Unit rationale, description and aim
Effective IT project management is essential for delivering technology solutions on time, within budget, and aligned with strategic goals, while also managing risk and generating value for stakeholders. This unit is the second in the Master’s Project sequence and focuses on the implementation and dissemination phases of the project—including implementation of the project resulting in defensible outcomes, development and presentation of seminars, and production of a final thesis.
Students are required to integrate and consolidate the knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes developed throughout their coursework. The primary outcome of the unit is the Master’s thesis, which documents the project's aim, literature review, methodology, key outcomes, and reflections on project performance. It also includes an analysis of project challenges, success metrics, and recommendations for improving future project delivery. Importantly, students are expected to reflect on how their project outcomes contribute to the common good, aligning with ethical and social responsibilities in professional practice.
The aim of this unit is to enable students to apply advanced project management and research skills to implement, evaluate, and communicate a substantial IT project that addresses real-world challenges and contributes to the common good.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Synthesise advanced understanding of the open rese...
Learning Outcome 01
Develop analytical and critical thinking skills ap...
Learning Outcome 02
Develop a comprehensive a comprehensive final proj...
Learning Outcome 03
Develop and effectively deliver clear and coherent...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics covered:
- Principles of software engineering
- Overview of software processes
- Software requirement engineering
- Software design and modelling
- Software architectural design
- Software implementation
- Software testing
- Software evolution
- Software configuration management
- Software reuse
- Distributed software engineering
- Service oriented software engineering
Assessment strategy and rationale
A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. The first assessment item is the project progress presentation to demonstrate what has been achieved in the first half of Part B. This assessment allows students to apply their knowledge and technical skills as well as their project management and communication skills at higher levels. The second assessment item is the project final presentation where students will demonstrate the final version of their project, reflect on their project journey, and evaluate their acquired skills throughout this project against the SFIA framework. The final assessment is the project thesis, which requires students to systematically document the project including all software processes involved, specification, design, testing and evaluation reports, and ethical considerations and/or social impacts of this project. The purpose of this assessment is to retrospect the journey of this capstone project, report methods and processes involved, and reflect on the gains and pains as well as on job-ready skills. All the assessment items require group work as collaborative work is common in the information technology industry and the capstone project aims to provide authentic learning experience so that students are prepared to transit into professional workplace. Peer assessment of group work will be adopted so that students will be marked based on the contributions to the group project.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Project Progress Presentation ...
Assessment Task 1: Project Progress Presentation
This assessment task consists of a project progress presentation. This task requires students to demonstrate what has been achieved in the first half of Part B.
Submission Type: Group
Assessment Method: Presentation
Artefact: Presentation notes
20%
Assessment Task 2: Project Final Presentation T...
Assessment Task 2: Project Final Presentation
This assessment task consists of a final project presentation. This task requires students to demonstrate the final version of their project, reflect on their project journey, and evaluate their acquired skills throughout this project against the SFIA framework.
Submission Type: Group
Assessment Method: Presentation
Artefact: Presentation notes
30%
Assessment Task 3: Project Thesis This assessme...
Assessment Task 3: Project Thesis
This assessment task consists of a project thesis. It requires students to systematically document the project including all software processes involved, specification, design, testing and evaluation reports, and ethical considerations and/or social impacts of this project. The purpose of this assessment is to retrospect the journey of this capstone project, report methods and processes involved, and reflect on the gains and pains as well as on job-ready skills.
Submission Type: Group
Assessment Method: Thesis
Artefact: Written thesis
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit will be delivered in attendance mode over a twelve-week semester or equivalent study period.
Students will have access to all primary learning materials online through Canvas, along with formative and summative assessments, all of which will be available online, to provide a learning experience beyond the classroom. While there are no formal classroom lectures for this unit, students will be required to attend weekly three-hour workshops, which will include a seminar and specific tasks related to achievement of the unit learning outcomes. Workshops facilitate learning by doing, which is particularly effective for information technology units as technical skills can be better learned through hands on practices.
Students should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance, readings, online forum participation and assessment preparation.