ECSC400 Communication and Career Management for Computer Scientists and Software

Engineers
CW2 Portfolio
Module Leader: Dr Maria Chondrogianni ([email protected])
Members of staff marking this CW:
CW set: 22/2/16
CW weighting: 70%
CW deadline: Thursday 7/4/16 (before 10.00am)
CW feedback: in early May, by arrangement with the tutors marking the CW

Coursework 2: Portfolio

1. General information
 The second coursework aims to support your Personal Development Planning (PDP), as well
as your academic report and reflective writing skills.
 Your CW needs to be typed; an e-copy has to be submitted to BB before the day/time of the
deadline.
 This is an individual assignment. You cannot work in groups. No two students can submit
identical Portfolios. Remember to check the University policy on Plagiarism (also in your
‘How you Study’ guide).
 Please create a cover page where you should clearly state:
Your name, ID number, course; module code (ECSC400) and module name; the CW name
(Portfolio); and the name of your tutor.
 Please include a contents’ page listing the activities described below and the page numbers
where they can be found.

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 2. Content and Marking Scheme
A. Personal Development Planning
PDP is a process which you will undertake throughout your time at university and beyond. It is based on
the principles of ‘learning from experience’ as visualized in the below diagram (also known as Kolb’s
Learning Cycle).

6. Further 1. Self-Assessment
learning
Where am I now?

2. Goal setting
5. Reflection Where do I want to be?
How did I do? What
have I achieved?

3. Action planning
How can I get there?
4. Implementing your actions

As you can see, the first step is to find out where you are now. Of course, this can be analysed in many
different ways, depending on what aspects of your life you are looking at. However, being a student at
university, we would like you to reflect upon the set of key skills which are considered vital for studying
at university as well as your future career.

i. The PDP grid.

The grid below will offer you the opportunity to prepare and complete the tasks (ii) and (iii) that follow.

Rate your abilities in each skills area overleaf as follows:

5 = fully proficient; 4 = very comfortable; 3 = average/ok; 2 = needs attention/improvement; 1 = serious
lack/no experiences at all.

Please give yourself a realistic score, rather than a desirable one. Everyone will have a different score –
there is no right or wrong answers! In some areas you might need to give yourself a 1, not because you are
so bad at it, but because you have not been in a situation where these skills were required. The main point
of this self-assessment exercise is for you to engage in the reflective process and to become more aware of
your current strengths and weaknesses with regard to these skills. This will make it much easier to take
appropriate actions, now and in the future.

Return to this grid from time to time to assess how your skills have improved as you progress through the
different levels of your degree.
[2 marks]

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 Self-Assessment grid - Key Skills
5 = fully proficient, 1 = serious lack/no experiences at all
1. INFORMATION SEEKING 2. ANALYTICAL SKILLS 3. SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS 4. COMMUNICATION SKILLS 5. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
AND PROCESSING SKILLS

Library research Problem solving Reflection on learning Written materials Groupwork/Teamwork

Able to locate and access appropriate Able to negotiate obstacles in pursuing Able to stand back, review an activity or Able to construct grammatically correct Able to cooperate with others, make a
periodicals, websites, books and other an objective and develop effective task, capture its essence and draw and well written/spelt essays and reports, variety of contributions to help the group
references for the task at hand. strategies for overcoming them. meaningful conclusions from it. using the most appropriate style for the achieve its goal.
purpose.
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
Reading skills Critical thinking Self awareness/Assessment Oral/Visual presentations Understanding/Tolerance of others
Identify relevant articles/chapters in books Consider issues from a range of Able to evaluate own strengths, values, Able to distil information, present ideas Recognise and accommodate the fact that
etc. to draw together the required perspectives and draw upon appropriate weaknesses, progress and future learning to an audience using visual aids and others have different needs, feelings
information from a variety of sources concepts and values in arriving at a objectives. answer questions to defend a case. and/or behaviour.
critical assessment.
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
5 4 3 2 1
Synthesis of data Decision making Action planning Active listening Negotiation
Having located relevant information Able to decide on most appropriate actions Able to plan, set and meet own Open and able to hear and understand Ability to know what is wanted, to
from a variety of sources, to bring it for the task at hand through critical objectives and make decisions starting verbal messages without prejudice or negotiate assertively (not aggressively)
together and present in a coherent evaluation; able to justify own decisions. from a variety of possible options. assumptions and to come to a mutually agreed
argument. outcome.
5 4 3 2 1
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
Note taking Time management IT skills Leadership
Able to make precise, reliable notes from Able to prioritise tasks, manage and Able to use computer applications to the Able to manage, guide or facilitate a
a variety of sources which are relevant to achieve results on time and within level required and appropriate to the group to maximise its success and the
the task at hand. budget and/or other constraints. problem in hand. contribution of all participants.

5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
Independence Peer assessment
Able to initiate activities and/or identify Able to give constructive feedback to
tasks without prompting from others and student peers and to receive/ accept
to work independently without similar from them.
supervision.
5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1

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 ii. My University performance and achievements to-date.

Write a reflective paragraph indicating your achievements in all modules studied to-date. Include description/analysis
of/reflection upon skills you have acquired so far, based on all the different subjects you are studying; reflect on feedback
you have received from tutors and peers to date; also, reflect upon what you would have done differently and how you can
improve your performance (130-150 words).

[8 marks]

iii. How my research skills have improved

Write a reflective paragraph summarising how your research skills have been enhanced since you joined the University of
Westminster. Identify changes in research practices that you might have adopted and whether these changes supported your
independent learning. In particular, provide feedback for the lecture and tutorial sessions with the Cavendish specialist
librarians and how they supported your CW1 and CW2 preparation. (180-200 words)

[10 marks]

iv. My Personal Profile.

Present yourself to a potential employer: write a description/analysis of/reflection upon skills you have acquired prior to
you University enrolment; skills you have acquired since your University enrolment; skills you intend to acquire by the
time you graduate; the career you intend to pursuit and how the different subjects you study during the current academic
year, as well as at levels 5 and 6 (including self-managed activities and work experience) will help you achieve that. Keep

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 in mind that you could use this personal profile as (part of) a cover letter to a potential employer, so it needs to be written in
a formal style.

In particular, link the career path you intend to pursuit with the particular modules you intend to chose at levels 6 and 5 (to
also take account of pre-requisite modules) in order to be best equipped for the future (consider your award’s Programme
Specification for that).

Justify whether a placement (between your second and third year, as part of a sandwich degree) would/should be an option
for you to consider.

Your Personal profile forms part of your continuous PDP, and can be used as the basis of a cover letter for a job
application. In addition, it will inform your choice of: future optional modules; your choice of self-study material; your
decision on whether to do a placement; your choice of topic for your final project; the type of job that best suits your skills;
the skills you need to develop for the career you want. (270-300 words).

[15 marks]

v. How I improved my CV

Write a reflective paragraph (180-200 words) to discuss changes you made to your CV following the relevant CV
related lecture and tutorial exercises, so that your skills and competences are better communicated to a future employer.
(Note that Lectures 9 and 10, as well as tutorial sessions of weeks 10-11 will support you for this task).

[10 marks]

B. Report writing skills

2. Write an individual report (900-1000 words), on a different topic than your group presentation (CW1).

As a reminder, the topics you can choose from are:

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i. How social media networks have affected the way businesses operate.
ii. Intelligent algorithms for medical software.
iii. Should employers consider social networking pages of prospective members of staff as part of their recruitment process?
What are the legal and/or ethical issues associated with such practice?
iv. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): how can information become accessible to all? Provide some brief advice for web
developers.
v. Recommendation engines.
vi. Are file sharing websites legal? What are the legal and/or ethical issues involved?
vii. What are your personal expectations, as users, regarding your personal data security? Are these expectations respected?
What are the legal and ethical implications?
viii. 2D or 3D gaming? How the current gaming experience has changed in the last two decades? Present different
programming techniques which contributed to changes.
ix. Augmented reality applications: how can they support learning?
x. Natural Language user interfaces
xi. Artificial Intelligence in Games: how has one field helped the other evolve?
xii. Is software a product or a service? What are the legal/ethical implications?

This is an individual assignment; you cannot submit a report based on a group’s presentation, neither in parts nor as a whole. You
cannot use verbatim phrases from the PowerPoint presentation a group created for CW1, even if you put them in your own words,
if you have the authors’ permission and/or if you reference them.

Your report should be a structured document, consisting of the following numbered sections: introduction; a section describing the
topic (divided into sub-sections as appropriate); a conclusion; an annotated references’ section of approximately 7-10 appropriate
references from a variety of sources. In your references’ section, using either the Harvard or the Vancouver system consistently,
you have to provide a one-three line(s) commentary on each particular reference/source (for example, ‘what was the
book/website/journal paper about’; ‘how useful the book/website etc. was to your work’).

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 [55 marks]

[Total CW: 100 marks]

ECSC400 Communication and Career Management for Computer Scientists and Software Engineers
Module Leader: Dr Maria Chondrogianni
Coursework 2 (weighting 70%)
Member of staff marking this CW:

Feedback Form
Student’s ID Student’s Name Student’s Course Overall
Mark

Marking Scheme and Marker’s Mark

Comments
1. Self-Assessment Grid /2
2. Performance and 6-8 marks: excellent paragraph organisation, /8
achievements (Reflective including description, analysis and reflection
Paragraph 150 words) upon acquired skills and areas for improvement.

4-6 marks: satisfactory paragraph; it lacks in

analysis/reflection (delete as appropriate).

0-4 marks: problematic paragraph (identify

specific points).

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3. Research skills (Reflective 7-10 marks: excellent paragraph organisation, /10
paragraph 200 words) including description, analysis and reflection
upon acquired skills/research strategies/
feedback on sessions with specialist librarians.

5-7 marks: very good paragraph; it lacks in

analysis/reflection/strategy
identification/feedback (delete as appropriate-
one missing element).

4-5 marks: satisfactory paragraph; it lacks in

analysis/reflection/strategy
identification/feedback (delete as appropriate-
two missing elements).
0-4 marks: problematic paragraph (identify
specific points).
4. Personal Profile (300 words) /15
12-15 marks: excellent personal profile, coherent
and cohesive.

9-12 marks: very good personal profile; identify

areas of concern (e.g. lack of analysis/reflection).

6-9 marks: satisfactory personal profile; identify

areas of concern (e.g. how current skills are
linked to the student’s career aspirations)

0-6 marks: problematic personal profile; identify

areas of concern.
5. How I improved my CV 7-10 marks: excellent paragraph organisation, /10
(Reflective paragraph, including description, analysis and reflection
200words) upon CV structure/ competences and skills
included.

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 5-7 marks: very good paragraph; it lacks in
analysis/reflection/strategy identification (delete
as appropriate- one missing element).

4-5 marks: satisfactory paragraph; it lacks in

analysis/reflection/strategy identification (delete
as appropriate- two missing elements).

0-4 marks: problematic paragraph (identify

specific points).
6. Report Writing (individual /55
work)
6.a Report Structure Full marks will be given to reports that have a /6
(including the quality of the clear structure, divided into paragraphs which
introductory and concluding carry a single purpose/meaning/position and
sections). explore their topic within the given length.

Up to: 2 marks for appropriate introduction; up

to 2 marks for sections/sub-sections’
organisation; up to 2 marks for conclusion.

6.b Content - How well your /3

arguments flow Full marks will be allocated for sound, well
presented arguments that are coherent and
cohesive.
6.c. Content- How well Students will achieve full marks for /25
arguments are supported by evidence/examples which reflect the student’s
evidence/how well the topic engagement with research/understanding of the
is explained. topic and appropriately support their arguments.

6.d. Content- Evidence of Students will achieve full marks for evidence of /6
Critical thinking/evaluation. reflecting upon their topic in a critical way and

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 for offering their own view.

6.e References- Use of Students will achieve full marks for using the /4
References’ in the body of Harvard or the Vancouver system in a consistent
report, following an and effective way in the body of their report as
appropriate reference system well as at the References’ section.
(such as Harvard or
Vancouver).
6.f References- Quality of Students will achieve full marks for a minimum /4
annotation of 7 annotated references from different sources,
(including a short summary of the information
found; why/how was a particular source useful).
6.g Use of academic English- Students will achieve full marks for appropriate /3
Grammar and spelling use of academic English structures (including
some uses of passive voice) and sound spelling.

6.h Use of academic English- Students will achieve full marks when their /4
clarity of expression report is written in a clear and concise manner.

Total
mark:

Overall comments:

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