Course outlines for HIT 200 in specific BTech (Hons) programmes offered by the Institute

have been produced and these detail the approaches each programme takes in satisfying the
requirements of the course as detailed in this paper.

Stage 1 Semester I :

Project Proposals

Students are grouped into project teams and prepare their project proposals. Project
proposals which include ideation, screening, market research, concept development,
literature and background review are prepared under the supervision of a lecturing staff
assigned to the group.

After preparatory work within the project teams, the teams will present their project
proposals to the department for approval. Depending on the nature of the proposed
project, proposals can also include business plans.

The different programmes will have varied approaches to proposal writings but the
general guideline is given as follows:

Project Proposal Content

Introduction / concept statement
Rationale for proposed project
Project Objectives.
Literature review / background / ideation
Proposed Market research / viability study
Schedule of activities / project plan
Proposed budget
Proposed method of prototype / design development / project implementation
References

Proposals are assessed by departments through marking of proposals and oral presentations by
teams to the departmental examiners boards.

Stage 2- Semester II

Project Implementation
All project teams will undertake their project work in line with the general accepted process of
product development as given below:

The process
1. Idea Generation
o ideas for new products obtained from industry & commerce etc
o formal idea generating techniques include attribute listing, forced
relationships, brainstorming, morphological analysis, problem analysis, virtual
prototyping, and rapid prototyping
2. Idea Screening
o eliminate unsound concepts
o must ask three questions:
will the target market benefit from the product
is it technically feasible to manufacture the product
will the product be profitable
3. Concept Development and Testing
o develop the marketing and engineering details
who is the target market
what benefits will the product provide
how will consumers react to the product
how will the product be produced
what will it cost to produce it
o test the concept by asking a sample of prospective customers what they think
of the idea
4. Business Analysis
o estimate likely selling price
o estimate sales volume
o estimate profitability and breakeven point
5. Beta Testing and Market Testing
o produce a physical prototype or mock-up
o test the product in typical usage situations
o make adjustments where necessary
o produce an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to
determine customer acceptance
6. Technical Implementation
o New program initiation
o Resource estimation
o Requirement publication
o Engineering operations planning
o Project team scheduling
o Supplier collaboration
o Resource plan publication
o Program review and monitoring
o Contingencies - what-if planning
7. Commercialization
o launch the product
o critical path analysis

5.0 Project Implementation Schedule


Semester
week
Semester 1 Activity Expected Outcome
Wk 1-5 Preparatory work project
proposal / brief writing
Idea generation
Idea screening
Concept development &
Prepared project proposal
document by wk 4.
Departmental presentations of
proposals in wk 5.
testing
Business analysis
Beta testing and market
testing
Wk 5-8 Corrections, finalisation of
preparatory research work and
finalisation of project budgets
Corrected and approved project
proposal with approved budgets
document by week 8.
Wk 8-11 Project designing work Completed first report on
Concept development and
evaluation by end of wk 11
Wk 12 End of semester I group oral
presentations
Presentations of first reports in
wk 12
Semester 2
Wk 1 - 6 Prototype development work Production of first proptotypes
by end of week 6
Wk 6-8 Prototype evaluation work; lab
testing
Draft report on prototype
development and evaluation
ready by end of wk 8
Wk 8-11 Production and preparation of
final report
Draft final report ready by end of
week 11
Wk 12 End of semester II group oral
presentations
Final examination -Presentations
of final project write ups before
examination panel

Course Assessment

The course will be taken over a period of two semesters, and will be examined by oral and
written presentation of the project at the end of the second semester; continuous assessment will
involve 3 reports:

Reports:

Three reports will be prepared during the course:
Concept Development and Evaluation
Prototype Development and Evaluation
Final Report.

The final report will include the two previous reports, plus a report on evaluation of the final
prototype. The requirements and grading criteria for each report will be distributed to the
students in advance.

Oral Presentation:

Each member of the R&D team will participate in the oral presentation of the product
development project. The total oral presentation for a team should be not less than 15 minutes
with additional 10 minutes for answering questions and discussion. The presentation will be
evaluated on the basis of the following:

Organisation - systematic, logical and integrate
Clarity - easy to follow and understand
Presentation skills - good voice projection and eye contact, comfortable and confident
Content Scientifically documented results, proof of practicability, analysis and good
results
Visual aids - readable, understandable and pertinent
Conclusions - defensible and rationale provided
Ability to answer questions effectively

Assessment Components:

Work Component
1. Project proposal document
2. Concept development & evaluation report
3. Prototype development and evaluation report
4. Final written project report
5. Oral presentation of project / report
(includes practical presentation of prototype developed)

Academic Misconduct

This course requires group participation and cooperation. Reports will be group reports and as
such will require working together. Students are expected to marshal all the resources they can
towards solving their problem and thus, consultation with others is expected and this will not
constitute academic misconduct. Plagiarism and falsification of information will be dealt with
following the academic misconduct rules of the Harare Institute of Technology.