This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.
Postgraduate Handbook 2019-2020 (archived)
Module COMP51915: Professional Skills
Department: Computer Science
COMP51915: Professional Skills
| Type | Level | Credits | Availability | Module Cap | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tied | 5 | 15 | Available in 2019/2020 | None. | Durham |
Tied To
Pre-requisites
Corequisites
Excluded Combinations
Aims
- Provide training in essential subject-specific professional skills: software quality management, project management, report writing, documentation, testing, and usage of established black-box software
- Provide training in essential wider professional skills: entrepreneurship, intellectual property, etc.
- Provide transferable skills training: communicating novel ideas in science, problem solving, and application of scientific methods and techniques to real-world problems
Content
- Software development and usage workshops
- Entrepreneuership, Research Ethics (Intellectual Property, e.g.), Academic Writing, Basic Project Planning and Timetabling
- Communicating Science, Philosophy and Ethics of Data Sciences
Learning Outcomes
Subject-specific Knowledge
- understanding and critical reflection of legal and ethical principles underpinning the application of computational methods and data science in economical and societal context
- fundamental entrepreneural/project management and implementation skills
Subject-specific Skills
- competent management of software projects, understanding of versioning and techniques for quality control, verification and validation of alogirthms and software
- competent management and handling of state-of-the-art software (such as visualisation tools or linear algebra packages)
Key Skills
- responsible research
- productive research
Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module
Teaching Methods and Learning Hours
| Activity | Number | Frequency | Duration | Total Hours | Attendance Monitored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workshop: Agile, Collaborative and Responsible Code Development | 1 | 1 week; 5 days | 3 hours per day | 15 | |
| Workshop: Communicating Science | 1 | 1 week; 5 days | 3 hours per day | 15 | |
| Workshop: Entrepreneurial Thinking (mini-MBA) | 1 | 2 weeks; 10 days | 7 hours per day | 70 | |
| Self-study (preparation and wrap-up in other weeks) | 50 | ||||
| Total | 150 | ||||
Summative Assessment
| Component | Component Weighting | Element | Length/Duration | Element Weighting | Resit Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation | 100% | Presentation (wrapping up one workshop) | 20 minutes | 25% | |
| Presentation (wrapping up one workshop) | 20 minutes | 25% | |||
| Presentation (wrapping up one workshop) | 50% |
Formative Assessment
The successful participation in professional and transferable skills training as well as the entrepeneurial training will be assessed formatively through individual and/or group presentations. Alternatively, the lecturer may ask for a short essay. They are indirectly assessed (project planning, presentation and communication skills, source code handling) with formative feedback by each individual coursework.
Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods
and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative
assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress
procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be
required to leave the University.