Design Computing Studio 3 - Proposal (DECO3800)

Course overview

A studio-based course in which interdisciplinary teams of students develop a proposal for a significant software-based system. The course aims to consolidate and expand on students previous experience with designing information systems, user interfaces, and computer software and systems. Subjects such as requirements elicitation, business cases, design specifications, and identifying and dealing with professional and ethical issues associated with software projects and products are covered during the course.

DECO3800 is one of two level 3 studio project courses for UQ's Bachelor of Information Technology program and Software Engineering major in the BE (Hons), with the other being DECO3801. In these two courses, students work in teams of six on project areas which are derived by the teams from course resources and elsewhere. DECO3800 incorporates the problem finding, ideation, design and early prototyping stages leading to a proposed solution. DECO3801 takes design briefs from the proposals and allows other teams of students to further design, build, and evaluate them.

As a studio course, DECO3800 involves creative, divergent, design activity that explores the nature of a problem or challenge space and identifies possible solutions/opportunities, leading to a proposal for a design that can be prototyped by a different team of students in DECO3801. 

Course Changes in Response to Previous Student Feedback

The treatment of ethics and ethical concerns in the design of digital technologies is an important aspect of the design process covered in this course. Students felt that there was not sufficient scaffolding for this. We have introduced more resources and in-class activity around ethics to address this concern.

Course requirements

Assumed background

This course assumes that students are in their final year of study and can work in a team to design a digital solution to a problem/challenge in the world. Learning in studio courses happens through applying prior knowledge to a novel situation, leading to a deeper understanding of the concepts through application and the acquisition of new knowledge to supplement prior learning where required. The prerequisites for this course (knowledge of human-centred design process and experience working in team-based projects) establish the basis for success in the course, but a more significant contribution to success is students' ability to contribute to a collaborative creative process.

Prerequisites

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

DECO2500 and (DECO1800 or DECO2800 or DECO2850 or CSSE3200)

Restrictions

Final year BInfTech, BMultMedDes, BCompSc, BDes InfEnv and 3rd year + BE(Hons) Software Engineering

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

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

Additional timetable information

Project teams will be formed across the whole studio, with teams then allocated to a specific room for subsequent studio sessions. Until team formation takes place, students are free to sit in any of the rooms regardless of Allocate+ status. DECO3800 and DECO7380 students will be able to form teams with a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate members. Microsoft Teams will be used to digitally connect the two physical spaces for any whole-class presentations, etc.

Students are expected to attend all studios together with their team. This course is predicated on active team participation; absences from scheduled sessions are accountable in this course.

Aims and outcomes

This course aims to provide students with experience in the software design lifecycle, with an emphasis on problem finding and eliciting requirements from a broad problem domain or challenge area, leading to the production of a well-specified and justified system design supported by appropriate low/medium-fidelity prototypes and design documentation. Student teams apply contemporary project management tools and techniques in the context of a larger-scale design process. As a capstone studio course, students are given the opportunity to apply and further develop their technical and design skills acquired in other courses and elsewhere.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

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

Design Critique and Logbook

• Hurdle
• Identity Verified
• In-person
• Online

Mode

Oral, Written

Category

Notebook/ Logbook

Weight

30% Individual

Due date

Interview 1 Week 1 Fri - Week 5 Fri

Interview 2 Week 6 Fri - Week 9 Fri

Interview 3 Week 10 Fri - Week 12 Fri

There will be three rounds of in-person interviews conducted during the scheduled studio sessions. Each interview will be based on the content of your Design Critique and Logbook.

If a student does not provide clear evidence of their individual contribution to the team project, or is unable to confidently answer questions related to the submitted work, the maximum grade for that interview round will be capped at 3.

Other conditions

Longitudinal.

See the conditions definitions

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L05, L06

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

Online submission via OneNote Class Notebook accessible through Microsoft Teams or directly in OneNote. All entries are time-stamped. It is a good idea to enter a new note each time you have an update for the logbook rather than editing one single entry for the whole semester. To pass this assessment, students also need to regularly post updates to the Design Logbook pages throughout the semester.

Deferral or extension

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

This assessment is developed and iterated on with students needing to act on regular formative feedback over the semester. This is to allow the interviews to proceed as professional and industry expectations, while also fostering authentic reflective practice. This aims to help students develop the skills essential for standard industry design processes. If you are unable to attend your scheduled interviews due to exceptional circumstances, you should contact the Course Coordinator in advance of the due date.

