Senoir Design Project | Assoc.Prof. Abzetdin Adamov | School of Information Technology and Engineering | ADA University

COURSE SYLLABUS: Senoir Design Project - II

COURSE ID: SITE 4890
CREDITS: 6
CLASS TERM: Spring, 2018
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Abzetdin Adamov
CLASS SCHEDULE: see My Calendar

1. General Course Description:

Senior Design Project-II is the second of two semester course that focused of definition, analysis (SDP-I), implementation and documentation of project topic (SDP-II). SDP-II consists of the following milestones: the design, implementation, evaluation, documentation and presentation of the project, conducted by student teams (of 3-4 members) formed at the beginning of SDP-I.

SDP-II will be concluded with public presentation. Completed projects will be evaluated by panel that will consist of project advisors, faculty and industry professionals. The evaluation will be done based on general criteria for all projects (Originality, Relevance, Practicality), as well as project specific ones (Overall life cycle, Usefulness, Functionality, Sustainability, Aesthetics).

Important Glossary:

  • Project Topic: a topic of the project indicated in the proposal
  • Project Team: team of students enrolled to SDP course, who work on the same project
  • Project Advisor: SITE faculty member assigned to advise to a Project Team
  • Industry Mentor (Company Sponsor): an optional industry representative, who is part of the project proposal
  • SDP Committee: committee consisting of all Project Advisors and Industry Mentors
  • Progress Report: critical document demonstrating the project progress
  • Final Report: critical document as the main outcome of the SDP course

2. Senior Design Project Conponents and General Deliverables:

Senior Design Project consists of two related courses:
  • SITE-4790 Senior Design Project I (Fall)
    • Phase 1: Proposal
    • Phase 2: Requirements, Analysis and Design (Draft Report)
  • SITE-4890 Senior Design Project II (Spring)
    • Phase 3: Prototype/Implementation
    • Phase 4: Final Report and Presentation

3. Prerequisites

SITE 4790 - Senior Design Project I

4. Objectives:

  • facilitating the transition from academic study to an industry or/and research career
  • learning to address challenging problems defining scope and statement, designing, developing and managing life-cycle of end-user products
  • developing rapid learning skills of new technologies, software, hardware and tools
  • developing documentation, demonstration and oral presentation skills

5. Learning Outcomes and Competences:

At the end of this course student will (titles refer to ABET learning outcomes.):
  • Design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret DATA.
  • Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs.
  • Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
  • Understand professional and ethical responsibility.
  • Communicate effectively.
  • Understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context.
  • Recognize the need for, and engage in, life-long learning.
  • Know contemporary issues.

6. Evaluation

  1. Weekly meetings and team progress review [15%]
  2. Evaluation of Draft written report and pre-final prototype [15%] (February - 7th week)
  3. Final Report [30%] (April - 12th week)
  4. Final Project Presentations - demo [40%] (April - 14th week)
  5. Bonus: Scientific paper submission [10%]
  6. Bonus: Public seminar presentation (March – 7-10th week) [10%]
Late delivery of deliverables:
Each evaluation component has predefined deadline and late submissions are NOT welcome. Late deliverables (documents, reports, code, etc.) will be accepted with instructor’s permission only. Penalty for late submission for each deliverable is 10% points deduction per day. Exceptions may be made for teams with valid, documented excuses.

7. Resources

7.1. Website

Each project team is required to prepare mandatory website dedicated to their Senior Design Project. Website must include at least following pages:
  • Home-page with general information (title, logo, description),
  • Team (with the role description of each member),
  • Deliverables,
  • Acknowledgement,
  • Documents (all forms/reports must be available at this section: project proposal, progress report, final report, etc.).
  • Depending on the specific project, website may include other pages as well.
It is recommended to use wordpress.com or blogger.com to host your project website.

7.2. Github Repository

Depending on type of the project (mainly for projects those include software development component), it is recommended to maintain the Github page/repository that includes non-confidential information.

7.3. Scientific Paper Publishing

Project Teams are highly encouraged to publish outputs and scientific findings of their project as a papers in any scientific conference or journal. Teams who managed to submit a paper and received letter of acceptance can earn for the additional 10% bonus to be added to final grade of the SDP-II.

7.4. Log Book

It is recommended to each team to maintain LogBook where the progress of the project advancement is reflected. The LogBook will help you to prepare your Progress Reports easily and quickly, to track contribution of each team member, to write Final Report and prepare Demo.

8. Meetings

8.1. Weekly Project Advisor Meetings:

Each team is expected to meet project advisor at least once per week to discuss advancements in project during previous week, accomplishments by each team member, tasks planned for the next week, possible problems in advancement. For each meeting team should prepare Weekly Progress Report (Appendix A.) that consists of progress has been made during previous week and defines plans for the next week. It is the project team`s responsibility to set up weekly meetings with the project advisor. All members must participate in these meetings and be prepared to elaborate on their activities. Project Advisor will use "APPENDIX A – Project Advisor Meeting Log Sheet" to log key points of the meeting.

8.2. Weekly Team Meetings:

Weekly team meetings where team members meet each other are are activities required for the project success. It is recommended to have at least two team meetings per week to discuss the project and work jointly. This can be either before or after the weekly advisor meetings. But you are encouraged to have one team meeting before the meeting with your advisor in order to be prepared to make the best use of the time. Each team is required to fill up the form "APPENDIX A – Team’s Weekly Progress Report" for each meeting with Project Advisor.

9. Final Project Report

Standards and requirements will be announced.

10. Final Project Presentation

Final slides of the project presentation must be submitted to the Project Advisor at least one week before presentation date.

