NOTES ON CAPSTONE COURSE DESIGN

Professional Behaviors:

Analyst Role

Designer Role

Communicator Role

Collaborator Role

Achiever Role

Learning Outcomes:

(ABET data required from course)

Design Process (3c)

Oral Communication (3g)

Teamwork (3d)

Ethics/Professionalism (3f)

Life-Long Learning (3i)

Product Realization (4)

Performance Criteria:

  • synthesis of individual efforts, team decisions, and ongoing prototyping to produce functioning hardware that exceeds customer expectations
  • effective team meeting and project management process that delivers results
    on-time and within budget, without marginalizing other design teams
  • stand alone documentation package that can be used by customer/other students
    to continue development and that serves as a marketing tool to future customers
  • accountability for project success involving technical leadership, engineered solutions, documentation, collaboration, and professional growth

Performance Measures:

Design Team Commitment rubric

Design review rubric

Design report rubric

Team Process rubric (from TIDEE)

Personal Capacity rubrics (from TIDEE)

Expo judging form

ACTIVITY DESIGN #1

FOCUS/TITLE: Understanding Capstone Course Expectations

KEY INSTRUMENT: syllabus with course evaluation system (knowledge form: context)

WHAT – understand how to be successful on a complex, real-world project

visualize exemplary performance in previous capstone project work

WHY – identify best practices that can benefit your career (long-term)

enhance your capstone experience (short-term)
use syllabus as a guide for time allocation in capstone course (short-term)

OBJECTIVES

  1. Compare course organization with ingredients for success on an open-ended,
    real-world project.
  2. Feel sense of challenge balanced by confidence about your capstone experience.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

1. Thoughtful examination of artifacts from previous projects

factor 1: product and process balance

factor 2: individual and team balance

factor 3: alignment with course evaluation system

2. Recognize challenges and generate inspiration for overcoming these

factor 1: breadth/diversity

factor 2: depth/complexity

factor 3: confidence/optimism

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

Directed

  1. What are engineering specifications?
  2. What is customer satisfaction?
  3. What is a drawing package?
  4. What is open communication?
  5. What is the make-up of a capstone team?

Convergent

6. What are the distinguishing features of quality engineering analysis?

7. How is customer satisfaction measured?

  1. What minimum level of design team commitment is necessary for project success? What is the optimum level? Why?
  2. How can team performance empower individual performance? How can individual performance empower team performance?
  3. What is the value-added to a design project by strong documentation practice?
  4. Can a design project be successful if the working hardware is mediocre? Defend your reasoning.

Divergent

  1. Which of the best practices used in the course are you interested in learning more about and what is the best way to do this?
  2. What are five ways capstone projects can be enhanced by expertise developed in prior courses?

RESOURCES & INFORMATION

  • syllabus with evaluation system
  • design team commitment rubric
  • inventory of best practice list by prior capstone students
  • sample course rubrics (especially design report)
  • capstone course website (
  • prior project reports
  • prior student logbooks
  • textbook (Ullrich & Eppinger)
  • ABET data collected from previous classes
  • Program assessment document
  • Mid-term course assessment by previous class

GLOSSARY

Best Practice / Package of tools and techniques used by experts in the field
Drawing Package / Set of stand-alone part and assembly drawings that can be
used to guide manufacturing, assembly, and inspection
Engineering Analysis / Calculations and modeling based on engineering principles
that supports quantitative decision making
Engineering Specifications / Restatement of customer needs in a way that can be measured
to determine if the need is met
Client / Contact for which work is performed under contract
Customer / Ultimate user of a design product or service
Client/Customer Satisfaction / Providing more than is expected, quicker than expected,
at a lower cost than expected, at an acceptable level of quality
Open Communication / Free expression of ideas in a respectful and courteous manner
Workbreakdown Structure / Table outlining related project tasks, responsible parties,
due dates, and expected quality of results
Design Team / Individuals with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable on a design project
Engineering Logbook / Record of personal activity that includes project learning, engineering analysis, product development, and lessons learned
Project Webpage / Record of team activity in each stage of the design process
Process / A series of actions that adds value to the final result
Design / Developing a product or process to meet a specific need
Problem Solving / Removing or reducing a gap between current and desired situation
Research / Expanding boundaries of knowledge within a community
Project Learning
/ Locating, understanding, and mastering new personal
knowledge and skills to benefit a project
Evaluation / Process for determining quality
Assessment / Process used for improving quality
peer assessment  feedback is given by a colleague or peer
self assessment  feedback from studying one’s own process
Rubric / Tool to distinguish different levels of performance based
on verbal description

ACTIVITY TYPE: Case Study

FACILITATION PLAN

Pre-class: read syllabus and bring laptops w/internet if you have them

Pre-activity: walk through syllabus with students
(prereqs, ABET, grading, roles, design team commitment rubric)

Activity: form teams of four (time keeper, spokesperson, recorder, facilitator)
pick up and skim resources (commitment rubric & best practice list)

thoughtfully discuss and record answers to critical thinking questions

Post-activity: inventory answers to selected CT questions
solicit and answer burning questions (builds community)

Q/A by previous students

Post-class: complete personnel survey (individual)

collect and analyze data for use in research paper (instructor)

Understanding Course Expectations

In this activity you will search for best practices in an open-ended real-world project and study the relationship between these and the capstone course grading system. You should gain an appreciation of the many challenges associated with the course and gain confidence that the course is structured to help you develop needed skills for project success.

