The Honours Project is a 24 CP existing core unit in the honours program of the Bachelor of Information Technology. This proposal completes the unit's Avatar entry.

The changes are introduced to update the entries for Avatar

The Honours program is a 4th level course offered in both full-time on-campus and part-time distance learning modes. The course is designed to help computing graduates to

1. acquire an advanced knowledge of selected areas of computing and information technology
2. develop the research skills needed to undertake a higher degree; or

This is a 24 CP core unit of the honours program. This unit requires students to apply the knowledge and skills acquired from other units in the honours program as well as the undergraduate degree to complete an individual project under supervision. The nature of the project can be either developing a significant and functional computer-based system or an in-depth investigation of a relevant topic.

A student wishing to enrol in a project unit, must submit a project proposal to the unit adviser for approval first. Students are allowed to enrol only if the proposed project has been approved by the unit adviser. Once the project has been approved, the student can enrol and begin the project either in semester 1 or semester 2 each year, but not summer semester.

The project must contain at least 25% research component. A project proposal which contain purely developmental work is usually not accepted. A typical research project (100% research component) will include identifying a problem that needs investigation, and designing a research methodology to approach the problem, and implement the methodology and finally evaluating the result. The amount of programming varies from projects to projects.

This unit builds on knowledge and understanding developed in the units throughout honours program as well those that were studied at the undergraduate program. Students will:

3. understand all stages and process of conducting and carrying out research;
4. Apply the foundation developed from the completion of the research methods and reading in information technology;

This subject aims to develop in students:

3. the capacity to apply in a practical setting the theoretical work covered in their course
4. the ability to develop either a significant computing application, from the analysis and design stages, through coding and implementation to evaluation or a significant level of fundamental or applied research.

Keeping in mind the research framework requirement of this unit,students should be able to:

5. define a problem, and gather data, facts, opinions and information needed to analyse and solve it
6. outline and evaluate alternative solutions to a system development problem
7. identify hardware and software requirements for a system document a system design using tools which include system flow charts and data flow diagrams

Research journals and conference proceedings which contain research publications related to the project work

on-campus and off-campus learning

Both on-campus and off-campus students are have an approved research project to work on. Each student is associated with an academic staff of the school who works as his main supervisor. For on-campus there is weekly/fortnightly meetings between the student and the supervisor to monitor the progress of the candidate. For off-campus, the communication is on-line.

A student starting a project unit has two options in terms of allocating the percentage of worth to their work. They can choose either:

1. 100% for the final reports and deliverables, or
2. Not less than 70% for the final reports and deliverables, and the rest accounts for progress reports.

The assessment (i.e. final thesis report and the continual evaluation) will test all the learning objectives as listed in the unit objectives

24 Credit Points

As this unit accounts for 24 Credit Points out of the total 48 Credit points of the honours program, students are expected to spend at least equal to the work load of two 6CP units per semester. Thus each student should normally spend about 24 hours per week on the project work.

Each supervisor meets with the student every week/fortnight for monitoring the progress either in office or in a meeting room.

• Software Title:
• Vendor:
• Version:
• OS: MS Windows XP ( ) and/or LINUX ( )
• License Details: (A valid software license certificate/s or Vendor permission must be available upon request if the software is to be installed for teaching)
• Are we currently licensed: Yes ( ) or No ( ) (If unsure, please check with your local IT support )
• If (Yes), who is the contact person for this software?:
• If (No), will the software license be arranged by: Staff member requesting the software ( ) or Technical Services* ( ) ? *If the latter is selected, please discuss your requirement/s with myself ASAP, prior to finalising your request, as there could be financial or resourcing implications.
• Is the software to be installed and accessed from a: Client/Workstation ( ), or Server ( ) ?
• Type of license: Site License ( ), Freeware ( ), FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) ( ), Shareware ( ), Lab based ( ) # of Licenses needed ____
• In what week will you commence using the software in class? Semester 1 (Week ___ ) and/or Semester 2 (Week ___ ):
• Nominated Staff For Acceptance Testing Software: (Name) (Phone) (Email)
• Additional Information: Special Requirements, Software Configuration/Installation Requirements, etc: