Carving a Capstone: Senior Design at the University of Delaware

Paul, Michael Johannes

doi:10.1061/(asce)1052-3928(2005)131:2(90)

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Capstones and practica have been lauded for helping students engage complex, open-ended problems (Padmanabhan and Katti 2002;Hannah and Sullivan 2005; but see Jenkins et al 2002) and apply math, science, GIS, and engineering skills to solve real-world problems (Gnanaprag 2008). Students gain experience in project management, leadership, teamwork, written and oral communication, and professional networking, often integrating knowledge and ideas into an overall culminating project (Hannah and Sullivan 2005;Paul 2005). Students sometimes learn how to function like consulting firms or individual-based practices, with rotating project management and assignment of tasks, interaction with outside clients and practitioners, and appreciation for real-life constraints of problem owners (Padmanabhan and Katti 2002;Hannah and Sullivan 2005;Todd and Magleby 2005;Gnanaprag 2008;Pilskalns 2009).…”

Section: Professional Development and Praxismentioning

confidence: 97%

Capstones and practica in environmental studies and sciences programs: rationale and lessons learned

Camill

Phillips

2011

J Environ Stud Sci

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Environmental Science and Studies (ESS) programs grapple with the need to address several important, and sometimes competing, goals in curricula, such as understanding coupled human-natural systems, interdisciplinary approaches, problem solving, science literacy, informed citizenship, and career preparation. Hands-on projects that allow students to apply their academic learning to the real world in the form of capstone projects and practica offer the potential to meet many of these goals. In June 2010, a session was convened at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) annual conference at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, to discuss the benefits of these projects for student learning and to share practical experience of facilitating these types of projects and associated courses on different campuses across the country. This special issue of JESS features eight case studies of ESS capstone course projects at various institutions, from small liberal arts colleges to large research institutions. These examples serve as templates for instructors hoping to start similar programs at other institutions or to adapt new projects in existing capstone courses. This paper synthesizes the collective lessons learned from these case studies. We found that that while these case studies help instructors achieve some similar learning goals, several important differences exist, suggesting that curricula and the demands faced by instructors in the emerging field of ESS are still quite varied.

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Section: Professional Development and Praxismentioning

confidence: 97%

Capstones and practica in environmental studies and sciences programs: rationale and lessons learned

Camill

Phillips

2011

J Environ Stud Sci

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“…Each year students say in the end-of-course evaluation that working through group issues on a "Transferability of practitioner-focused civil engineering capstone ..." -Milke, Paul & Koorey relatively large team was one of the top benefi ts of the course, even though it was challenging. Further background was provided by Paul (2005), although the course has evolved signifi cantly since 2005.…”

Section: Course Structure and Logisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transferability of practitioner-focused civil engineering capstone design courses: An analysis for a US and New Zealand approach

Milke

Paul

Koorey

2015

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education

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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 superfi cially very different with different course structure and course requirements. In addition the emphasis on site and project, and the consequent dependence on country-specifi c 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, refl ecting 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.

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Using energy audits and climate action planning as a community-based environmental studies capstone experience at Bowdoin College

Camill

2011

J Environ Stud Sci

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Capstone courses in environmental studies and science programs offer the opportunity to develop authentic research experiences situated in real-world community problems that teach students how to manage complex projects, understand stakeholder challenges, collaborate effectively in teams, appreciate interdisciplinarity in realworld contexts, and navigate messy problems first hand. I describe how climate action planning was used as the centerpiece of a newly developed senior-level capstone course in the Environmental Studies Program at Bowdoin College where students and the instructor collaborated as a team of consultants to develop climate action plans for the towns of Brunswick and Topsham, Maine. The course project consisted of three parts: energy audits and greenhouse gas inventories, identification of data gaps and refinement of analysis, and development of climate action plans with specific emission reductions targets and recommendations for achieving them. This capstone experience was successful in helping to achieve several specific learning outcomes, and the challenges encountered offered several useful teachable moments. Overall, students found the senior capstone experience to be a highly valuable part of their undergraduate experience and indicated unanimous strong support for the continued offering of capstone courses in the Environmental Studies Program.

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Carving a Capstone: Senior Design at the University of Delaware

Cited by 8 publications

References 2 publications

Capstones and practica in environmental studies and sciences programs: rationale and lessons learned

Capstones and practica in environmental studies and sciences programs: rationale and lessons learned

Transferability of practitioner-focused civil engineering capstone design courses: An analysis for a US and New Zealand approach

Using energy audits and climate action planning as a community-based environmental studies capstone experience at Bowdoin College

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