Group project work - experiences with Micromouse Dr. Timothy Davies School of Engineering, Swansea University

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Group project work -experiences with
MicromouseDr. Timothy DaviesSchool of
Engineering, Swansea University
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What is a Micromouse?
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Specifications of the micromouse

• 1. White line following the mouse must follow a
  50 mm white line on a black background
• 2. Obstacle avoiding the mouse must be capable
  of moving around the room and avoiding obstacles
  (preferably without collision)
• 3. Combat mode the mouse must be capable of
  taking part in the combat final
• 4. Special feature unique to the Team

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Group Project Work

• 1. Why have group project work?
• 2. History of group project work
• 3. Assessment of group projects
• 4. Problems of assessment

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1. Why have group project work?

• Requirement of Institute
  
• Model of future employment
  
• Vehicle for specific training
  
• Espirit de corps

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2. History of group project work

• First attempts were based on two, one-month
  projects in second semester
  
• Problems with uniformity of assessment and
  complexity of tasks
  
• Micromouse runs through both semesters and is
  worth 20 credits
  
• Offers uniformity in assessment as the whole
  class is carrying out the same task

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3. Assessment of group project work

• The Micromouse exercise is assessed as follows
• Inspection of progress in December
• Grand assessment day at end of teaching
• Practical demonstration
• Inspection of hardware
• Interview of Team members
• Combat final
• Review of Web based documentation

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3. Assessment of group project work

• On assessment day, each team has one hour to
  demonstrate their machine
  
• Assessors work in pairs, with at least one
  micromouse tutor in each pair
  
• Special stationery is provided to the assessors
  to speed up proceedings and to aid uniformity
  
• Self-assessment forms distributed to team
  members, in which the students are asked to
  estimate the contribution of each member

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3. Assessment of group project work

• Class photograph after individual team
  assessments are complete
  
• Combat final is held on the afternoon of
  assessment day
  
• Presentation of Micromouse Trophy
  
• On-line documentation is assessed about a week
  after the main assessment day

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Class Photograph, Session 2008/9
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Micromice Session 2008/9
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4. Problems of assessment

• Consistency between pairs of assessors
  
• Failure of team one person responsible for the
  bulk of the work
  
• Failure of team one member does not contribute
  (or even turn up for labs)
• Inconsistent returns on self-assesment forms

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4. Problems of assessment

• Behind the scenes
• Marks from special stationery are collated
  
• Total marks (excluding interview marks) are
  scaled using the returns from the self-assessment
  forms
  
• Forms with large variations in contribution and
  forms with widely differing self-assessments are
  discussed

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Maintenance of Exercise

• Microprocessor hardware is in its third
  incarnation, and due to change again (to reflect
  current best practice)
  
• Tasks have evolved e.g. combat replaced
  precision manoeuvre
  
• Various team building strategies have been tried,
  including personality inventory

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Group project work -experiences with
MicromouseThank you for your kind
attention.Your opinions and comments ongroup
project work are invited!