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.
Critically evaluate open research issues in a give...
Learning Outcome 01
Produce project documentation that communicates co...
Learning Outcome 02
Develop a comprehensive final project thesis in a ...
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 tasks is used to achieve the unit learning outcomes and to develop graduate attributes in alignment with University assessment requirements and AQF Level 9 expectations. Assessment Task 1 enables students to demonstrate and justify progress made during the first half of Part B, applying advanced technical knowledge, project management principles, and professional communication skills. Assessment Task 2 requires students to demonstrate the completed project, critically reflect on their project journey, and evaluate their acquired technical and professional skills against the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). This requires students to systematically and critically document the capstone project, including software processes, requirements specification, design, implementation, testing, evaluation, and ethical and/or social considerations. Collectively, these assessment tasks promote advanced judgement, critical reflection, and professional practice. Group-based assessment reflects industry practice in software engineering, while peer assessment ensures individual contributions are appropriately recognised.
To pass this unit, students are required to achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Project Progress Presentation ...
Assessment Task 1: Project Progress Presentation
This assessment task consists of a project progress presentation in which students demonstrate and critically discuss the outcomes achieved to date. Students are required to justify technical and project management decisions, demonstrate progress against the project plan, and communicate emerging challenges.
Submission Type: Group
Assessment Method: Presentation
Artefact: Live / Recorded with face-overlay Presentation (10 minutes)
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: Live / Recorded with face-overlay Presentation (10-15 minutes) + Online Viva
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 individually reflect on the gains and pains as well as on job-ready skills.
Students will use generative AI tools for developing their presentation slides and reflect on the performance and limitations of them.
50% Group (collective) mark – awarded for the overall quality of the group proposal presentation.
50% Individual mark – awarded based on each student’s demonstrated contribution and reflection.
Submission Type: Group
Assessment Method: Thesis
Artefact: Written thesis (2000 words) + online viva
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is delivered through Attendance and Online modes using a single, integrated learning and teaching strategy designed to ensure equivalent learning outcomes and a comparable learning experience for all students, while supporting diverse learning needs and maximising access.
Across both modes, learning activities are intentionally aligned to the unit learning outcomes and assessment tasks, and are underpinned by active learning, guided engagement with disciplinary knowledge, opportunities for peer interaction, and regular, timely feedback. While the mode of delivery shapes how students participate, the pedagogical intent, expectations and standards remain consistent.
In Attendance mode, students engage in weekly face-to-face classes at designated locations, supported by preparatory activities prior to workshops and opportunities for consolidation following classes. Online learning platforms are used to complement face-to-face teaching through additional resources and learning activities.
In Online mode, students engage with the same core content and learning outcomes through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities, including structured discussions and applied learning tasks that support learning in professional contexts.
Across both delivery modes, students should plan to commit approximately 150 hours to this unit over the semester, including participation in learning activities, independent study, readings and assessment preparation.