The rationale for this module, and the following module to which it is bound, is to allow students, through the medium of undertaking a substantial individual project, to integrate and apply their previous learning and to deepen their knowledge of some particular application or research area relevant to the course. A secondary objective is to allow students to exercise, and hone, their writing and presentation skills by requiring them to write a substantial report documenting the project and to produce number of presentations describing the project to their supervisors, the general public, and their peers.

The project takes two semesters and includes such activities as literature review, field-work, modelling, design, programming, testing, and evaluation and report writing. Seminars/Lectures will be held on the following topics: research methods, project planning, report planning, formal and informal presentation techniques and report writing.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: 1. work in a semi-autonomous fashion towards a full specification of an appropriate computer-based solution, given a brief, informal description. 2. implement an effective solution for the problem description based on the specification generated in 1. 3. develop interpersonal skills that will enable them to present their specification and solution effectively. This will be assessed through student-supervisor meetings, a presentation to faculty, and a demonstration of their solution. 4. to test, evaluate, and critique their implemented solutions. 5. structure and discuss their research work in written format, through the iterative generation of a formal report on their work. 6. communicate their specifications and solutions to peers effectively. This will be assessed by a presentation to faculty and a demonstration of their solution to the University/Industry community on Demonstration day. 7. identify, and make explicit, the underlying theoretical basis of the problems their work addresses and their solution. This knowledge should be made explicit in their presentations and in their final report.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

Under the guidance of a supervisor, students will independently undertake a substantial amount of work, across two semesters. They will be supported in developing their critical and analytical skills by being required to provide a context analysis of their projects, evaluate different approaches and justify the ones taken. They will receive feedback from their supervisor and need to flexibly respond to this feedback.