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Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will apply computational thinking to develop fundamental algorithms for specified problems and implement them using Python. It is assumed that you have little or no programming experience. You will apply problem-solving techniques such as decomposition and abstraction. You will learn about the parts of a program, including variables, types, control structures and methods. A key aspect of this unit is practical, hands-on development and testing, which you will do in an industry standard Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Anti-requisite: COIT29222 Programming Principles. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Practical Assessment | 30% |
| 2. Portfolio | 30% |
| 3. In-class Test(s) | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.10% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 29.96% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection.
Attendance particularly in lectures has been poor.
Possibly automate attendance recording in large lectures. Contact students with poor attendance and identify them as being at risk.
Students with poor engagement continue to be messaged early in the term.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection.
Academic misconduct has been a problem especially collusion.
Continue to educate students on the consequences of academic misconduct. Possibly employ third party software to detect such breaches. With such a large cohort it would be difficult to individualise the various assessment items.
An in-class test was introduced to reduce the prevalence of academic misconduct.
Source: Student feedback.
Some students find the unit's advanced level challenging, particularly when Java is used as the primary programming language, which may not align with the interests of all students in future programming pursuits.
Consider introducing Python as the primary teaching tool, as it could provide a more approachable and engaging experience for students navigating the complexities of an introductory unit with advanced content in Java.
Java was replaced with Python.
Source: Student feedback.
Students are happy with the teaching staff.
Continue employing experienced and dedicated teaching staff.
We have continued to use experienced and dedicated teaching staff.
Source: Teaching Team Survey Feedback
Students find CodeRunner difficult to use.
Provide additional instruction on answering CodeRunner questions.
In Progress
Source: Teaching Team Survey Feedback
Students perform insufficient unit testing.
Create additional unit testing materials and activities.
In Progress
Source: Teaching Team Reflections
Insufficient use of Git, the industry-standard version control tool.
Create additional materials to guide students on using Git, for example, to clone a repository that contains the lecture and tutorial code and using Git within an IDE for version control.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Implement, document and refactor functions that use Python's syntax, data representations, scope rules, and procedural concepts including iterations and conditionals
- Devise algorithms using computational thinking techniques (decomposition and abstraction) and communicate algorithms (oral and written)
- Use industry tools to efficiently and ethically develop quality applications (Integrated Development Environment (IDE), debugger, linter, Generative AI and version control)
- Demonstrate secure coding practices (variable typing and scoping, testing and input validation)
- Develop modules that implement standard algorithms (searching, sorting), process hierarchical data (JSON), and adhere to design principles (coupling and cohesion) and construct applications that use modules and Python libraries.
The Australian Computer Society (ACS), the professional association for Australia's ICT sector, recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is adopted by organisations, governments, and individuals in many countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles. ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile.
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA 8 (the SFIA code is included):
- Programming/Software Development (PROG)
- Testing (TEST)
- Methods and tools (METL)
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |