Abstract
This chapter reviews the results of a multi-year experience running a capstone project in a bachelor’s degree program in computer science, at the University of Padua, Italy, designed and implemented using interactive learning methods. As part of that initiative, we explore how interactive practices such as cooperative learning and problem-based learning—components of the active learning framework—help foster more engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students, geared toward the development of personal employability and faster work transition. The evidence collected suggests that capstone projects form a natural and productive context for the successful deployment of interactive learning methods.
This chapter highlights the positive role played by capstone projects in higher education and the relation that they have with the theoretical background of active learning. As part of that, we discuss the challenges encountered in gracefully embedding a capstone project in a bachelor-level curriculum, we provide a quantitative evaluation of the results obtained over several years of operation, and finally we distil some lessons learned on key aspects of this project, with the intention of facilitating adoption in other organizations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
One credit hour corresponds to a total of 25 hours of student work so that 60 credit hours correspond to the full-time equivalent of 1 year of student work.
- 2.
- 3.
References
Bonwell, C., & Eison, J. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin (ERIC Number ED336049), 121. Retrieved 2019-01-04, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED336049.
Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin (ERIC Number ED282491), 3–7. Retrieved 2019-01-04, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED282491.
Clear, T. (2009). Thinking issues: The three p’s of capstone project performance. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 41(2), 69–70. https://doi.org/10.1145/1595453.1595468.
Clear, T., Goldweber, M., Young, F., Leidig, P., & Scott, K. (2001). Resources for instructors of capstone courses in computing. In Working group reports from ITiCSE on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (pp. 93–113). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/572133.572135.
DeRemer, F., & Kron, H. (1976). Programming-in-the-large versus programming-in-the- small. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2(2), 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.1976.233534.
Dirkx, J. (2011). Work-related learning in the United States: Past practices, paradigm shifts, and policies of partnerships. In The SAGE handbook of workplace learning (pp. 293–306). London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446200940.n21.
Dunlap, J. (2005, March). Problem-based learning and self-efficacy: How a capstone course prepares students for a profession. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(1), 65–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504858.
Farrell, V., Ravalli, G., Farrell, G., Kindler, P., & Hall, D. (2012). Capstone project: Fair, just and accountable assessment. In Proceeding of the 17th ACM Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (pp. 168–173). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2325296.2325339.
Flowers, J. (2008). Improving the capstone project experience: A case study in software engineering. In Proceedings of the 46th Southeast Regional Conference (pp. 237–242). New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1593105.1593167.
Freudenberg, B., Brimble, M., & Cameron, C. (2011). WIL and generic skill development: The development of business students’ generic skills through work- integrated learning. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 12(2), 79–93.
Goldstein, G., & Fernald, P. (2009). Humanistic education in a capstone course. College Teaching, 57(1), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.57.1.27-36.
Gorka, S., Miller, J., & Howe, B. (2007). Developing realistic capstone projects in conjunction with industry. In Proceeding of the 8th ACM SIGITE Conference on Information Technology Education (pp. 27–32). New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1324302.1324309.
Hall, D. T. (2002). Careers in an out of organizations. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452231174.
Hayes, J., Lethbridge, T., & Port, D. (2003). Evaluating individual contribution toward group software engineering projects. In 25th International Conference on Software Engineering, 2003 (pp. 622–627). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2003.1201246.
Hundhausen, C. (2015). Special issue on team projects in computing education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 15(4). https://dlnext.acm.org/toc/toce/2015/15/4
Johnson, D., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (1998). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Kember, D. (2009). Promoting student-centred forms of learning across an entire university. Higher Education, 58(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9177-6.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Litchfield, A., Frawley, J., & Nettleton, S. (2010). Contextualising and integrating into the curriculum the learning and teaching of work-ready professional graduate attributes. Higher Education Research and Development, 29(5), 519–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2010.502220.
Little, B., & Brennan, J. (1996, October). A review of work-based learning in higher education. Retrieved from http://oro.open.ac.uk/11309/.
Nelson, D., & Bianco, C. (2013). Increasing student responsibility and active learning in an undergraduate capstone finance course. American Journal of Business Education (AJBE), 6(2), 267–278. https://doi.org/10.19030/ajbe.v6i2.7692.
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223–231. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x.
Reinicke, B., & Janicki, T. (2010). Increasing active learning and end-client interaction in the systems analysis and design and capstone courses. Information Systems Education Journal, 8(40), 3–10. Retrieved from http://isedj.org/8/40/.
Subramaniam, N., & Freudenberg, B. (2007). Preparing accounting students for success in the professional environment: Enhancing self-efficacy through a work integrated learning programme. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 8(1), 77–92.
Umphress, D., Hendrix, T., & Cross, J. (2002). Software process in the classroom: The capstone project experience. IEEE Software, 19(5), 78–81. https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2002.1032858.
University of Padua. (2017, September). Periodic assessment of curricula: 2013–2015. (Internal).
Vanhanen, J., Lehtinen, T., & Lassenius, C. (2012, June). Teaching real-world software engineering through a capstone project course with industrial customers. In 2012 First International Workshop on Software Engineering Education Based on Real-World Experiences (edurex) (p. 29–32). Zurich. https://doi.org/10.1109/EduRex.2012.6225702.
Vardanega, T., & Fedeli, M. (2018). A two-staged capstone project to foster university-business dialogue. In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE 2018 (pp. 272–277). https://doi.org/10.1145/3197091.3197130.
Whalley, J., Goldweber, M., & Ogier, H. (2017). Student values and interests in capstone project selection. In Proceeding of the 19th Australasian Computing Education Conference (pp. 90–94). New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3013499.3013508.
Woods, D., Felder, R., Rugarcia, A., & Stice, J. (2000). The future of engineering education III. Developing critical skills. Chemical Engineering Education, 34, 108–117.
Wosinski, J., Belcher, A. E., Dürrenberger, Y., Allin, A. C., Stormacq, C., & Gerson, L. D. (2018). Facilitating problem-based learning among undergraduate nursing students: A qualitative systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 60, 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.08.015.
Zheng, G., Zhang, C., & Li, L. (2015). Practicing and evaluating soft skills in it capstone projects. In Proceeding of the 16th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (pp. 109–113). New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2808006.2808041
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vardanega, T., Fedeli, M. (2019). Linking Active Learning and Capstone Projects in Higher Education. In: Fedeli, M., Bierema, L.L. (eds) Connecting Adult Learning and Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29872-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29872-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29871-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29872-2
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)