Digital Signal Processing (or DSP) is an important area whose applications pervade several areas of modern electrical and electronic engineering, such as information and communication systems, digital control systems, power engineering, mechatronics, biomedical engineering, etc. Therefore it is a course that comprises two aspects: a strong mathematical and theoretical part as well as a practical aspect. More often than not, students get bogged down with the theory without seeing the applications, and this has been observed to adversely affect their motivation for studying the course. Therefore, the over-arching goal in digital signal processing education is to link these two aspects together in a coherent and comprehensive way, such that it not only assists in improving student understanding of DSP theory, but also allows them to fully appreciate its applicability and effectiveness in practice. This paper describes the final project (Biometric speaker verification) in 4307ENG Advanced Digital Signal Processing that is offered in the ECE program within the Griffith School of Engineering on the Gold Coast campus. This project consisted of a research-oriented 'extensions' process that encouraged and motivated students to further investigate competing or improved algorithms and then report on their findings.