Team-based capstone engineering design project; philosophy of design and selection of systems; integrated design primarily focusing on structural, geotechnical, transport, and environmental engineering. Students are recommended to have taken some program elective courses in one or more of these areas.
CIVL4518 provides the opportunity for integrated engineering design involving focusing on, but not exclusively on, aspects of structural engineering, transport engineering, geotechnical engineering, and environmental engineering. Students, working in teams, undertake an interdisciplinary civil engineering design project.
This course requires students to move beyond traditional undergraduate courses and to engage with real engineering problems.
You will be expected to independently draw on and use knowledge and skills attained during the first 3 years of your BE studies.
You will be expected to independently tackle the sorts of ambiguous and open ended design problems that you will encounter when you enter the workforce.
You will be expected to independently locate, interpret and assimilate information that you have not previously encountered - just as your employer will expect of you when you enter the workforce.
This is a capstone design course, and will be run in a similar manner to a real-world multi-disciplinary design office project. As such, we will be using the job and activity descriptions you will encounter in your work environment
This course will require Engineers to capitalise on learning from their previous years of Civil Engineering study to independently establish design parameters and deliverables, to work independently as a group to research design solutions, and to proactively manage their team performance.
Just as in a design office, where Engineers have limited access to Principal Consultants (PC),ﾠEngineers' primary point of contact with Principal Consultantsﾠwill be at the briefing meetingﾠand workshop classes. Access to Principal Consultants outside class time will only be via the Blackboard discussion forums.
Senior Consulting Engineersﾠ(SCE) in this course will provide mentoring and guidance, not solutions, and are ONLY available at the workshops. Engineers should not contact SCEs outside workshop times.
FORMING GROUPS
Except in the case of late enrollments, changes to groups after submission on Blackboard (apart from removing unauthorised students) will be denied - so make sure you are happy before submitting.
COURSE COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS
ALL questions about the course content, design brief etc MUST be posted to the relevant Blackboard Discussion thread. Groups will also be encouraged to use MS Teams to record meeting notes, shared documents, etc.
Students must not email the course coordinator/lecturer with technical questions about the course.
If there are issues of a confidential nature, then students should email only the course coordinator using civl4518@civil.uq.edu.au.
The email must
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
CIVL2135 and CIVL2210 and CIVL2330 and CIVL2420 and CIVL3210 and CIVL3360
We recommend completing the following courses before enrolling in this one:
CIVL3220 or CIVL3340 or CIVL3390 or CIVL3420 or CIVL3430
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
CIVL4516
For general course queries please use civl4518@civil.uq.edu.au.. This email is monitored by the teaching team. For personal/sensitive emails please A/Prof Gattas.
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
(A) It is expected that Engineers will fully utilise the scheduled workshop times for consultation with Principal Consultants and Senior Consulting Engineers.
(B) It is expected that ALL Engineers will attend theﾠbriefing meeting lecture every week. SCEs will not spend time during mentor meetings repeating briefing information.
(C) It is expected that each team will agree additional mutually agreeable meeting times outside the scheduled classes so that additional group meetings can be held as required.
As this is a capstone course, it is expected that Engineers will be very self-directed in their work.
Engineers should NOT expect to be able to consult with SCEs outside the workshop times.
Blackboard discussion boards will be monitored to provide out of class contact with Principal Consultants.
The aim of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to synthesise and apply the engineering skills and knowledge from the first 3 years of study to an authentic engineering design scenario, focused on development of the built environment. You will have the opportunity to extend your knowledge and skills through independent and self-directed inquiry and learning, in a framework that mirrors professional practice.
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Integrate knowledge acquired from various subjects within your curriculum to successfully design a comprehensive, interdisciplinary civil engineering project focused on development of the built environment.
LO2.
Develop and critically evaluate a wide range of potential design approaches that align with a client's brief, from a concept stage through to preliminary and final design.
LO3.
Employ your understanding of the theoretical foundation of relevant design codes and Australian Standards when confronting novel design problems requiring sophisticated solutions.
LO4.
Identify and explain the primary features of built environment sustainability assessment tools, emphasizing the significance of these tools in the development of environmentally conscious design solutions.
