CSCI 6838 Capstone Projects
Policies and Requirements

by K. Yue, August 2004

If you are taking CSCI 6838, please read this document carefully and make sure that you understand it completely. You will be responsible for understanding and following the course policies and requirements.

I. General

The purpose of CSCI 6838 is to provide capstone experience to students working in realistic projects in a team environment. As the gate-keeping course for graduation, the capstone project is significantly more demanding than the average CSCI course. In general, the instructor expects the average student to spend about 10-20 hours per week, starting from the first week.

The capstone project involves intensive face to face communications with other team members, the faculty instructor and the project mentor and taking the course remotely be acceptable. If a student needs to travel extensively, he should defer taking the course.

Students will be responsible for:

• ensuring that the team fully understands the problem and formulates an acceptable specification,
• developing an acceptable design for the problem,
• implementing the solution in selected languages and platforms,
• ensuring that the software and hardware for implementing the solution is properly set up as early as possible,
• ensuring that all schedules and deadlines are met on time,
• managing the developing team and ensuring a fair division of labor,
• producing all required deliverables of the project,
• creating and maintaining an active Web page,
• scheduling the necessary meetings with the instructor and the mentor, and
• ensuring all deliverables are submitted on time.

The copyright of the project does not belong to the students.

II. Procedures and Requirements

In the first week of the semester, the students will be informed about the course requirements and the projects. All teams will be formed and the students will meet immediately to understand the problem, identify tasks and set the project Web site.

It is very important to fully understand the problem and install the necessary development platform within the first two to three weeks. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult for the team to complete the project within the semester on time.

The team should meet at least once every week. Formal meeting minutes should be taken. The team should meet with the mentor once every one or two weeks. Weekly status reports should be written and posted in the team Website. An informal progress presentation should be given to the instructor and the mentor at the middle of the semester. This allows them to give the team feedback for successful completion of the project.

Most projects will be involved with the development of a prototype which will be delivered at the end of the semester. The prototype deliverables include:

• Executable code.
• Source code.
• Relevant documentation: such as relation schemas, UML diagrams, coding standard, etc.
• User guide
• Reference manual, if any.
• FAQ.

Besides developing the project prototype, the team will be responsible for the followings:

• Maintain an active project Web page throughout the semester.
• Make an oral presentation one week before the end of the semester.
• Write and submit a final report in the last week of the semester.

Some Tips:

• Each team member should keep an active logbook and write down every important detail the mentor said.
• Start working from day #1 and keep up the pressure. Teams have nearly stressed out in the past because of late start.
• Be sure coordination works well early in the semester. Otherwise, your projects will be delayed.
• Make sure what are in the critical path and work on them as early as possible.
• Identify potential major technological roadblocks and resolve them as soon as possible.

III. Grading Policy

Grading will be based solely on the quality of the project. Failing grades will be given to students with unacceptable quality of work. The instructor will consult the project mentors for grade assignment. However, assigning grades to the students are the sole responsibility of the faculty instructors. Students should not discuss grading issues with the project mentors.

Grade will be assigned based on the quality of:

• the product deliverables
• the product design
• the oral presentations
• the final report
• the team Web page
• the technical meetings with the faculty instructor, and
• participation and attendance.

The following arguments will not be considered in assigning grades:

• "I must graduate."
• "My company will transfer me in the next semester so I cannot retake the course."
• "I am too busy with my job."
• "I travel a lot."
• "I am taking three courses and working full time."
• "I don't have time because ..."
• "The specifications are not clear."
• "My teammates do not cooperate."
• "The software does not work."