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 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