Evaluation of students' capstone software development projects

Abstract

Capstone projects are important part of engineering education studies in software development field. In the project, a student team implements a software product usually for a company. Because of group work, complex project topics and external stakeholders, evaluation of students’ work is challenging. Our studied project course is aimed for Master’s students, during their last year of studies. It is compilation of all information and competence what students have learned during their studies in computer science so far.<br/><br/>In this paper, we introduce a new detailed evaluation model for software engineering capstone projects. The model has the following main dimensions: project and process quality (e.g. completeness, usability and documentation), schedule (analysed kept agreements) and customer satisfaction (feedback e.g. about implemented features, functionality, easiness to maintain and communication and co-operation with the project team). Furthermore and big part of project evaluation, students can be seen as valuable asset to give feedback to themself and to each other, as well as for evaluating the project itself as part of their professional development. We have tested the evaluation model with over 25 projects and 146 students during two academic years, and the benefits of the model are more clear and transparent requirements in addition to fair credits to students. There may be variation within a project group both on the credit units and grade.