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The Capstone Course – A New Approach

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Construction Engineering Division Technical Session 4

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40382

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40382

Download Count

149

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Paper Authors

biography

Fernando Romero Galvao University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Prof. Romero has been working globally as a Construction Project and Program Director. The knowledge acquired over his career of more than 30 years, opened doors for him to have an international career in the area of project management working in several countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, Austria, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Suriname, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. While his professional career permitted him to manage projects covering the full scope of construction and with a value of more than $18.5 billion, he also possesses wide-ranging academic experience in teaching construction. Prof. Romero is co-author of a book on megaprojects (in Portuguese) and has published extensively about capital projects.

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biography

Luciana Debs Purdue University Programs

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Dr. Debs is an assistant professor at the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University. Her research is in teaching and use of new technology and the integration of design and construction.

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Abstract

The main objective of a capstone course is to enable students to integrate the knowledge gained from pursuing a given degree program. The course should allow the students to incorporate the skills and concepts learned systematically during their four-year stay at the university. A construction capstone course aims to prepare the students to enter the construction and building technology field. Through a case study, we present the development and deployment of a capstone course at *blind*. In this course, a request for qualifications is used as a semester-long project and guides course content. The course culminates with a presentation of written and oral outcomes in front of a panel of industry jurors. Lessons learned from this recent experience are presented and prompt some questions to be brought to the table: First, is what we are teaching in the capstone course enough for construction companies? Second, what are the primary skills that the construction companies are looking for? Third, do our students know how to express their opinions in a meeting, write a report, make a presentation, work in a team, and finally, know about ethics and compliance? Keywords: Capstone Project, RFP, Written presentation, Oral Presentation.

Galvao, F. R., & Debs, L. (2022, August), The Capstone Course – A New Approach Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40382

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