skip to main content
10.1145/2910925.2910949acmotherconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PageswccceConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Ten Years of Capstone Projects at Okanagan College: A Retrospective Analysis

Published: 06 May 2016 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we discuss ten years of teaching of "Projects in Computer Science" (COSC 224), "Software Engineering" with the following "Software Engineering Project" capstone projects (COSC 470 and COSC 471 respectfully) at the Computer Science Department of Okanagan College (OC). We included "Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design" (COSC 236) course in the discussion, which was used for the initial systems analysis and design in the Fall before the project development in COSC 224 in the Winter, as it was suggested by the students in several anonymous program reviews. Also we provide retrospective analysis and evaluation of capstone projects, starting from very small artificial projects, then moving on to projects with international industrial sponsors and sponsors from universities. Then, after many discussions with the students and within our department we decided to work with local small companies instead of large international corporations and universities. Starting from 2013 many capstone projects in both COSC 236/224 and COSC 470/471 supported applied research projects at Computer Science department, especially those that were related to the projects supported by the "Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)" in 2014--2016.

References

[1]
B. W. Boehm, "Software engineering-as it is," in Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Software engineering. IEEE Press, 1979, pp. 11--21.
[2]
R. J. LeBlanc, A. Sobel, J. L. Diaz-Herrera, T. B. Hilburn et al., Software Engineering 2004: Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering. IEEE Computer Society, 2006.
[3]
Y. Khmelevsky, "SW Development Projects in Academia," in Proceedings of the 14th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, ser. WCCCE '09. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2009, pp. 60--64. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1536274.1536292
[4]
Y. Khmelevsky and V. Voytenko, "Hybrid cloud computing infrastructure in academia." in WCCCE 2015 - the 20th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, At May 8-9, 2015. Vancouver Island University (VIU), Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada., 2015.
[5]
Y. Khmelevsky, "Cloud computing infrastructure prototype for university education and research/youry khmelevsky, volodymyr voytenko," in WCCCE'10 Proceedings of the 15st Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education'Article# 8.--ACM New York, NY, USA, 2010.
[6]
Y. Khmelevsky, V. Ustimenko, G. Hains, C. Kluka, E. Ozan, and D. Syrotovsky, "International collaboration in sw engineering research projects," in Proceedings of the 16th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, ser. WCCCE '11. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2011, pp. 52--56. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1989622.1989637
[7]
T. Alstad, J. Riley Dunkin, S. Detlor, B. French, H. Caswell, Z. Ouimet, Y. Khmelevsky, and G. Hains, "Game network traffic simulation by a custom bot," in Systems Conference (SysCon), 2015 9th Annual IEEE International, April 2015, pp. 675--680.
[8]
G. Hains, C. Li, D. Atkinson, J. Redly, N. Wilkinson, and Y. Khmelevsky, "Code generation and parallel code execution from business uml models: A case study for an algorithmic trading system," in Science and Information Conference (SAI), 2015, July 2015, pp. 84--93.
[9]
T. Alstad, J. Duncan, S. Detlor, B. French, H. Caswell, Z. Ouimet, Y. Khmelevsky, G. Hains, R. Bartlett, and A. Needham, "Minecraft computer game performance analysis and network traffic emulation by a custom bot," in Science and Information Conference (SAI), 2015, July 2015, pp. 227--236.
[10]
G. Hains, C. Li, N. Wilkinson, J. Redly, and Y. Khmelevsky, "Performance analysis of the parallel code execution for an algorithmic trading system, generated from uml models by end users," in Parallel Computing Technologies (PARCOMPTECH), 2015 National Conference on, Feb 2015, pp. 1--10.
[11]
R. Grmek, Y. Khmelevsky, and D. Syrotovsky, "Automated inventory tracking system prototype in cloud," in High Performance Computing and Simulation (HPCS), 2011 International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation. Istanbul, Turkey: In Cooperation with the ACM, IEEE, IFIP, Co-Sponsored by IEEE Turkey, ASIM, EUROSIM, CASS, JSST, LSS, PTSK, TSS, Bahcesehir University, July 4-8 2011, pp. 435--441.
[12]
T. Alstad, J. R. Dunkin, R. Bartlett, A. Needham, G. Hains, and Y. Khmelevsky, "Minecraft computer game simulation and network performance analysis," in Second International Conferences on Computer Graphics, Visualization, Computer Vision, and Game Technology (VisioGame 2014), Bandung, Indonesia, November 2014.
[13]
N. Feamster and A. Gray, "Can great research be taught?: Independent research with cross-disciplinary thinking and broader impact," SIGCSE Bull., vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 471--475, Mar. 2008. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1352322.1352294
[14]
L. Barker, "Student and faculty perceptions of undergraduate research experiences in computing," Trans. Comput. Educ., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 5:1--5:28, Mar. 2009. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1513593.1513598
[15]
Y. Khmelevsky and V. Voytenko, "Strategies for teaching mobile application development," 18th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, Ed. North Vancouver, BC: Capilano University, May 3rd 2013. {Online}. Available: http://wccce2013.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/wccce2013_submission_8.pdf
[16]
M. Arges Nadin, "Rendezvous with the stars and the universe, too," Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, vol. 107, p. 202, 2013.
[17]
D. Petkovic, G. Thompson, and R. Todtenhoefer, "Teaching practical software engineering and global software engineering: Evaluation and comparison," in Proceedings of the 11th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ser. ITICSE '06. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2006, pp. 294--298. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1140124.1140202
[18]
M. Buckley, "Viewpoint: Computing as social science," Commun. ACM, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 29--30, Apr. 2009. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1498765.1498779
[19]
Y. Khmelevsky, "Research and teaching strategies integration at post-secondary programs," in Proceedings of the 16th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, ser. WCCCE '11. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2011, pp. 57--60. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1989622.1989638
[20]
M. Milani, S. M. Sadjadi, R. Rangaswami, P. J. Clarke, and T. Li, "Research experiences for undergraduates: Autonomic computing research at fiu," in The Fifth Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference: Intellect, Initiatives, Insight, and Innovations, ser. TAPIA '09. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2009, pp. 93--97. {Online}. Available: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1565799.1565821

