INF1-CRISP: Projects

Overview

As part of this course, we are asking you to complete a project. This project will serve as a place to exercise the skills you are developing in your lectures, labs, and, most directly, tutorials. Nearly all tutorials will engage with different components of project development and deployment, which you will practice in the project of your choosing.  

There are two projects available to you, each of which will map onto instruction received in the tutorial. These are the course-guided and self-guided projects. As you make progress through your projects, you should discuss reflections in your weekly blog posts. While these projects will not be directly marked, they are opportunities for you to practice critical skills, and will be evaluated through the reflections you submit as part of your assessments. As such, it is in your best interests to treat this project as you would any other project. Because you will go through every stage of the design process, this is also a good project to talk about in future job applications and interviews.  

Note that you should not be using generative AI in this project at all, as the formation of these skills requires you to brainstorm, write, design, and produce all on your own. The Introduction to Programming Open Course says it best: “the course is primarily about you developing your own skills, without the use of AI, so that you can build the skills and knowledge that will need yourself to be an effective Informatics student.” 

Your project will be either "course-guided" or "self-guided".

Course-Guided

As first-year undergraduate students, you are ideally suited to create an app for other first-year students. The University has tasked you with creating a support app for those adjusting to University life and settling into Edinburgh.  

The University has approved the use of 3 potential apps:  

1. MediHelp: A guide for finding and accessing medical care ranging from prescription management to emergency medicine.
2. EdiNav: Navigation assistance for those trying to navigate important places in the city and around the university.
3. Edinburgh CAVES (Community And Volunteer Experience Service): Coordination tool for finding local community and volunteer networks in Edinburgh.

The tutorials will guide you through each step of this project, including:

• Analyse the tabular data and/or text provided, making note of any themes that you identify and would like to address in an app.
• Using that data, choose one of the three options and identify at least three tasks you think the app should be able to complete.
• Plan out your project, including the amount of time you intend to spend on each task.
• Write a proposal to the University, explaining what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
• Learn a new skill not specifically taught in any of your lectures.
• Design at least three screens of the app, and create a mock-up or sketch of the design.
• Report and present the app you create in a way accessible for any member of the University of community to understand what you’ve done and why you’ve done it.

No-Code Option

This project does not require that you code. Everything, from data analysis to the creation of mock-ups, can be completed without programming.  

Code Option

If you choose to incorporate coding into this project, there are 3 opportunities to do so in the programming language of your choice:  

• Data analysis, either of the tabular data or of the text provided (or both)
• Writing (rather than just describing) the functions to complete the tasks identified
• Creating a graphical display of the screens (using a graphics library)

Self-Guided

For students who have some project ideas in mind, or who are particularly confident in their skills, we present an opportunity to self-guide through a project. Your project can take whatever form you choose, so long as it includes the following components that will be covered in the tutorials:

• Analyse some form of data or evidence in justifying any potential project ideas.
• Ideating/brainstorming to generate initial ideas and associated design requirements, informed by the data analysed.  
• Plan out your project, including the amount of time you intend to spend on each task.
• Write a proposal, explaining what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, directed at the tutors for this course.  
• Learn a new skill not specifically taught in any of your lectures.
• Design an output that has some visual component that can be sketched/modeled prior to deployment.
• Report and present your project in a way accessible for a non-expert audience