Our engineering program includes a two-year capstone experience. At the beginning of this experience, students bid into projects by rank ordering first, second, and third choice projects. Students’ decisions for long term commitments, such as selecting a capstone team, use various forms of bounded rationality. When making a choice on which two year capstone project to select and rank, there may be many reasons why a particular student or set of students will pick a project. In this study, we looked across three years of project selection and ranking data using a competing hypothesis to gain insight into the reasons with the greatest explanatory power on why projects are chosen. Implication of what this means regarding the overall portfolio of projects is offered as well as how to craft projects and project descriptions such that they garner more student interest and can lead to more excitement and learning.
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ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
August 4–7, 2013
Portland, Oregon, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Design Engineering Division
- Computers and Information in Engineering Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-5584-3
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
An Investigation Into the Factors Influencing Student Capstone Project Selection Available to Purchase
Steven R. Harper,
Steven R. Harper
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
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Elise M. Barrella,
Elise M. Barrella
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
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Jacquelyn K. Nagel,
Jacquelyn K. Nagel
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
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Robert L. Nagel
Robert L. Nagel
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
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Steven R. Harper
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Elise M. Barrella
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Jacquelyn K. Nagel
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Robert L. Nagel
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Paper No:
DETC2013-12633, V001T04A010; 7 pages
Published Online:
February 12, 2014
Citation
Harper, SR, Barrella, EM, Nagel, JK, & Nagel, RL. "An Investigation Into the Factors Influencing Student Capstone Project Selection." Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 1: 15th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 10th International Conference on Design Education; 7th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems. Portland, Oregon, USA. August 4–7, 2013. V001T04A010. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2013-12633
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