FT228-3 Work Placement Presentations

jefinner

I am in FT228-3 (a computer science course in DIT Kevin ST), at the moment i am on my 6 month work placement.
At the end of which we have to do a presentation on the placement, unfortunately i aint the best at either writing them up or giving them.
I was wondering, if anyone had any suggestions as to what way to go about preparing it, in respect to both content and and layout and what is expected/impressive??

All comments would be really helpful!

Thanks!

shopaholic

Although I did the CSAA option last year the general consensus from the work placement half of the class was that the presentations were fine(or thats the impression they gave me!). I think the basic jist of it is to go through what you learnt on work placement(SQL, test plans, tech support etc - whatever area). Talk to your work placement supervisor about what they'd like you to do the presentation on.
Don't be worried about presenting it...you'll know what you're talking about 'cos you'll be talking about what you've been working on for the last 6mths!

jefinner

do you know if any of the people who did do the SDIS failed? is 4th yr tough? i am not lookuing forward to the prospect of it, especially the FYP!! are the lectures helpful when it comes to the FYP's?

Loads of questions!

vinks

LaTeX up your report, and do yer slides in prosper or somat similar like that. and you shall have really impressive looking and profressional write up and presentation.

shopaholic

The only mark that you can get in your work placement is pass...it doesn't count toward your overall mark. No one who did work placement failed cos of their work placement. You have to do something like make the company go bust to get something like that!

The thing with the final year project is to start working on it at the beginning of the year. This year we had something between 3-5 assignments on the go at any one time so when you have time to work on your project do! My project supervisor was very helpful. Some people weren't happy with theirs. I think it depends on the person you get but if you talk with a lecturer about a project idea before hand you've a higher chance of getting them as a supervisor.

I also found that if you spoke to any lecturers about your project they'd bend over backwards to help you in any way possible!

They prefer if FT228 do projects that involve some sort of implementation(even if its a proof of concept) than a pure research project. If you want to see last years projects check out brendan coburns site(ours aren't up yet...I presume they'll be up by the time you're back in September).

4th year is quite tough theres no denying it...but 4th year in any degree is. I've survived! Exams start this friday!

Of course I think the person most glad to see me finish 4th year will be my boyfriend...one evening towards the end of my final year project he had to listen to me ramble on about headers, footer, section breaks in word for 15 mins! I get my life back on the 21st of May at 5.30...I can't wait!

vinks

perhaps a thread should be started on "good project ideas"

briano

Good God, Don't listen to them! Lies All Lies!

Jefinner: Its only a 20 minute presentation. To Ollie. He just wants to see that you've got some benifit out of the placement. You'll be grand.

Explain:

1) What the company does
2) What your team (department, whatever) does
3) What you do, on a daily basis.
4) The technology you used. Mention some projects you worked on.
5) Finish with a "I learned the importance of teamwork in the profesional environment..." slide

That'll take you up to the twenty minute mark. Easily. Answer some questions. Then you just have to sit back and wait for your "pass" to come in the mail. Which everyone gets, regardless.

Oh, and it doesn't count towards your third year average either.

Nobody failed the work placement. We don't know if any SDIS people have failed yet this year, we'll know on the 15th of June. Stop worrying about your FYP. They are really difficult, a pain in the arse to prepare and nobody likes doing them.

BUT you don't have to start it until september. Enjoy your summer this year, relax and come back to college refreshed.

Shopaholic: "BODY MASSAGE!". You know it.

shopaholic

Thanks Brian...but I'll pass up the offer!

WetDaddy

To back up briano's point:

I came back from Spain 5 hours before I had to do my presentation. I also had to write up my work experience logs for the final 3 months in that time, along with my actual report.

The report was done, but due to some previous presentation timetabling mix-ups (they got my presentation date wrong), I was able to pull the "but I thought it was just my hand up today, and my presentation tomorrow. I don't have the slides done." trick.

In the end, they said "Just do the best you can without the slides". So, for 20 mins I adlibbed about what I did during the work experience. Afterwards, I was told that I've a "knack for public speaking" and also "had obviously practiced the presentation many times".

Hmmmm...

