pchapin's Senior Projects Introductory Information

General Overview

This course is different from any other course in our program and maybe different from any other course you've ever taken. For one thing, this course spans two semesters. In the fall you take CIS-4721, and in the spring you take CIS-4722 to complete your Senior Project experience. In this course you will, while working with others, research, design, implement, and document a significant project of your own choosing. At the end of the year, you will formally present your project to an audience of your peers, instructors, and potential employers.

In this course, you will use what you've learned throughout your educational career. Ideally, your project should contain both software and IT aspects, forcing you to integrate topics from both of those areas. Teams are encouraged to combine students from both programs, with each student working in their specialized area. If you are a computer engineering technology student, your project should also include a hardware aspect.

The lecture content of this course will be mostly non-technical and cover topics such as scheduling, budgeting, professional ethics, giving effective presentations, and so forth. In addition to designing and building your project, you will also be required to write several supporting documents (including a project website) and do several practice presentations.

This course will be run more like a business operation than like a traditional class. I will variously play the roles of investor, customer, project manager, and technical consultant. In addition to the technical correctness of your project, you will have to be concerned about the cost (i.e., time) of development. You will need to convince both your peers, your investors (me), and your project manager (also me) of the viability of your project and of the feasibility of your approach. Questions about these matters may be raised at your final presentation by outside experts. You will want to be ready for them.

An important aspect of this course is working with others. Accordingly, you will be strongly encouraged to work on a team. You may encounter some personality conflicts or differences in working style between team members that cause problems. Learning to deal with others in a constructive and positive way is an extremely valuable skill that in the real world is often more significant than your technical skills (sometimes much more). Developing those interpersonal skills is a significant aspect of this course.

Instructor

Peter Chapin. Email: peter.chapin@vermontstate.edu. I will respond to email within 24 hours, not including weekends or holidays. Email is the best way to contact me. I can also sometimes be found on the Libera IRC network under the nickname of pcc. I can also sometimes be found on the CIS Classes Discord server. In addition, you should not hesitate to contact other faculty who are specialized in the area of your project. In most cases, they will be happy to offer advice, and you are encouraged to seek them out.

Prerequisites

This course is the capstone course of the BS.CIT, BS.CSE, and BS.CPE programs. Although there are no specific courses listed as prerequisites, you will need to draw from your background with many courses. You will also need to do some independent research to extend your knowledge in areas specific to your project.

Resources

There is no official text for this course. Instead, you will need to consult references online, in the library, or from other sources.

My home page contains various documents of general interest.

Grading Policy

Grading in this course tends to be highly subjective. In general, you can expect a reasonable grade as long as you take the course seriously and make steady progress toward your goals. For this semester, there are the following components to your grade:

  1. Documents. You will need to submit (as a team) several documents related to your project: a proposal (5 pts), requirements (20 pts), a schedule (10 pts), and an architecture & design document (20 pts).

  2. Progress Report Presentation (20 pts). At the end of the semester, your team will do a presentation describing the progress on your project so far. This presentation will be done in class.

  3. Individual Progress Reports (5 pts/ea for a total of about 50 pts). Each of you will be asked to submit a short report on your progress each week. There will be about 10 of these reports required during the semester.

There are no exams or quizzes.

Since you will be working in teams, your grade will be affected by the performance of your teammates. However, you can also distinguish yourself individually by way of the individual progress reports.

Late Policy

I have no specific late policy for this course. However, extreme lateness may negatively affect your grade in various ways. I will discuss problems with timeliness with you on a case-by-case basis as necessary.

Other Matters

Students with disabilities may request accommodation as provided within federal law. All such requests should be made by first contacting disabilityservices@vermontstate.edu.


Last Revised: 2023-08-22
© Copyright 2023 by Peter Chapin <peter.chapin@vermontstate.edu>