AUM Academic

Projects
Fall 2016

AUM Academic Projects

2015-2016

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PROJECT GUIDELINES AND POLICY

AUM Academic Projects

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1) Course Projects
The Project component of the course is essential to passing any course at AUM. The project shows
competency in understanding and applying the course objectives and achieving the learning outcomes.
The project should allow the student to design, investigate, apply, research, and practice real life
situations. It is expected that each student fully and actively participates in the project as an effective
team member.
A project document needs to be developed and distributed early on in the semester with details about the
project deliverables, assessment criteria, and important other details. The project needs to be directly
related to topics covered in the textbook with references clearly indicated in the project document. Team
presentation grading scale is shared at the beginning of the syllabus. New and amended project is
expected every semester.
When preparing the project, instructors should keep in mind the nature of the course the credit hours,
the types of assignments usually given and the theoretical foundations of the course. The project should
address all or most course outcomes as per syllabus. All sections of the Project Document Template need
to be addressed and tailored to the course.
The project should be both interesting and useful to students, targeted towards applying knowledge to
real-life situations to build skills. Students should focus on researching and exploring their project topics,
designing and developing processes and solutions, as well as applying and practicing the material.
Originality, creativity and research elements are more than welcome. Faculty should follow the checklist
and keep in mind the Committee evaluation criteria which will be made available to all.
A student version of the Project Document is to be shared with students via Moodle. Faculty can go
through the document in class.
The project work must be integrated within theoretical instruction and practical class work. Class work can
address the project deliverables, outcomes or any part of the project.
Procedure
Before the beginning of the semester all faculty should prepare their course projects along with
the syllabus.
A template for the project is available to achieve the project outcomes and to ensure consistency.
The weight of the projects is between 20-25% or as the academic guidelines state.
The project has to be submitted to the project coordinator before the semester starts after
approval by the team leader. All the projects will be thoroughly reviewed to examine its learning
outcomes.
Delivery
o Each project must have 2 deliverables. The project deliverables will have different forms
based on the subject and the major.
o The weight for each deliverable should be carefully considered.
o The final presentation/demonstration is not considered as a deliverable. If it has high
weight it needs to be made clear that the evaluation will include Q&A
o The project deliverables should start from week 5 unless otherwise is agreed with the
team leader and the dean.
o Written deliverables can be done in class. If the course requires written deliverables in
class, the dates for these should be specified in the Project Document.

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Meetings
o At least 2 faculty/students meetings must take place during the semester. The
meetings can take place during office hours or prearranged tutorial sessions. The
meetings can be used to receive/evaluate deliverables or to provide feedback on
deliverables.

Project Files
The files produced by the students during the duration of the project should not be uploaded on or
transferred via any online service or website. Videos cannot be uploaded on YouTube or Vimeo under any
condition before prior approval by the Academic Activities and Projects Committee. Report files should be
uploaded via Turnit-in.
Student Participation in Academic Activities and Projects Day/Week
Presentation and showcasing of student work during the Mini Academic Activities and Project Exhibit as
well as during the Academic Activities and Projects Week is an integral part of students grade.
2) College of Engineering and Technology Graduation Projects
The project aims to integrate the knowledge and skills learners have gained throughout their
program of study, into a major piece of work that reflects the type of performance expected
of an engineer. The project is intended to develop the learners ability to identify and plan a
course of action and follow this through to produce a viable solution/outcome to an agreed
specification and timescale.
The end result of the project could be an engineering product, device, service or process or a
modification to an existing process or product. As in the real world, the outcome of the
project and its presentation are very important, although this project is also about
developing the process skills necessary to carry out the project. Throughout the project
learners will need to apply the technical skills developed in the other courses.
The projects are divided between two semesters. The first semester focuses on carrying out literature
review, shaping the project and finding partners. The second semester focuses on implementing
solutions.
All faculties within a major propose projects that get evaluated by the committee. The projects documents
and marking schemes are distributed by the coordinator before the semester.
The selection process
Graduation projects are published to students through Moodle
Students have to form a team consisting of 5 students.
Students submit graduation project selection sheet on Moodle
Projects are allocated to the students according to their selection priority and group average
CGPA.
Allocated projects are announced to students and registrar to divide class into sections for each
supervisor.

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During the semester

Weekly seminars about different topics related the projects will take place.

A second reader is assigned to each project.

For the second semester the grades include journal submission.

External Conference and exhibitions attendance is required when applicable.

Through Tawteen, structured collaboration with local firms and international bodies is
implemented.

