Programming Studio 1

COSC2803 | Semester 1 2024

Studio Project Milestone 1: Ideation

1    Overview

The objective of the studio project is to develop a web-based application to address a Social Challenge. For the competitive review many students embraced the social challenges and found their own unique product idea. For the studio project we are going to be working with the same social challenge, however, we are going to provide the product idea so that all students will work from a consistent    starting point. Most importantly, it is not a problem if your product idea if different to the scope we have defined. You can use your previous work to help inform your design choices.

In Milestone 1 you will:

1.    Form. a group, with your assigned team partner(s).

2.    Setup your group collaboration tools.

3.    Complete the Group Information form.

4.    Study the product idea, (also known as the business case) in the requirements document for your chosen social challenge, along with dataset that we provide that will power your website.

5.    Design the User Interface and Database Model for your web application.

1.1    Group Work & Group Work Assessment

In Week 3, you will be assigned your group for the Studio Project. You will work with this group for the duration of the Studio Project. If there are any problems, you should inform. your cohort’slead staff member as soon as possible.

You are required to setup and use team collaboration tools on MS Teams, described later in this document. You will also be required to evaluate the contributions of your group partner.

2    Social Challenges

We will focus on the same Social Challenge from the competitive review, repeated here.

2.1    Challenge: Investigating Food Loss and Waste

Food loss and waste is defined as food products that end up not being eaten for a variety of reasons.

Food loss occurs along the food supply chain from harvest/catch/slaughter up to, but not including, the sales level. Food waste occurs at the retail and consumption level. Reasons for loss and waste can vary  during each stage. For example, consumption by pests, and spoilage/decay due to improper temperature control, can both occur during the storage stage. Food lose and waste both have a significant impact on many other current global issues, including climate change, food security (availability), resource usage (land and water) as well an impact on biodiversity among others.

Your challenge is to develop a web-application to help various key parties in the supply chain (including consumers and policymakers) explore unbiased information on the sources of food loss and waste over an extended time period. You will need to present statistics and calculated information about the types of food loss/waste. You will need to:

●    Present this information in an informative, respectful, and unbiased manner.

●    Cater for a diverse range of users who are seeking to become more informed on this topic.

●    Provide diverse types of information and functionality, including both high-level summaries, and enabling an in-depth analysis of the data.

By using your website, users should be able to become well-informed of the levels of food waste/loss across the world.

3   Assessment Details

For Milestone 1, complete the tasks described in this section.

3.1    Setup your Team Collaboration Tools

You are required to use team collaboration tools like those used in industry to conduct your teamwork across the studio project. In this course we are using MS Teams. We have chosen to use MS Teams as it’s part of RMIT’s IT infrastructure and linked to your RMIT student account.

Your group must create a private team on MS Teams where you will conduct your group work. You must name this group:

Team_xxx_COSC2803_Apr24

Replacing ‘xxx’ with your assigned group number. For example, if your group number is 123, your private team should be called Team_123_COSC2803_Apr24. You can create a private team by:

1.    Selecting the “teams” tab.

2.    Clicking “Join or create team” at the bottom of the team’s list.

3.    Clicking the “Create team” button in the right-panel.

4.    Selecting the “Other” option from the types of teams to create.

5.    Entering the team’s name (as specified above).

After creating your team, you must add the following people as owners of your team:

●    All group members.

●    Your cohort lead.

●    Your group’s assessor. Details of the assessor will be communicated through Canvas.

You can add a person to the team with their RMIT email address. Owner permissions are required so that staff can review all communications on your team. Note that, you may not grant access to your   private team to any other student.

3.2    Complete the Group Information form.

All team members must complete thegroup information form linked here. This formasks for the ‘Join Code’ for the Private MS Team you set-up above. You can get the code by:

1.    Selecting ‘Manage Team’ from the ‘three dots’ option menu for the team.

2.    Going to the ‘Settings’ tab.

3.    Selecting the ‘team code’ drop-down section.

4.    Clicking on the ‘Generate’ button, to create a team code.

The form. also asks the sub-tasks for which you are creating the UX/UI ideation, explained below.

3.3    Review the Product Idea / Business Case for each Social Challenge

For Milestone 1, we have provided the product idea so that all students will work from a consistent starting point. In the product idea, we will target the following types of users:

●    People who are completely unfamiliar with the social challenge.

