Investigating Student Behavior in an Interdisciplinary Computing Capstone Course

Interdisciplinary project teams are increasingly vital in organizations that are focused on providing successful technical solutions that include a positive user experience. In response to the need for experience in this area, some higher education institutions have created interdisciplinary project-based experiential learning opportunities. In this research, we examine an interdisciplinary computing capstone course and present results from a qualitative study of student participants. We investigate how teams in an interdisciplinary capstone course self-organize, what convictions drive these decisions, and how they assess and value the expected contributions from disciplines other than their own. We analyze students' attitudes, beliefs, and motivations as gleaned from interviews and offer suggested improvement strategies for future interdisciplinary capstone courses.