COM769 Scalable Advanced Software Systems, Coursework, Semester 1, University of Ulster

Coursework Assessment Overview

This module is assessed by two pieces of coursework.

Coursework 1 consists of a single in class test which will have a time limit of 60 minutes. Coursework 1 contributes to 25% of the overall mark for this module.

Coursework 2 is a practical skills assessment wherein students need to develop a solution and create a related presentation plus demonstrative video. Coursework 2 contributes to 75% of the overall mark for this module.

The university has a number of rules and regulations surrounding assessment, late submissions and illness. These are in the student guide [1] -ensure you read this and understand the impact of these rules and regulations.

These coursework assignments are detailed below.

Coursework 1 – Practical Skills Assessment (Class Test) [25%]

Related learning outcomes:

1. Develop an appreciation of core concepts related to packaging solutions, continuous integration, continuous delivery, scalable architecture and deployment.

During the delivery course of the module, students will be expected to complete a single 60-minute online test during the week 7 of the semester. The class test should be completed on campus and should be taken from an allocated school of computing lab. Failure to do so will result in a mark of zero.

This is open book test, students can access notes, books and lectures. Use of internet at any time is not allowed during the test. Class Test will be based on multiple choice questions, delivered, submitted, and assessed through the Blackboard online learning environment. This test will consist of 30 questions and will incorporate topics taught in lectures and practical exercises, until week 6. There will be no negative marking for the class test.

This test will assess depth and systematic understanding of knowledge in specialised areas covered to that point. Feedback from this test will feed-forward into the students continued learning and their execution of the set exercise.

Overall Feedback will be provided automatically after 20 working days of the test according to the regulations set by the university feedback guidance. 

Coursework 2 – Mini Project [75%]

Related Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of modern development and deployment concepts, techniques and practice and how it may be leveraged to address related challenges.

2. Autonomously and independently identify deficiencies when interacting with a range of architectures and deployment paradigms, leveraging knowledge of these deficiencies to improve future practice.

3. Assess the concepts behind a range of modern development and deployment techniques and critically evaluate when to apply these paradigms to realisation of solutions.

Students will be set an exercise where they will be expected to design, develop, and deploy a Scalable Advanced Software Solution in the form of a web app.

Task 1.

Design, and implement, a scalable, cloud native, web-application which acts as a video distribution website which facilitates sharing of short form video conent. This application would conceptually be similar to sites such as Tik Tok.

Ideally, this would enable the following:

Facility to enrol and manage “creator” user accounts which may exclusively upload videos to the service. This includes setting metadata such as Title and hash tags. 

No public interface needs to be offered for enrolment of “creator” users.
Enable consumer users to sign up for the service.
Consumer users should be able to view/search through video content, play videos
and comment/rate videos. These accounts will not be able to upload video content.
Provide a dashboard view with the latest videos

Ideally, this solution would integrate the following:

• Static HTML hosting of content of a web page which interacts with a web backed through REST calls.
• Hosting of a REST endpoint which provides service logic and connections to all necessary elements such as storage.
• Provide persistence of user data through scalable hosted databases and/or block/object storage.
• Cater for user identities and roles using standard authentication mechanisms and user access controls as appropriate for the cloud platform.
• Provide scalability mechanisms through appropriate caching and dynamic DNS routing.
• Additionally, media conversion services may be used, be aware of the limitations of the free tier services and potential costings.

Task 2.

Implement, deploy, and test the solution designed in task 1. This should be implemented and deployed using the cloud platform explored within the practical exercises associated with this module.

Task 3.

Provide a slide deck which details the developed solution; this slide deck will contain an embedded video where the student provides:

A 5-minute presentation of the developed, tested and deployed solution. This should focus on the operation of the solution, showing changes and activity on the backend systems.

During this exercise, the student will have demonstrated self-direction and originality in problem solving, acting autonomously in planning and executing this task at a professional level.

Additionally, the student will apply technical expertise effectively and will adapt skills previously learnt in conjunction with designing and/or developing new skills or procedures for new situations. N.B. The students are required to implement this solution using the cloud platform which was the focus of the teaching materials. Once the solution is produced, students are required to produce presentation which incorporates a 5-minute video capture demonstrating the solution.