10.1. Timing

Maximum time allocation for each presentation is 15 min + 5 min for Q&A. Don't include into your presentation more than 15 slides. If you don't complete your oral presentation in 15 min, it may affect your grade.

10.2. Presentation Format

Responsibility and contribution of each team members should be clearly addressed. Presentation can logically divided into three parts/sections:
  1. General information without technical details describing how useful and important your idea. Use more pictures and less textual information. Don't allocate much time to this section.
  2. Mostly technical information should be provided. Avoid general information. What you did to implement/release your idea? How did you develop the solution? You expected to clearly demonstrate that you understand the problem and solution.
  3. Future planes to ensure sustainability of the project.

10.3. Each presentation must include following sections:

  1. Cover page with project title, logo, graphics
  2. Team members, their responsibilities and roles, advisor, acknowledgments
  3. Motivation / Problem Statement
  4. Research / Development Challenges (Methodology / Software / Hardware)
  5. Diagram / Architecture / Model / Flowchart that best describe your system and its functionality
  6. Timeline / Gantt Chart of the project, including future plans (possibly, including commercialisation plans)
  7. Social, cultural, environmental impact expected from the project
  8. Risks for the success of the project (or risks resulted by the project - if any...)
  9. References (including SDP Project website, Github, etc.)

11. Timeline

January/February:
  • Teams regularly meet project advisor and industry mentor
  • Teams begin to build prototype or simulation model (February - 7th week)
March:
  • Teams regularly meet project advisor and industry mentor
  • Teams submit a draft written report to the project advisor (March - 10th week)
  • Teams refine, test and complete prototype or simulation model and execute final enhancements (March - 10th week)
April:
  • Teams regularly meet project advisor and industry mentor
  • Teams develop posters, oral presentations, and demonstrations for Senior Design Projects Demo Day
  • Teams get approval from the Project Advisor regarding completion of the project (April - 12th week)
  • Teams present final, complete written and oral presentation to panel (April - 14th week)

11. References / Forms

Course Policies

General:

Respect due dates - No late projects, lab assignments, papers, or quizzes will be accepted unless you have made prior arrangements with the instructor. Quizzes will be announced at least one week before the actual date, will be no quizzes allowed after the established deadline.
Since this course is about computer programming, it is strongly recommended that you have a working computer at home connected to the Internet. Most of course matherials are located online and it's also good for your success to use recommended additional online tutorials.

Student contributions:

The Students are expected to follow to instructor's recommendations when preparing homeworks, tasks, laboratory reports, tests, theses, etc.
  • Communicate in a professional manner with instuctors and/or classmates (including online communication)
  • Participate actively in-class discussion topics
  • Complete all in-class and homework-tasks/projects in time
  • Most successful students are expected to make proposal for in-class seminar on a original topic that is not covered by course
  • Preview course materials for the topic is going to be covered that week, before class starts

Bonus Project:

Bonus is optional project and each student can offer his own unique topic within bounds of the course or request one from instructor. Each student who pretend for bonus points should prepare paper according to the announced standards and present it in class. Bonus points will be added to your final grades just in case of success for course without considering bonus points. Part of bonus points may come from participation points related with your attendance.

The Student Conduct Code:

Students are expected to follow to general rules of condact and behavior. Students have to be familiar with regulations described in the ADA University Student Handbook.
To avoid distractions late students are asked NOT to enter the class after the doors are closed. In particular, excessive and loud talking, leaving and reentering class without permision, cell phones using, or other means of disrupting the class will not be tolerated and students may be asked to leave the class. Students who constantly disrupt class may be asked to leave permanently and will fail the course. Be responsible for your own actions.
Important: All cell phones and other gadgets should be turned OFF, they may not be used in the classroom and students are NOT allowed to leave room to use their cell phones.

Attendance:

It is expected that students will attend and participate actively in all classes during semester. One of the the key factors in success in this course is to attend to all scheduled classes and be actively involved in learning process. Attendance is an indispensable element of the educational process. In compliance with Azerbaijani legislation, instructors are required to monitor attendance and inform the Registrar and the Dean of the respective School when students miss significant amounts of class time. Azerbaijani legislation mandates that students who fail to attend at least 75% of classes will fail the course.
ADA attendance policy excuses two (2) student absences, though these should reflect a serious need on the student’s part to be away from class. In case of involuntary and unpredictable serious disruption of normal life, students may appeal to a grievance procedure through Office of the Dean of the School of Education.
Student is responsible for all work missed during his absences.

Academic Dishonesty - Cheating:

All graded projects must be your own work. My strong recommendation - "If you are not able to do more, do less, but do them right and by yourself". An act of academic dishonesty or plagiarism may result in failure for a project or in a course. Plagiarism involves representing another person's ideas or outcomes, including material from the Internet, as your own. Cheating or acts of academic dishonesty also include fabricating data and results, copying, and offering or receiving unauthorized assistance or information from another person. Students involved in activities such as cheating and/or plagiarism will be subject to disciplinary action in accordence with ADA University Student Disciplinary Regulation.

Communication:

eMail is a Prefered Communication Tool. Be awared that only emails that sent from your ADA University @ADA.EDU.AZ account will be considered - CLICK to Sign In

Meeting Hours and Appointment:

  • For meeting follow to Office Hours (check my online Calendar or on-door calendar)
  • You can apply for meeting by appointment beyond the stated office hours via email
  • Only emails that has been sent from @ADA.EDU.AZ will be considered

Please let me know if you do not understand any topic, concepts or projects in bounds of this course. Feel free to clarify any questions you may have during class, or via email.