2016/17 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

CAPE5700M Interdisciplinary Design Project

15 creditsClass Size: 30

Module manager: Professor G Jose
Email: g.jose@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Module replaces

PEME5750M Interdisciplinary Design Project

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

This module is designed to provide the skills and practical experience necessary to enable professional engineers to contribute to major industrial multi-disciplinary design team projects. A main objective is that, on completion of this module, they are able to generate and evaluate options and make decisions based on multiple criteria: technological, societal, logistical, economic, environmental, etc and to communicate their recommendations both orally and in the form of a written report. It is expected that new methods of analysis, either computational or experimental, would also be practiced during the second, more technical phase of the module.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, candidates should:
- have acquired an understanding of the optimal way to implement a current, new or emerging technology to solve a practical problem specified in a design brief;
- have an appreciation of the significance of engineering disciplines other than the students own (brought together in the context of a team) required to solve complex, multidisciplinary, technological and logistical problems;
- have acquired the necessary skills to enable them to contribute to major industrial multi-disciplinary design team projects;
- have identified and analysed the key issues in materials science and engineering that were important for the design project to be successful;
- be able to generate and evaluate options and make decisions based on multiple criteria: technological, societal, logistical, economic, environmental, etc;
- be able to communicate the recommendations both orally and in the form of written reports;
- be able to work as a member of an interdisciplinary team to plan and execute a project.

Skills outcomes
This module will significantly develop: team-working ability, interpersonal relationship skills, planning, oral and written communication skills, organisational and time-management skills, research skills, analytical skills and information literacy.

Syllabus

Initially, students will carry out a substantial feasibility study as members of an inter-disciplinary team. The topic is unlikely to be directly based on previous work, but will be relevant to their degree programmes. Emphasis will be placed upon team working, project planning, marketing and financial aspects and interpersonal and communication skills. Guidance will be given by academic staff as well as other professionals working in relevant industries or with industrial experience.

The teams will be responsible for their own project planning and for arranging their own meetings between formal Review Meetings/Presentations. Teams will have access to group working tools in the VLE as will the project supervisor for the purposes of reviewing student progress. A report of this phase of the project will be produced by the team by the middle of the semester.

In addition, each student will produce a Wiki in the VLE aimed at the general public. During the latter half of the semester, students will identify the key technical issues involved in their particular team design project, and chose one or more of these, under the guidance of a member of academic staff, to subject to a more detailed in-depth analysis.

This analysis might involve critical literature searching, modelling and/or simulation, laboratory-based experimental work or interaction with an outside industrial company relevant to the chosen issue(s). This should better enable them to appreciate the relevance of the materials discipline to the overall design objectives and how in an industrial context they might bring their discipline-specific expertise to bear on the project.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Group learning	10	3.00	30.00
Independent online learning hours			10.00
Private study hours			110.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Independent on-line learning covering tools necessary for successful design project management and presentation. Private study is in the form of group interaction and targeted research directed towards achieving the objectives set out in the briefing document. The tasks involved may include, for example, off campus visits by way of a fact finding mission for assessing solutions to a particular design problem. In the second phase the work involved in assessing the technical issues of the design study and the outcomes are of a more individual and independent nature.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Progress and performance in tutorials. Monitoring of project development via blog and group working tools in the VLE.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Report	Feasibility study	40.00
Report	Technical report	40.00
Reflective log	Reflective log	10.00
Assignment	Wiki	10.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 12/03/2015

Disclaimer

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