Promoting Privacy Considerations in Real-World Projects in Capstone Courses with Ideation Cards

Nearly all software built today impinges upon end-user privacy and needs to comply with relevant regulations. Therefore, there have been increasing calls for integrating considerations of compliance with privacy regulations throughout the software engineering lifecycle. However, software engineers are typically trained in the technical fields and lack sufficient knowledge and support for sociotechnical considerations of privacy. Privacy ideation cards attempt to address this issue by making privacy compliance understandable and actionable for software developers. However, the application of privacy ideation cards in real-world software projects has not yet been systemically investigated. The effectiveness of ideation cards as a pedagogical tool has not yet been examined either. We address these gaps by studying how teams of undergraduate students applied privacy ideation cards in capstone projects that involved building real-world software for industry sponsors. We found that privacy ideation cards fostered greater consideration and understanding of the extent to which the projects aligned with privacy regulations. We identified three main themes from student discussions of privacy compliance: (i) defining personal data; (ii) assigning responsibility for privacy compliance; and (iii) determining and exercising autonomy. The results suggest that application of the cards for real-world projects requires careful consideration of intersecting factors such as the stage at which the cards are used and the autonomy available to the developers. Pedagogically, ideation cards can facilitate low-level cognitive engagement (especially the cognitive processes of meaning construction and interpretation) for specific components within a project. Higher-level cognitive processes were comparatively rare in ideation sessions. These findings provide important insight to help enhance capstone instruction and to improve privacy ideation cards to increase their impact on the privacy properties of the developed software.

The impact of industry-oriented capstone courses on the employability of EECS students in technological universities

PurposeThis study used the industry-oriented capstone course to increase the employability of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) students in technological university.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, EECS students were selected and divided into groups, and the non-equivalent pretest–posttest quasi-experimental research method was adopted.FindingsIndustry-oriented capstone courses can improve students' employability, especially general ability, behaviour and attitude.Practical implicationsThe results of this study and many other studies show that capstone courses are helpful for the soft skills of students.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence that industry-oriented capstone courses can improve EECS students' employability.

Critical Co-Constructed Autoethnography: Reflections of a Collaborative Teaching Experience of Two Black Women in Higher Education

Within this paper, two Black women teaching at a predominantly white institution of higher education utilize critical co-constructed autoethnography to reflect on their experiences of using a Womanist approach to co-teach two capstone courses during a global pandemic. Womanism is an epistemology focused on the experiences and concerns of Black women. Using this collaborative inquiry technique, we explore how forms of systemic racism within predominantly white institutions affects our ability to teach and grow as researcher in our specific fields. Critical co-constructed autoethnography is a methodology steeped in critical theory, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory that reflects the tempo, uncertainty, and complexity of research relationships that creates spaces for collaborating researchers to work across differences. We conclude this paper by highlighting the value of using co-constructed autoethnography as a method of articulating the voices of those who have traditionally been underrepresented in academia. This method also allows for the congruency of voices, which is a limitation within traditional autoethnography.

A US study shows satisfaction with teammates improves team performance for face-to-face teams, and virtual teams

Purpose The authors wanted to find out how to improve teamwork in both virtual teams and face-to-face teams. They suspected different factors were in play. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were tested using data from 1,110 participants. Participants enrolled in management capstone courses at a large public university in the southeastern US between Spring 2009 and Autumn 2016. The final sample was 997 participants in 242 project teams. Each team had three to six members, with an average number of 4.4. About, 55.6% of participants were operating in VTs. Students worked on a semester-long business simulation project called Glo-Bus, which was designed to model ongoing industry practices realistically. Findings The results showed that individual skills were more influential on teammate satisfaction for FtFs than for VTs. Conversely, VT’s interactions were more pivotal regarding teammate satisfaction for VT processes than FtFs. Originality/value The research results have practical implications for managers. Managers need to focus on developing and selecting employees who are best suited for VTs, or they might become reluctant to continue working in them. But FtFs interact more easily than VTs and managers may prefer to create such teams on the basis of functional skills. It would also be beneficial for managers to assemble teams of individuals more likely to interact and form relationships, even if only via technological mediums such as videoconferencing for VTs.

A Comparison of Three Capstones: Survey Results from Sociology Alumni

Undergraduate capstone courses in sociology are designed to integrate students’ knowledge in the discipline and to culminate the classroom experience with field application. Are capstones achieving these goals in a durable way? Although the short-term outcomes of capstone courses have been researched, fewer studies have documented the long-term outcomes of capstone courses. We conducted a survey of sociology capstone alumni to understand the long-term outcomes of the sociology capstone by asking sociology alumni about their capstone experience. Our research revealed that all capstones produced long-term outcomes as measured in the alumni survey. Second, alumni of the community-based research capstone experienced a more profound and longer reaching effect than those who participated in the internship or traditional capstone seminar format. Alumni reported the development of professional skills, application of sociological concepts and research skills, and a sense of being part of a community.

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

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.

Implementation of a capstone course with Formative OSCEs to evaluate preparedness for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE)

Background: Capstone courses are well documented in pharmacy programmes, but vary in content, methods, and assessment. Aim: To describe the development and implementation of a capstone course for pharmacy students. Description: Components of the capstone course included clinical reviews, pre-tests, calculations, cases, and formative and summative objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). Formative OSCEs were a unique aspect of this capstone course, and were used to help students identify clinical strengths and recognise areas of weakness prior to advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE). Evaluation: A total of 72 students completed the capstone course in spring 2018. Student survey data indicated that the format of the course was conducive to learning, particularly the use of formative OSCEs. Conclusion: A capstone course was successfully designed and implemented that assessed a variety of pharmacy knowledge and skills prior to APPE. Student feedback and performance in the course provided insight that led to revisions in the pre-APPE curriculum.