Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

The unit begins with a series of informal lectures on topics or skills outside the students current curriculum. Informal lectures do being in the first Semester, however, enrolment in this unit does not take place until second semester. This informal lecture series will introduce students to interesting material, get them started on skills they may find useful for the projects to be run in the second Semester, and help determine (both for the student and the unit coordinator) whether the student would benefit from enrolling in the unit FIT1016/FIT2044.

At the start of the second semester, students are allocated to project supervisors to work on an advanced project. This will usually be a programming task, but on occasion, may involve hardware. Students may work individually or in groups, as determined by the supervisor of a particular topic. The topics are chosen to cover a range of areas of Computer Science. They will give the students opportunity to further investigate the areas or develop the skills to which they were introduced in the lecture series. After the end of the second semester, the projects are demonstrated to anyone in the School who is interested, and the work is assessed by a panel consisting of the Unit coordinator, the Assistant Lecturer and the students Supervisor to determine whether the grade Pass is to be awarded or not.

Objectives

At the completion of this unit students will:

• understand concepts from several areas of Computer Science not covered in their normal curriculum;
• know where to find further information on a range of topics on computer programming and computer science;
• understand, from their own experience, some of the difficulties that can arise in larger programming tasks;
• be able to learn new programming languages and tools on their own, without formal instruction;
• be aware of the diverse range of tools that can be used to solve computing problems;
• be aware of the breadth of the Computer Science discipline;
• have an appreciation of the nature of Computer Science;
• have skills in using a programming language or technology not covered in their normal curriculum;
• have experience demonstrating a computer program;
• have experience giving an oral presentation of a computing project.

Assessment

Assessment is based entirely on a demonstration of the students project work, which will include oral discussion of the concepts and skills learned. The unit is Pass Grade Only.

Prerequisites

FIT1002 or CSE1301

Prohibitions

CSE2370

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/units/fit2044