projecting it education into the real world
Giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a real world business application is valuable so that they can synthesize what they know. As a new faculty member 20 years ago, I was told that it was not possible to have students develop live applications due to the nature of software. However, having confidence in the tenets of the software development life cycle in helping to scope and size a project, I proposed to assume responsibility for the capstone course which at that time consisted of a case study assigned to multiple teams of students. My challenge was the conversion of the course such that each student team was responsible for developing a real-world application for a customer.I will relate my experience in developing this course and how the capstone course has evolved from small internal projects within the university to both applied projects and research projects with industry partners and academic partners outside the university.Capstone courses where students develop real world applications are feasible for a one-semester course. The experience gained by the students is valuable in understanding the commitment to a customer. The customer benefits by getting a system developed that might not have been cost justifiable otherwise. The academic department and the university benefit by developing strong relationships with businesses and academic organizations in the community and beyond.
project software development