Following a project-based pedagogic approach, students will undertake a major inter-disciplinary team-work project drawn from a list of authentic industrial problems. Achieving the goals of the project will require students, firstly, to apply the various development methodologies they have acquired on their course and, secondly, to develop professional skills in project management and team working.
While the bulk of the taught programme focuses primarily on the learning of domain knowledge, the goal of the Professional Environments 2 module is to prepare students for professional practice in their respective domains. They will develop the necessary project management and team-working skills, and, by working as a team on an authentic industrial project, they will gain a high degree of familiarity with the typical requirements capture, design, and development methodologies relevant to their discipline. With the focus on making real-world artefacts, the students will integrate their work into an employment focused portfolio.
Being a professional practitioner also mean critically assessing both goals and solutions from legal, ethical and societal perspectives as well as addressing security and safety concerns. Students are also encouraged to consider their continuing professional development needs and to engage with their professional bodies. To encourage career management skills and promote employability after graduation, students are expected to integrate the artefacts they produce and reflective practice narratives into their employability portfolios and personal development plans.
The module is designed to support different domain areas and to integrate experience from other professions. The subject areas being studied demand a global perspective which encourages the inclusion of our diverse of communities and national practices.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
The module uses a mix of lectures, workshops, studios, practical classes, and lab support to introduce and simulate a professional environment. The primary means of guiding and facilitating students' learning is either through one four-hour lab-based sessions, or one two-hour lecture and one two-hour workshop each week. Students often work in groups to complete coursework as is common practice in industry and is associated with the module's learning outcomes. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory due to the nature of the group work and simulated project team environment.
The coursework is project-based. For example, for computing students, the project may require the development of a new application necessitating requirements capture, design and validation through prototypes. Inter-disciplinary projects are strongly encouraged. Students create an e-portfolio of project artefacts that they can defend, explain and ultimately publish. The project topic(s) will be chosen to provide an inclusive and relevant basis for students' involvement, with opportunities for students on participating courses (such as Computer Science, Mathematics and Digital Media) to make useful contributions that are relevant to their course. A number of projects topics will be available which promote the need to create groups with a variety of disciplines. These projects will be authentic in that they are drawn from our network of industrial partners and alumni. This network will also play a role in providing expertise and guidance and ultimately the assessment process itself.
To support this group-based project working, students will need to understand the appropriate project management methodologies and tools, and to identify best practice in team working. In keeping with the project-based learning pedagogic approach behind this module, students are encouraged to take more responsibility for their own learning and to engage lecturers to provide the necessary training. This includes reviewing material from other modules such as CI4305 Requirements Analysis and Design.
In parallel to the project activity, students will be expected to engage with the appropriate professional bodies and to evidence this engagement. In particular this engagement should take the form of continuing professional training (as identified in each student's personal development portfolio). Students will be expected to engage with the Placements process preparing CVs, covering letters, maintaining an e-portfolio (initiated in CI4450 and populated from outcomes from their other level 4 and 5 modules), and developing strategies for locating job opportunities.
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Lectures, flipped learning, workshops, case studies, discussion groups, and practice work. | 100 |
| Guided independent study | Independent and directed reading. Online learning materials and study notes. | 200 |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
The assessment strategy is composed of three elements: the Professional Skills Test (20%), the Teamwork Assessment Portfolio (40%), and the Employability Portfolio (40%).
The Professional Skills Test derives from the continuing professional development that students are expected to engage in. This test may take the form of an accredited professional exam (for example in Agile Project Management), a MOOC (for example on Big Data Analysis), or a professional skills test (for example, Python or IBM SPSS). In part the selection of an appropriate professional training vehicle will derive from students' personal development plans. Students will have the opportunity to practice on example questions with formative feedback provided before this written exam. This assessment is designed to give students an experience that simulates acquiring professional accreditation throughout their career.
Each project will have an associated set of artefact and outcomes - the Teamwork Assessment Portfolio. These will depend on the nature of the project. For example a software engineering project may have a user requirement document, design artefacts such as entity relationship diagram, artwork and wireframes, a validation prototype, and usability study. All projects will be expected to produce and deliver presentations on project planning including Gantt charts, team management, validation strategies, etc. Indeed, the success of the team in meeting the planned schedule of deliverables embodied in the Gantt chart will be used in part to assess project management skills. Each component will have an artefact (a product, model or document), an accompanying reflective narrative, and a breakdown of the contribution of each team member. Feedback and dissemination of best practice is achieved through the integration of the Personal Tutor System (see below) and regular opportunities for formative peer assessment at regular presentation events.
Students maintain their e-portfolio of employability assets (introduced in CI4450 Professional Environments 1 at level 4) by capturing the artefacts produced in the team project (and other level 5 modules) within an Employability Portfolio. Included in the portfolio is the contemporaneous version of a student's professional development portfolio with its reflective narratives. Personal Tutors will be involved in this assessment activity. As such PTS sessions include tutees from across levels, there is considerable scope for peer feedback from students across levels (with the additional benefit of dissemination of best practice to the junior cohort).
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| Apply project management methodologies to typical scenarios encountered in a professional environment | Team Assessment Portfolio |
| Plan and deliver a project, based on knowledge of widely used product development lifecycle models to create appropriate artefacts and prototypes | Team Assessment Portfolio |
| Demonstrate the ability to appropriately consider and respond to the legal, ethical, social and security issues that arise in the projects they undertake | Team Assessment Portfolio |
| Demonstrate that they have worked in a team and be able to critically reflect on their performance, any issues encountered and their mitigation, and on any opportunities to show leadership | Team Assessment Portfolio |
| Engage with professional bodies, identify gaps in their skills and knowledge, and successfully complete training external opportunities | Professional Skills Test |
| Maintain an e-portfolio of artefacts aimed at future employers which demonstrates a range of skills, knowledge, and professional practice. | Employability Portfolio |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Profession Skills Test | Written Exam | 20% |
| Team Assessment Portfolio | Practical Exam | 40% |
| E-Portfolio | Coursework | 40% |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major element of assessment is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.
Agile PM Agile Project Management Handbook V2, Agile Business Consortium, 2014
Agile Project Management with Scrum, Ken Schwaber, 2004
eXtreme Project Management, Douglas DeCarlo, 2004
Peopleware, Productive Projects and Teams (2nd Ed), Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister, 1999
http://www.studentguide.org/the-complete-guide-to-project-based-learning/