Digital Health Software Project (COMP3820)

Course overview

This course will help you learn the basic fundamentals of digital health technology through hands-on experience, and through exposure to the real-world use of data and informatics in the health industry. The course includes a MOOC component that provides a broad introduction to healthcare informatics. There will also be a number of guest lecturers from industry talking about the current digital health landscape. A major part of the course is composed of a group software development project building a FHIR app for use in a clinical (or clinical education) setting, with real-world clients. FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the new standard for sharing health data that is revolutionising how clinicians and patients are interacting with digital technology and has been adopted by major global IT companies (e.g., Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.) and digital health vendors (e.g., Cerner, EPIC, etc.). Be at the forefront of healthcare application development by learning about and developing new FHIR and SMART-on-FHIR applications.

COMP3820 introduces students to interoperability standards for exchanging electronic healthcare data via the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) platform. As a software project development course, teams of students work together to design and develop a web-based application using FHIR.

Course Changes in Response to Previous Student Feedback

Changes in 2025: to address feedback, the assessments have been modified/streamlined and the essay assignment has been removed. The online course, "Digital Health on FHIR" has also been updated. This year the course will be partnering with CIDH7302, whereby CIDH7302 students will propose projects and will be partnered with teams in COMP3820.

Course requirements

Assumed background

Students are assumed to have some background in object-oriented programming and have completed a team-based course. Strong programming skills (in any language) will be an advantage. It is also advantageous to have some basic knowledge of web and/or mobile technologies and prior exposure to user interface design. It is highly recommended that students have web development skills (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), including the use of RESTful web services.

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

(CSSE2002 or CSSE7023 or COMP2140 or CSSE2310 or CSSE7231) and (DECO2500 or DECO7250 or BIOE6901)

Recommended prerequisites

We recommend completing the following courses before enrolling in this one:

DECO2800 or DECO7280 or DECO3800 or DECO7380

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

COMP3000 in 2018 or 2019 or 2020

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

The timetable for COMP3820 is 4C, which is split into 2 x 2-hour studio-like sessions per week. Students are expected to attend both sessions. Guest speakers will be scheduled according to speaker availability and as such may occur during any timetabled session. Speaker talks will only be recorded by permission of the guest speakers. We ask that you respect that they do this for confidentiality reasons and that you do not make any recordings of your own. Sessions where a guest speaker has not been scheduled will not be recorded.

This is a 2-unit course. Under University policy, a total workload of approximately 10 – 12 hours per week (including class contact time) is expected for satisfactory progress. The two sessions per week will total 4 hours. Therefore, in addition to attending classes, students should expect to spend at least approx. 6-8 hours for at-home study and work on assessment. Please note that these are guidelines only and actual time spent on the course may vary.

Aims and outcomes

To teach the basic fundamentals of digital health technology through hands-on experience, and through exposure to the real-world use of data and informatics in the health industry. The course includes a MOOC component that provides a broad introduction to healthcare informatics. There will also be a number of guest lecturers from industry talking about how digital health is used in their work. A major part of the course is composed of a group software project building a FHIR app for use in a clinical (or clinical education) setting, with real-world clients. FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the new standard for sharing health data that is revolutionising how clinicians and patients are interacting with digital technology and has been adopted by major global IT companies (e.g. Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.) and digital health vendors (e.g. Cerner, EPIC, etc.). Be at the forefront of healthcare application development by learning about and developing new FHIR and SMART-on-FHIR applications in collaboration with CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre, Georgia Tech University (USA) and UQ’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

Assessment

Assessment summary

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.

Assessment details

Individual Course Review

• Hurdle
• Identity Verified
• In-person

Mode

Oral

Category

Reflection

Weight

Pass/Fail

Due date

20/10/2025 12:00 pm

Individual Course Review completed in-class

Other conditions

Secure.

See the conditions definitions

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

The Individual Review will be in-person and will take place during the Monday allocated Studio session in Week 12

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 3 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Extensions are limited to 3 days to ensure students can receive feedback with sufficient time to incorporate into their submission.

Late submission

You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.

No grace period. Consistent with industry practice around presentations to clients/industry partners, no late submissions will be accepted and a 100% late penalty applies. This has been approved by the Associate Dean (Academic)

Team FHIR Project - Presentation

• Team or group-based
• In-person

Mode

Oral

Category

Presentation

Weight

10% (Team)

Due date

30/10/2025 10:00 am

Presentation completed in class

Task description

Submission guidelines

A copy of your slides and presentation script to Blackboard prior to class (see task sheet for further details). Presentations are delivered in-class (all team members must attend in-person)

Deferral or extension

You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.

Extensions are not available for this assessment item. This is to allow the presentation session marking to proceed as scheduled and is consistent with professional and industry expectations.

Late submission

You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.

No grace period. Consistent with industry practice around presentations to clients/industry partners, the 100% late penalty applies. This has been approved by the Associate Dean (Academic)

Team FHIR Project

• Team or group-based

Mode

Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia, Written

Category

Project

Weight

40% (Team)

Due date

Team Project Report and Codebase 10/11/2025 5:00 pm

Team Project Video 12/11/2025 5:00 pm

Task description

Submission guidelines

Submission for each component includes:

Final Report: Your team must submit one electronic file via Turnitin on Blackboard by the deadline. You must:

• Attach a completed and signed coversheet at the beginning of your document that has been completed by all team members.
• The submission must be a single word-processed document (e.g., Word.doc/.docx, Pages .pages, etc.). PDF is allowed but not preferred.
• Only one team member needs to submit the file for the whole team.