LO5.
Articulate and justify your design choices with confidence to fellow engineers, senior professionals, and clients, backing your decisions with solid reasoning.
LO6.
Undertake independent research to identify relevant and critical parameters for a design problem and to explore potential design solutions that align with contemporary and state-of-the-art design practices.
LO7.
Effectively communicate your design solution using hand sketches, technical drawings, design calculations, and/or computational models.
LO8.
Develop skills for effective interdisciplinary and collaborative group work.
LO9.
Apply your developing understanding of professional responsibility, engineering ethics, and legal obligations.
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation/ Student contribution |
Workshop Participation
|
Pass/Fail Hurdle |
Week 1 - Week 13 |
| Notebook/ Logbook | Workbook | Formative |
Week 1 - Week 13 |
| Participation/ Student contribution |
Team Charter and Formative Peer Assessment
|
Pass/Fail Hurdle |
Week 1 - Week 4 |
| Participation/ Student contribution |
Ethics Workshop
|
Pass/Fail Hurdle |
Week 12 - |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Product/ Design |
Phase 1 Design Report
|
40% |
Week 7, Fri 4:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Product/ Design |
Phase 2 Design Report
|
50% |
Week 12, Fri 4:00 pm |
| Presentation |
Project Discussion and Presentation
|
10% |
Week 13 |
A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied in order to receive a specific grade for the course. Check the assessment details for more information about hurdle requirements.
Week 1 - Week 13
To pass this course, all students must participate in the timetabled workshop sessions. Note the emphasis on participation - it is not sufficient just to attend.
Students who fail to participate adequately in 4 or more workshop sessions will fail the course with a maximum grade of 3. Full attendance and participation is expected. Participation through the activities is recorded by your tutor/mentor.
Students are expected to interact and engage with their team, tutor mentor and other members of the course during studio sessions. If you are unable to attend any session, contact A/Prof Gattas as soon as is possible.
In special cases, permission may be granted for students to attend fewer sessions. Such permission will not be granted unless exceptional personal circumstances prevent attendance (e.g. documented medical reason or family emergency).
Each team will have an allocated tutor/mentor for the semester.
The team, including all members, will formally meet with their tutor at least once a week, during one of the two weekly workshops. The team will not be advised in advance of their meeting time
All members of the team will be required to provide a brief verbal report of progress since the last meeting & outline any issues encountered.
The tutor/mentor will review team progress & provide feedback on both team progress and individual contributions.
Teams who have not made sufficient progress may be required to meet with their tutor a second time to report on progress.
Each tutor will complete a team performance proforma, record individual attendance and submit to the course coordinator.
Report to the tutor/mentor at the weekly workshop sessions.
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.
Week 1 - Week 13
As part of the team project, all engineers are expected to keep their own individual workbook in which they keep their own records of, and notes on, their work. The workbook should contain both design development (calculations and sketches) and project management details (meeting minutes, Gantt charts etc).
The workbook may be reviewed by your tutor/mentor during the semester. These maybe unannounced, so students should always ensure that their workbooks are maintained to a high standard.
Your workbook must be available for inspection and assessment by supervising engineers at any time in Weeks 2 through 13.
If there is a disagreement within your team with regard to PAFs, your workbook may be taken into consideration when applying the outcomes of the peer assessment process to determine your result for the team reports.
Reviewed by tutor/mentor in workshop sessions throughout the semester as required.
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Week 1 - Week 4
At the start of the course, students will be provided learning materials outlining the expected characteristics and behaviours of effective teams (available on Blackboard prior to the first workshop Wednesday Week #1).
After reviewing this material, students will be required to form a group and complete an agreed Team Charter. This Team Charter will be used to assist students in maintaining positive and productive group dynamics throughout the semester.
Group performance will be continually monitored over the course of the semester. This course also uses a peer assessment factor (PAF), to determine an individual team member's result for submitted assessment items. A mandatory practice peer assessment will be held in Week 4 to allow students to check their contributions are consistent with expectations established in the Team Charter. If necessary tutors, will discuss the outcomes this with teams in the workshops in the following weeks prior to summative assessment and PAF collection for Phase 1 and 2 Design Reports.
