FIT4006 is a core unit introduced as part of the Honours degrees in the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) for 2006.

This unit is a research unit and a requirement for the Honours degrees that will be introduced in 2006.

The research unit makes up the major component for the Honours degrees. The course is designed to help graduates to:

• acquire advanced knowledge of a selected area in IT
• item develop research skills needed to undertake a higher degree.

The proposed unit is a compulsory unit for all FIT Honours degrees. The unit will build on the knowledge gained in the FIT 4005 (Research methods) unit.

The proposed unit is a compulsory unit for all FIT Honours degrees.

On completion of the unit students should :

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the area of their chosen research project.
2. Acquire necessary skills to plan and undertake rigorous independent research.
3. Acquire comprehensive research skills in the IT field.
4. Develop the capacity to engage in critical thinking and analysis.
5. Demonstrate the ability to communicate research activities and findings.

Each prospective Honours student should reach an agreement with a potential supervisor about a research area for, and feasibility of, Honours project before enrolling in the course. The student and supervisor will agree on a project which is interesting for both parties. After completing this unit, students should have developed attitudes of:

6. Confidence in their ability to undertake independent and individual research.
7. Confidence in their abilit to plan and execute an individual research project.

After completing this unit, students should have the skills to:

8. find and analyse current research literature.
9. critically evaluate research findings.
10. Identify open problems in current research.
11. Identify promising new research directions based on previous results.
12. Define feasible projects based on such problems.
13. Set realistic timelines and intermediate deliverables for a research project.
14. Communicate research results in a variety of forms, including informal oral presentations, written reports, seminar presentations and poster presentations.

Although the projects are carried out separately as individuals, the students are allocated computers and offices in a shared, common area (for the group of honours students). The students are encouraged to communicate, discuss problems and difficulties among themselves. The honours students also get the opportunity to mix with and communicate with PhD and Masters research students of the faculty.

After completing this unit, students should be able to:

15. Communicate reseach ideas effectively in oral and written form.
16. Collaborate effectively with their supervisor.

Discipline group Classification: 029999 Information Technology not classified elsewhere

This unit is a research unit and a requirement for the FIT Honours degrees. Due to the nature of IT, a wide range of Honours project types can be offered to students. Some project components are of a practical nature and may involve some software development and/or experimentation, while other components are of a more theoretical nature.

This unit is a research unit and a requirement for the FIT Honours degrees. Due to the nature of IT, a wide range of Honours project types can be offered to students. Some project components are of a practical nature and may involve some software development and/or experimentation, while other components are of a more theoretical nature.

Individually defined and can include IEEE, ACM and other relevant IT/Business/Financial journals, technical papers and conference papers.

Regular meetings with supervisor(s) over the course of two semesters. Supervisor(s) will guide and monitor the student's research work and discuss progress, difficulties and outcomes during these meetings. Supervisor(s) will also require student to submit regular written work and interim reports on research topic.

Supervision and guidance on research program : main objectives 1 - 4, 6 - 14 and 16 Written work and presentation : main objective 5, 15

Presentation and final thesis (normally 10,000 - 20,000 words): 100%

Practical components will be judged for quality in one or more of the following categories:

• Correctness and completeness
• Sound design
• Testing
• Ease of use
• Documentation

Theoretical components will be judged for quality in one or more of the following categories:

• Formal correctness
• Problem understanding
• Innovative and independent problem solving
• Conceptual elegance and simplicity

The thesis will encompass a literature review, a formal statement of the research problem and a description of the research methodology employed. The assessment of the thesis will be used to gauge the students level of understanding of the research topic (objective 1 and 2). The thesis will demonstrate, justify and communicate a result. Finally the assessment, thesis and presentation will also determine the level of research and communication skills acquired.

The criteria for evaluating the thesis is as follows:

• Structured presentation
• Clear formulation of research objective(s) and methodology
• Clear definition of important terms and concepts discussed in the project report
• Clear demonstration of how the project relates to relevant published work
• Appropriate use of references

24

24 hours per week for 13 weeks in semester 1, 24 hours per week for 13 weeks in semester 2.

Sufficient Faculty of IT academic staff to supervise students.

• Software Title:
• Vendor:
• Version:
• OS: MS Windows XP ( ) and/or LINUX ( )
• License Details: (A valid software license certificate/s or Vendor permission must be available upon request if the software is to be installed for teaching)
• Are we currently licensed: Yes ( ) or No ( ) (If unsure, please check with your local IT support )
• If (Yes), who is the contact person for this software?:
• If (No), will the software license be arranged by: Staff member requesting the software ( ) or Technical Services* ( ) ? *If the latter is selected, please discuss your requirement/s with myself ASAP, prior to finalising your request, as there could be financial or resourcing implications.
• Is the software to be installed and accessed from a: Client/Workstation ( ), or Server ( ) ?
• Type of license: Site License ( ), Freeware ( ), FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) ( ), Shareware ( ), Lab based ( ) # of Licenses needed ____
• In what week will you commence using the software in class? Semester 1 (Week ___ ) and/or Semester 2 (Week ___ ):
• Nominated Staff For Acceptance Testing Software: (Name) (Phone) (Email)
• Additional Information: Special Requirements, Software Configuration/Installation Requirements, etc:

To be provided by the Faculty as required for individual projects.

Faculty of IT

Admission to the Bachelor of Computer Science (Honours) or Bachelor of Business Information Systems (Honours) or Bachelor of Information Technology and Systems (Honours) program.