1. 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),
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),
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),
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, 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.