Analysis of Capstone Computing Courses

Todd Breuer, Nancy Campoverde, Jo Hanna,Brian Humphries, Charles C. Tappert

Seidenberg School of CSIS, Pace University,White Plains, New York

April 2015

Capstone courses are the culmination of the coursework that a student must complete to meet a degree requirement. Capstone courses include projects, case studies, program evaluations and thesis papers that are geared for the post-graduate, real-world working environment

Capstone courses are either one or two semesters

What is a Capstone Course?

Real World Customer Determined Projects

38 out of 48 Universities polled use real world customers in their capstone projects!

The remaining 10 universities all try to mimic the real world environment

Some schools report getting paid up to $50,000 per project by the real world customers

Real World Customers

Capstone teams can be chosen using three methods:

Self selected – students choose their own teams via discussion boards or in person

Professor selected – teams are chosen by the professor using enrollment information

Randomly selected – by methods such as class divided up alphabetically

Team assignment:

Pros: Maintains a constant source of

accountability to all team members to contribute to the success of the project

Cons: Results may not reflect the actual work

contributed by each member of the team

How some schools use peer review as a means of grading.

Also known as a virtual team, distributed team, or remote team

A geographically dispersed team is a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology

Dispersed Teams

Dispersed Teams from the Universities Surveyed

Management of dispersed teams present unique problems

Cultural & Geographical Time Zones File Repository issues Communication Challenges Leadership Assignment

Dispersed Teams Challenges

Promotes Active Learning

Develop Soft Skills such as problem solving, verbal communication skills, and teamwork skills

Promotes flexibility in learning multiple communication and tracking methods

Team leaders learn how to drive their projects and team members learn how to interact

Tech companies currently conduct business with dispersed teams both nationally and internationally

Dispersed Teams Pros

Alternative Methods Thesis Paper Volunteer Work Internships Comprehensive Exam

Verifying Progress of Capstone Weekly Reports Bi-Weekly Reports

Capstone Time Commitment Requirements Varied by project

Capstone Grading Letter Grade Pass/Fail

Capstone Requirements

Some majors two others only one semester Invaluable for projects involving real world

customers Pace should encourage more real world

customers◦ Some corporate sponsors pay for student teams

True value lies on the structure and execution

Possibilities for Improving capstone courses at Pace