3) College of Business Administration Capstone Projects

This project can is a problem-solving project that requires students to apply outstanding analytical skills to
practical organizational and community issues. Students are expected to apply knowledge, leadership
and problem-solving skills gained during their whole journey at AUM. A project could should benefit
students, AUM and a chosen organization; most importantly, students will be putting AUMs learner
centered approach into practice. In addition, achieving this activity up to the highest performance
standards is an opportunity for students to develop an original, independent and scientific approach.
The students are required to work on a real organization from Kuwait. In case a group is unable to gain
access to any existing organization, upon instructor approval, they can be allowed to create a fictional
company instead.
The business capstone project is a part of the MGT450 course. In contrast to other group projects
specified in other courses it has strong emphasis on problem-solving and data collection skills. It is a
solution-based project that requires student involvement in organizations activities in order to come up
with solid solutions to real-life problems.

A syllabus and projects documents are prepared by the course coordinator before the semester.
The target team size is set to four students.
The instructor has weekly meetings with all teams during office hours.
A fixed time slot is allowed for each team after their choice of company is made.
Through Tawteen, structured collaboration with local firms and international bodies is
implemented.

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COURSE PROJECT TEMPLATE

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PROJECT GUIDELINES AND POLICY

Course Project Guidelines

SDL 100: Interpersonal Relationship Management
Dr. Jeremy Van Dyken
25% of Total Grade
Semester: Fall
2016 - 2017

I.

INTRODUCTION

II.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

III.

PROJECT FILES

IV.

PROJECT SUMMARY (SCENARIO)

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V.

DELIVERABLES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

VI.

PLAGIARISM

VII.

MARKING SCHEME

SUPERVISOR/REVIEWER CHECKLIST
These are the Committee evaluation criteria. The review is based on the academic and students point of
view.
Criteria
Is it exciting? Has a good Scenario?
Is it applied in real life?

Met (Y, N or N/A)

Comments

Is it linked to what is covered in the classroom?

Does it look professional (formatting/ references)?
Are any external sources referenced and the copied
percentage indicated? While it is welcomed to adopt
creative ideas from elsewhere they need to be
clearly referenced and credited. Additionally,
copyright and legal issues need to be considered.
Is all the required information available?
Is the grade distribution clear? Has the faculty
member provided detailed rubrics in the project
document?
Does the project has at least three deliverables with
appropriate weight and academic benefit?
Have the templates for these deliverables been
provided in the project document?
Is the faculty/students meetings clearly indicated in
the project document and linked to the deliverables?
Does the project weight reflect the amount of work
to be carried out?
Is it clear how the students will work in teams and
how each student will be assessed?
Plagiarism: can the student copy/obtain the work

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from somewhere?
Are there any health and safety issues that need
special legal forms? If so, are the legal forms
prepared?
Are most of the learning outcomes covered?
Does the project have links/collaboration with
external bodies? If so, has a plan of action been
prepared by the instructor and the team
leader/Tawteen?
Does the project require producing survey questions
or interviewing people? If so, has a plan of action
been prepared by the instructor and the team
leader/Tawteen?

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Course Project Template Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

Strategic Networking Plan for Interpersonal Relationship Management:

The Project component of the course is essential to passing this course. The
project shows competency in understanding and applying the course
objectives and achieving the learning outcomes. The project will allow you to
investigate, apply, research, and practice concepts from Interpersonal
Relationship Management. It is expected that each student fully and actively
participate in the project as an effective team member.
The project is based on how professionals can create and manage interpersonal
relationships in a professional setting. The theoretical background to the project comes
from the textbook (Carnegie 1981). Each team of students will be expected to create a
comprehensive plan to network with the person in the scenario described further in this
document. During the assessment of presentations group assessment will account for
80% of total grade and 20% will be awarded for individual contributions.

VIII.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts
2. Help you to create a positive and happy environment around you at all aspects of
your life.
3. Get you out of a negative mental state of mind and give you new thoughts, new
visions and ambitions.
4. Enable you to make friends quickly and easily by developing communication
skills.
5. Help you develop effective listening skills.
6. Make you an effective speaker and more entertaining conversationalist.
7. Help you to win people to your way of thinking by developing skills of persuasion
and leadership.
8. Increase your influence, prestige, and ability to get things done.

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IX.

PROJECT FILES
Location for the project associated files (e.g. Moodle, website, etc.)

X.

Templates for Deliverables 1 will be available on the News Forum on Moodle.

PROJECT SUMMARY (SCENARIO)

You will have to create a comprehensive plan to network with the fictitious
person described in the scenario below. This plan should include any
needed supporting documentation, provided in APA format. Fictitious
proposals should also be included. Please kindly note that this paper
must be five to seven pages long.

XI.