Late submission

100% Late Penalty after 1 hour grace period. The one-hour grace period is recorded from the time the submission is due. 

Submissions to the Design Logbook are via the Studio 3 - OneNote platform. All entries are logged and time-stamped. Any edits that are later than 3pm on the deadline day (with 1 hour grace period allowed) will be disregarded when grading takes place.

Consistent with industry practice where late submission of documentation etc is not accepted, the stated late penalty applies. This has been approved by the Associate Dean (Academic).

Project

• Identity Verified
• Team or group-based
• In-person

Mode

Activity/ Performance, Written

Category

Creative Production/ Exhibition, Presentation, Project

Weight

40% Team

Due date

Problem Identification (in-class presentation) 5/09/2025 12:00 pm

Problem Identification Documentation 9/09/2025 1:00 pm

Interim Project Critique (in-class presentation) 10/10/2025 12:00 pm

Interim Project Critique Documentation 14/10/2025 1:00 pm

Exhibit 31/10/2025 12:00 pm

Final documentation 10/11/2025 1:00 pm

Presentation component is due during timetabled Studio slot, the week before the documentation deadline.

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06

Task description

Submission guidelines

Project documents will be submitted via TurnItIn on Blackboard. Presentations and project exhibit will take place during scheduled studio sessions.

Deferral or extension

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

Extensions for group work are typically not available as this impacts 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 present their work, as it stands.

Late submission

Project documentation: 100% Late Penalty after 1 hour grace period. The one-hour grace period is recorded from the time the submission is due. 

Oral Team Presentation: 100% Late Penalty. No grace period.

Consistent with industry practice where late submission of documentation etc is not accepted, the stated late penalty applies. This has been approved by the Associate Dean (Academic)

Design Portfolio

• Hurdle
• Online

Mode

Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia

Category

Creative Production/ Exhibition, Portfolio, Product/ Design, Project, Reflection

Weight

30% Individual

Due date

17/10/2025 12:00 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L05, L06

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

In-person interview and online submission via Studio wiki

Deferral or extension

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

This assessment is developed and iterated on with students needing to act on regular formative feedback over the semester. This aligns the proposal with professional and industry standards, while also fostering authentic reflective practice. This aims to help students develop the skills essential for standard industry design processes. If you are unable to submit your portfolio due to exceptional circumstances, you should contact the Course Coordinator in advance of the due date.

Late submission

100% Late Penalty after 1 hour grace period The one-hour grace period is recorded from the time the submission is due.

Submissions to the Studio Portflio are via the Studio 3 - Proposal Wiki platform. All entries are logged and time-stamped. Any edits that are later than 3pm on the deadline day (with 1 hour grace period allowed) will be disregarded when grading takes place.

Consistent with industry practice where late submission of documentation etc is not accepted, the stated late penalty applies. This has been approved by the Associate Dean (Academic).

Course grading

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

Additional course grading information

Hurdles in this course

Students must gain an overall passing grade for the individual assessment (Design Critique and Logbook + Portfolio) in order to pass the course. Failure to achieve an overall passing grade for the individual assessment will result in an overall fail for the course with the grade capped at 3.

Students must gain a passing grade for the individual Design Critique and Logbook in order to receive a higher than passing grade for the course. Failure to achieve a passing grade for the Design Critique and Logbook will result in the overall grade for the course being capped at 4.

Identity verified assessment

Studio teaching staff actively monitor individual participation throughout the semester and are aware of the degree to which students are contributing to the team projects. To pass this course, students must achieve a passing grade overall for the individual assessment items. One purpose of the individual assessment items is to provide evidence of individual contributions to team outcomes - students who are unable to demonstrate their contribution to the team outputs risk failing the course with an overall grade capped at 3 by not meeting this requirement. Regular updates to the Design Critique and Logbook and successfully passing at least two in-person interviews are required to support evidence that students are reporting on their own work. Failure to do so will be considered a failure of the individual Design Critique and Logbook assessment with the outcome as above.

Team-based Assessment

All team members are required to provide meaningful contributions to the central concept being developed, and equally all team members need to contribute across the communication components of the assessment (for example documentation, reports, presentations etc). Where it is evident that a team member has contributed ONLY to the communication components and has had little to no meaningful input into the project concept & its development, the course coordinator reserves the right to adjust individual grades accordingly. In such circumstances, it is also likely that these team members will not have any appropriate work to report on in their Portfolio and will therefore be at high risk of failing the course overall.

