Establishing Outcomes For Senior Capstone Projects In Industrial Technology

As part of continuous curriculum improvement and outcomes assessment for professional accreditation, the Department of Information and Management Technology at Arizona State University on the Polytechnic Campus determined that a mandatory senior project be established. The methodology for validating such a senior project included a descriptive survey of three constituent groups: students in upper division courses, faculty, and a jury of senior industry advisory board members. A comprehensive list of senior project key words was created from a broad sample of existing national senior project descriptions. An attitudinal survey instrument was created from this list of key words. The results of the survey were analyzed for the variability of response within and between constituent groups, and the direction of agreement on a five-point Likert scale. Conclusions were drawn as to which measures showed agreement or disagreement, and how those results might impact the implementation of the senior project course.