SYLLABUS CS 481: SENIOR PROJECT DESIGN Fall 98

SYLLABUS

CS 481: SENIOR PROJECT DESIGN

Course Description: The project proposal phase of an integrated senior-year course that combines each student’s previous course work into a complete system design project.

Instructor:

Catherine Stringfellow

Office: SCA 202

Phone: (505) 454-3295(Dept)

Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 10am-noon, Tuesday 1-3:00pm and by appointment

e-mail address: stringfellow@cs.nmhu.edu

Required Textbook and Materials: NONE

General Course Objectives

To guide students as they explore and precisely define possible projects to meet the senior project requirement;
To demonstrate the practical application of systems analysis and software engineering tools as part of the process of defining senior projects;
Review essential Computer Science concepts and work with applications;
Discussion of new developments in Computer Science.
Presentation of practical topics such as resume writing and job interviewing.

Specific Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course students should:

Have a precise definition of their senior projects in the form of a contract between themselves and their computer science department;
Have finished the design phase of their senior projects and be prepared to begin the implementation phase;
Be comfortable with the essentials of Computer Science;
Be aware of recent developments in computer science;
Understand how to write an effective resume and how to handle oneself in a job interview.

MAJOR TOPICS

Major topics to be studied include:

1) Project Analysis and Design

2) Report writing

3) Ethics

4) Resume writing

5) Interviewing for jobs

Instructional Methods
During most class meetings one or more students will present their progress in developing a senior project followed by a discussion of how to proceed. Other activities will include brief presentations by students of articles from trade journals, practical exercises relevant to real world job assignments, analysis of resumes, and role plays of job interviews. Note that there will be little if any formal instruction and therefore this course is seen as a lab.

Assignments

Assignments for students in the course will include:

1) Progress reports – weekly and monthly

2) Outline of project, with timeline

3) Draft of Report with an Introduction, Background, Approach and Bibliography sections

4) End of semester presentation describing project and progress

5) Resume

The major assignment is the project proposal. Students will be expected to present project options, refine those options, choose one, and develop it in great detail. At the end of the semester students will turn in a Systems Analysis document and a precise description of their project that will be treated as a contract between the student and the computer science department.

In addition, students will be required to bring in for discussion trade journal articles on developments in computer science, complete a resume, and take part in job interview role plays.

Evaluation
The grade for this course will be Pass/Fail. This course is meant to be a practical experience in project design and analysis. In industry one does not get partial credit - either a design/analysis effort is satisfactory or one does it again. Students who:

miss no more than 3 meetings of this class without permission;
contribute to the discussion and do the required short presentations
provide progress reports
develop an adequate systems analysis document and project description
turn in a draft of a report with an Introduction, Background, Approach and Bibliography sections
present the completed project description before a department-wide audience

will pass the course. Others will be asked to try again.

Prerequisites
Senior Status or permission of the department; completion of CS 305, Programming Seminar I.