Retrospectives

    The retrospectives contain snaptshots of the Scrum board, product backlog, discussed issues, measures taken to resolve issues, and an individual reflection on the team's progress during the previous sprint.

    Final Report

    The final report summarises the team activity throughout the semester and contrasts the end result with the vision outlined in the initial report.

    Quizzes

    Quizzes are used throughout the semeter to assess students' knowledge of concepts and techniques presented in the lectures.

    Final Presentation

    In Week 12 or the swot week each group will be required to give a final demonstration and presentation. The purpose is to demonstrate their final software to the lecturers (and customers) and to present the processes and techniques used throughout the project. The students will also be expected to reflect on lessons learnt during the project.

    Individual Assessment Components

    All retrospectives and the final report will have individually assessed components where students are asked to reflect on their own role in the teams. Also, each student must present some part of the project in the final presentation.
    Submission
    For details on the submission format, see assignments published on MyUni.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.