Postsecondary curriculum is designed to prepare students for their careers following graduation, which traditionally revolves around technical aspects of their respected career field. Capstone courses were introduced to help ease students' transition from the university into their careers. However, little research containing empirical evidence…

In this integrative, team-based capstone project, students in an upper year Tectonics course built a planet of their own design from the basic concepts of plate tectonics. They created a tectonic map complete with plate boundaries, continental-ocean boundaries, motion vectors, and hot spot traces. In subsequent weeks, students produced a geologic…

Engineering education addresses the development of professional competencies in undergraduates. In this context, the core set of professional competencies includes critical thinking and problem solving, effective communication, collaboration and team building, and creativity and innovation--also known as the four Cs--as well as socio-professional…

The engineering graduate of today will engage in a career which will span the middle of the twenty-first century, and beyond. They will work in a world which is increasingly more complex and uncertain than at any time before. This will require an integrated combination of technical knowledge and transferable skills and values, to a greater extent…

Most educators who teach the advertising campaigns course require students to work as groups. A review of cooperative learning and group dynamics literature, however, suggests that unless students are systematically prepared for group work instructional goals will be difficult to achieve. This article describes how pre-training activities in group…

A yearlong senior experience course requires teams of business students to solve real problems for organizations in the community. Students enhanced responsibility, confidence, and organizational skills. Problems centered on differentiating the course from internships and improving staffing. Students had problems with group dynamics, team…

This paper discusses the development of a MIS (Management Information Systems) capstone course in an adult graduate information technology program at Johns Hopkins University (Maryland). Rather than focusing on a technology topic, the course provides an environment that allows students to apply the information and skills that they have obtained in…