Group Discussion

Work in teams of four (time keeper, spokesperson, recorder, leader).

Review at least two previous project reports and at least two capstone websites. Answer the following questions related to the grading page in the syllabus and the design team commitment rubric.

  1. What is open communication and who should be involved in this?
  2. What is customer satisfaction and how should this be measured?
  3. What are two pieces of evidence for a quality design product, strong documentation, strong team processes, and good personal performance?
  4. What minimum level of design team commitment is necessary for project success? What is the optimum level? Why?
  5. What are three ways capstone projects can be enhanced by expertise
    developed in prior courses?

Answer the following questions related to the inventory of best practices by
previous capstone students.

  1. What are the top five best practices cited by former students that you want to learn more about? How can each these add value to capstone projects?
  2. What is your most burning question about capstone design that you would
    like a former student to answer?

Capstone Course Deliverables (summer 2006)

Project Bid Portfolio – June 13

* project preferences & rationale
* updated resume
* personnel survey

Website Problem Statement Review – June 26

* home page with project title, sponsor, team name

* team page with pictures and bio information

* problem definition page with problem statement,
customer needs, target specs, and deliverables
* archive of team documents

* attractive formatting/organization throughout

Team Meeting Review – week of July 5

* agenda process in place
* instructor/team/peer discussion centered around logbook contents

* work breakdown planning and tracking
* design decisions supported by engineering analysis
* prototype development efforts

Preliminary Design Review – July 10-20

* ABET Oral Communication assessment

* demonstration and explanation of early prototypes

* identify subsystems and their specifications
* determine interface requirements

* description and weighting of design alternatives
* estimate of project costs

* logbook collection/review following presentation

Design Report Review – July 26-27

* background
* problem definition
* concepts considered
(including project learning & prototype discoveries)
* concepts selected
(including input from preliminary design review)
* parallel website review through conceptual design

* ABET Team Processes assessment

Snapshot Day – Aug 3rd
* display of prototypes
* poster (drawings, engineering analysis, experimental results)

Course Deliverables – COB Aug 4th

* Updated Design Report (ABET Design Skills assessment)
* Updated Website
* Personal logbooks
* Reflective Growth Paper (ABET Self-Directed Learning assessment)

ACTIVITY #2

FOCUS/TITLE: Effective Team Formation

KEY INSTRUMENT: Team Formation Template (Tool Knowledge)

  1. Establish team name (professional, easy to remember, innovative)
  2. Introduce yourselves and share background (insightful, open, detailed)
  3. Inventory individual values and develop team values in priority order
    (open, add-value to project)
  4. Propose initial goal state – (SMART)
  5. What new knowledge do you want to acquire?
  6. What professional behaviors do you want to improve?

(i.e. design, communication, teaming, problem solving)

  1. What accomplishments do you want to produce?
  1. Inventory phone and email information for team members, advisors,
    instructors, mentor, client (complete, organized, provided to instructor)
  2. Set meeting times (team/instructor, team only)
  3. Outline team rules (high standards, minimum set, attainable)
  4. Design team documentation system
  5. Paper
  6. Electronic

EFFECTIVE TEAM FORMATION

Teams take actions that provide a foundation for high performance teamwork.

Team members each have unique gifts and motivations. They are committed to exceeding customer expectations, learning and mastering project related knowledge, and expanding their professional skills, holding each other accountable for project and personal success.

Team Activity

The following items are suggested to help team members get to know one another, begin developing team identity, and establish a framework for productive project work. When you are done, complete the attached table, giving a copy to the course instructors and keeping a copy for yourselves.

  1. Establish a Team Name. This should be innovative, tasteful, and easy to remember. Your team name will become your email alias.
  2. Introduce yourselves, sharing three things that others would be surprised to
    know about you.
  1. Have a discussion about team values in the following areas:
    a. How should quality be defined and enforced in project assignments?
    b. How large a variation in hours/week is acceptable between members?
    c. What team leadership is needed and how should it be exercised?
  2. Have a discussion about individual/team goals in the following areas:
  3. What new knowledge do you want to acquire?
  4. What professional behaviors do you want to improve?
  5. What accomplishments do you want to produce?
  6. Inventory phone, role, and email information for team members.
    a. Client contact
    b. Webmaster
    c. Purchasing Agent
    d. Other Roles
  7. Set regular times for team meetings/work sessions.
  8. Set a weekly time for an instructor/team meeting. Confirm this.
  9. Download and review the following documents from the capstone website:
    email guidelines, meeting tips, purchasing guidelines, workbreakdown (WBS)
  10. Make plans for maintaining team documentation in paper & electronic forms.
  11. Decide when and how you will meet your client for the first time. Review these plans with the instructor.

TEAM ORGANIZATION

PROJECT/CLIENT:

TEAM NAME:

MEMBER NAME / ROLE(S) / EMAIL / PHONE

SHARED VALUES:

SHARED GOALS:

INSTRUCTOR/TEAM MEETING TIME: