MODULE DESCRIPTOR
MECHM010 – Group Design Project
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MECHM010
None
Group Design Project
4
September
June
Dr Adam Wojcik (100%)
Module Coordinator
Prerequisites
This is a level 4 course and students are expected to have an advanced basis in all taught aspects of
mechanical engineering, including materials selection, engineering drawing and design, structural
mechanics, as well as other aspects (such as economic factors) and/or particular parts of the syllabus
that pertain to the project undertaken. Additionally some experience of group working and of managing
and dealing with team working aspects, will be beneficial to those undertaking this course.
Course Aims
For this module students are required to work on a specific topic under the supervision of a member of
the academic staff. The project is similar in some ways to the project carried out in student’s third year,
however the underlying emphasis of the MECHM010 project is on design and group work. Most projects
are therefore concerned with solving a particular engineering problem through appropriate design of
components, apparatus or systems. Students are thus expected to combine the functions of investigation,
analysis, and design in their work. Additionally, they are encouraged to follow up designs with a degree
of development which usually means at least the partial realisation of ideas through construction and/or
testing. Students are also encouraged to view the project as more than just a technical challenge and
consider business/financial matters.. Issues of manufacturability, the raising of funding/sponsorship and
the advertisement of activities through a website are prime examples of this.
The group design project is a course unit that aims to present students with challenging engineering
problems within a working environment that requires group action. To facilitate this, projects constitute a
Sub-Project within a larger main project context. A group of between 4-6 students is responsible for one
Main Project context, with each student within the group being responsible for their own Sub-Project. The
project work is assessed at regular intervals during the academic year with separate assessments being
applied to both the main group as a whole and the individual student via the Sub-Project. Usually only
enough Main Project contexts are put forward by various members of staff for the requisite number of
groups to encourage competition in the project award process. The members of staff associated with
each group act as general Group Coordinators but their role is not that of a direct supervisor, since the
project group is expected to be substantially self-supervised.
The basic project module is also supplemented by a coordinated programme of group working meetings,
which are designed to assist groups in setting and meeting goals, identifying strengths and weaknesses
and in disseminating and presenting their work. In essence, the programme focuses upon the soft skills
which most employers would agree are central to the success of any project, irrespective of the technical
challenges to be overcome.
Method of Instruction
The minor taught content course is delivered using a tutorial methodology. The remaining part of the
course is non-taught group work, and is essentially self-supervised and.
Assessment
At the start of the next academic year, a timetable showing the dates of all the formal events connected
with the assessment of the project is generated. The elements involved in the assessment of the work
are outlined below:
1. Log-book
Students are required to keep a log-book as a record of your personal input into the project. An A4 leverarch file is an appropriate format. The log-book should contain a chronological record, written as the work
proceeds, of all the project work which is done, including dates and notes of meetings with your Group
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Coordinator(s), group members etc., notes on background reading, references, analytical work, drawings,
programs, experimental measurements etc. The log-book brought for assessment to all meetings with
the project assessment panel and also submitted for marking at various times in the second term. Both an
individual and a Group log book are maintained.
2. Initial Presentations, and Progress Reports
During the forthcoming year, an initial presentation is arranged at which each student group will present
and discuss their work with a panel of staff members. This meeting will be early in the Autumn term and
is concerned with outline plans for the project work. These will have been separately submitted ahead of
the meeting in the form of individual and group reports, which are separately assessed. At the beginning
of the Spring term, a second set of reports is due and an interim presentation is timetabled. The final
(overall) presentation is held in the third term at which stage the work should be completed and students
should be in a position to describe the achievements made.
The bulk of the marks associated with the Group Project rest with the submission of the final Individual
and Group reports, which are due after this final presentation. Students are required to bring their log
books to each presentation, so that they can be marked. In general, some of the assessments listed here
will be group based, others will be individually based. Normally, every time an individual progress report
is submitted, the group will be expected to submit a single group progress report. Detailed instructions for
submission of the documents associated with these requirements are published in advance of the dates
for submission.
3. Final Presentation
This takes place in the third term, and student groups are required to prepare a 20-30 minute
presentation on the complete project and to present this orally to panel examiners and a gathered
audience. All the members of a group are expected to contribute to the presentation. An abstract of the
presentation will need to be submitted to the panel before the meeting. The presentation will be followed
by a question and answer session of 30-40 minutes. PC based visuals/PowerPoint and bench top
demonstrations are all permitted. The assessment mark is based on a variety of criteria such as technical
content, clarity and defence during questioning.
4. Final Report
Students are required to submit two copies of a final report describing their completed Sub-Project, and
how it fitted into the overall group context. Details of this assessment (e.g. recommended length (about
10k words), format, etc.) are published closer to the time of submission. There will also be a final Group
report to submit (also two copies).
The overall mark for each student is a generated via a weighted aggregation of all the separate individual
and group assessments and a final individual/group weighting applied overall.
Resources
Students are offered the combined resources of the Department’s academic staff to consult when and if
they require, plus at least one nominal supervisor who maintains overall responsibility for a Groups
progress through the year. Each group is provided with a minimum of £500 1000 per student for
consumables. General books on group dynamics and project management such as How to Manage,
Owen, J., Prentice Hall 2009, are recommended reading.
Additional Information
The initiative for carrying out all aspects of the work rests with each student and Sub-Projects may only
be undertaken individually. The project has a great deal in common with many of the jobs done by a
practising professional engineer and is considered to be of sufficient importance to be a compulsory part
of the 4th year at UCL (and it is valued as 1.5 units in the Course Unit Scheme). Many employers
consider the project aspect of the degree to be a good indicator of future potential.
Moodle, email and the Student notice board are the main mechanism for informing students about
requirements for the project and it is the student’s responsibility to monitor these on a regular basis
throughout the year.
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Although groups form themselves at the end of the academic year prior to the start of the Group Project,
at the start of the new academic session, a Belbin test is performed on each group so that groups can
ascertain whether deficiencies in the make-up of their group exist.
Content
N/A - however typical group projects that have been undertaken and/or proposed include the design of a
Formula Student race car, the Solarfox solar-powered vehicle, an underwater marine current energy
generator, a robotic vacuum cleaner, an intelligent traffic cone and the layout of Underground stations.
Many of these include a substantial “build” element.
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