COMP Part I Laboratory Programme

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Effectively plan and monitor your time and work using recognised methods
• 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
• Communicate your work effectively, both orally and via written reports
• Appreciate how an engineer is expected to conduct work ethically and professionally and apply knowledge of relevant legal, environmental and societal matters
• Adopt an inclusive approach to engineering practice and recognise the responsibilities, benefits and importance of supporting equality, diversity and inclusion
• Recognise the environmental, economic and societal impacts of computer systems.
• Plan and record self-learning and development as the foundation for lifelong learning
• Keep an appropriate record of your work in a log book
• Search effectively for appropriate sources of information, and critically evaluate those sources.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use practical laboratory skills to investigate complex computer science problems
• Understand basic principles of designing solutions for engineering design problems
• Use software development environments and version control tools effectively

Personal development

• Independent learning
• Time management
• Logbooks and keeping records
• Project management
• Working in teams and groups
• Digital literacy and information skills
• Presentation and communication skills
• Career structures

Effective Communications

• Communication skills
• Giving effective oral presentations
• Finding information
• Technical writing

Professional Conduct and your Future Career

• What is a Professional Engineer?
• Your future employers: Do labs matter?
• Professional ethics (including codes of conduct and practice)
• Academic integrity
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Responsible innovation
• Being an entrepreneur

Introduction to legal issues

• Health and Safety legislation
• Environmental legislation
• Intellectual property (including copyright and patent)
• Computer misuse and data protection

Teaching and learning methods

Physical Lectures: traditional delivery in a lecture theatre, delivered to the entire cohort.

Online Lectures: most of the transferrable and professional material will be delivered in a flipped fashion, making use of pre-recorded resources from the ECS Professional Skills Hub, which are then discussed in tutorials and orientation sessions.

Laboratory Sessions: the majority of the activities in COMP1300 are supervised laboratories, in which teaching is delivered through specially constructed practical exercises, and through directed self-study in the preparation for those laboratories.

Assessment strategy

This module is a zero credit module. The overall mark from the Laboratory Programme is evenly shared between the Part I modules that contribute to it, as listed above; thus, each of those modules should derive 20% of its final mark from this module.

This module is core on all programmes; students must achieve a pass mark in the Laboratory Programme in order to progress to Part II.

Assessed Laboratories: The marking scheme assesses on the basis of preparation, progress, understanding and logbook usage. These are provided in the Laboratory Programme website for individual laboratories. Preparation is assessed at the beginning of the lab session. Progress, Understanding and Logbooks are assessed at the end of each timetabled lab session. Feedback is given throughout the lab by academics and postgraduates, and at the end of the lab. If a student fails a lab, they can choose to reattempt it a number of times during the semester (subject to available resources/supervision), with their mark capped at 40%.

Assignments: The technical writing assignment is a mixture of self, peer and staff assessed, with a structured feedback and reflection exercise. The oral presentation assignment is assessed by academic and teaching staff (with suggestions from students’ peers), and feedback provided at the time.

Summative

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