Pedagogical Changes to a Capstone Course to Foster Refinement of Professional Skills

Corinna Marie Fleischmann; Hudson V. Jackson; Kassim M. Tarhini

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Technical Session - Effective Teaching 1
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47835

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Paper Authors

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Corinna Marie Fleischmann P.E. United States Coast Guard Academy

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Captain Corinna Fleischmann is a licensed Professional Engineer with military, academic and research experience in water resources engineering, environmental engineering, coastal resiliency, construction project management and engineering education. CAPT Fleischmann is a career educator who has been a member of the US Coast Guard Academy (CGA) faculty since 2004. She served as the Department Head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Program from 2017-2021 and currently serves as the inaugural Director of Academic Enrichment.

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Hudson V. Jackson P.E. United States Coast Guard Academy

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Dr. Jackson received his PhD from Rutgers University, specializing in Geotechnical Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer with over 30 years of consulting, academic and research experience. He is currently a Professor of Civil Engineering at

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Kassim M. Tarhini P.E. United States Coast Guard Academy

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Professor of Civil Engineering

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Abstract

For both accreditation purposes and for student professional development, ensuring students acquire professional skills is an integral part of an effective undergraduate engineering program. Engineering programs throughout the country have developed a variety of methods to hone these professional skills, typically involving a capstone project experience. At our institution, the culminating design course has grown over the past 20 years and has developed into a capstone program that delivers positive outcomes for both our students and stakeholders. A key graduation requirement of our program is that students complete a capstone project that includes the application of teamwork, problem-solving, design, project execution and management skills to a real-life civil and environmental engineering problem. The capstone experience has morphed over the past 20 years from a single project completed by the entire graduating class in small teams to multiple projects with separate stakeholders for each capstone team. The current structure is a two-course sequence that incorporates several pedagogical approaches to help students apply and hone their professional skills, including: • An introduction to management practices, especially planning and execution of projects. • Sustainability and resilience considerations in design. • Mandatory weekly meetings which promote applications of communication skills and client/customer relations. • Rotation of the Chair for weekly meetings that promotes inclusivity and equal opportunity for growth for each team member. • Selection of a team contact person who provides oversight to all communications with stakeholders and advisors; this ensures that team members collectively evaluate their strength to make the appropriate selection. • Faculty advisors and sponsors, who play the role of consultant, meet weekly with each team to provide supervision and advice on the progress of the project. • Mandatory site visits to meet the stakeholders in person and to better understand the scope and expectations of the stakeholders. • Establishment of a detailed project selection process that includes students’ interest and faculty expertise. Changes have also been made to the project selection over time and now includes funding for site visits, a mandatory design component, a reasonable project schedule, realistic stakeholder expectations, and a good match with expertise of the faculty advisors. Each capstone design team is provided specific instructions to guide them through the execution of their capstone projects. These guidelines include mandatory weekly progress meetings with advisors followed by documented meeting minutes that are disseminated to the project team (including the advisor and the stakeholders); a final comprehensive technical report; a final notebook that demonstrates their progress throughout the semester; and a final presentation where the teams present to all stakeholders of the capstone project. The authors discuss the developmental changes implemented in this two-course capstone experience and an assessment of the impact of the pedagogical approaches used to enhance student learning and development.

Citation
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Fleischmann, C. M., & Jackson, H. V., & Tarhini, K. M. (2024, June), Pedagogical Changes to a Capstone Course to Foster Refinement of Professional Skills Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47835

TY - CPAPER
AB - For both accreditation purposes and for student professional development, ensuring students acquire professional skills is an integral part of an effective undergraduate engineering program. Engineering programs throughout the country have developed a variety of methods to hone these professional skills, typically involving a capstone project experience. At our institution, the culminating design course has grown over the past 20 years and has developed into a capstone program that delivers positive outcomes for both our students and stakeholders. A key graduation requirement of our program is that students complete a capstone project that includes the application of teamwork, problem-solving, design, project execution and management skills to a real-life civil and environmental engineering problem. The capstone experience has morphed over the past 20 years from a single project completed by the entire graduating class in small teams to multiple projects with separate stakeholders for each capstone team. The current structure is a two-course sequence that incorporates several pedagogical approaches to help students apply and hone their professional skills, including:
• An introduction to management practices, especially planning and execution of projects.
• Sustainability and resilience considerations in design.
• Mandatory weekly meetings which promote applications of communication skills and client/customer relations.
• Rotation of the Chair for weekly meetings that promotes inclusivity and equal opportunity for growth for each team member.
• Selection of a team contact person who provides oversight to all communications with stakeholders and advisors; this ensures that team members collectively evaluate their strength to make the appropriate selection.
• Faculty advisors and sponsors, who play the role of consultant, meet weekly with each team to provide supervision and advice on the progress of the project.
• Mandatory site visits to meet the stakeholders in person and to better understand the scope and expectations of the stakeholders.
• Establishment of a detailed project selection process that includes students’ interest and faculty expertise.
Changes have also been made to the project selection over time and now includes funding for site visits, a mandatory design component, a reasonable project schedule, realistic stakeholder expectations, and a good match with expertise of the faculty advisors. Each capstone design team is provided specific instructions to guide them through the execution of their capstone projects. These guidelines include mandatory weekly progress meetings with advisors followed by documented meeting minutes that are disseminated to the project team (including the advisor and the stakeholders); a final comprehensive technical report; a final notebook that demonstrates their progress throughout the semester; and a final presentation where the teams present to all stakeholders of the capstone project. The authors discuss the developmental changes implemented in this two-course capstone experience and an assessment of the impact of the pedagogical approaches used to enhance student learning and development.

AU - Corinna Marie Fleischmann P.E.
AU - Hudson V. Jackson P.E.
AU - Kassim M. Tarhini P.E.
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Pedagogical Changes to a Capstone Course to Foster Refinement of Professional Skills
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47835
ER -