For team-based assessment items, teams are expected to develop effective conflict resolution strategies at the outset of the project to enable them to deal with situations where the workload is not shared equitably (the information in Section 6 > Staying ahead of Conflict > Preventing Arguments at UQ Teams 101x MOOC may be useful in planning this). Studio teaching staff are available to assist with conflict resolution if necessary. Team performance reviews will be conducted during the team project to enable individuals to comment on team progress and morale. The purpose of the team performance review is to appraise the individual contributions to the team, team effectiveness and attitudes - both for indications of conflict and to recognise high-performing teams. The results of these will, along with teaching staff observations, be used to support teams through conflict resolution. Ultimately the course coordinator reserves the right to vary group marks for each group member in the event of varied contributions to the team effort. 

Qualitative Grading

Grades for assessment in this course will identify your work as being of a particular standard from the following list:

• No assessable work received (X) - applies to non-submission of assessment items
• Low Fail / No Academic Merit (1)
• Fail (2)
• Marginal Fail (3)
• Pass (4)
• Credit (5)
• Distinction (6)
• High Distinction (7)

Within each category, there may be a further qualifier of + or - to indicated that the work is respectively at the upper or lower bounds of the category. The main grade descriptor always applies - if work is assessed at the level of Credit, for example, it has been assessed overall to meet the quality described by the Credit grade descriptor. Credit- means that the work is assessed at credit, but it is at the lower bound having just satisfied the requirements for Credit. Credit+ means that the work is assessed at Credit, but while it is at the upper bound of this grade, it is missing key aspects that would lead it to be assessed at the next grade up.ﾠ Grades on formative assessment items during the semester will be used to calculate the initial overall grade for each student (see below). The final moderation process will consider student work holistically, taking into account evidence of improving grades and/or incorporation of feedback in later assessment items.

Calculation of final grades for course

Final grades will be calculated as a weighted average of a student’s assessment grades, using the same formula as used for calculating a student’s GPA (https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/final-grades-and-gpas). In this case, U equals the weighting for that particular assessment item; and G equal to the grade for the assessment item.

Example 1:

If a student receives the following grades:

1. Design Critique and Logbook (weight 3): Fail + (3)

2. Project

2.1 Problem Identification: Fail (2)

2.2 Interin Critique: Credit (5)

2.3 Exhibit: High Distinction (7)

Project overall (weight 4): High Distinction (7)*

3. Studio Portfolio (weight 3): Distinction (6)

Grade Calculation: ((3*3)+(7*4)+(6*3))/(3+4+3) = 5.5

Individual component: ((3*3)+(6*3))/(3+3) = 4.5

Final grade =4†

Example 2:

1. Design Critique and Logbook (weight 3): Pass + (4)

2. Project

2.1 Problem Identification: Distinction - (6)

2.2 Interin Critique: Pass + (4)

2.3 Exhibit: Fail + (3)

Project overall (weight 4): Credit (5)*

3. Studio Portfolio (weight 4): Fail + (3)

Grade Calculation: ((4*3)+(5*4)+(3*3))/(3+4+3) = 4.1

Individual component: ((4*3)+(3*3))/(3+3) = 3.5

Final grade =3^

Notes

* Overall project grade is either the average across two formative plus final summative grade, or equal to the final summative grade, whichever is higher.

† Final grade capped at 4 due to failing Design Design Critique and Logbook

^ Final grade capped at 3 due to failing individual component

Calculation of grades for assessment items

The weighted average approach will also be taken for determining the grade for each assessment item taking into account the grade and weighting for each criteria item.

Final Grade Moderation

The final grade for the course will be initially constructed from the individual grades according to assessment weightings. It will then be reviewed & moderated based on overall performance across the course. The course coordinator reserves the right to moderate grades.

Supplementary assessment

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

Supplementary assessment is not available for the team-based or continuously assessed parts of the course which require progressive updates throughout the semester. Supplementary assessment is only available for the individual Deisgn Portfolio assessment item (approved by EAIT Associate Dean (Academic)).

Additional assessment information

If you are having difficulties with any aspect of the course material, you should seek help and 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.

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.

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

Notices

Notices regarding the course will be posted on Blackboard and also distributed in the General channel on MS Teams. You are expected to read these notices regularly (at least once a week and more often near deadlines for deliverables).

Web

The course web site is available on Blackboard. The course web site will contain important information and links to other sites related to the course. You must be enrolled in the course to access some parts of the web site.

Course Communications

Microsoft Teams will be used for course communication in studio sessions and for internal team collaboration. This can be used via the web interface, but students are encouraged to download the relevant native application for a better experience.

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