●    People who are familiar with the social challenge but need more in-depth information. We will also divide the tasks that your websites need to satisfy into “levels”:

LEVEL 1 (GREEN): Capture the attention of people who are unfamiliar with the social challenge and present the “big picture” issues of the social challenge.

LEVEL 2 (ORANGE): Provide a method for users to explore a “shallow glance” of the key issues of the social challenge. Users have a simple exploration of the data set.

LEVEL 3 (RED): Provide a method for users to “deep dive” into the detailed data of the social challenge. Users can conduct an in-depth examination of data.

In Milestones 2-4 you will have the option to complete an additional LEVEL 4 (PURPLE) extension task. You don't need to worry about this in Milestone 1.

We have expanded upon these levels in a separate requirements document. Each level has “sub-tasks” . Groups of 2 must use Sub-Tasks A & B. Groups of 3 additionally use Sub-Task C. These will let you share the work between the group members.

3.4    Creating Personas

Create at least 3 Personas whose needs and goals are relevant to the elements specified in the social     challenge requirements document. These Personas are necessary to evaluate your UX/UI ideation. You can draw inspiration for these Persona from your competitive review Persona(s).

Include your Personas in your report.

All team members must contribute to writing the Personas.

3.5    User Interface Ideation

Create an ideation, of the UX/UI for a web application that satisfies the Sub-Task descriptions of all Levels in the requirements document and satisfies the needs & goals of your Personas.

Create a wireframe. layout of yourideations for each page of your website using either hand-drawn  sketches, Miro, or another tool of your choice. Your ideation should use wireframe sketches, that is, they don’t need to be “photoshopped images” . Your ideation should:

●    Satisfy the needs and goals of your Personas.

●    Satisfy Nielsen Design Heuristics.

●    Make use of suitable Design Patterns.

We recommend creating one wireframe. diagram for each sub-task. However, your group may choose a different approach. Remember, this is only an ideation. You will have the opportunity to revise your

ideation in Milestones 2-4. In fact, this revision is a crucial part of your overall studio project!

In your report, include:

●    Your wireframes.

●    An explanation of how yourideations satisfy Nielsen design heuristics.

●    An explanation of how yourideations satisfy the needs and goals of your Persona(s).

●    You should make use of common Design Patterns to help make these justifications.

Each team member must be allocated a Sub-Task in each Level such that:

●    Each team member must create an ideation for one LEVEL 1 (GREEN) sub-task.

●    Each team member must create an ideation for one LEVEL 2 (ORANGE) sub-task.

●    Each team member must create an ideation for one LEVEL 3 (RED) sub-task.

3.6    Database Ideation - Entity-Relationship (ER) Model

Create one Entity-Relationship (ER) Model of the database for your website. You must describe this ER   model in the form. of an Entity-Relationship Diagram. This database will store the information that you  will need to present to users of your website.  The business case for your ER Model is provided by the    requirements document. Your group should produce one ER Model covering all requirements of all sub- tasks. That is, you should examine the requirements of each sub-task and use these to inform.

●    The Entities of the ER Model.

●    The Attributes and Primary Key (or Partial Key) of each Entity.

●    The Relationships between the Entities.

●    The Cardinalities of the Relationships.

We have provided you with the dataset that you will use to power your web application. You should investigate this dataset to help inform. your ER model.

Your group’s ER Diagram must be presented using UML notation, as we have used in classes. You may   use any suitable diagramming tool such as Miro, hand drawn images, or another tool. Your ER Model is an initial design, that you will have the opportunity to refine in Milestones 2-4.

You must also explain why your ER Model meets the needs of your website. That is, why your ER model:

●    Is well-suited for storing all the data your website will need to display.

●    Captures all required entities/attributes and their relationships, with unnecessary information. In your report, include:

●    Your ER Model in the form. of an ER Diagram.

●    An explanation of why your ER Model is well suitable for storing the data your website requires. All team members must contribute to creating the ER Diagram and writing the explanation.

3.7    Database Ideation - Database Schema of the ER Model

Create a Relational Database Schema from the ER Model that you created. The relational schema must be fully specified, by providing all the tables, attributes, primary keys, and foreign keys of the relational  schema. You should follow the 7-step process described in the preparation material of Studio Class 6 to create the relational schema following the format that has been covered in Studio Class 6.

In your report include the relational database schema. Only the final schema is required. You may include the exact steps you took to follow the 7-step process, but this is not required.

All team members must contribute to creating the Database Schema.

