Criteria for CSE Capstone Design Courses (no longer current)

The ABET 2000 document states the following:

• Students must be prepared for engineering practice through the curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier coursework and incorporating engineering standards and realistic constraints that include most of the following considerations: economic; environmental; sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health and safety; social; and political.

Specifically, CIS courses that meet the following requirements will be considered for designation as Capstone Design courses.

1. Should be at the senior level.
2. Should include as pre-reqs all relevant courses which are part of the CSE core or the option for which the design course is intended.
3. Design latitude: Should include evaluation of design alternatives; should be at least somewhat open ended.
4. More than one-half of the course objective should be design:
   • Course objectives should include design in a significant way.
   • Grade plan should base grade at least one third on the design component (in contrast to domain knowledge, pure implementation, etc.)
   • Class time distribution should include at least one hour of lab credit based on a minimum of 3 hours of nominal lab time (usually unstructured). So a 4-credit class should not meet for 4 scheduled lectures per week.
5. Documentation: Project deliverables should include design documentation; the grading scheme should account for the quality of the design documentation/presentation (including evaluation of grammar, organization, clarity, etc.)
6. Desirable features: Oral presentations, use of realistic constraints, etc.

The current list (as of 10/27/98) of capstone design courses is:
CIS 731, 758, 762, 772, 776, 778.

When these courses are reviewed when the respective `Course Group Reports' are prepared, one issue that the involved faculty should address is whether the courses continue to be appropriate for designation as capstone design courses and propose and implement any needed changes; as well as address the question of whether other courses in the group meet the intention behind capstone design courses, and if so, propose to the Undergraduate Studies Committee that these courses be so designated.

All CSE majors must take one of the capstone design courses appropriate to their specific option.