Evolution of a capstone course: a twenty-year perspective

The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown is a branch campus of the University of Pittsburgh system. Engineering Technology in three departments-civil, electrical, and mechanical-was commenced in the early 1970s. The BSET degree is offered exclusively on the Johnstown campus. Engineering programs are offered in Pittsburgh. With the arrival of the first senior class of Electrical Engineering Technology students, a senior project design course was instituted in the winter of 1975. It was, in general, a positive experience; however, a number of concerns were encountered. One of the most significant was the challenge of developing an idea then designing, building, testing, evaluating, and finally preparing written and oral reports in one semester. Over the years, the course has been modified and improved to permit students to have a more positive and successful experience. After a few years, a one-credit proposal/functional specification course was implemented during the first term of the senior year. This was followed by a three-credit design and implementation course during their final semester. The course objectives have always stated that it was to be 50% technical and 50% communication in nature. The paper describes how the course has developed such that communication is a significant component and why the present course is two credits in each term of the senior year with the course work evenly distributed throughout the year. The communication aspect of the course carries equal weight with the technical contributions.