4    Report

Place all your work for Milestone 1 into a report of no more than 11 pages. You report should include:

●    Personas that your website targets.

●    User interface ideation(s) in the form. of wireframe diagram(s).

●    Database ER Model in the form. of an Entity-Relationship diagram.

●    Relational Schema created from the ER Model.

●    Justifications for why yourideations follow UX/UI and Database practices.

Your document must be no more than 11 pages. Your report must use no less than 11pt font and no

less than 1.5cm page margins. All text, including used on diagrams must comply with this restriction. Any work that is illegible or beyond these limits will not be read and will not count towards your marks. 

5   Teamwork Skills & Assessment of Teamwork

Teamwork is an important professional skill. In Milestone 1 you will be assessed on your teamwork, and you will evaluate the teamwork of your group member(s).

5.1    Teamwork

You must use the private MS Team to conduct your group work as setup in the instructions earlier in this document. In Milestone 1, your teamwork will be assessed on Organisation, Contribution and

Communication. This will be evidenced through the private MS Team. We recommend that:

●    You schedule regular meetings (every 2-3 days) with your group:

o If you meet online, use your private MS Team and record the meeting.

o If you meet in-person, record the outcomes of the meeting in your private MS Team.

●    Use your private MS Team for all text-based communication.

●    Store your group’s files (such as your report) in the Files section of your private MS Team.

Evidence of group work will only be accepted from your private MS Team. Evidence of teamwork in

other places such as private messages, Discord, or Snapchat will not be considered. This process is used because staff require reliable access to evidence of group work on which to award grades.

5.2    Teamwork Contribution and Peer Review Form.

All team members must individually complete the Teamwork Contribution and Peer Review Form. The link to the review form. will be placed on the Canvas in Week 4. This formasks you to:

●    Describe your teamwork contributions, and the date(s) on which you completed your teamwork.

●    Review the teamwork of your group partner(s). This should be a fair and honest review of your partner(s) contributions, and how they collaborated with you over the course of Milestone 1.

5.3    Issues with Teamwork and Individual Grades

Ideally your teamwork will progress smoothly. Thus, the final grade that you will receive will reflect the quality of the work to which both team members contributed equally.

If you have concerns about your teamwork, make sure you discuss these with your Cohort lead as soon as issues arise. Should one member of the team have an insufficient contribution, the assessor may award individual grades for one or more components of the rubric. The studio project has been structured so that each member of the team has tasks they can individually complete. Therefore, even if  your team member’s work is insufficient, you are expected to complete your individually allocated tasks.

Note that individual grading:

●    Is the sole determination of the assessor. You may provide explanations if you believe your work should be individually assessed, however, the assessor makes the final determination.

●    Assesses the teamwork rubric component. You are still assessed on your teamwork performance,such as whether you made a concerted effort towards good teamwork.

6    Submission

Follow the instructions on Canvas to submit Milestone 1. You will need to submit the following items:

●    Declaration Cover Sheet (PDF).

●    Report (PDF).

●    Teamwork Contribution and Peer Review Form (MS Form).

6.1    Assessment Declaration

When you submit work electronically, you must agreeto the RMIT assessment declaration, by

completing theRMIT Assessment Declaration Cover Sheet. Failure to complete the declaration and student details may result in a grade penalty.

6.2    Silence Period

A silence period will take effect from 5.00pm, Thursday 17 May 2024.

This means questions about this assignment will be not answered, whether they are asked on MS

Teams, by email, or in person. The silence period is in place because staff members are generally

unavailable over the weekend. Make sure to allow plenty of time for your questions to be answered.

6.3    Late Submissions & Extensions

A penalty of 10% per day is applied to late submissions up to 5 days, after which you will receive zero marks.

Short extensions may be granted by the course coordinator up to 1 business day before the due date in accordance with RMIT Assessment Adjustment process. However, extensions are not guaranteed and require suitable documentation. The course coordinator may refer requests to Special Considerations.

Special Consideration may result in an equivalent assessment, which may take the form of a timed

assessment assessing the same knowledge and skills of the assignment and are generally granted on an individual basis. For more information refer to theRMIT Special Consideration process.

Marking Guidelines

The marks are divided into the following categories:

1.    UX/UI Ideation 5/15

2.    Database Ideation 5/15

3.    Database Relational Schema 2/15

4.   Teamwork & Peer Assessment 3/15

The detailed breakdown is provided on the marking Rubric available on Canvas.