Final Codebase and Project Video: Blackboard by the deadline (only one team member needs to submit each item for the whole team.)

Deferral or extension

You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.

This course uses team-based assessment where the team assignment is developed and iterated on with students needing to act on regular formative feedback over the semester. Extensions for groupwork are typically not available as this impacts on all members of the team. However, if a group encounters extraordinary difficulties in meeting a deadline, they should contact the Course Coordinator in advance of the due date. Groups will be asked to meet with the Course Coordinator, and be prepared to submit their work, as it stands.

Late submission

A penalty of 1 grade for each 24 hour period from time submission is due will apply for up to 7 days. After 7 days you will receive a mark of 0.

Individual Portfolio

• Hurdle

Mode

Written

Category

Portfolio

Weight

50% (Individual)

Due date

17/11/2025 5:00 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L06

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

You must submit one electronic file via Turnitin on Blackboard by the deadline. You must:

• Include a completed and signed coversheet at the beginning of your assignment.
• The submission must be a single word-processed document (e.g., Word.doc/.docx, Pages .pages, etc.). PDF is allowed but not preferred.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Late submission

A penalty of 1 grade for each 24 hour period from time submission is due will apply for up to 7 days. After 7 days you will receive a mark of 0.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

Qualitative Grading

Qualitative grading is used in this course, whereby grades for assessment will identify your work as being of a particular standard that falls within a UQ grade band listed above from 1 – 7. A grade of X (0) = no assessable work has been received.

The final grade for the course will be initially constructed from the individual grades according to assessment weightings. At the discretion of the course coordinator, final grades may be moderated.

Below is an example of how the final grades are calculated. For example, if you receive the following grades:

• Team FHIR Project (40%) – Distinction (6)
• Team FHIR Project – Presentation (10%) – Pass (4)
• Individual Portfolio (50%) – Credit (5)
• Individual Course Review (Pass/Fail) – Pass

Your final grade will be calculated as:

(6*0.4)+(4*0.1)+(5*0.5) = 5.3 = Credit

Team member contribution to team assessment items

Teaching staff actively monitor individual participation throughout the semester during scheduled in-person activities. Based on this monitoring, teaching staff are aware of the degree to which students are actively participating and contributing to the team assessment items. If students have not been actively participating in the team assessment items, further evidence will be requested to assess the level of active participation. When finalising grades for the teamwork items, each team member by default will receive the same grade. The Course Coordinator reserves the right to moderate individual team member grades in the event of varied contributions to team effort.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.

If you receive an overall grade of 3 in this course, then you will only be eligible for supplementary assessment if you have at least a passing grade in both the Team FHIR Project AND Team FHIR Project - Presentation. Due to the design and development aspects of this team-based assessment items over time, supplementary assessment will not be available to students who receive a failing grade on any of the team-based assessment items (Approved by EAIT AD-A).

Additional assessment information

EFFORT vs ACHIEVEMENT and Assessment

Achievement and proficiency in the skills relevant to a particular course are rewarded, which is in alignment with criteria-based assessment as used at the University of Queensland.

Effort on the part of students is required to attain the knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to be able to demonstrate achievement and proficiency in the learning objectives of particular courses.

Students should not, however, assume that effort and achievement are equal. Effort and achievement are not equivalent.

Overall, assessment does not reward effort, it measures and rewards achievement against the course criteria.

Teamwork/Team Assessment

Like in industry, teams in this course are expected to manage their work well, plan ahead, and handle issues such as illness by sharing responsibilities. This is the standard expectation for team assessments. If serious problems arise, contact teaching staff before the deadline to discuss your situation.

Teamwork support includes an online course with training and resources. Teams should create their own strategies to handle conflict, especially when work isn’t shared equally. Conflicts should be resolved through open discussion and negotiation. If problems arise, follow the provided process for handling team conflict.

Team Conflict Resolution Process

1. Try to resolve issues within your team first

• All members should complete the teamwork online course listed above
• Be ready to show how you’ve used what you learned if needed

2.  Make sure everyone has a chance to contribute

• Discuss problems calmly and respectfully
• Don’t redo someone’s work based on personal opinion—work together to agree on the final output

3.  Keep records of who did what

• Use meeting logs to track tasks and contributions

4.  If you can’t solve the issue yourselves, tell the teaching staff early

• They can help you manage the situation

5.  Formative team performance reviews will happen during the semester

• These may help identify serious problems and guide further action

If the above criteria have been met and there are still issues within the team, the teaching team will do their best to assist in helping to resolve the conflict. The Course Coordinator reserves the right to moderate team member grades in the event of varied contributions to team effort.

Having Troubles?

If you are having difficulties with any aspect of the course material, you should seek help. Speak to the course teaching staff.

If external circumstances are affecting your ability to work on the course, you should seek help as soon as possible. The University and UQ Union have organisations and staff who are able to help, for example, UQ Student Services are able to help with study and exam skills, tertiary learning skills, writing skills, financial assistance, personal issues, and disability services (among other things).

Complaints and criticisms should be directed in the first instance to the course coordinator. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may bring the matter to the attention of the School of EECS Director of Teaching and Learning.

Learning resources

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.

Library resources

Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.

Additional learning resources information

An online course titled “Digital Health on FHIR” is provided with this course and can be found in Blackboard. Students are required to complete this online course in their own time over the course of the semester.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

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:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments for Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.

School guidelines

Your school has additional guidelines you'll need to follow for this course:

• EECS School Guidelines for Students