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| 1 | | INTRODUCTION |
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| > | Each student is required to complete a project, which will form 42 credits of the qualification. Projects should be drawn from "real life" situations and be of significant proportions, testing the student's ability to apply the principles and skills they have gained to an original piece of work, while under supervision. |
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| > | As a guideline, an approximate time for such a project might be the equivalent of approximately 55 working days (420 hours). |
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| > | Projects must be approved as being of a suitable standard, as outlined below, by the local Advisory Committee, and a similar standard maintained throughout the country by the moderation process. |
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| > | Projects should be based on a students existing skills and knowledge, and may be influenced by their work situation, if they are in work. Projects will normally be completed by individuals, but under certain circumstances may be done by a group of students. |
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| > | Students who do not have a real work situation to draw on for project work, should, wherever possible, be assigned projects drawn from sympathetic employers. |
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| > | The project must be of sufficient complexity to stretch the student. The MINIMUM standard for Project work is at least the level of Case Study material used in level 300 modules. Projects should be significantly different from any major case study or practical work undertaken in subjects of CBC/DipBC. With a Programming Project, particular emphasis should be placed on structured techniques, standards and conventions. |
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| 2 | PROJECT PREREQUISITES |
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| > | The Project cannot be commenced until at least 50% of the credits for the National Diploma have been completed. |
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| > | As part of the approval process, confirmation must be given that the student has completed sufficient subjects at appropriate levels in the area(s) in which the project lies. |
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| 3 | APPROVAL PROCESS |
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| > | Before a project is started, the student must complete a Project Proposal, which must then be submitted to, and formal approval for the project obtained from, the following: |
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| | - THE TUTOR - who will act as a preliminary screener to check that the project meets the necessary complexity and work content standards. |
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| | - THE EMPLOYER (if there is one) - to agree that the project is in the interests of the employer. |
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| | - THE CUSTOMER - to agree that the project meets their business requirements. Note: even where the customer is a part of the employer's organisation it will still be necessary to obtain agreement from a separate person to the one agreeing as employer. |
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| | - THE LOCAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE - approval of the LAC will be required to confirm that the project meets the standard required. |
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| > | The student's employer (where there is one) must still give their approval even if the project is undertaken on someone else's work. |
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| > | In the case of a student without an employer, the tutor is likely to undertake the employer's role. |
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| > | Because of the time required for the Project Proposal to go through an approval process, students must identify their projects and prepare their proposal well in advance of its actual commencement. The possibility that the project proposal may need to be amended and resubmitted must be born in mind. |
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| 4 | PROJECT PROPOSALS |
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| > | These documents must cover the following areas: |
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| | - PROJECT TYPE - eg. Systems Analysis, Systems Programming. |
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| | - SCOPE AND PURPOSE - detailing precisely what the project will achieve (from the Customer's perspective). |
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| | - SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE INVOLVED - precisely what skills and knowledge the student will demonstrate by completing the project. |
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| | - PROJECT PLAN - a detailed plan showing all the major activities and time requirements, including a clear indication of what the student will be responsible for (this is particularly necessary for projects where the student may be working in cooperation with others) and the "deliverables" of the project. |
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| | - PROJECT OWNERSHIP - The ownership of the deliverables of the project should be clearly stated. |
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| > | The Proposal form will have provision for the necessary sign-offs as indicated above. |
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| 5 | CONTROL OF THE PROJECT |
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| > | Progress on the project must be reviewed at regular intervals with the tutor - a weekly status review would seem appropriate given the importance of the project for the qualification. Such a review would include examination of the students Project Log Book and their completed “timeline”. Tutors may also visit the student on-site, if appropriate. |
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| > | Formal milestone reviews should also be undertaken: milestone points would be agreed as part of the project plan and then the student would make a report at these points to the employer/customer/tutor. |
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| > | Detailed records must be kept of all the above reviews so that an accurate picture of the project can be obtained once it has finished. To this end a Project Log Book should be developed: this should contain: |
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| | - a week-by-week breakdown of activities actually completed and by whom they were completed. This should include notes on any noteworthy problems encountered and how they were overcome (may be helpful later too, if others are extending or maintaining the project). |
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| | - identification of variances or exceptions to expectations (e.g. activities that were significantly more complex than expected, extra (unanticipated) activities that had to be done). |
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| > | An allowance for Project renegotiation in the event of significant unforeseen circumstances (e.g. team member leaves course, project disappears, complexity of project much less/greater than originally thought) must be made, through which Project person/team reaches an amended set of requirements with the Supervising Project Tutor. |
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| 6 | COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT |
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| > | Upon completion of the project, the student will conduct a formal Project Completion Review. |
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| > | The Review will require a formal presentation to a selected audience (fellow students, LAC members, tutors, employer's representatives, etc.) of a report on the project, including what went right, what went wrong etc., followed by a question and answer session. |
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| > | After this session, the student would obtain all the necessary project sign-offs and a formal assessment of the student's performance on the project will then take place. |
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| 7 | ASSESSMENT |
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| > | At the time the Supervising Project Tutor agrees to the Project Proposal they will determine the exact way in which the project will be assessed (i.e. at what points, what items, by whom etc.). |
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| > | In the situation where a group of students wish to operate as a team for a Project, the way in which assessment will be completed for individual team members must be clearly understood (e.g. all get the same assessment grade, total for team given and each member gets the same etc.). |
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| > | In general, it will be the Supervising Project tutor who makes the assessments, with input from the employer and customer. |
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| > | Items likely to be assessed include: |
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| | - project proposal |
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| | - each milestone |
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| | - adherence to project plan |
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| | - presentation and report |
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| | - review |
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| | as well as how well the overall objectives have been reached. |
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| > | The Supervising Project Tutor would be expected to meet with the student at regular and frequent intervals (e.g. weekly). A report from the employer and customer should form part of the assessment. |
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| > | The overall review format would thus be: |
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| | Project Proposal Approved by: |
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| | Purpose/Scope Cust/Emp/Tutor |
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| | Skills/Knowledge Tutor |
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| | Plan Tutor |
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| | Milestones Cust/Emp/Tutor |
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| | Presentation/Report Cust/Emp/Tutor |
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| | Project Review Tutor |
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| > | (In practice milestone reviews could be amalgamated with the tutor's weekly review of progress). |
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| > | The Project Supervising Tutor will decide on Merit passes for projects. |
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| | DESCRIPTION OF ASSESSMENT POINTS: |
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| > | Project Proposal - this report will be prepared and vetted by the tutor(s) before being presented to the Project Supervising Tutor (PST). All projects have gained a Pass in this assessment once the PST has formally approved it. |
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| > | Assessment Schedule - each student or project group is required to produce an assessment schedule for their project. This schedule should define at least four assessment points (these assessment points may in fact coincide with milestones). For each of these points the following should be provided: |
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| | - a detailed description of the objectives of the work to be completed |
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| | - completion date |
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| | - What this assessment point contributes to the overall project |
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| | - who is to conduct the assessment (eg. tutor, customer). |
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| > | Project Completion Review - a committee comprising tutor(s), the customer (or nominee) and student(s) are required to review the project on completion. The project must be formally presented to this committee. An end-of-project report (approximately 20-40 pages) will also be required. |
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| | Assessment Point | Suggested/AssessmentPercentages | | Initial projectproposal | 5 | Assessment points as defined bythe project teamin an assessment schedule | 65-75 | | Project completion review | 10-15 | | Presentationof ProjectReview | 10-20 |
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CRITERIA USED IN AWARDING GRADES |
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| > | Each assessment point: |
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| UNSATISFACTORY | - Indicates that the assessment point has not been completed satisfactorily. Further work and a resubmission will be required. |
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| PASS | - The objectives of the listed assessment point have been successfully completed AND the project log book is up-to-date and shows consistent and regular work. |
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| NOTE | Because of the difficulty of making accurate time estimates for complex activities and students’ inexperience at doing this, time will not be used as an assessment criteria. |
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| MERIT | - Criteria above for a Pass both met AND completion of the activities within the estimated time (having due regard for unforeseen external circumstances) AND allowance for the amount of effort required by the student(s) to achieve the assessment point measured in terms of new skills/knowledge gained in completion of activity beyond that covered in course, or the inherent complexity of the task (how quickly could the project tutor have completed the task ?). |
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| ASSESSMENT OF THE PROJECT COMPLETION (by committee at end of project): |
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| UNSATISFACTORY | - Project does not meet the needs of the customer or the presentation was not satisfactory. |
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| PASS | - Project adequately meets needs of customer and the presentation was satisfactory. |
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| MERIT | - Project is judged to be significantly complex or it significantly exceeds customer's initial requirements. An excellent presentation is also required. |
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| AWARDING OF GRADES OVERALL FOR THE PROJECT |
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| UNSATISFACTORY | - One or more assessment areas have not been passed and further work followed by resubmission is required. |
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| PASS | - All assessment areas have been passed. |
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| MERIT | - A Merit pass in the project completion phase was obtained in at least 60% of the project work from the assessment points defined in the assessment schedule (the project team may bear this in mind when submitting the schedule).
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