To top it all off, I didn't even hand up my monthly logs and no one noticed.

So, jefinner, I wouldn't worry TOO much about it...

Stephen

I'm on my 6 months work placement from my course in Carlow IT, they haven't mentioned anything about reports or presentations...
Getting worried now!

jefinner

ok, so the work-placement presentation doesnt take a lot of skill! thats good to know! im sure an colourful power point presentation will suffice, it will keep ollie amused for a few mins!!

as for having a long relaxing summer....humm unlikely the whole FYP thing is driving me nuts!

i think i will take a look at brendan coburns site, it might inspire me !

wes

Originally posted by jefinner
ok, so the work-placement presentation doesnt take a lot of skill! thats good to know! im sure an colourful power point presentation will suffice, it will keep ollie amused for a few mins!!

as for having a long relaxing summer....humm unlikely the whole FYP thing is driving me nuts!

i think i will take a look at brendan coburns site, it might inspire me !

Had a look at his site not too long ago and it has some neat little ideas on there. Some lecturers have project idea's that they want students to do so you could look at those (again thats on Brendan Coburns site). Thta your you could do a follow on project expanding on something someone else did or something like that.

vinks

Originally posted by jefinner

i think i will take a look at brendan coburns site, it might inspire me !

have a look at tcd's, ucd's and dcu's sites for project ideas as well, there is no reason that you have to have a supervisor from the same college that you are in. it might be a little refreshing to do something with some one different.

jefinner

hmm yea i will look at their suggested FYP's. i had a look at UCC's at they all looked pretty tough.

i doubt that the lecturers in TCD, UCD or DCU would give students which are not in their college help with the FYP's especially since they have their own 4th years to help!

vinks

well i do know that one or two students in my class last year got external supervisors (they had to get a secondary supervisor from within the college as well), so i do know its possible.

jefinner

i wonder if having an external supervisor for your FYP would be disadvantageous? ie. in comparison to having a lecturer within your college, would it be difficult to "get a hold of them" so to speak.

briano

To be honest I can't see you getting an external supervisor. One or two of the people this year did projects that they had sourced from places outside college (for businesses etc) and they cetainly worked with the people from the businesses, but they still had college supervisors.

In fact, scratch that. There is no way the college will let you have an external supervisor. The whole point of having a supervisor is that there is someone watching how you work so that they can mark you on it. You also have very little say (i.e. next to none) on who your supervisor is.

And everybody gets a "secondary supervisor" or second reader anyway. You never really talk to them about the FYP anyway, they are just there to be impartial when it gets time to mark them.

Don't get me wrong, If you see an interesting project on a lecturers site it is a really good idea to contact them and say "I'm doing a project on XYZ, I see you are interested in similar fields and I was wondering if I could ask you about...". (One of the girls in the class this year was getting help from the US marines for her FYP) But your supervisor will have to come from within the DIT school of computers.

Keep your eyes open for interesting topics and what not. If you see something interesting write it down and do a bit of research but don't fret too much about it. I can't think of anything worse then for someone to spend their summer getting worked up about a project, and doing lots of work on it, only to have it refused in november and have to start on something entirly new.

As we were told at the start (and again in the middle, and then at the end) of this year, its all about perspective. I know the FYP is looming large over you at the moment, and its going to be looming a great deal more come the first of march, but its still only a project for college. Don't let it ruin your summer.

jefinner

I suppose the fact that i am worrying about it, is a little pointless. Still i would like to have some idea of an FYP. It is probably down to the fact that i dont know what i want to do after 4th year, and if i do a post-grad, maybe an FYP in a similar area would be beneficial, but that brings me back to where i am now.....not a clue what to do!
I am starting to strongly dislike computer science!

I wouldnt like the idea of an external supervisor, coz knowing me i would need them there morning, noon and night and they are no good to me if they are in a different college! As for the girl with the US Marines...well there ya go....thats different.

I wouldnt be surprised if i ended up with a good old shopping website!! classic, if things were only that simple!

I should stop worrying about this FYP lark, as everyone keeps saying, i do have the whole summer and im sure the lecturers would be more than helpful when it comes to suggestions!