1 Contents and Scope

Tecnologías Multimedia (TM) is an optative subject of the Computer Science Degree at the UAL (University of Almería). TM is focused on the development of real-time audio processing techniques, specifically, encoding and transmission. the contents can be found here.

2 Main goals

In this course we develop:

1. The ability to understand the environment of an organization and its needs in the field of information technologies and communications, in real time (TI1).
2. The ability to conceive systems, applications and services based on network technologies, including Internet, Web, e-commerce, multimedia, interactive services and mobile computing (TI6).

3 Methodology

TM follows the PBL (Project-Based Learning) methodology. The students, helped by the lecturer, develop a project during the classes. This project is InterCom(municator), a Python application that allows networked users to communicate, in real-time, throught the Internet.

The project is developed as a sequence of milestones. The students, in groups of up to 4 people, propose solutions for each milestone. Such solutions are presented to the rest of the class, and each group gives and receives a feedback from the rest of the class and also from the lecturer. The best solutions are incorporated to the project, with the objective of improve it.

4 Timetable and Attendance

TM is organized in 14 lectures of 2 hours/session, and 14 practicals of 2 hours/session, during 7 weeks (approx.). See the official timetable.

5 Evaluation Criteria and Instruments

TM is evaluated continuously, although there is the possibility of a final evaluation (which would be carried out on the day scheduled for the exam). The continuous evaluation of the students is carried out from the work developed for each one of the milestones that are presented in class.

The course evaluation process is the responsibility of the teacher and follows the following rules:

1. Sufficiently in advance, the teacher will propose a series of milestones associated with the project that is developed in the subject. The teacher, both during the master classes and in the practical classes, will give all the necessary information so that the students can develop the milestones. Generally, all milestones can be developed in parallel, although there will be a proposed order of development.
2. The teacher will periodically receive information from the students about the degree of achievement of the milestones that are being developed, with the purpose of directing the development of the milestones. When the teacher check that the milestone has been correctly implemented, he will propose to all the groups of students to present their solutions publicly (in class).
3. The grade that students will receive, for groups of up to 4 people, will depend on the order in which the solutions for the milestones have been reached. Specifically, the first group to achieve the milestone will receive the highest rating (10) and the rest of the groups, in temporal order of achievement of the milestone, will be rated with lower and lower grades, which will always be higher than 5 if the milestone has been properly developed.
4. All the students of the same group will receive the same grade, but internally (in the group) the students can modify the grade as long as the grade of the group remains constant.
5. The groups that do not present any solution will receive a score of 0 points. The groups that have not approved following these rules will be qualified as "Not Presented".

This information is extended in the Teaching Guide (Español/English).