DELIVERABLES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A. DELIVERABLE 1: OUTLINE (5%, DUE WEEK 2)

In Deliverable 1 you have to provide a brief summary and plan for
completing Deliverable 2. You will be graded on how comprehensive and
well-thought through your plan for completing Deliverable 2 is.
B. DELIVERABLE 2 - REPORT (10%, DUE WEEK 5)
Your written report for this course is a comprehensive plan to network with
the fictitious person described in the fictitious scenario below. Among other
things, you will be graded based on the strength of your ideas for networking
with this person, the strength of the implementation of your ideas in your
project, and the likelihood of them working out. Your goal in writing this
deliverable is to outline a plan to creatively yet realistically add value to the
city and / or to the fictitious person. The more value that is added to either
of them (or both), the better.

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Fictitious Scenario
It is September 1, 2017. You find yourself to be a high school teacher of
Canadian history at Hamilton International School in the city of Hamilton,
Canada. You have a limited salary and are only beginning your job as a
teacher. You have no connections to anyone, inside of or outside of Canada.
You have a Bachelors degree in History and a teaching certificate. You also
have powerful professional networking skills. Naturally, you can speak both
English and Arabic. You are eager to network, and particularly want to
network with the mayor of this city. Her name is Sophia Rousseaux. You
want to professionally and ethically network with her to the point that she
will give you her cell phone number for professional reasons within two
years, as you are adding value to Hamilton and / or to her.
From looking at Ms. Rousseauxs social media account, you see that she has
professional interests in charity, improving education for youth coming from
distressed environments, improving the environment of Hamilton, and
improving Hamiltons manufacturing, banking, business, and engineering
sectors.
You know also that Ms. Rousseauxs staff go to a variety of public community
events in the Hamilton area that are advertised on meetup.com and other
social media. However, like most of the rest of the worlds VIPs, when Ms.
Rousseaux attends these types of events (which is not very often), she only
speaks and then leaves. Ms. Rousseauxs staff also are looking for
networking opportunities, and to add value to Ms. Rousseaux and Hamilton.
Throughout this networking effort, you face the typical challenge that
everyone faces in professional networking. This challenge is that the VIPs of
the world do not usually attend publically advertised events except to speak
and then to leave. This makes it very difficult to access them through
publically advertised events.
You are able to network with other people inside of and outside of Canada
during this two year period. However, you are limited by your average
salary, and by the fact that you are not well-networked to begin with. That
said, you can still create professional connections between the mayor and /
or her staff that will add value to them and / or the city of Hamilton.

Research

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As preparation for Deliverable 2, you may need to research the needs of

Hamilton, Ontario. As you research the needs, consider possible ways that
you can help to meet these needs. Consider that Hamilton has high
employment, crime prevention, and environmental protection needs.
Consider also that the area has a high need for racial reconciliation, as there
was a major conflict for several years over land in neighboring Caledonia
between Native Canadians and the larger population. Consider reviewing the
city of Hamiltons website, together with news from the citys newspaper, the
Hamilton Spectator. Consider also reviewing information from other news
media.
Written Report
Section 1 - Introduction
Give a short introduction to your plan. Explain how it will add value to the
city described in the fictitious scenario and / or the mayor of the city. Explain
the need(s) that your plan will meet. Keep in mind that you may need to use
several different strategies to accomplish your plan, and that your plan will
probably need to go through different stages / phases.

Section 2: Comprehensive Plan

In this section, you identify the need(s) that your plan will meet. Then, you
proceed to identify how your plan will meet this need(s). Additionally, you
will outline your plan in this section in detail.
If you include any references, you will need to include a Reference list and
use APA referencing throughout your paper.

Section 3: Implementation of Your Plan

In this section, you will identify how you will implement your plan. Consider
identifying also how you would follow up with it.

Section 4: Conclusion
In the final paragraph you write a summary of your report.

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Section 5: References
This is an important section, and not to be neglected or ignored. If you have
used any references, please be certain to cite them using APA rules in
making in-text citations and in listing your references at the end of your
paper.

Section 6: Addendums
In this section, include any proposals and cover letters that you would use for
your comprehensive plan.

C. DELIVERABLE 3 PRESENTATION (10%, D UE WEEK 5)

Deliverable 3 is a Powerpoint presentation that you will make in class of the
findings of Deliverable 2. Your presentation will need to have an introduction
and a conclusion. It needs to show evidence that it was well-practiced;
please do not read from notes. Please have brief notes available to use in
case you get stuck, but please try not to read from them, and please look up
frequently from these notes.

Grade Distribution
Deliverable 1:

(Outline)

5%

Deliverable 2: Report (Turnitin)

10%

Deliverable 3: Presentation

10%

XII.

