Undergraduate Student ICT Projects

Background

Students who are in the final year of their studies in Computing/Information Technology at the University of Ballarat are involved in undergraduate student projects. Over a period of one or (usually) two semesters, the students work in teams on 'real' projects for 'real' clients. The projects involve the development of a substantial software system designed and built to meet the needs of their client. These may involve multimedia, database systems, graphics, games, internet, networking and educational software.

The students engage in the full project management and software development life cycle following some suggested milestones and with guidance from a supervisor in the school of ITMS.

If you, your business, sporting club, or school has a need for a computer system and can invest some time to work with our students as a client, please consider proposing a project. It is recommended that you suggest systems that are not critical to your business, as the final product will not be handed over until the end of two semester's work and the final product may need further work before it can be used. In some cases, a prototype system may be developed after one semester.

This scheme is an excellent way to trial an idea and have a prototype system developed which you may then later choose to develop or extend professionally. The students are very enthusiastic and are mentored by experienced staff in the school of ITMS.

What does it cost?

If you are asking for a system to be developed using proprietory software or hardware system(s), you may need to provide these resources to our students to use for the duration of the project. The School of ITMS has some resources available to students on campus. Please discuss your particular software needs with the project coordinator when you propose a project. In some cases, it may be possible for students to use free, open source software to develop your system.

The university cannot maintain the software after the project is finished (at the end of the enrolled semester(s)). It is your responsibility as the client to engage in detailed user acceptance testing before using the system. If further development is required you may need to engage some third party software developers (or the students themselves) at your own cost.

What sort of systems could be developed?

Previously our clients have included schools, small businesses and large corporate clients. It is essential that clients are accessible to students and are local.

Some examples of systems that have previously been developed include:

Administrative Software for a veterinary practice
Educational Games for schools
Networking systems
Management software for an accountancy practice
HR systems

Other examples of the types of systems possible include: Ecommerce website, Inventory Management System, Tourist Information System, Virtual tours, Small Retail System, Training System, Educational software and Online Products/Information Kiosk.

How do I find out more?

Contact the projects coordinator, Kathleen Keogh on Ph. 5327 9121.

Please note, project proposals for 2008 are now being accepted.

During February and early March, all the proposed projects will be assessed for suitability and you will be informed if your project has been selected.

If you know of students that will be enrolling to do an undergraduate IT project and you'd like them to work on your system, please indicate this in the comments section on the proposal form.