Lecture notes for the Introduction to Computers by James Tam Return to the course web page

CPSC 203: Course projects

As I indicated in class the first two assignments (worth 10% each) will be the same for everyone in this ecture.  In addition to these two assignments everyone must complete two project assignments (also worth 10% each) for the course.  You have the ability to pick your project (with my approval and guidance) so that it more closely aligns with either your academic needs or your personal interests.

Each project  will consist of two components:

  1. A project proposal
  2. The completed project

 

Project proposal (worth 1% but the proposal must be completed and approved by me in order to get credit for the completed project)

Using MS-Word you will write up a one page description of the project that you wish to work on that will include (but may not necessarily be limited to):

The course instructor may modify the description written by the student (reduce the scope, add requirements or change the focus to better match the course content).  Email the course instructor the word document with the project proposal by the due date shown on the course schedule.

 

 

The complete project (worth 9%)  

This is the electronic version of your work.  It could take the form of an emailed document (e.g., for the research project), an email to the url/web address of your web page or a CD (for the video).

 

Example projects

To get you started here is a list of some potential projects:

  1. Research project

 
 

You will conduct the research needed for someone to buy a computer system and appropriate software for one of the following cases:
 

  1. Case one: A student with a $1000 budget wishes to buy a computer for her schoolwork (word processing to produce papers and reports).  In addition this student wants to use this computer to browse the Internet, for email and Instant Messaging and to play CD's and MP3's.
 

  1. Case two: A computer gamer with a $3000 budget wants to buy a computer to play the some of the newest games (e.g., Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Star Trek: Legacy, Silent Hill 4: The Room).   Although you don't have to spend time researching the games you do need to research all the hardware needed to play these games (i.e., not just the computer and everything inside of it that may have an effect on gaming but other hardware components such as the monitor, speakers and game-related input devices).

 

Your report should include:

  • Where the hardware and software (if applicable) can be purchased by a person in Calgary and at what price.
  • When making your purchasing decision you are to cite some expert opinions that review the hardware or software (e.g., PC magazine, GameSpot etc.)
  • You are to state what criteria were used to make the purchasing decision as well which criteria would be of relevance to the person in each of the above cases.

 

Write up your completed report using MS-Word and email the document by the due date stated on the course schedule.  If you wish you can complete this project twice, once for each of the above cases or for another case (with the approval of the course instructor).
 

  1. Website
 

Create a personal website for yourself or for your club.  (You may be able to do a website for something else but you need to clear it with the course instructor first.  Although your choice of themes for the site is probably quite broad do keep in mind that it needs to be appropriate to be for a university project).  The website cannot be automatically generated (e.g., by using a blogging site such as BlogSpot) but you have to create it yourself with a program such as MS-FrontPage.
 

Your webpage must contain:

  • A brief discussion about yourself or your club
  • At least one image
  • Links to other external web sites (i.e., sites that aren't part of the website that you created for your assignment) and an email link to allow your visitors to contact you
  • A table to help organize the appearance of your site (you can set the table as 'invisible' if you wish).  In either case the table must contain content e.g., text, images, external links, music etc.)
  • The 'title' property of your web page must be set to a descriptive value that is appropriate to the theme of your site.  It can't be some default value such as 'unnamed' or 'newpage'.  The title of your web page shows up in the title bar of the web browser when people go to visit your site.

 
 

The completed site must be publicly available via a standard web browser (e.g., you can build it using your university IT account, in my case it's www.ucalgary.ca/~tam - although this old example has features that you don't need for this assignment and doesn't implement all of the features list above.  Alternatively you can build your web page through your account provided by your Internet provider e.g., Telus, Shaw etc. assuming that you can meet all or the above requirements or if you are able to get the changes approved by me).  Email the web address/url of your site before the due date (your site must be available at this time).
 

  1. Video:
 

Note: In order to complete this project you will have to have all the necessary equipment ahead of time (a digital video camera that you can hook up to your computer or a computer that allows you to hook up a DVD player or VCR to it) in order to edit the video on your computer.  Also it's likely that your assignment will likely be too large to hand in as an email attachment so you'll also need a CD or DVD burner on your computer or you will have to figure out how to make it available through the web (watch out with the latter option if you've included copy written material in your video - it's up to you to make sure that what is being done is legal).  Given that you have met these hardware requirements then fortunately you don't need to buy any specialized software if your computer has Windows XP installed on it (the program MovieMaker is included for free and will allow you to perform the edits shown below).  The video needs to be in a format that I can view: wmv, avi, divx, mpeg.   (Windows MovieMaker produces videos in the wmv format).  Talk to me and get my approval beforehand if you want to submit your assignment in another format.
 

You must submit two videos for this assignment.  Show me the 'raw' and unedited video without any special effects as well as the edited version which must have the following added to it:

  • An audio track (music or a voice over)
  • A title at the beginning of the video
  • Credits at the end of the video
  • Two separate sets of special transitional effects (e.g., a fade in from white at the start, a fade to black at the end).

 
 

Before the due date you will need to your assignment submitted to me (e.g., give me the disc, send me the web address/url etc.)

You may also work on variations of one these three projects.  However you should be very specific in your project proposal of what the final electronic version of your assignment will look like and include.

 

Other possible projects (you will have to flesh out the details in order to get approval from me):

  1. Creating an Access Database.
  2. Using the advanced features of Excel (i.e., you need to implement several of the ones that weren't covered in the spreadsheet assignment).
  3. Integrating the features of multiple programs (e.g., creating a PowerPoint presentation that includes images, audio or even simple videos that you created using another program).