A common framework for diverse capstone experiences

Year-long senior design capstone courses used to be simple to manage; however, over the past several years they have become increasingly cross-disciplinary and technical in nature, to the point where a single faculty advisor will probably not have sufficient breadth and depth of expertise in all areas of the project to provide adequate guidance and supervision. The Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department at Ohio Northern University has responded to this challenge through the establishment of a ¿Project Review Board¿ for each senior design capstone project that consists of three faculty members with the appropriate background and expertise to guide the project. This review board structure can be implemented at any institution, provides greater opportunities for both accurate assessment and student professional development, and builds upon previous publications regarding capstone assessment and design standards. This paper presents the details behind the changes that were successfully implemented in our revised capstone process.