Course Description
This is a two semester Computer Science capstone course culminating in a significant software project.
Bulletin Description: Planning, design, and construction of the capstone project; economic analysis of the project; application of software engineering principles, including software requirements, specification, requirements engineering, reuse, documentation, verification/validation, testing, configuration management. Includes a significant engagement in writing as a form of critical inquiry and scholarly expression to satisfy the WID requirement.
Fall Semester CSCI 4243W
Week | Lecture Session (Tuesday) | Lab (Wednesday) | Work Deadlines (Sunday 11:59pm) |
---|---|---|---|
Week 1 Aug.29th |
Course Logistics | Deloitte Visit Methodologies, Tooling walkthrough |
1. Look at sample ideas 2. Complete Student Info form before Tuesday’s class |
Week 2 Sept.5th |
Meeting w/instructors: project ideas |
Project Planning: Discovery and Research | 1. Propose Project ideas - Sept. 10 2. Submit Resume - Sept. 10 |
Sept.12th | Meeting with instructors (out of class) | Project Planning: Planning in Practice Initial Meeting with mentors |
Draft project proposal (3 slides) -Sept.17th (Blackboard) discuss proposal draft with mentors & instructors |
Sept.19th | Meet with Mentor/Instructor - Refined project ideas-components, HW equipment and SW needed |
Mock Interviews Standup meeting with mentors |
1. Updated Project Proposal Slides (Blackboard) 2. Hardware equipment and Software/data fees requests to instructors - Due Sept.24th |
Sept.26th. | Sprint Planning Meeting prep | How to give a good presentation SPM1 (Review Sprint plans) with mentors |
1. Gantt Chart (Blackboard) |
Oct.3rd | Progress Check | Project Development and delivery Standup Meeting with mentors |
1. Writing 1: Executive Summary (Blackboard) 2. Teamwork Survey (Required) |
Oct.10th Fall Break: 12-13th |
Progress Check | Presentation 1: Project elevator pitch Presentations-Rubric Standup meeting with mentors |
|
Oct. 17th | Progress Check | Writing Feedback / Git CI/CD Standup meeting with mentors |
Project Website (landing page) |
Oct.24th | Progress Check | Project Design and User Experience Standup Meeting with mentors |
Writing 2 Code Review with mentors |
Oct.31st | Sprint Planning Meeting prep | Sprint planning with mentors | |
Nov.7th | Demo Review plans UI Design |
Presentation 2: Project Design (Tech) Presentation 2 Rubric Standup meeting with mentors |
Code Review 2 |
Nov.14th | Status report- teamwork | Presentations and PRDs Standup meeting with mentors |
Writing 3 (Team) Due Nov.19, Blackboard includes User Interface Design Document 2. Group Feedback (opt) |
Nov.21st | No Class | Thanksgiving Break | |
Nov.28th | Status meeting: prep for Alpha Project Review Demo |
Alumni Job Panel Sprint review with mentors |
Code Review 3 |
Dec. 5 | Status updates on Demo1 Demo 1: Alpha Project Review |
Presentation 3 |
Writing 4 draft |
Dec.12th | Team meetings if necessary | Writing 4: Final Design Document (team) (Due Dec.14th) | |
Winter Break | end of CSCI 4243 |
Spring Semester CSCI 4244
Week of | Lecture Session | Lab(Wednesday) | Work Deadlines |
---|---|---|---|
Jan 16 | Standup meeting: project status review |
Project review & Updates Testing and Code Reviews |
winter updates |
Jan 23 | Standup Meeting: prepwork for Beta Demo |
Project Status discussions (opt) | 1. Code Review 2. Groupwork Feedback (Opt) |
Jan. 30 | Sprint Planning Meeting 4 | Preparing “promotional” (commercial) presentations Sprint Review |
Code reviews |
Feb.6 | Demo 2: Beta Prototype | Demo prep (No Lab class) | |
Feb.13 | Standup Meeting: Planning your presentations |
Beta Demo Feedback | Teamwork Survey (required) Updated Webpage Design |
Feb.20 | Standup Meeting: Presentation practice |
Presentation 4: Final “promotional” presentation (elevator pitch) 3 minute presentation, rubric similar earlier presentations |
Senior Design Project Repository |
Feb.27 | Sprint Planning Meeting 5 | Demo prep (No Lab class) | Code Review |
Mar.5 | Demo 3: Prelim Prototype | Machine Learning in our Projects | Group Feedback Survey (Reqd) |
Mar.12 | SPRING | BREAK | |
Mar.19 | Planning for 100% Demos | Senior Focus Group | Code reviews Plan your 100% Demos practice in two weeks |
Mar.26 | Sprint Planning Meeting 6 | Sprint review (No Lab class) | Review SEAS R&D and Senior Design showcase requirements |
Apr. 2 | 100% Demo practice | Final Presentations practice | Group Feedback (Opt) |
Apr. 9 | No Tuesday Instructor meetings | Feedback for 100% Demos practice Feedback for Final Presentations practice |
April 19 Poster PDF Submission Due for SEAS R&D and Senior Design showcase |
Apr.16 | 100% Demo | Money management in the real world | |
Apr. 23 | Optioanl instructor meeting | Final Presentations | SEAS R&D and Senior Design showcase Friday April 26 (Showcase Day) |
Apr. 30 | Makeup (No Class) | Makeup Demos (No Lab) | |
May 7 | No Class | No Lab | Final Package Due Sunday May 12, 11:59PM |
May 14 | No Class | Commencement Week | Commencement weekend |
Learning Outcomes
- Learn industry best practices, tools, and key elements in the software development process through a year-long computer science project: research and discovery, planning and design, development and launch.
