Project materials

Overview

The purpose of the projects is to give students the freedom and responsibility to define their own project goals, document the project work, submit a deliverable at the end of the course, and to demonstrate the project deliverable. Brief slides about the project are available here.

Project themes

Project themes should relate to the course goals of the practical aspects of mathematical models,  numerical methods and algorithms for computer simulation. Modelling and simulation is increasingly important in science and technology, and is also used in entertainment such as physics engines for animation and computer games. In the projects software tools should be used to model a problem from reality.

Some inspiration for project themes are available here.

Time line

1. Write a project specification. Submit to Canvas as soon as possible to get feedback (once opened). Once you are happy with your specification, it will be submitted as Lab 4. [Example of a project specification]
2. Start a blog to document the project work. [Examples of project blogs]
3. You may change project topic and alter your specification during the course of the project.
4. Present work-in-progress materials (including specification, blog) informally at the various project sessions to get feedback. 
5. Make a presentation of the specification and prototype at the project seminar (approx. 27th Feb, 2019)
6. Write a report and submit it with the project materials to Canvas in time for the deadline (approx. 15th March TBA 23:59).

Project group size

The suggested group size is 2-3 students, but projects may also be done individually. 

Project feedback

Since the projects are usually individual in nature, with varying themes, it is important to seek feedback from the course team throughout the project. This is initially supported through the project specification process and later, at the project sessions and also through the blogs. It is a good idea therefore to keep your blogs up to date with your latest developments.

Project report

The number of pages in the report is really up to you, according to how many you feel are needed to adequately describe the project. 

General ideas/rules of thumb include (but are not limited to):

1. Present the report in a well formatted manner - add a table of contents if the report is large, and appropriate sections and subsections to split text up and make it easier to comprehend and read.

2. Include the main details that you think are important. For example, if you are working as part of a group, a description of the contributions of each group member is a good idea.

3. Include some screenshots in the report. If you did some performance analyses or similar, include some graphs to complement the description.

4. Maybe reflect on the process that you used to complete the project and consider what you could do better/differently if you were starting the project again. What went right? What went wrong?

5. Since you've (hopefully) created a project specification and had some feedback on it, it might be a nice idea to include that in the report and comment on it.

6. Anything else that you think we might be interested to know about the project.

Reports in the form of a .pdf file are appreciated.

Project submission

You should submit all of your project materials (e.g. source, report, blog link, presentation, web-player, etc) as an archive (.zip/.rar) to Canvas by the deadline. Remember to include the full details of all team members in the submission.

Schedule for project-related sessions

• Seminar 1 Group formation; project specifications support
• Seminar 2 Project specifications support + General project support
• Seminar 3 General project support
• WIP student presentation session + project support (select one)
• WIP student presentation session + project support (select one)
• Project support