Virtual Capstone Design Teams: Preparing for Global Innovation (Journal article)

Global innovation requires collaboration between groups of people located in different parts of the world, and is a growing trend in industry. Virtual teams are often used to manage new product development projects. These teams are similar to traditional teams but are geographically separated and rely heavily on virtual methods of communication (email, Skype, teleconferencing, etc.) instead of regular face-to-face meetings. Experience working as a member of a virtual capstone design team can help prepare students for this growing trend. To begin preparing students for work on virtual teams in industry, we co-advised two virtual capstone design projects with students from Marquette University and Smith College. This paper describes our experience with managing two virtual capstone design project teams across institutions. Presented here are the challenges we encountered, the lessons we learned as a result of this experience, as well our recommendations for others who might want to include virtual project teams in their capstone design courses. We also include retrospective feedback from the students on these teams regarding their perceived value of their virtual team experience to their careers in engineering

Virtual Capstone Design Teams: Preparing for Global Innovation (Conference proceeding)

Global innovation requires collaboration between groups of people located in different parts of the world, and is a growing trend in industry. Virtual teams are often used to manage new product development projects. These teams are similar to traditional teams but are geographically separated and rely heavily on virtual methods of communication (email, Skype, teleconferencing, etc.) instead of regular face-to-face meetings. Experience working as a member of a virtual capstone design team can help prepare students for this growing trend. To begin preparing students for work on virtual teams in industry, we co-advised two virtual capstone design projects with students from Marquette University and Smith College. This paper describes our experience with managing two virtual capstone design project teams across institutions. Presented here are the challenges we encountered, the lessons we learned as a result of this experience, as well our recommendations for others who might want to include virtual project teams in their capstone design courses. We also include retrospective feedback from the students on these teams regarding their perceived value of their virtual team experience to their careers in engineering

Improving Heart Failure Education Prior to Discharge: An Emmi Implementation Project

Background: Heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalizations and increased health care costs in the United States. Many patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge, resulting in increased costs. Purpose of Capstone Project: The purpose of this capstone project was to improve heart failure education for patients admitted with heart failure to Mercy Medical Center by utilizing Emmi educational videos in order to decrease the risk of hospital readmissions, improve quality of life, and decrease costs. Methods: The project focused on educating nurses about the importance of utilizing the video. It was asked of the nurses that each patient admitted with a diagnosis of heart failure have the opportunity to watch the educational video prior to discharge. The number of patients with heart failure that were given the opportunity to watch the Emmi educational video was collected. The evaluation of this project was a comparison of the number of Emmi educational videos utilized before the implementation of the Capstone Project to the numbers of videos utilized after the implementation. Results: When comparing the ordering of the Emmi videos after implementation to before the implementation, there was a noticeable increase in Emmi usage. This included the ordering for all categories of the heart failure Emmi and the general heart failure Emmi. Unfortunately, ordering the Emmi did not mean that the video was utilized. Recommendations: It was recommend that the utilization of Emmi videos be continued. Nurses need continued encouragement to utilize the video and not just order it. It was also recommended that APRNs and PAs focus on ordering and implementing the Emmi videos. Lastly, making Emmi utilization a function of case managers, cardiac rehab nurses, and discharge nurses was recommended

Building Bridges: Using the Office Consultation Project to Connect Students to Theory and Practice

The Office Consultation Project is an innovative capstone project that partners graduate students in student affairs preparation programs with academic and student affairs practitioners. It provides an opportunity for students to apply research and scholarship to practical settings, while giving practitioners new insight into their units, additional work support, and expanded professional networks. The project benefits graduate preparation programs by cultivating cross-divisional networking and increasing campus awareness about the student affairs profession that could generate new practicum and assistantship opportunities

Benefits of Industry Involvement in Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Courses

Opportunities for industry involvement in capstone design courses go beyond industry sponsorship of capstone design projects. Representatives from industry can serve as guest lecturers, curriculum advisors, and design project sponsors and team mentors. Since 2000, industry participation has been a core part of the capstone design course at Marquette University. Practicing engineers provide a relevant, practical real-world perspective of their topic, reinforcing its importance to professional engineering practice. Students and faculty benefit from the up-to-date treatment of the topic provided by guest speakers from industry who have expertise in the topic and are willing to share their experiences with students. Students benefit from industry sponsorship of senior design projects through the opportunity to work on realworld problems of importance to industry, exposure to industry and company-specific project management and product development processes, and familiarity with economic, legal, and regulatory design constraints. This paper provides a brief description of the Multidisciplinary Capstone Design course at Marquette University, examples of industry involvement in the course, and the observed benefits of industry involvement to students, the university, and industry participants. It presents examples of current practices used at other schools as well as helpful recommendations for managing industry participation in capstone design courses

The Study and Expression of Bharatanatyam Classical India Dance

Bharatanatyam is a classical Southern style of Indian dance originating from Tamil Nadu, and is now practiced all over the world. During my stay in India, I learned from Dr. Joshi, Nupur Bharatnattyam Nrityalaya. According to my teacher, this specific dance style is designed to accompany songs that honor and/or describe a God’s story. The dance can vary according to the song and its specific meaning or intent. In my Honors Capstone Project, I composed a fusion choreography using original Bharatnatyam movements performed to Eastern European Slavic Music (artist: Kitka). Every hand, eye, foot, and body movement has a meaning and was incorporated into this choreography. The choreography was then taught to the local dance troupe, Cold Fusion, and performed at Tundra Caravan’s showcase, featuring Suzanne DelVecchio. The performance of this choreography was well received and performed at many other local events. My Capstone Project helped lead the way for more Indian dance to be taught in Fairbanks, AK, as well as further expand my own knowledge

An infrastructure for planning, monitoring and reusing capstone projects with the help of semantic wikis

International audienceThe capstone project provides students, working in groups, with a significant project experience. Students should deliver one or several iterations of a software system, along with all artifacts appropriate to the process model they are using. A system based on reference and organizational models and powered by three semantic wikis (using SMW) is used to help the drive of capstone projects. This paper describes aspects raised by challenges of capstone projects management and presents the infrastructure of the solution we built

Experience Report: A Sustainable Serious Educational Game Capstone Project

Capstone courses play a key role in many Computer Science/Software Engineering curricula. They offer a summative opportunity for SE students to apply their skills and knowledge in a single experience and prepare them for work in industry. Capstones have many attributes that make them a valuable high-impact practice, yet there are several challenges that can be associated with them. These challenges include the general nature of a capstone that prevents deeper applications of skills, not to mention the difficulty of creating an interesting and engaging design project upon which students can make meaningful contributions and engage in extensive team dynamics. This experience report outlines an innovative approach to a senior design capstone course that addresses common limitations of capstone courses. The SimSYS capstone course is unique in that it involved a mixed team organization involving a more senior design team who led a development team over the course of the semester, thereby leveraging the diverse experience of capstone students completing their CS/SE degree. The results point to solutions for continuing a capstone project successfully in subsequent semesters that could be of interest to other SE curriculum designers looking to develop effective capstone courses

Walking Together: Living Fearlessly, Loving Boldy

In this paper, I give an account of my capstone for the Religious Studies major. I tell about the research project-turned-applied-learning, and how my research as a Mellon Summer Scholar ’15 led me to start a prison ministry between Gettysburg students and the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex. I reflect on what I have done, how God has worked, and what I have learned. This is far from a typical research paper; then again, this was far from a typical research project