Search

If any engineering courses are unlikely to be transferable between Australasian and overseas universities, one could argue that civil engineering capstone design courses with a strong practical engineering focus would be the least likely. This analysis considers two capstone design courses in the US and New Zealand. The analysis examines the approaches each university has taken to improve design education through simulating professional practice. The two approaches are superficially very different with different course structure and course requirements. In addition the emphasis on site and project, and the consequent dependence on country-specific matters related to regulation and codes, would lead one to expect low transferability. Closer analysis shows that the learning objectives of the courses are relatively similar and that the relationship between site and design are key for both. The challenges faced by the two approaches have much in common, reflecting similar student experiences, and so high transferability. The paper provides details on learning objectives and challenges faced at the two programs to aid others who wish to analyse capstone design experiences across multiple universities. The conclusion is that transferability between these two design experiences is high. The implication is that, through similar forces for educational change in both countries, internationalisation of engineering education is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Final year or Capstone Project is the final and important phase of the undergraduate curriculum in a Computer Science Engineering program. Final year project is a course where all the skills learnt by the students in the course are applied and evaluated. The important aspects in the delivery of this course are (i) developing a model to train the students to deliver quality project work and documentation, (ii) effective evaluation of the student based on rubrics which are mapped to the course outcomes (iii) Calculate program outcome and course outcome attainment and make necessary changes to improve the delivery of the course (iv) Map the feedback from stakeholders as per graduate attributes and measure performance. This paper discusses the approach followed for three academic years 2014-2017 on a batch of 180 students per year. Training sessions, evaluation rubrics, usage of project management tools, mapping performance of the students with the outcomes of the course and program, feedback from the stakeholders like companies and students themselves gives a clear view of improvement of the performance of the students during the Final Year Project course in three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, the teaching of design theory in an engineering curriculum has been relegated to a senior capstone design experience. Presently, however, engineering design concepts and courses can be found through the entirety of most engineering programs. Educators have recognized that engineering design provides a foundational platform that can be used to develop educational strategies for a wide array of engineering science principles. More recently, educators have found that product archaeology provides an effective platform to develop scalable learning materials, strategies, and educational innovations across these design courses. This paper presents and discusses how product archaeology has been incorporated at a large research university in two design-related courses for mechanical engineering students: (1) a sophomore-level course and (2) a senior-level class. More specifically, details are reported regarding how and how easily global, societal, economic, and environmental factors were emphasized in the curricula of these courses. Next, the paper shares the qualitative and quantitative assessment tools and methods used to determine the impact of incorporating a product archaeology paradigm in the courses. Finally, the results are reported which demonstrate a significant increase in the students' perceptions across a number of skill and knowledge areas related to ABET-required Outcome h without negatively impacting other important academic areas. Results demonstrate a significant increase in student perception across a number of skill and knowledge areas critical to the next generation of engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of capstone units is gaining currency within the Australian Higher Education system, with a growing focus on enhancing graduate employability and assuring graduate outcomes. The aim of this paper is to report on an 18-month study of undergraduate journalism capstone units in Australian universities. Just over half of the universities in Australia that teach journalism (16 out of 30), embed capstone units in their programmes, and the study, which began in September 2015, is part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellowship. It is divided into three stages. The first stage involved face-to-face interviews with journalism academics at 16 universities in five States, to discover what type of capstone unit they use, the principles they employ and the skills students need to demonstrate and apply. This data then underwent a validation process. Stage three of the study will develop resources to support journalism educators in the design or redesign of capstone units, especially in the area of agreed principles, standards and best practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many graduate programs for professionals (public policy, public administration, business, international affairs, and others) use client-based experiential learning projects, often termed "capstones," in which students combine theory and practice to benefit an outside client. Increasingly, undergraduate programs use client-based capstones as well, whereby students work with a client over a semester to solve a problem. Evidence suggests that students value these experiences and clients often describe value created as well. However, evidence also suggests that both students and clients can experience a mismatch of expectations, gaps in information, misunderstandings, and frustrations in the process of working together. With the objective to enhance learning for students and create value for clients, reframing the capstone project as a "negotiation in multiple domains" rather than a "fixed problem to be solved" has potential benefits for the student, the client, and the learning process. The approach may have implications for a broad range of team-based problem-solving initiatives. This paper, using the team-based capstone experience of the "International Development in Practice" class at the University of Notre Dame, explores how an integrated negotiations approach contributes to the capstone value creation and learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides and illustrates a generic framework for deep learning in a Sustainability-based course for higher education instruction. The use of Sustainability Consulting Projects is detailed with potential application to similar programs as part of their Sustainable Education curriculum. Using four disparate institutions of higher learning across the eastern coast of the United States we can complete an exploratory analysis of the framework. This analysis will provide us opportunity to identify and characterize community sustainability projects and their contribution to higher order, integrative and reflective learning. This deep learning framework and model will be helpful to curriculum developers and instructors who wish to introduce these types of projects into their courses and curriculum. These processes and tools may be integrated into current Sustainability Management courses or used as the basis for development of specific courses focused specifically on this topic; e.g., Sustainability Consulting or as a capstone course. Lessons learned and framework design and implementation provide opportunities for further research and development of these courses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Capstone experiences (CEs) serve a variety of purposes in higher education as opportunities to apply academic skills, explore post-graduate life and employment, and achieve a meaningful undergraduate event. This study investigated the purposes of CEs through a content analysis of institutional course syllabi/course outlines/module outlines and catalog/calendar descriptions at five institutions of higher education: a large public research university in Canada, a large public teaching university in the United Kingdom (UK), a college of a large public research university in the United States (US), and two medium-sized private liberal arts universities in the US. Using the CE purposes found in a review of scholarly literature as a research guide, the authors analyzed 84 institutional documents. CE purposes that appeared in the sample at lower percentages when compared with published studies included oral communication, a coherent academic experience, preparation for graduate school, preparation for life after college, and civic engagement/service learning. Implications for practice include the need for instructors and administrators to consider revising CE documents to better reflect the content and goals of the courses and to address the requirements of other audiences (e.g., program reviewers, accreditation evaluators). Moreover, the results of this study may assist educators in considering reasons for omitting explicit purposes from CE documents and/or justifying the inclusion of previously omitted purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research frequently reports student dissatisfaction with feedback in higher education. Large class sizes and modularization challenge teachers in providing useful feedback. Most of these studies have investigated student perceptions of written feedback in coursework, and few attempts have been made considering feedback in face-to-face contexts such as bachelor's degree projects. This study aims to enrich our understanding of students' perception of feedback in the context of supervision of bachelor's degree projects using Karlsen's (2015) PLUS model to systematise factors that help improve their utilisation of feedback in learning. Qualitative interviews were used to collect data from two bachelor student cohorts doing their projects as part of industrial design programmes and computer science at a mid-sized Norwegian university college (n=28). Results indicate that students generally find teachers' feedback more useful than useless. In addition to the students own attitudes towards assessment, they report that how they perceive the supervisors' trustworthiness matters when utilising feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ePortfolios are a growing trend in higher education, implemented by an increasing number of curricular and co-curricular programs. Given the de-centralized nature of many colleges and universities, it is inevitable that faculty requiring ePortfolios, especially as capstone experiences, will engage with students who have completed one or more ePortfolios, alongside others for whom this will be a new experience. Drawing on twelve sections of a senior capstone over two academic years (2014-2016) that included ePortfolios by over two-hundred students, we present a case study of our learning and pose five strategies to help faculty and students navigate across multiple ePortfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]