Computing for Engineers | ENGG1811 26T3

Invitation to take part in a survey (voluntary participation)

Dear ENGG1811 students,

You are invited to take part in a short survey for a UNSW research project, “Computing for Inclusive Education” (iRECS11741), approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee on 7 October 2026. The researchers are Associate Professor Sasha Vassar, Dr Yuchao Jiang and PhD Candidate Wendy Wong.

We are looking for students who are 18 or older, are in Australia, have a formal diagnosis of ADHD, autism, dyslexia or dyscalculia, and have completed at least one introductory programming course.

The survey takes about 20 minutes. Participation is voluntary, you can withdraw at any time before submitting, and your decision will not affect your studies or marks. Your course convenor will not know whether you take part.

Participant information statement and survey:

https://unsw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_00tzXUK1kBVEjOe

If you have any questions, please contact Wendy Wong at wendy.wong@student.unsw.edu.au

Kind regards,
Wendy Wong
PhD Candidate, Computer Science and Engineering
UNSW Sydney

Live Coding Sessions: Week 5

Hi everyone,

The live coding session will return tomorrow, 11am-12pm in Old Main Building 151. This week, Sean will lead the session and we'll be looking at data analysis again, but this time with numpy.

Hope to see you there,
Sean, Callum and Larry

Self-directed Lab 1 is now available

ENGG1811 has two self-directed labs. The first one, which is on spreadsheets, is now available. On the course website, click on the "Labs" button on top which brings you to the Labs page, and scroll down to find the self-directed labs.

The self-directed labs will not directly contribute to your assessment outcome. The self-directed labs will be assessed using multiple choice questions in the Final Exam (which will take place during the exam period of T3). 

Lab Test 1 (Reminder)

A reminder that Lab Test 1 will take place in Week 5. You will attend the test in the first hour of your lab time slot. The "Lab Test 1" page on the course website has information on the test. A sample solution (Python code only) has been added to the page.

If you have questions, you can ask on the Course Forum.

All the best with your test.

Live Coding Sessions: Week 4

Hi everyone,

The live coding sessions return tomorrow, 10am-11am in Old Main Building 151. This week Jenny will lead the session and we'll be looking at some data processing and analysis.

Hope to see you there,
Jenny, Callum and Larry

Help Sessions start this week

Hi everyone,

Help sessions are starting this week and will be running every week until Week 10. I have made the Help Sessions page available with the timetable for this term.

Public holiday labs

Hi everyone,

This is a reminder that there will be no labs on Monday Week 4 as it is a public holiday. If your lab is on a Monday, your tutor will have given you information as to when your makeup lab will be held. Online labs will be held on Blackboard Collaborate.

Lab Test 1

Information on Lab Test 1 has now been added to the course website. A sample test paper is also available on that page. If you have questions, you can ask on the Course Forum. 

To get to the page, click on "Lab Test 1" in the navigation bar at the top. 

Lectures Week 4 

Since next Monday is a public holiday, there won't be a lecture on Monday. The Wednesday lecture will run as usual. There will be a replacement lecture on Friday 11am-1pm in Patricia O'Shane 104. Note that the lecture notes in Week 1 mentioned a different location but that location is no longer available. 

Live Coding Sessions: Week 3

Hi everyone, 

The live coding sessions return tomorrow, 11am-12pm in Old Main Building 151. This week we are going to look at for loops and functions. We'll work through an interesting exercise about prime numbers using these tools.

Hope to see you there,
Callum and Larry

Assignment 1 has been released

Assignment 1 has been released. You can find a link to it in the top navigation bar of the course website. 

The aim of the assignment is to give you an opportunity to apply and combine the various competencies to solve a larger scale engineering problem. 

The assignments do not directly contribute to your grades but their contents are assessable. Some parts of the Assignment 1 are within the syllabus of Lab Test 1 and this is indicated in the Assignment page. 

I recommend having a look at the assignment sooner rather than later so that you can ask for help early if you need it.

If you feel like you need help with the assignment, there are multiple avenues available:

• your tutor/lab assistant, who you can ask for help at any time during your lab if you have questions about the assignment,
• PASS sessions,
• help sessions (which start in Week 4), and
• the course forum.

More details on these help avenues are available on the Learning Support page.

All the best with the assignment.

Live Coding Sessions: Week 2

Hi everyone, 

The live coding sessions return tomorrow, 11am-12pm in Old Main Building 151. This week we are going to look at one of the most important skills to learn when learning to program, making decisions with if and else statements.

Hope to see you there,
Callum and Larry

Live Coding Sessions: Week 1

Hi everyone,

The live coding sessions for this term begin tomorrow from 11am-12pm in Old Main Building 151. These sessions are great if you are looking for a bit of extra help with the course content, or if you are keen to see some small extensions on what is covered in the lectures. This week we will be focusing on using variables and performing calculations.

Hope to see you there,
Callum and Larry

ENGG1811 will not be included in your WAM

Page 26 of the University's Assessment and Progression policy states that CM, CO and CN grades (which are used in competency-based assessment in ENGG1811) are not included in the WAM calculation. 

We hope that this takes the stress off you on marks. We hope this will create a more collaborative learning environment to focus your energy on acquiring useful skills and knowledge from ENGG1811 that can contribute to your university career and beyond. 

Although ENGG1811 will not count towards the WAM, but it will still count towards your program requirements and academic progression.

Lecture recording and Python Exercises

• Just in case you didn't get the Welcome message last week, the main course website is located at  https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~en1811/. We ask you to bookmark the page. Please note that you will need to log in using your zID and zPass. 
• The lecture recordings are on Echo360 and you can assess them via the ENGG1811 Moodle site. The recording for this morning's lecture (Week 1.1) is there already.
• I mentioned in the lecture that it is important for you to practice. These are the regular resources:
  • There are Python exercises for each lecture. You can find them under "Exercises" in the course website. The exercises for Lecture 1.1 are already there. 
  • A weekly Python lab with the support of the tutors. The labs start from Week 1.

Multiple students have asked me about the relationship between competency-based assessment and WAM. I will find it out and post an announcement. 

Welcome to ENGG1811!

We hope that you are ready to learn some computing with us for this term. There are a number of important points that we would like to let you know.

• The main course website for ENGG1811 is located at: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~en1811/. We ask you to bookmark the page. Please note that you will need to log in using your zID and zPass.
• The course outline is available at the course website.
• You will be learning to solve computation problems using the Python programming language in ENGG1811. We do not expect any prior experience in programming and will start from scratch.
• You will need a free software called Anaconda. Please install it on your computer before the first lecture. You will need Anaconda for your lectures, labs etc. Instructions for installing Anaconda can be found at the "Getting Started" page on the course website.
• The lectures are in hybrid format meaning that the in-person and online lectures will take place simultaneously. The in-person lectures are in Law G04 (Mon) and Rex Vowels (Wed). Instructions for joining the online lectures are available at the "Lectures" page on the course website.
• Lecture materials for Week 1 are available at the "Lectures" page.
• Labs commence in Week 1. The lab exercises for Week 1 are available at the "Labs" page. Information on attending the labs is at the "Timetable" page.
• If you have questions, you can ask on the course forum. Click on the "Course forum" link on the website. You need to self-enrol, which is automatic when you enter the forum.

We look forward to an exciting term. And, please do get Anaconda installed before the first lecture on Monday at 11am.

Chun Tung Chou (Convenor and Lecturer)
Larry Tang (ENGG1811 Course Admin)