Undergraduate Student Project

This project is for undergraduate students only. It is due by October 28th. All students should make a posting to blackboard, whether you are in a group or not and whether you are uploading a recorded presentation, sending in your URL or just letting the instructor know that you have mailed a poster in.

Undergraduate students may choose one of the two available options for a project.  You may work alone or in a group of up to a maximum of three undergraduate students for this project.  Please choose one of the following two projects:

• Create an Educational Web Site
  Create an educational web site that details the workings of a data communications protocol. Professional appearance and quality content are expected as well as citations and references.
   
• Create a 15 minute recorded presentation discussing a data communications protocol.  This is usually done as a screencast or using PowerPoint narration (don't put audio on each slide, record the presentations straight through). When you upload, make sure all files are included with the upload.

Examples of protocols include IPv6, ATM, Frame Relay, Packet Over SONET and so on.  Other presentations might cover concepts  like CRC Error Checking Methodology, Three Way Handshaking for TCP, Sliding Window Protocol, or Error Correction Techniques.  The possibilities are go on and on.

Your instructor will be happy to discuss your poster or web presentation with you.  Please feel free to discuss with the instructor how you might go about completing your project.

Either project should offer educational value to your fellow students.  Your target audience is the class, not the instructor.  Your instructor will assess your project based on the following characteristics, with weighting shown:

Quality of Apperance (40%)
Quality of Content (40%)
Educational Value (20%)

On the front page of your web site or on the front of your poster, you must include the full names of each member in your group, the date and the main topic of the poster or web presentation.  Your name and the date can be in small print if you like so as not to distract from the overall presentation.

All posters of reasonable quality will be used in the lab as references and wall coverings unless you specifically request to have your poster returned.

NOTES on posters:

• DO NOT DO a poster during the summer. There is no place to mail the poster to that I could get it. It would also be very expensive to mail.
• Graphics shops can create color posters from most types of documents, but I recommend that you create .PDF files. One example is Casual Graphics in Hays. There is another printer in Hays now doing larger prints.  Perhaps they mount on foam core as well.
• Because posters are expensive, ranging from $45 to over $100, they are more appropriate for groups of three individuals who can split the costs. 
• The highest quality mounting of posters would include seemless mounting, clear plastic overlays to protect the surface from smudges, a blank paper mounting on the back to prevent warping and extra thick foam core. Framed posters with clear plastic sheeting and rigid backing are also an option for mounting.  This method allows you to mount the poster yourself and perhaps save some money.  Either way, professional appearance is important.  Poster examples can be seen in the INT labs.

NOTES on web sites:

• Web pages should be logically organized and follow basic design principles, such as those taught in "Introduction to Web Development". DO's and DON'Ts can be found on the web.
• Don't use ugly backgrounds or text that isn't clearly readable. 
• Do consider the general color scheme and layout before you start creating your pages. Sketch various layouts on paper to evaluate different ideas.
• Animations are a welcome feature, but they should not be used if they don't add value to the web site.
• An appropriate blend of graphics and text are appropriate.
• Web development advice can be found abundantly on the web of course.

NOTES on presentations:

• Screencast programs such as iShowU or Screencast'O'matic can do screen recordings with recorded audio.  Web meetings can also do recording (zoom or webex for example).
• For Powerpoint, please just record your entire presentation. Don't put aduio clips on each slide. This eliminates lots of problems with attachments and auto-play features.
• Presentations shoudl include a title slide, an outline/learning objectuves slide, a references slide and should run about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Do not paste large amounts of text on a slide. 

IMPORTANT: You must inlcude formal citations for all text and graphics that you have included that were not created by you. Cite sources in small text on the front of your poster or on a citations page on your web site or presentation. You may include additional items in the reference list if you used them in preparing for the project. References lend credibility to your work, so shoot for at least four different references and perhaps as many ten or more.

Used with permission of the Author; Copyright (C) Kevin A. Shaffer 1998 - 2022, all rights reserved.