ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT COMPLETION FOR CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS

The Capstone Design project has become a significant educational experience for the student in the preparation of their professional skills and the application of their growing technical expertise. The typical design process experience includes Problem Definition, Concept Generation, Preliminary Design, Detail Design, and Communication of Results. However, the end result of this process is ultimately Solution of the Problem which often receives little attention in the academic setting. A successful Capstone Design program including companion design courses has been developed that has become an integral and important component of the Mechanical Engineering curriculum at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A variety of challenging projects are created each year to appeal to varied student academic and career interests. Students work in teams with the assistance of a faculty advisor to tackle a significant Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design project. The design experience and course experience includes defining the problems to be addressed with formal Design Requirements and identifying how the problems will be solved with a formal Project Plan. As the design and the project evolve, the course experience includes a Design Review and an Engineering Report. For those students that have not had the benefit of professional work experience or internships, these course deliverables provide an initiation and foundation for their professional engineering careers. Objective assessment of the course deliverables is difficult for Capstone Design projects and courses. There is excellent published literature that provides guidance based upon learning outcomes and the design process. The design process within the Capstone course may be conducted in three assessments including Problem Scoping, Concept Generation and Solution Realization. There is some published literature regarding scoring rubrics that are helpful for assessing communication skills as demonstrated in a report or presentation for course grading purposes. However, there is a noted absence regarding the expectations and assessments regarding the final outcome of the design project, Solution of the Defined Problems (or Solution Assets). Little attention has been given by instructors and as a result little guidance has been provided to the students regarding the expectations and assessment of Project Completion within the context of Solution Realization for Capstone projects. The Capstone project provides a unique experience regarding problem solving for the student. The students and teams should be held accountable in providing a formal definition of expected Project Completion outcomes and should provide objective evidence of problems solution and project completion. This paper will address the course deliverables and experiences of the demonstration and assessment of Project Completion as it has evolved. The evolution of the course deliverables now more clearly addresses Project Completion and Problem Solution. Students and teams have demonstrated the ability to define the problems that need to be solved and now must clearly provide objective evidence of solving the problems that have been defined. This assessment is conducted separate from the quality of communication skills typically assessed by a final report or design review.