XMUT/ENGR 101 Engineering Technology

Second Semester, 2023/2024

Prescription

This course provides a general introduction to the fundamental technical concepts needed to understand the design and engineering of electronic, mechatronics, networked and software systems. Experience is gained in basic engineering practice, with assembly and testing of basic hardware, software and networked systems, and construction of a personal computer.

Learning Objectives

Students who pass this course will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental principles underlying Engineering, especially electronic, mechatronics, networked and software systems (BE graduate attributes 3(a)).
• Work within a team, including breaking up and allocating tasks, managing a team, and working with other people to achieve a defined task (BE graduate attributes 2(a), 2(b) and 3(d)).
• Communicate by explaining what they have done in coursework and reasons for it with their peers and others (BE graduate attribute 2(b)).
• Understand the role of engineers and their responsibility to society (BE graduate attribute 1(a)).
• Be creative and able to apply critical thinking through the design, implementation and testing of systems to solve real-world problems (BE graduate 3(b)).

Teaching Format

There will be two lectures per week during the semester. Practical lab assignments require students to apply the concepts taught during the lectures.

There will be in-person lectures in XMUT. The labs will be conducted by the co-teacher in XMUT.

Lecturers

Course Organisation details

Dates, Times, and Rooms: Lectures and Laboratories

The course will have lectures on Wednesdays and Thursdays (even weeks).

A schedule of lecture topics, Labs and assignment dates is on the website. Copies of the lecture slides will be available online.

Set Texts and Recommended Readings

There is no required textbook for the course.

The optional textbooks for ENGR 101 are:

• Digital Systems, by R J Tocci
• Beginning C for Arduino, Second Edition: Learn C Programming for the Arduino, by Jack J Purdum

Assessment

This course will be assessed through assignments, lab reports and two tests.

Assessment Item	Due Date or Test Date	Percentage
Attendance	N/A	%10
Assignments	TBD	%20
Labs & project	Weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8	%20
Test	Week 8	%25
Final Exam	Exam period	%25

Note: If you fail the course the first time and need to take the make-up exam, the make-up exam will only be part of your final grade - your final grade will be 50% of your coursework marks and 50% from the make-up exam.

Assignment Marking and Late Penalties

LATE DAY POLICY for the ASSIGNMENTS and EXERCISES. Work submitted:

• 1 day after the deadline will receive a maximum mark of 90%,
• 2 days after the deadline will receive a maximum mark of 80%,
• 3 days after the deadline will receive a maximum mark of 70%,
• 4 days after the deadline will receive a maximum mark of 60%,
• 5 days after the deadline will receive a maximum mark of 50%.

No work will be accepted after releasing the solutions unless previously arranged with the course lecturer.

Workload

In order to maintain satisfactory progress in XMUT 101, you should plan to spend 10 hours per week on this paper.
A plausible and approximate breakdown for these hours would be:

Lectures: 1-3 hours per week

Laboratories and tutorials: 2 - 4 hours per week

Writing lab reports/assignments: 3 hours

Reading, review, preparation: 2 hours

Communication of Additional Information

The primary means of communication outside of the lecture will be the ENGR101 website at https://ecs.wgtn.ac.nz/Courses/XMUT101_2024T1. You should make a bookmark for the course home page because you will need to access it frequently.

The course website has important information about the course, including:

• Announcements,
• Course schedule (with links to copies of the lecture slides and additional reading materials (if any)),
• Files and assignments-related information,
• Assignment submission system.

There is also a WeChat group. The lecturer will answer questions on WeChat and may make urgent announcements. All communications in the WeChat room must be in English.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism.

Academic integrity means that university staff and students, in their teaching and learning, are expected to treat others honestly, fairly and with respect at all times. It is not acceptable to mistreat academic, intellectual or creative work that has been done by other people by representing it as your own original work.

Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as if it were your own, whether you mean to or not. "Someone else's work" means anything that is not your own idea. Even if it is presented in your own style, you must acknowledge your sources fully and appropriately. This includes:

• The work of other students or staff
• Material from books, journals or any other printed source
• Information from the internet
• Software programs and other electronic material
• Designs and ideas
• The organisation or structuring of any such material

Notes

You must always properly cite any work of others that you include in your submition. If you are ever in doubt as to whether some action you have taken may be considered plagiarism, you should consult your lecturer and/or clearly state on the submitted work the extent of the contribution from others.

Strictly follow the rules below:

• Do not give your answers to other students – you may get zero!
  • If someone submits work that is the same as or very similar to yours, you should expect to be asked to explain and, if the explanation is not satisfactory, to receive zero mark for the assessment and/or the course, if repeated.
• Do not copy another student’s work (assignment/test/final exam), you will get zero.
• Do not ask other students for their answers – it is stealing their marks. You may both get zero.
• If there is a record of more than two previous cheating events in any VUW course, you will be referred to the Dean.

Plagiarism and Code

If you are completing a programming project, you may be allowed to use code segments from a software library on the web, from model solutions in previous courses you have taken, or even from other students. If you do this, you must clearly indicate all of the code that has come from another source and state the source. Unless your course requirements state otherwise, you are not required to cite algorithms, data structures or source code provided with the assignment or from lecture notes. If you are in doubt about the use of code that you have not written yourself you should check with your lecturer before submitting the program. If you have had help from someone else (other than a tutor), it is always safe to state the help that you got. For example, if you had help from someone else in writing a component of your code, it is not plagiarism as long as you state (eg, as a comment in the code) who helped you in writing the method.

Classroom Policies

• No eating, drinking, or smoking.
• Respect classmates’ ideas, opinions, and questions.
• No behaviour that prevents other students from learning.
• You are welcome to visit the instructor’s office during his office hours.
• Take good care of the laboratory facilities.

Points: 15
Prerequisites: enrolment in BE
Duration:
Starts: semester 2
Campus: XMUT