1. Incorporating an Experiential Learning Capstone Project Course into a Curriculum
Kathy Weaver, PhD
Associate Director
Master of Information Management
University of Maryland
Tetyana Bezbabna
Program Coordinator
Master of Information Management
University of Maryland

2. Capstone Experience Agenda
Capstone Experience Objectives
Capstone Experience Varieties
Capstone Experience Examples
UMD MIM Capstone Experience
Capstone Experience Activities
Capstone Experience Summary

3. Capstone Experience Professional experience based on real-world issues
Students work with organization outside of classroom
Projects are chosen based on student interest
Showcase talents gathered in program
Incorporate previous experience

4. Capstone Experience Objectives
Synthesize knowledge and engage in life-long learning
Communicate as professionals
Understand the value of interpersonal skills
Collaborate with clients
Produce high-quality and significant products
Improve professional skills
Gather professional connections

5. Capstone Experience Varieties
Full program research
Final Presentation to committee
Senior capstone courses
Last semester sequence
Master’s Report
A substantive, publishable-quality paper
Team Project
Student teams
An online simulation
Simulation-game using real-world contexts
Graduate vs. Undergraduate
Project Complexity
Project Variety (simulation vs. working with a real client)

6. Capstone Experience Examples
Carnegie Mellon University, BXA Intercollege Degree Programs
Final year
Humboldt State University, Biology
Self-designed student project throughout full program
University of Maryland, Smith School of Business
An online simulation
University of Texas, Austin School of Information
Master’s Report
University of Washington, Computer Science and Engineering
Team Project

7. UMD MIM Capstone Experience
Information management (IM):
Brings together technology, information, and management
Increases efficiency and promotes innovation
Examples of IM careers:
CIO, CTO, CKO, Director of IT/IT Services, Business Intelligence Analyst, Business Analyst, IT Consultant, Project Manager, Information Architect, Data Scientist, User Experience Specialist

8. MIM Program Overview MIM Students backgrounds:
Computer Science and Engineering
electrical | computer | mechanical
Business
marketing | accounting | operations | finance
Communication
media | journalism
Information technology and Information science
Health professions
Need to find projects to meet all of these needs

9. Capstone Experience Project Types
Research
Student conducts extensive research producing technical report or white paper
Analytical
Student analyzes information offering detailed strategy
Technical
Student develops usable tools

10. Capstone Project Database
Gathering Capstone Projects
Campus and department speakers
Capstone projects website
Student submissions
Internship sponsors
Past project clients
UMD faculty
Capstone Project Database
Friends

11. Capstone Experience Project Cycle
Project Proposals
Professional Profiles & Project Preferences
Client Submission
Student Preferences
Project Assignments
Project Completion
Students work on
projects 10 hours / week
Match needs of client and skills of student

12. Gathering Capstone Projects
Example 1: Information Architecture (Analysis)
Analyzed current information repositories
Proposed new information management architecture
Example 2: Interactive Dashboard (Technical)
Organized information from yearly Excel document
Used visualization tool to dynamically show incoming data
Example 3: Social Media Strategy (Research)
Research social media strategies at other universities
Develop prototype of proposed social media strategy

13. Gathering Capstone Projects
ACTIVITY 1: Create a capstone project
Review the capstone project examples provided
Generate an idea for a capstone project
Document the idea on flipchart paper following the template provided

14. Student Preferences and Student Experience
Document 1: Professional Profile
Provide evidence based information about skills and expertise
Career Goals
Based on outcome of profile table, document desired career goals
Student Capstone Project Preferences
Top 5 choices based on database of capstone projects

15. Capstone Projects Preferences
ACTIVITY 2: Based on the capstone projects in the room, select your top two choices. For each include:
How does your background qualify you for this position?
Which skills do you possess that match the description?
If there is a programming language required:
How much experience do you have with it?
What was the experience?
How proficient do you think you are with that language?
If user studies will be conducted:
Have you conducted user studies before?
In what capacity?
Are you IRB certified?
Why do you think you should be chosen for this project?
What skills and experience (or expertise) can you offer the organization?
Why will the organization benefit from having you as a consultant?
How will it contribute to your career preparation as part of your professional profile document?
What specific skills will this project add to your professional profile?
How will this benefit your career path?

16. MIM Capstone In-class Activities
Requirements Gathering
Project Plan development
Milestones
Processes
Project managers
Poster presentations
Success and challenges
Elevator pitch

17. Gathering Capstone Projects
ACTIVITY 3: Develop a full project from the problem statement
Based on your top capstone project preference, expand the project to describe its:
Milestones
Deliverables

18. Capstone Experience Summary
Student Opinions About Capstone Projects
“Doing projects with companies outside the school is the best part.” 
“The project descriptions are way too short and vague for somebody to judge what's in there.”
“The poster sessions really enhances presentation skills. Also, the part where alumni came to review the poster - that was excellent!”
“I learned a lot, much more than I thought at the beginning. I appreciate this opportunity.”

19. References
Goold, A Providing process for projects in capstone courses. In Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference on innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Thessaloniki, Greece, June 30 - July 02, 2003). D. Finkel, Ed. ITiCSE '03. ACM Press, New York, NY,
Gorgone, J. T. (2004, June). Information systems and the overview report for computing curricula In ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (Vol. 36, No. 4, pp ). ACM.
Gorka, S., Miller, J. R., & Howe, B. J. (2007, October). Developing realistic capstone projects in conjunction with industry. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education (pp ). ACM.

20. Online Information