Submission instructions to be provided on Blackboard.
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Week 12 -
A group-based facilitated workshop focusing on developing students understanding and appreciation of professional ethics. To be held during normal workshop hours with time to be advised via Blackboard.
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.
Week 7, Fri 4:00 pm
The requirements for the Phase 1 design report will be posted on Blackboard.
The scope and level of detail in the design brief will be commensurate with industry standards for consulting briefs.
Just as is the case with real-world projects, engineers should expect that there will be the need for minor clarifications to the design brief.
As such, Phase 1 may be broken into sub-parts with suggested intermediate completion dates. See blackboard for details.
The Phase 1 Report marks will be moderated by a peer assessment factor (PAF) to determine an individual team member's result for the Phase 1 submission.
The Course Coordinator will moderate the peer assessment to ensure that the marks are indicative of your performance; over estimation of your own contribution and/ or clique-type assessment (where individuals are unfairly penalised or rewarded) will be removed.
The Course Coordinator may seek the input of tutors (Senior Consulting Engineers) and specialist lecturers (Principal Consultants) to this moderation process as required
PAFs are capped at 1.1 which means that you can potentially receive an additional 10% of the team marks but that no student will be overly rewarded for effort in place of marks for the other course learning objectives. PAFs of 1.1 or less will be directly applied to the team component of the Interim and Final report marks respectively (e.g. if you receive a PAF of 0.8, you will get 80% of the team mark component).
There is no MINIMUM PAF.
This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.
A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI and MT tools.
All electronically submitted assessment items must be submitted through Turnitin (BlackBoard)
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Week 12, Fri 4:00 pm
The requirements for the Phase 2 design report will be posted on Blackboard.
The scope and level of detail in the design brief will be commensurate with industry standards for consulting briefs.
Just as is the case with real-world projects, engineers should expect that there will be the need for minor clarifications to the design brief.
As such, Phase 2 will be broken into sub-parts with suggested intermediate completion dates. See blackboard for details.
The Phase 2 Report marks will be moderated by a peer assessment factor (PAF) to determine an individual team member's result for the Phase 2 submission.
The Course Coordinator will moderate the peer assessment to ensure that the marks are indicative of your performance; over estimation of your own contribution and/ or clique-type assessment (where individuals are unfairly penalised or rewarded) will be removed.
The Course Coordinator may seek the input of tutors (Senior Consulting Engineers) and specialist lecturers (Principal Consultants) to this moderation process as required
PAFs are capped at 1.1 which means that you can potentially receive an additional 10% of the team marks but that no student will be overly rewarded for effort in place of marks for the other course learning objectives. PAFs of 1.1 or less will be directly applied to the team component of the Interim and Final report marks respectively (e.g. if you receive a PAF of 0.8, you will get 80% of the team mark component).
There is no MINIMUM PAF.
This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.
A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
To pass this assessment, students will be required to demonstrate detailed comprehension of their written submission independent of AI and MT tools.
All electronically submitted assessment items must be submitted through Turnitin (BlackBoard)
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Week 13
Project Discussion and Presentation
The aim of this assessment is to assess individual student mastery of technical design concepts across all deliverables from the semester course work.
Example questions and the presentation schedule will be made available on Blackboard prior to Week 13.
