Capstone Design Experiences Lt Col Cory Cooper, Maj Jeremy Homan Characterization of Capstone Design Experiences Lt Col Cory Cooper, Maj Jeremy Homan USAFA Systems Engineering Program 3 Phases of research Establish a common framework for characterizing the full breadth of capstone experiences at USAFA. Investigate the relationship between capstone characteristics and student performance (with respect to capstone course student outcomes). Affect future capstone offerings and placement of students in capstones to improve the achievement of Course Student Outcomes. We are here AY15 AY17 AY16 Does the “shape” of the capstone project matter for our Systems Engineering students? Research goal Understand the many, varied characteristics of capstone experiences and how these characteristics affect the learning outcomes of the experiences. Introduction and Challenges Undergraduate capstone experiences1 Tie previous engr learning together Key assessment item for ABET2 In classic engineering disciplines, the capstones align well Owning dept is hosting department Discipline faculty are all from/within the owning department For a Sys Engr student, it is different Learning is domain independent Value in being “farmed out” Possible misalignment of expectations There were no multi-spectrum frameworks to characterize capstones Several capture 1-2 characteristics3,4,5 Research approach Population studied: USAFA capstone enterprise ~60 project teams 155 Sys Engr students, 25 Faculty members 8 domains/disciplines Constructivist approach to a framework 19 capstone characteristics selected with capstone faculty advisors Data collected over two years of implemented capstones Discussion The framework is developed and peer- reviewed.6 Initial characterization data has been collected, peer-reviewed and published7 Continuing study8 Open to sharing framework for characterization of non-engineering, and USAFA-external capstones Framework Fully developed rubrics for 19 separate characteristics that can be used to describe diverse capstone projects. Below are three example characteristic dimensions used in the rubric. Multidisc. Homogeneous Ill-defined Existing Req. Product System of Systems Starting Point for Reqs System Level Skill Diversity of Team + 16 other dimensions References McKenzie, L. J., Trevisan, M. S., Davis, D. C., & Beyerlein, S. W. (2004). Capstone design courses and assessment: A national study. American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, (pp. 1-14). Meyer, D. G. (2005). Capstone Design Outcome Assessment: Instruments for Quantitative Evaluation. 35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (pp. F4D-7-11). Indianapolis, IN: IEEE. Crawford, L., & Pollack, J. (2004). Hard and soft projects: a framework for analysis. International Journal of Project Management, 22(8), 645-653. Dvir, D., Shenhar, A. J., & Alkaher, S. (2003). From a single discipline product to a multidisciplinary system: Adapting the right style to the right project. Systems Engineering, 6(3), 123-134. Griffin, P. M., Griffin, S. O., & Llewellyn, D. C. (2004). The impact of group size and project duration on capstone design. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 185-193. Cooper, Cory A., Joseph M. Fulton, Jeremy J. Homan, “A multi-spectrum framework for characterizing interdisciplinary capstone design experiences,” in Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), Stevens Institute, Hoboken, NJ, March 17-19, 2015. Cooper, Cory A., Joseph M. Fulton, Jeremy J. Homan, “Initial application of a multi-spectrum characterization framework for interdisciplinary capstone design experiences,” in Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), Huntsville AL, March 22-24, 2016. Cooper, Cory A., Jeremy J. Homan, “Framing interdisciplinary capstone design experiences--working title” in Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), Redondo Beach, CA, March 23-25, 2017. IN DRAFT Initial Results Acknowledgements Thanks to each of the Engineering Department Capstone Directors for their inputs and discussions that support this study. Thanks to Dr. Lauren Scharff for her support and guidance for this project through the USAFA Center for SoTL.