Software Design and Development Project

Module overview

This module gives students experience of working in a team to design and develop a significant interactive software system. This practical activity is balanced with taught material to give students a theoretical understanding of the supporting disciplines.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Apply appropriate software engineering techniques and tools
Specify, design, develop, test and evaluate a prototype interactive software

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Identify, evaluate and mitigate risks
Solve complex problems in creative and innovative ways
Reflect on your self-learning
Work effectively as part of a team, recognising the different roles within the team, and reflecting on both your own and the team's performance
Manage a project effectively

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Agile methodologies for software project management
User-centred and participatory design processes
The main concepts that underpin the design of user interfaces
The multidisciplinary nature of the design of software systems, and the range of contributory disciplines (software engineering, human factors, cognitive psychology, graphics design, ethics, etc.)

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

The content of this module is delivered through lectures, the module website, directed reading and pre-recorded materials. Students work on their understanding through a combination of independent study, preparation for timetabled activities and supervision meetings, along with formative assessments in the form of coursework assignments. Students work on their practical skills, professional skills and technical understanding in peer discussions, design meetings and supervision meetings.

Study time
Type	Hours
Preparation for scheduled sessions	6
Wider reading or practice	61
Project supervision	12
Completion of assessment task	151
Lecture	36
Follow-up work	18
Revision	16
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Sims and Johnson. Scrum: a Breathtakingly Brief and Agile Introduction.

Cohn. User Stories Applied.

T. Lethbridge and R. Laganiere (2005). Object-Oriented Software Engineering. McGraw Hill.

Cockburn. Agile Software Development.

M. Fowler and K. Scott (1997). UML Distilled. Addison-Wesley.

I. Sommerville (2007). Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley.

Fitzpatrick and Collins-Sussman. Debugging Teams.

Assessment

Assessment strategy

This module is assessed by a combination of group and individual coursework.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Group project report	50%
Individual reflection	10%
Tutor and Peer Assessment	40%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Group project report	50%
Tutor and Peer Assessment	40%
Individual reflection	10%