What you will study
Before registering for this module, you must have studied one of the modules listed in the ‘Entry requirements’ section.
This individual project is the final part of your honours degree, contributing directly to your employability and your career development. It is an opportunity to define an engineering question of importance to you and to seek ways of solving it.
About 80 per cent of your study time will be spent on your project, and about 20 per cent on learning how to carry out a project.
Demonstrating that you know how projects develop and being able to explain how your project has evolved are two key skills that are central to the module and to its learning outcomes. The choice of project area is left up to you, but its subject matter should be covered by one of the OU level 3 modules that you have previously studied. It will be your responsibility to ensure the project has a satisfactory amount of engineering, but you will receive guidance from your tutor and the internal examiner.
An essential part of the project is the use of research and technical academic literature so you will need to be confident in your use of the online OU library. Your ability to evaluate sources of information and make use of your engineering knowledge will be assessed. You are expected to work closely with your tutor whose role will be to provide guidance and feedback on your proposal.
The assignments have been structured to guide you through the execution of the project. However, you will need to organise your own work and be able to define (and justify) your work schedule. As you are expected to use a self-reflective approach, you will be encouraged to keep a project log throughout the module and to use it for an assessed critical review of your work.
For more information on this module, visit the Discover your module site, which includes helpful videos to inspire your project.
You will learn
The module provides you with opportunities to develop and demonstrate the following learning outcomes:
- competence in the use of the principles and conventions of project management and execution
- the ability to solve problems in developed technologies using well proven analytical techniques
- successful application of your engineering knowledge to deliver a project using established technologies and methods.
In addition, you will develop your skills of project execution, literature reviewing and evaluation, and technical report writing. As the project provides an opportunity to develop your employability in engineering, you will also continue your personal development planning.
Vocational relevance
This project module combines many elements of employability; the use of discipline-based knowledge, academic skills such as literature evaluation and the building of professional confidence. In addition, the project emphasises the meta-cognitive processes of reflection and self-evaluation.
Entry
You must have passed (or be studying1) one of the following modules:
Or have passed one of the discontinued modules T307, T356 and T357.
1 We recommend completing the OU level 3 module relevant to your project before beginning The engineering project (T452). When you define your proposal, you need to be confident in the techniques from that module.
If you have any questions about the entry requirements, contact your Student Support Team.
Preparatory work
It would be beneficial to refresh your knowledge of the OU level 3 module relevant to your chosen project theme. You should renew your familiarity with the OU library so that you can start your literature search confidently. As this project module includes work on your personal development plan, you should also make sure your portfolio is up to date.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
Throughout your module studies, you’ll get help and support from your assigned module tutor. They’ll help you by:
- Marking your assignments (TMAs) and providing detailed feedback for you to improve.
- Guiding you to additional learning resources.
- Providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content.
- Facilitating online discussions between your fellow students, in the dedicated module and tutor group forums.
Module tutors also run online tutorials throughout the module. Where possible, recordings of online tutorials will be made available to students. While these tutorials won’t be compulsory for you to complete the module, you’re strongly encouraged to take part.
Assessment
The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box.