This assessment task is to be completed in-person. The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT) tools will not be permitted. Any attempted use of AI or MT may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 0 - 19.99 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: FAIL |
| 2 (Fail) | 20 - 44.99 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Fail. The student fails to demonstrate sufficient knowledge or understanding of the underlying concepts. Much of the information provided is inaccurate and irrelevant. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 45 - 49.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes Course grade description: Fail. Falls short of satisfying all basic requirements for a Pass. |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: The student demonstrates sound knowledge and at least partial understanding of the underlying concepts. Has some correct and some incorrect information. Demonstrates the ability to complete a compliant (safe) design of major elements of a multidisciplinary civil engineering project in accordance with the appropriate standards and codes. Demonstrates an understanding of engineering principles in simple terms. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Sound demonstration of understanding of the key concepts, presented in a clear and professional manner. Demonstrates an understanding of the general engineering principles incorporated into the design project. Conveys the design information with clear neat sketches where appropriate. Ad-hoc but satisfactory communication and defence of the design proposals. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Clear understanding of key concepts and demonstrated ability to solve previously unseen problems. There are only minor factual inaccuracies and there is little irrelevant information. Conveys an understanding of the engineering theory incorporated into the design and the ability to apply these to the design project. Concise and effective communication and defence of the design proposals. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Clear evidence of critical analysis of key concepts and an ability to synthesise information from different aspects of the subject to solve previously unseen problems. There are insignificant factual inaccuracies and there is very limited irrelevant information. Understand the theoretical basis of the codes of practice and design standards. Demonstrate an understanding of design philosophy and the general requirements of a design. Clear, concise and effective communication and defence of the design proposals. |
PEER ASSESSMENT
Each team submission marks will be influenced by peer review; in extreme cases this peer weighting could cause your final mark to be elevated or demoted such that you receive a different grade to the rest of your team.
Individual peer assessment forms will be submitted electronically to each team member during semester in week 4 (for formative assessment and feedback only).
After submission of Phase 1 and Phase 2 Reports, you will be asked to assess your peers again and this mark will be used to scale each individual's team marks for that specific deliverable (for summative assessment).
This peer assessment requires you to assign marks to each of your team members and to indicate how you rate your own input. You are also required to supply a justification for your distribution of marks. The peer weighting factor will be calculated as an average of the scores assigned to each student - this factor will be directly applied to the team mark for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Reports respectively.
PAFs are capped at 1.1 which means that you can potentially receive an additional 10% of the team marks but that no student will beﾠoverly rewarded for effort in place of marks for the other courseﾠlearning objectives.ﾠ PAFs will be directly applied to the team component of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Reports respectively (e.g. if you receive a PAF of 0.8, you will get 80% of the team mark component).
The course coordinator will moderate the peer assessment to ensure that the marks are indicative of your performance; over estimation of your own contribution and/ orﾠclique-type assessment (where individuals are unfairly penalised or rewarded) will be removed.
If your mark assignations are significantly different from that of the rest of the team and are not sufficiently supported by the comments of yourself and the team, the course coordinator (in discussion with tutors) may remove your peer assessment from the final calculation of the peer weighting factors.
Should the peer assessment for your team indicate a large discrepancy between allocated marks, your team will be called in for discussion (and resolution) of issues within the team. If an agreement cannot be reached, the peer weighting will be devised by the coordinator and tutors based on observations made during the course of the semester.
There is no MINIMUM PAF.
Students who fail to submit their PAF by the due date will have their own PAF reduced by 5%.
For example, If your PAF was 1.0 but you did not submit your PAF scores, your new PAF = 0.95 * 1.0 = 0.95
If the course coordinator requests, you will be required to present your workbook for review as part of the Peer Moderation process.
Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.
SUPPLEMENTARY ASSESSMENT
If you fail this course you may be eligible for supplementary assessment - see the University Policy and Procedures Library (PPL) for details. You should note that even though you may be eligible for supplementary assessment under these rules, in some circumstances there may be no practical assessment that can be offered to allow you to meet the minimum passing requirements. These circumstances may include failure based on:
If the course coordinator determines that there is no practical supplementary assessment that can be offered to allow you to improve your grade, then you will not be offered supplementary assessment and your grade will remain unchanged.
If supplementary assessment is offered, it will take the format of a week long, individual design project.
GROUP EXTENSIONS
Extensions for group work assessment may be available and will require a single request submitted per the ‘Application’ provisions (clauses 56-58) with agreement from at least 50% of the members of the group, and recognition of potential impacts on the other group members. Student Access Plans for an individual student do not guarantee an extension for the assessment item.
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
Voice Over Powerpoints (VOP)
Briefing Meeting / Lecture
Standards
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 13 |
Workshop |
Wednesday & Thursday Workshops |
Lecture |
Briefing Meetings The start of each weekly workshop will be used for briefings from the Design Management and/or Principal Engineers. See Blackboard for content outline. |
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.
Your school has additional guidelines you'll need to follow for this course: