Methodology

The Moodle classroom on the UAB Virtual Campus and/or the TFG monitoring application will specify the calendar/timeline to be followed, the mechanism for consulting and selecting proposals, and the project-assignment system.

Students must complete the TFG in a single semester and have only one exam session in which to present it in July.

TFG registration is carried out in mid-July (in the ordinary period, with all other subjects in the syllabus).

A computer application (Sigma-TFE) will be used for offering, registering and assigning projects. Project assignment must be completed during the week prior to the beginning of the semester.

Once the TFG has been assigned, the tutor and student will meet during the first week of the semester to determine the work to be carried out and to define the general guidelines for monitoring the project.

The tutor will carry out project monitoring through a minimum of 4 tutorial/supervision sessions. Before each of these, the student must submit a document outlining the current state of the project, specifying the work carried out in each of the stages and the procedures that are being carried out to ensure its completion. These documents will be stored in a TFG dossier that will include the original documents presented for each monitoring tutorial, as well as any improvements introduced in the reports produced on the basis of the tutor’s comments and observations.

The TFG dossier will be the compendium of all the work carried out during the course of the project (reports, feasibility study, planning diagrams, code, user manuals, data specifications, analysis and design diagrams, use cases, business plan, legal and ethical studies, etc.) and must be submitted at the end of the process in digital format.It must be presented in an organised and easily accessible manner. If relevant, it should also reflect the changes produced in the submitted documents, in light of the comments that the tutor may have proposed throughout the tutorials. All changes must be verified by means of a “list of changes”.

Monitoring sessions:

• 1st monitoring session : the student submits an initial report
• 2nd monitoring session : the student submits a first progress report (I)
• 3rd monitoring session : the student submits a second progress report (II)
• 4th monitoring session : the student submits the proposal for the final report and finalises the project.
• 5th monitoring session : the student submits the proposal for the presentation/defence.

Submission of all reports is compulsory, on the dates specified by coordination. Submission outside these deadlines may be accepted if justifiable causes can be demonstrated. However, any such delay may negatively affect the grade given by the tutor.

For each of the monitoring sessions, the sections to be included in the corresponding report and, therefore, in the TFG dossier must be defined. Some sections will be compulsory and others will be agreed on with the tutor, depending on the type of project and specialisation.

Evaluation rubrics have been drawn up to evaluate each of the reports, in order to ensure greater uniformity objectivity and traceability of final grades. Once each of the reports has been evaluated, the corresponding rubric will be published in the monitoring application, with the provisional grades and any observations considered appropriate for possible improvement (for inclusion in the TFG dossier), and for the improvement of subsequent reports.

Each document must include identify the student and the project: Student’s Name, Academic Year, Specialisation, Project Title, Name of Tutor, and Date. Additionally, allrelevant resources for written communication must be adequately used (writing, spelling, presentation, ...); recommended presentation formats must also be followed, where applicable.

The three reports should include the following (important: consult the evaluation rubrics in question):

• Initial report. The main objective of this report is to provide a detailed proposal of the TFG, which sets out the goals to be attained and the methodology to be used in achieving them. Similarly, the various steps to be followed in developing the project, both in terms of tasks to be carried out and the time-frame, must all be planned in detail. This proposal requires prior reflection on the part of the student, who will have to consult relevant sources of information in order to justify all decisions made and to programme the necessary work. The proposal should include the following, at the least:

• Preliminary information on the topic to be addressed or the problem to be solved, specifying and commenting on the sources of information used.
• A proposal covering the TFG’s objectives and/or the point that the development of the proposed problem aims to reach.
• General explanation of the methodology to be followed in attaining the objectives.
• Identification of the steps to follow in developing the project; establishing a work plan to carry this out.
• Referential bibliography consulted and complementary sources

• Progress Report I. The main objective of this report is to record the progress made in carrying out the TFG. At the same time, this report should ratify theplanning carried out at the end of the initial phase, or, where appropriate, should propose any changes to be introduced to ensure a suitable conclusion of the TFG within the intended time period. Thisreport should include the following, at the least:

• Indication of the level of monitoring for the foreseen planning, and of the adjustments made and/or planned, if deemed necessary, with their justification in the latter case.
• If necessary, indication of the changes introduced in the objectives established and/or the expected work methodology, both duly justified.
• General explanation of the methodology being followed to achieve the objectives.
• Referential bibliography consulted and complementary sources.

•  Progress Report II. The main objective of this second report is to record both the work done in this last stage, and the conclusions that can be obtained from it. At the time of submitting this report, the TFG will be in its final phase as regards its development, and the student must have practically completed the proposed project. This report should include the following, at the least:

• Indication of the level of monitoring for the foreseen planning, and of the adjustments made and/or planned, if deemed necessary, with their justification in the latter case.
• General explanation of the methodology followed and changes made with respect to the initial proposal.
• Presentation and evaluation of results.
• Provisional conclusions.
• Sources of information consulted.

Apart from the supervision provide, students will work independently on their TFGs.

Final phase

The TFG will culminate in a written report (the final report), in article format, and a public presentation and defence of the project. Students wishing to submit and defend their project should notify the tutor of this in the 4^th obligatorymonitoring tutorial. In such a case, the tutor will mark the project as Finished on the computer monitoring application.

At the same time, from the Submission option that will have been activated when the tutor marks the project as Finished, the final report must be delivered (in pdf format) and all remaining fields should be completed, as required on form (title, summary and keywords in Catalan, Spanish and English, language of the document and authorisation for publication in the UAB’s Digital Document Deposit).

For each submitted TFG, the TFG committee will appoint an evaluation committee, comprising three members of the lecturing staff, namely, the academic tutor (whenever possible) and two additional members from the areas of knowledge relating to the Grade. With a minimum of three calendar days in advance, the commission will also establish the date and place for presenting/defending the TFG.

The final report. This will be written in article format and must be between 8 and 10 pages providing an explanation of the project, acknowledgments and bibliography. Up to 4 additional pages can be added to include appendix material. Students must strictly follow the publication format (based on that proposed by the IEEE Computer Society) and must include at the least the following content: objectives, state of the art, methodology, results, conclusions and bibliography. The report must be free from error, precise and synthetic in its use of language. The final report will be assessed by the evaluation committee (which will be the same for the public defence); the grade awarded is the average grade given in the committee’s constituent-member assessments. An evaluation rubric has been established for this purpose.

Public presentation and defence: The student will present the project in a clear and orderly manner to the evaluation committee. Under nocircumstances can this presentation exceed 15 minutes, It is then followed by a questions from the evaluation committee that will take, at most, an additional 15 minutes. TFG presentations will be organised in sessions in which members of the same committee will evaluate various presentations. An evaluation rubric will be used for this assessment. The final presentation grade is the average grade given in the committee’s constituent-member assessment, and will be made public at the end of each session.

The TFG monitoring application provides the specifications of format and content for the distinct reports, as well as indicating the characteristics of the presentation. It also provides the rubrics with which each of the activities will be evaluated.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.