Undertaking Capstone Projects in Education

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Cristian Iorga ◽

Alain Desrochers

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

Design Process ◽

Design Stage ◽

Product Modeling ◽

Specific Product ◽

Development Processes ◽

Product Variation ◽

Process Methodology ◽

Capstone Projects ◽

Short Time

The expansion of the markets corroborated with product customization and short time to launch the product have led to new levels of competition among product development companies. To be successful in the globalization of the markets and to enable the evaluation and validation of products, companies have to develop methodologies focused on lifecycle analysis and reduction of product variation to obtain both quality and robustness of products. Keywords: Modeling, Evaluation, Validation, Design ProcessThis paper proposes a new design process methodology that unifies theoretical results of modeling stage and empirical findings obtained from the validation stage. The evaluations and validations of engineering design are very important and they have a high influence on product performances and their functionality, as well on the customer perceptions.Given that most companies maintain the confidentiality of their product development processes and that the existing literature does not provide more detailed aspects of this field, the proposed methodology will represent a technical and logistical support intended for students or engineers involved in academic as well as industrial projects.A generic methodology will be refined based on a new approach that will take into consideration the specification types (quantitative or qualitative), the design objectives and the product types: new/improved, structural/esthetic. Hence the new generic methodology will be composed of specific product validation algorithms taking into account the above considerations. At the end of this paper, the improvements provided by the proposed methodology into the design process will be shown in the context of the engineering student capstone projects at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Download Full-text

Track IT: A Tracker for University Capstone Projects

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research ◽

10.31838/ijpr/2020.12.02.0135 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (02) ◽

Keyword(s):

Capstone Projects

Download Full-text

Factors Considered in the Assessment of Computer Science Engineering Capstone Projects and Their Influence on Discrepancies Between Assessors

ACM Transactions on Computing Education ◽

10.1145/3381836 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

César Domínguez ◽

Arturo Jaime ◽

Francisco J. García-Izquierdo ◽

Juan J. Olarte

Keyword(s):

Computer Science ◽

Capstone Projects

Download Full-text

A postgraduate capstone project: Impact on student learning and organizational change

Industry and Higher Education ◽

10.1177/09504222211036584 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095042222110365

Author(s):

Gordon R. Elwell ◽

Thad E. Dickinson ◽

Michael D. Dillon

Keyword(s):

Organizational Change ◽

Adult Students ◽

Graduate Program ◽

Common Component ◽

Work Related ◽

Academic Knowledge ◽

Capstone Courses ◽

Capstone Project ◽

The Usa ◽

Capstone Projects

The capstone course serves to integrate accumulated knowledge with a culminating experience or project and is a common component in undergraduate and graduate programs. The research on capstones courses shows that many capstone experiences or projects involve students working with outside clients, such as local businesses and organizations, to solve problems or develop new projects or campaigns. Such capstone experiences or projects seek to offer students real-world, career-building experience, while the clients seek to benefit from the learned academic knowledge of the students. Where the literature is scarce on client-based capstone projects is when the client is the student’s employer or career-related organization. A graduate program in administration at a public Midwestern university in the USA offers a different approach to the student–client model by requiring a degree-culminating capstone project that challenges adult students to apply their learned knowledge to solve administrative problems not for an outside client but at their place of employment or career-related organization. The researchers surveyed 66 alumni and interviewed 6 on how the capstone project had benefited their work-related learning and its impact on their employer or career-related organization. Students perceived an improvement in their ability to define and analyze administrative problems in their workplace, while the employers or organizations which implemented the project recommendations experienced positive organizational change. This case study contributes to the literature on capstone courses by examining the relevance of a work- or career-related capstone project to students and their workplace.

Download Full-text

Ocean I3. Pedagogical Innovation for Sustainability

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11080396 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 396

Author(s):

Itziar Rekalde-Rodríguez ◽

Julieta Barrenechea ◽

Yannick Hernandez

Keyword(s):

Collaborative Work ◽

Educational Innovation ◽

Pedagogical Innovation ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

The People ◽

Master's Thesis ◽

Innovation Project ◽

Development Goals ◽

Field Notes ◽

Capstone Projects

Universities are undertaking transformation projects that align their work with the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper describes how Ocean I3, an educational innovation project that aims to reduce plastic in the sea, has made an impact on its community over its three editions (2018/19 to 2020/21). Methodologically, it has been approached by the people who make up the technical team and academic coordination as an exploratory study using discrete, non-reactive techniques, mainly from the public domain (websites, blogs, press releases, etc.), and instruments, such as field notes and work material to manage, organize, and train within the project. The analytical procedure has represented a dynamic and systematic process of categorisation. The results highlight the repercussion of the project in terms of capstone projects, master’s thesis, coursework, etc., produced by the students involved; association with employability; collaborative work from the teaching teams; monitoring experience for research purposes, and social dissemination of the project. It concludes by suggesting lines for Ocean I3 to work on in the future to make its footprint sustainable in institutions over time.

Download Full-text