- Apply concepts from software engineering to the project: requirements, specifications, reuse, documentation, verification and validation, testing, configuration management.
- Learn to communicate (written and oral) your work to stakeholders of the project: the case for launching the project, status reports, design, implementation plan, and demos.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts that you’ve learned in your Computer Science curriculum, and how knowledge and skill in Computer Science courses played a role in the project.
- Explore local and global impact of computing, as well as social impact issues.
- Demonstrate a working project.
Announcements
- This website is under construction - all content subject to change!
Getting Started: Class Resources
You should have received an email with a survey about project topics and teams. If you have not then contact the instructors immediately.
- Course Syllabus for the complete syllabus, requirements including grading policies, submission policies, and explanations.
- Project Criteria Read this document very carefully as you develop and propose your project ideas. Your project must meet the criteria specified in the Criteria document. Please read that carefully and make sure you can describe how your project proposal meets the requirements. You should also include what each team member will be responsible for.
- Project Examples from 2022-2023
- Older Projects - examples of past senior design projects (some from waay back!). Browse through them to get an idea of the types of projects students have completed in the past (but these are all single person projects, so expect a larger scope for your projects since you are doing team projects).
- Promotional Video of Class2021 Projects
- Project Ideas from faculty If you are looking for project ideas/topics, this is a list of ideas previously proposed by faculty. Or these AI generated ideas might not all be nonsense.
- Blackboard Your place for major announcements. We will use this space for announcements that would change the outcomes, syllabus, or deadlines of the course, and to post your grades. Individual writing assignments will need to be submitted on blackboard.
- Slack - (Join here) Your place for adhoc and daily communication. We will use this space for communication between team members, teams, mentors and instructors. We will use the same public channel (the general channel) for any classwide communication/discussion but you will have a team channel to use for your team and mentor communications.
- Trello Your place for task management. We will use this space for managing project tasks and details. Each team will have their own Workspace to manage their project. Project mentors will have access to the project workspace. Sign up right away for your Trello account and provide this in the Class Logistics survey (due first week).
- Github Your place for code management. We will use this to manage your deployments, store your code, and monitor your commit progress
- Trello and Github Quickstart tutorial
- Git Instructions & Video Demo (provided by Ethan Baron, Cat Meadows).
- Visual Studio Code Instructions & Video Demo (provided by Ethan Baron, Cat Meadows)
- Project Mentors (Technical Mentors): Each team will have a technical mentor assigned to them, and is required to meet regularly with their mentor. We recommend a weekly meeting but bi-weekly meetings, and sprint planning meetings, are required. The mentors are a valuable resource and they will help teams develop, evaluate, design, implement and test the projects. Mentor feedback will be an important part of your assessment.
- Project Webpage You must have a webpage for your project. We are using Github Pages - see the syllabus page for details on webpage and final package contents.
Meeting Types
The class will have several types of meetings: lectures (in-person and online), standup meetings, sprint planning meeting, panel discussions, project presentations, mock interviews, tutorials, guest lectures (in-person and online), and demos.
- Lecture/Presentation/Demo/Interviews will be held primarily during the regularly scheduled Wednesday (lab) classes.
- What is a standup meeting? A Standup Meeting (Agile methodology) is a weekly high level project status meeting between the team and the project instructor/mentor. Each team will meet with their technical mentor and/or course instructor for their standup meeting; the meeting will be scheduled either during the class times or at a time arranged between the mentors and the team. During this meeting, we ask our team members, in order to most efficiently make progress on the project:
- What have you done since we last met?
- What will you do until we meet again?
- Anything blocking your progress?
- What is a Sprint Planning Meeting (SPM)? A Sprint Planning Meeting (Agile methodology) is a monthly meeting in which the team sets the goals and tasks they choose to commit to for the next month. The group determines which Backlog items will be handled in the next sprint.
Topics
Some of the topics covered in the course include:
- SW Development Methdologies and Processes
- Project planning: Discovery and Research
- Project Planning: planning in Practice
- Developer tools
- Development and delivery
- Design and User Experience
- Communication skills
- Written reports (CS4243) is a WID course.
- Oral presentation skills – presenting to different audiences
- Teams: Roles, Communication and Collaboration
- Career planning, career paths, Mock interviews