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Last updated 18th February 2008.
Projects have different benefits to students. Students may want to take on a project that is relevant to an area they would like to work in after leaving university, as these projects should provide very relevant experience. Some projects are very client interaction based, others are graphical, and others are rather technical, while others involve online content.
Teams are formed first and then teams nominate which projects they would like to do. Think about which projects that you would like to work on and we can join you with people interested in similar projects. Every team should nominate more than one project that they would like to do. Nomination forms will be handed out in the first lecture.
After you have had your initial meeting with your client you may be allowed to change project to another untaken one if a major problem exists. This means you might be a week behind everyone else during the design phase, but will be expected to have caught up by week 7. This will not be granted lightly. Change will only be allowed if the lecturer agrees there are insurmountable problems.
Each project has an initial difficulty rating (max 5) based on what the client described they wanted to the lecturer in January. As the project progresses this rating will change, as the client may alter their requirements, or things may be more difficult than initially perceived. This difficulty rating is used to compare the work between groups when assessing the software. If you want to get a very high mark, you would have to produce excellent (fault free) work on a project with a low difficulty rating.
There are projects available in both Hobart and Launceston. It is recommended that you choose a project from your campus region as you will find it is easier to meet with your client.
Here is some advice on how to choose a project.
It may be a condition of your project if it is sponsored by industry that you assign to the client, any intellectual property rights in relation to the project results. If this is the case and you wish to work on the project, you will need to sign an assignment agreement to give effect to this requirement. The example agreement is in the project manual in Appendix D. If you do not want to assign your IP to the client, do not choose that project as one of your preferences.
If there is no requirement for the client to retain the IP, then the IP is shared between all the team members and the client.
The IP agreement has been brought in because without it we wouldn't have had enough projects. ICT companies in particular will not submit projects without retaining the IP, and it is these projects that give the students the best experience and often it is these projects that lead to jobs.
If we do not have enough "shared IP" projects because too many students will not sign the IP agreement then some teams will have to do in-house projects. An in-house project is a project put forward by the lecturer.
You must NOT (absolutely NOT) contact a client until you have been allocated the project. The addresses are there so you can tell who the client is, and how far you will have to travel if you take that project.
If there are no technical specifications given for a project then the choice of programming languages and tools is up to the students to decide in consultation with the client.