Cited By

View all
  • (2025)Instructors' Perspectives on Capstone Courses in Computing Fields: A Mixed-Methods Study2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709608(68-94)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
  • (2025)Developing and sustaining a student-driven software solutions center—An experience reportJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112279220(112279)Online publication date: Feb-2025
  • (2024)PostgreSQL Data Warehouse Implementation and Performance Optimization For Energy Companies2024 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon61195.2024.10553614(1-8)Online publication date: 15-Apr-2024
  • Show More Cited By
  1. Ten Years of Capstone Projects at Okanagan College: A Retrospective Analysis

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image ACM Other conferences
    WCCCE '16: Proceedings of the 21st Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education
    May 2016
    137 pages
    ISBN:9781450343558
    DOI:10.1145/2910925
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

    In-Cooperation

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 06 May 2016

    Permissions

    Request permissions for this article.

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. Design
    2. Documentation
    3. Experimentation
    4. Human Factors
    5. Languages
    6. Management
    7. Reliability

    Qualifiers

    • Research-article
    • Research
    • Refereed limited

    Conference

    WCCCE '16

    Acceptance Rates

    WCCCE '16 Paper Acceptance Rate 26 of 35 submissions, 74%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 78 of 117 submissions, 67%

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • Downloads (Last 12 months)12
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
    Reflects downloads up to 13 Feb 2025

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    Cited By

    View all
    • (2025)Instructors' Perspectives on Capstone Courses in Computing Fields: A Mixed-Methods Study2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709608(68-94)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
    • (2025)Developing and sustaining a student-driven software solutions center—An experience reportJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112279220(112279)Online publication date: Feb-2025
    • (2024)PostgreSQL Data Warehouse Implementation and Performance Optimization For Energy Companies2024 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon61195.2024.10553614(1-8)Online publication date: 15-Apr-2024
    • (2024)Translating Natural Language Queries to SQL Using the T5 Model2024 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon61195.2024.10553509(1-7)Online publication date: 15-Apr-2024
    • (2023)Pan-Institutional Applied Research within Undergraduate and Post-Degree Diploma Teaching ProgramsProceedings of the 25th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education10.1145/3593342.3593353(1-7)Online publication date: 4-May-2023
    • (2023)Forecasting of Stock Prices Using Machine Learning Models2023 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon53073.2023.10131091(1-7)Online publication date: 17-Apr-2023
    • (2023)“Software is the easy part of Software Engineering” - Lessons and Experiences from A Large-Scale, Multi-Team Capstone Course2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET)10.1109/ICSE-SEET58685.2023.00027(223-234)Online publication date: May-2023
    • (2023)Exposing Software Engineering Students to Stressful Projects: Does Diversity Matter?2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET)10.1109/ICSE-SEET58685.2023.00026(210-222)Online publication date: May-2023
    • (2022)Student-sponsored projects in a capstone courseProceedings of the ACM/IEEE 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training10.1145/3510456.3514160(254-264)Online publication date: 21-May-2022
    • (2022)Estimation of Hourly Utility Usage Using Machine Learning2022 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon)10.1109/SysCon53536.2022.9773816(1-5)Online publication date: 25-Apr-2022
    • Show More Cited By

    View Options

    Login options

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Figures

    Tables

    Media

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media