GIS-E4030 - GIS Development L, 18.04.2019-29.05.2019

Topic outline

• Course practicalities and the Portfolio
  In order to pass the course, you need to do the following:

  1.      Do the project as part of a group

  2.      Make a learning portfolio

  An overview of the project is given on the GIS development project page. Details of the learning portfolio are given below.

  Learning sessions (lectures) on the course

  On each week, we will hold a four-hour learning session. These learning sessions are not traditional lectures. Instead, we will look at the issues important to the course (such as working in a project, data management for a web service, etc.) together. The sessions will contain some lecture-like elements, but also group work, presenting your group work results, etc.

  The learning sessions will be held in room M203 in the M-wing of the Undergraduate Centre, on Thursdays from noon until 4pm.

  Exercise sessions on the course

  Also, once per week each project group will have a one-hour session with the course staff to discuss the current state of their project. The sessions are either support sessions, or deadline sessions.

  In support sessions the group can bring forth problems they have had and ask for advice, or otherwise discuss what they need in order to move forward with their work.

  In deadline sessions the current state of the group’s project is reviewed, and the course staff will compare the state to the current Sprint Goals.

  Each group needs to reserve the time for their session beforehand. Some of the exercise sessions are on non-standard days due to other commitments the lecturer cannot avoid.

  The Learning portfolio

  The learning portfolio consists of the following elements:

  1. A learning diary focusing on your work in the project, but also covering the learning sessions (lectures)
  1. Focus the diary on your part of the work in the project. You can, for example, include some of the following topics in your learning diary: what did you do, how much did you know beforehand and how much did you learn during the project, what did you consider particularly challenging, or particularly enjoyable, and what parts of your own work are you most proud of.
  2. Make sure to write the learning diary so it reflects on your own learning during the project, as well as remember to cover the whole project
  3. One way to structure the diary is also to take into account how the project is structured: the starting phase, two Sprints, and finally finishing the project
  4. The size of a good learning diary can be anything from 5 to 15 pages, depending on your writing style and the level detail you are using
  2. The time keeping you did for the project. You can also keep track of the time you used on the course that was not part of the project work.
  3. Your personal reflection on the project and the group work: what did it feel like working in a software project group, did your group work well together, were there things you think you succeeded particularly well, or things you failed at, etc.Appropriate length for this part of the protfolio is between 1 and 4 pages, depending on how much you feel you need to say, as well as how much you think you need to go into details
     

  You can also give course feedback in the learning portfolio, but this part is not required and will not affect the grading. You can also give feedback using the course feedback form if you wish for your feedback to be anonymous.

  If you want, you can further structure your learning diary using things like the Gibbs’ reflective cycle. The following web resources might be useful:

  https://www.ocnlondon.org.uk/news/comment/how-to-produce-a-reflective-learning-diary.aspx

  https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/reflective-cycle.htm

  https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/upgrade/study-skills/reflective-writing-gibbs/

  https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveCycleGibbs.pdf

  https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/nikander/opk.html (in Finnish)

  https://blogs.aalto.fi/kulttuuria/files/2011/04/Mik%C3%A4-on-oppimisp%C3%A4iv%C3%A4kirja.pdf (in Finnish)