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
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- 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
- Solve complex problems in creative and innovative ways
- Manage a project effectively
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- 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.)
- The main concepts that underpin the design of user interfaces
- Agile methodologies for software project management
- User-centred and participatory design processes
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Specify, design, develop, test and evaluate a prototype interactive software
- Apply appropriate engineering techniques and tools
Syllabus
• Human-computer interaction
• User-centred and participatory design
• Requirements capture
• The software development lifecycle
• Agile methodologies for software project management
• Evaluation and user acceptance testing methodologies
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.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Revision | 16 |
| Project supervision | 12 |
| Completion of assessment task | 151 |
| Wider reading or practice | 61 |
| Follow-up work | 18 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 6 |
| Lecture | 36 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
T. Lethbridge and R. Laganiere (2005). Object-Oriented Software Engineering. McGraw Hill.
M. Fowler and K. Scott (1997). UML Distilled. Addison-Wesley.
Cohn. User Stories Applied.
I. Sommerville (2007). Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley.
Cockburn. Agile Software Development.
Sims and Johnson. Scrum: a Breathtakingly Brief and Agile Introduction.
Fitzpatrick and Collins-Sussman. Debugging Teams.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
This module is assessed by a combination of coursework and a written examination.Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Individual reflection | 10% |
| Group project report | 50% |
| Examination | 40% |