IT 485 Information Technology Capstone (a new course)

Course Description

Students will work on a semester-long project, particular to their track and meet together with an instructor and with students from other tracks to discuss each other’s projects. Students will deliver a product that is appropriate to their track in the IT program. At the end of the semester, students report on their product, both in oral presentations and demonstrations and in writing.

Goals

· Students will work, either individually or in small groups, to produce some product that is relevant to their individual tracks.

· Students will report regularly on project progress and answer questions and take suggestions from classmates, many of who will come from other tracks.

· Students will get practice giving both oral and written presentations of their work.

· Students will make use of the knowledge they have gained in pursuing their individual tracks.

· Students will learn something of the other tracks from their classmates.

Textbooks

There is no textbook for IT485. Students will be expected to use the library and electronic resources.

Topics

This course differs from others in that there are few lectures. Rather, this is a project course. Students, working either individually or in small groups for the semester produce some product. For example, a student working in the system administration track might implement a small network, a database server, or a database-backed web site for some customer; the customer might be a university department or some community organization. A student working in the information architecture program might produce a requirements document for some software system, for example a simple content management system.

Class meetings will be used principally for student progress reports and for presentations and demonstrations of the products.

Instead of preparing class lectures, the instructor coordinates with instructors in the tracks for finding projects and customers. The instructor holds class meetings where projects are discussed and progress is tracked. Both the instructor and other students may ask questions and make suggestions.

It is important that students participate fully in both the progress report meetings and the presentations, whether they are discussing their own products or classmates’ products.

At a minimum, the following topics will be discussed in the class meetings.

• Project choices and project assignments.
• What we expect from you and what you can expect of your instructor.
• Oral presentation in a technical setting.
• Project Report Meetings
• Product Presentations

Student Deliverables and Grading

• Continual progress reports (both written and oral). 20%
• Participation in discussions of all projects (not just your own). 20%
• The product. 20%
• Final Presentation and demonstration. 20%
• A written document describing the document’s purpose, design, implementation, use and maintenance. 20%

Notice that the product itself accounts for only 20% of one’s grade. The other 80% is based on communication. These proportions are intentional.

Honesty

All students are expected to follow the University's Code of Student Conduct. If you are caught cheating, we will follow the guidelines for punishment outlined in the code.

When you turn in work that you have discussed with someone, or which contains ideas that you found in a book, you must indicate that fact. We expect you to talk to each other and to read materials other than those assigned. We also expect to see in your work evidence that you have done so. Learning to acknowledge intellectual debts is part of learning. You should be reading, talking to each other, and telling the world that you have done so. When group work is called for the group solution should note whenever a part of the project was done by only a part of the group.

Some kinds of sharing, however, are unacceptable. You may not use the computer to copy someone's work and submit it as your own -- even if you acknowledge that theft! You may not have your friends do your work for you. Versions of some of the assignments in this course may have been given in previous years. You may not use answers to those assignments.

Accommodations

Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for Disability Services, Campus Center 2nd Floor, 2100 Street, Room 2010, 617-287-7430. The student must present these recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of Drop/Add period.