PLAGIARISM

One of the signs that the course material has been properly understood is honesty when
accomplishing the assignments. Lack of academic integrity (e.g. plagiarism, copying another

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persons work, the use of unauthorized aids on examinations, cheating, facilitating acts of
academic dishonesty by others) will not be tolerated. Therefore, if students include ideas,
sentences, or other material that are not theirs in their work, they must properly quote the
source(s). Students are encouraged to consult with the instructor if they have any questions
on the issues of academic integrity or technical formatting of the references.
Upon suspicion and doubt of the authenticity of the work submitted, the Instructor has the
right to ask the student to verify her/his work. This can be done through, but not limited to,
repeating the work, oral examination or discussion, alternative or similar on spot class
assignment, pop quiz, or any other action deemed necessary. If the student fails to prove the
authenticity of the work, then the Instructor will apply the academic misconduct rules as
mentioned in the AUM Student Handbook which may include awarding the work a zero
grade.
Students are expected and encouraged to be honest and to maintain the highest standards
of academic integrity in their academic work and assignments at the University. Any act of
Academic Dishonesty may result in severe consequences for violations range from zero
grades given for the assignments, failing the course, and suspension from the University.
Students will refrain from any academic dishonesty or misconduct including, but not limited
to:

Plagiarism: the presentation of someone elses ideas, words, or artistic, scientific, or

technical work as ones own creation. Also, paraphrasing, summarizing, like direct quotation,
is considered as plagiarism, if the original source is not properly cited.

Cheating: is an act of lying, deception, trickery, imposture, or imposition. Cheating

characteristically is employed to create an unfair advantage, usually in ones own interest,
and often at the expense of others. The person who is sending or receiving assistance is
considered cheating.

Assisting in cheating

Substituting for another student in the taking of an examination

Substituting examination booklets/papers

Submitting the same work for more than one course

Submitting papers and other work written by others

Receiving or providing unauthorized help or assistance in any academic work or

assignment

Intentional violation of program and degree requirements and regulations as

established by the University

Dishonest reporting of computational, statistical, experimental, and research results,

or the like

Using any format of smart or electronic devices as a tool of cheating

For a detailed description of academic misconduct please refer to
the undergraduate AUM Student Handbook.

XIII.

MARKING SCHEME

Deliverable 1: Outline

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Outline Organization
Outline is clearly organized with main
topics and subtopics. There is a clear
break among introduction, body, and
conclusion sections.
Outline Detail
There is sufficient detail provided
within the outline, showing the path
for the report to be written. The reader
can look at this outline and see a
strong and comprehensive plan for
moving forward.
TOTAL POINTS:

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

40

/40

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

60

/60

100

/100

Comme
nts

Comme
nts

Deliverable 2: Report Assessment Criteria (Turnitin)

Structure: The report is clear, well-organized, and flows well.
20%
Originality: Ideas present are creative, yet realistic. Measurable
60%
steps are included that can be implemented immediately as they
are.
Professionalism: Any references are in APA format, and any
10%
proposals and other supporting documentation are also included.
Ethical conformity: The plan described could be implemented
10%
ethically.
Total
100%
Please note that Deliverable 2 must be between 5 to 7 pages long. If a group
does not complete five pages, the group will not be able to get a full grade.
For example, if a group only completes 2.5 pages, the group will only be able
to get a maximum of 50%, as only 50% of this deliverable has been
completed.
Deliverable 3b: Presentation

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Presentation Organization/Format
Presentation flow clearly follows the
organization and path of the outline and
report. There is clear separation among
the introduction, body, and conclusion
within the presentation. There is an
overall flow of thought from the
beginning to end.
Presentation Knowledge
The presenter is knowledgeable about
his or her subject matter and is able to
discuss it with ease including answering
questions.
Presentation Content
The presentation addresses the topics
from the outline. The presentation
discusses the subject matter in a way
that allows for the audience to gain a
full understanding of the topics and
subtopics.
TOTAL POINTS:

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

30

/30

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

30

/30

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

40

/40

Points
Possible

Points
Achieved

100

/100

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Please note that Project Deliverable 3 must be between 10-15

minutes long, not including questions and answers. If a group
does not present for this time, the group will not be able to get a
full grade. For example, if a group presents for only five minutes,
the group will only be able to receive a maximum of 50%, as only
50% of this deliverable has been completed.
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Late Deliverable Policy

Please kindly note that each deliverable that is submitted late will
lose 10% for each week that it is late. Deliverables that are
submitted electronically must be submitted before 11:59 PM.
Hard copies of deliverables must be submitted before 4:59 PM on
the day that they are due. Deliverables submitted after the due
date immediately will be deducted by 10%. You are strongly
discouraged from submitting deliverables under my office door if /
when I am absent.

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