Cohort
The numbers of students taking the unit has increased to around 50-60 in the past two years, with approximately 75% taking the unit as an option.
The cohort is an unusual dichotomy in that currently approx. 75% of the students are final year direct entry students from the b.i.b. International College in Germany and approx. 15% are BIT students taking the unit as an option.
The b.i.b students generally have good programming and other technical skills, but generally need more preparation and support in research and other academic skills. The unit is becoming increasingly popular as a final year option on the BIT course. The BIT students are generally well motivated (presumably having chosen it) but the design of the unit had to accommodate less technical skills (in particular object-oriented development in Java is not covered on the BIT course).
This year (2009-10) the breakdown is Computing (b.i.b.) - 43, Computing (other) - 3 (only!) and BIT - 9