CSCI 6838 -- Capstone
Updated  January 17, 2023

Class Hours (Face-to-Face or Online)

Wednesday 7:00 - 9:50, Delta 150, or via Zoom (If necessary)
Zoom information may be found in the Google folder for this course.

Office Hours

Wed 12 - 4 PM, Thurs 9 - 10 AM, or by appointment. Students with appointments have priority. If the suite door is locked, then call my extension (last 4 digits) using the phone in the hallway. Students who have an appointment will have priority over those students who don't. A Zoom session is also possible.

Teaching Assistant

NA
 

Course Description

Attendance at the orientation meeting on the first class day is required. Students will be assigned research projects, which require integrating knowledge and standard procedures in the discipline. Deliverables, such as written reports, code  and presentations, will be required.

The traditional graduate student load is 3 courses. Be prepared to commit at least 15 to 20 hours per week to this course! The Capstone course is a very time-intensive course! Most students take at most 1 other class.

Course Goals and Objectives

The main objectives of the course are for students to gain practical experience in the discipline, to experience working in a team environment, and to gain experience in writing technical reports and in making technical presentations.

By the end of the course, you will

• Analyze real-world problems to devise requirement specifications.

• Construct effective software solutions for real-world problems.

• Work professionally with team members, customers, mentors and/or supervisors.

• Manage and participate in software projects.

• Present technical presentations effectively.

• Write technical reports.

Prerequisites

Completion of at least 24 credit hours towards the graduate degree program

Methodology

Lecture, seminar, case studies, and interactive problem solving.

Groups of 3-5 students will be assigned to each project. Students must meet with the mentor regularly throughout the semester to ensure that in all stages their products are in compliance with the requirements of the project. Team members must meet at least once a week. Each team should maintain an active website for the project. Each team is expected to present periodic progress reports to the class. Each team member is expected to actively participate on all aspects of the project, including software development, presentations and report writing. It is recommended that each team member present and write about the part of the tasks that he/she has contributed the most. The final report must clearly specify the specific contributions of each team member.

Appraisal:

Since this is a team project, fellow members of your project will be depending on you throughout the semester. Thus, attendance is extremely important. Missing the first class will impact your final grade by a letter grade reduction. Missing the first two classes will result in automatic F in the class. You will lose 2 points off your final grade for each additional absense.

Grades will be based solely on criteria listed above. No other factors will be considered.

Grading:

    93+ = A; 90 = A-; 87+ = B+; 83+ = B; 80+ = B-;

      77+ = C+; 73+ = C; 70 = C-; 67+ = D+; 63+ = D; 60+ = D-; 0+= F

My motto:

Foster disciplined, altruistic passion.

Required Textbook

     None.

Schedule: (Tentative)

Jan 18 -   Course Introduction, Requirements, Project Website

Jan 25 –   Individual Team Meetings: Establish Requirements and Deliverables Timeline

Feb 01 – Group Meeting: Share requirements,Timeline (30 min/group), Website Overview

Feb 08 – Individual Team Meetings (What have you produced?, Who did what?)

Feb 15 – Individual Team Meetings (Project Progress, Website Review)

Feb 22 – Group Meeting: Progress on Projects, Team Website reveal

Mar 01 – Individual Team Meetings (Progress since last week?, Assess Deliverables Timeline)

Mar 08 – Individual Team Meetings (Progress since last week?, Assess Deliverables Timeline)

Mar 15 ************ Spring Break *************

Mar 22 – Resume Review, Mock Interview, Corporate Culture

Mar 29 – Draft of Poster Due

Apr 05 – Individual Team Meetings

******** April 11 – Last day to withdraw ********

Apr 12 – Group Meeting: Poster Presentation Walk Through

Apr 19 - "Poster Presentations - Part 1" - Open to the General Public - 11:50 to 12:50 PM

Apr 19 – Individual Team Meetings

Apr 26 - "Poster Presentations Part 2" - Open to the General Public - 11:50 to 12:50 PM

Apr 26 – Final Presentations

Each team will present for a total of 40 minutes, including a “question and answer” session. Each member should present for approximately the same amount of time. Every student is expected to attend all presentations and ask questions during the class. No feedback will be provided. Final presentations are used for grading. It will be open to the public.

May 03 – No class. Final Report, Peer Review due via email (MS-Word format)

Other Policies

Homework, Projects, Research Paper

• Homework and projects are due exactly at the prescribed time (usually the beginning of class). As soon as a homework or project is collected, then all others are considered 1 day late (even if it only 3 minutes). In the event you might be running late, you might want to email the assignment. Also, when preparing your assignment, be mindful of possible backlogs at the printer, jammed printer, printer out of toner, etc.

• Late homework/projects are accepted with a penalty of 10% deduction per 24-hour period after the due date. No late project will be accepted one week after the due date. The last homework/project cannot be late.

• There will be no extra-credit homework or projects in this course.

• All homework and projects must be typed not hand-written.

• A cover page is expected for all homework and projects.

• VERY IMPORTANT! In certain classes students are encouraged to work in groups. For this class you are expected to work on all homework and projects individually for most assignments. Students may not discuss, use, email, show, give, buy, sell, borrow, trade, steal, download from the Internet, etc. in whole or part, any of the homework or projects in any manner not prescribed by the instructor. This condition applies even after you complete this course! Penalty for cheating will be extremely severe and will result at least a one letter grade reduction in your final grade. It could result in an F for this course. Cheating can cost result in losing a scholarship, a TA position, or an RA position.  There may be some group assignments for this class. If there is inappropriate sharing among two or more groups, then all students will be considered guilty. Choose your partner very carefully!

• Handing in an assignment for another student is considered cheating. Penalty for cheating will be extremely severe and may result in an F for this course. 

• VERY IMPORTANT! Failing to report to the instructor any incident in which a student witnesses an alleged violation of the Academic Honesty Code is considered a violation of the academic honesty code. Please see me to discuss any incidents.

• VERY IMPORTANT! Purchasing, or otherwise acquiring and submitting as one's own work any research paper or any other writing assignment prepared by others constitutes cheating. Penalty for cheating will be extremely severe and may result in an F for this course.

• VERY IMPORTANT! Plagiarism on either an abstract, draft of a paper, or final paper will result in a 0 for all three parts (abstract, draft version, final paper). Please review the following links regarding plagiarism very carefully: https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/definition.html

• http://www.hamilton.edu/style/avoiding-plagiarism

• http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize

• Standard academic honesty procedure will be followed. For the UHCL Academic Honesty Policy, please click on the following link.