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Student Leadership Model

This capstone follows a student leadership and industry partner teaming approach. In the student leadership model, faculty do not identify or develop the project topics and scope for the students. This capstone will be a driven by the student and supported by a faculty member.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives for this capstone are:

1. Enhance independent thinking by engaging in projects that further develop competencies acquired in pre-requisite courses.
2. Further develop critical thinking skills required to solve open ended problems related to design, analysis, and/or construction of projects.
3. Further develop skills associated with project management such as developing, implementing, and adjusting a project plan or schedule, clearly defining scope of work, and estimating time and costs required to complete a project.
4. Further develop communication skills required to produce organized documentation, graphic illustrations, professional presentations, and clear and concise project reports.

Phases of the Capstone

This capstone will follow a SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) approach. The following phases to cover include:

• Requirement Gathering and Analysis
• Design
• Implementation or Coding
• Testing
• Deployment
• Maintenance

Capstone Timeline

The capstone will follow the timeline below:

Week 1 Requirement Gathering and Analysis Expectations:

• Consider the following areas to build off of: software (programming or app), website, database, data analytics, or systems analysis. You may suggest another area as well based on your interests and career goals.
• Investigate the needs

Write a project statement including:

• Define the problem/need
• Why is this project/problem worth doing/solving?
• What do you know already that can be applied to the problem?
• What do you need to know more about to solve the problem?
• Develop a timeline to producing the solution

Week 2 Design Expectations:

Write up the design method including the following:

• How are you going to go about solving it?
• What are the final deliverables for the project?
• Define the user requirements for the solution
• What is the system architecture and components this solution is using?

Week 3 Implementation and Coding Expectations:

• Move forward with proposed and approved technology solutions

Week 4 Implementation and Coding Expectations:

• Move forward with proposed and approved technology solutions
• Integrate any feedback from the previous week

Week 5 Implementation and Coding Expectations:

• Move forward with proposed and approved technology solutions
• Integrate any feedback from the previous week
• Submit work for review
• Check in with instructor for brainstorming and support
• Submit timesheet

Week 6 Testing Expectations:

• Create a series of test questions/scenarios for a user to perform using the solution/project developed
• Have a user test the solution/project
• Submit user evaluation, report any needed changes, submit a plan to implement needed changes

Week 7 Implementation and Coding Expectations:

• Integrate improvements/changes needed based on user testing
• Submit work for review

Week 8 Testing Expectations:

• Have a user test the solution/project
• Submit user evaluation, report any needed changes, submit a plan to implement needed changes

Week 9 Implementation and Coding Expectations:

• Integrate improvements/changes needed based on user testing

Week 10 Deployment Expectations:

• Develop any necessary training/support guides for solution
• Walkthrough all solution components with instructor