BSIT Capstone project & Research

Capstone Project

A Capstone Project is an undertaking appropriate to a professional field. It should significantly address an existing problem or need. The Capstone Project should integrate the different courses, knowledge, and competencies learned in the curriculum. Students are encouraged to produce innovative results, generate new knowledge or theories, or explore new frontiers of knowledge or application areas.

An Information Technology Capstone Project focuses on the infrastructure, application or processes involved in implementing a Computing solution to a problem.

Capstone project must be presented in a public forum. This forum may be an international, national, regional or school-based conference, meeting, or seminar that is announced and open to interested parties. A school-based colloquium organized for this purpose would suffice to satisfy this requirement Presentation in a public forum, such as the National Conference on IT Education (NCITE) of PSITE, is encouraged (c/f CMO no. 25 s2015, Article V Section 8.3).

UA&P BSIT Capstone Program

The UA&P BSIT Capstone Programme is structured to cover a Proposal Phase (IT131D), an Implementation Phase (IT132DL), and the Final Defense Phase (IT141DL). 

IT131D - Introduction to IT Research

The course is an introduction to the concepts of research for Information Technology in Systems Analysis and Design format. This course serves as the Capstone Project proposal stage where students are tasked with finding clients with technology solution needs.

IT132DL - Capstone Project and Research/L

The course gives the overview of the software design process in relation to the respective Capstone project of students. As the initial stage of the Capstone Program, students are expected to complete the design and architecture of their project. Partially working prototype of the design is required to pass this course.

IT141DL - Capstone Project and Research 2/L

The course marks the completion of the implementation and benchmark phase of the student's Capstone Program. A successful defense and all required revisions are required to complete the course and therefore the entire Capstone Program. 

A capstone project must be an implemented IT solution that solves a significant need or demand by a Company Client. Capstone Project will consist of 3 students barring unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances. Students undergoing capstone project will have 1 Faculty Adviser assigned by the Capstone Project and Research (CPAR) Coordinator.

Students may petition for an additional external field expert as adviser in addition to the faculty adviser assigned by the coordinator.  The approval of such is under sole discretion of the CPAR Coordinator.  Students are expected to seek these field experts on their own.

The acceptance of the entire Capstone Project requires the complete proposal under the discretion of the IT131D professor as entry criteria to IT132DL and the final defense of the Capstone Project in a public forum at the end or during IT141DL.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the list of panelists assigned to a group will remain the same throughout the duration of the Capstone Project.

2. Faculty Roles and Responsibilities

Capstone Project and Research (CPAR) Coordinator

The coordinator is the Faculty-in-Charge (FIC) of IT132DL and IT141DL. The coordinator collaborates with the faculty members of the department and the FIC of IT131D on the selection of a possible Faculty Adviser of the students.  Students may suggest a faculty as preference but actual selection is at the sole discretion of the CPAR Coordinator.  Selected faculty adviser may not be changed unless deemed necessary by the CPAR Coordinator and/or the panel and/or the selected Faculty Adviser.

The CPAR Coordinator validate and evaluate expert field advisers suggested by the students. The coordinator also validates, evaluates, and selects the panelists for each group going through capstone project.  Coordination with the panelists are done for scheduling the BSIT defenses of the students.

The CPAR Coordinator sets the deadlines in accordance to the University Calendar. He or she also accepts and validates a fully accomplished Panelist Form for the final artifacts of the Capstone Project for the required signatures and other artifacts.

Panelists

The panelists are selected by the CPAR Coordinator to validate, evaluate, and critique student projects to ensure the project meets the IT industry standards.  They will make recommendations and revisions when necessary to elevate its level to such degree.

The panelists validate, evaluate and deliberate on any extraordinary circumstances of their assigned student groups and make recommendations to the CPAR Coordinator when appropriate.

Faculty Adviser (and External Field Expert) 

Faculty advisers ideally are strongly encouraged to regularly meet with the assigned group with a recommendation of once per week. They are expected to guide the students and track their progress. The advisers, however, are not expected to chase after students. It is the responsibility of the assigned group to reach out and coordinate with the advisers. In the defense, the Faculty Adviser acts as the lead panel.

The adviser is also expected to clarify with the panelists any new and unforeseen issues (e.g. client issues, etc.) regarding a particular capstone project. Students are strongly encouraged to seek their adviser for guidance on relevant issues.

In publication requirements, the Faculty Adviser is expected to guide students in writing the short paper for publication in a conference or a journal. The Faculty Adviser serves as the last co-author of the said paper.

Recommended Activities for IT132DL (Capstone Project and Research 1/L)

Consultations

Pre-Capstone Checks

Milestone Checkpoints

End of Semester Presentation

Optional Code Review when possible. With access to Bitbucket/Github, the Faculty Adviser can see the work of the students. He or she may critique the works of the students. The Faculty Adviser may also get to see who is really doing the work.

Recommended Activities for IT141DL (Capstone Project and Research 2/L)

System Defense

System Revisions

3. Capstone Copyright and ownership

By submitting the thesis and all associated materials, the student agrees to transfer the ownership of his or her own research work to the university. Conversely, the student asserts that the research is an original work from his or her own creativity and skill.

Clients are allowed to use the produced Capstone of the groups but may not have access to the source code itself as this is the property of the university.

4. Capstone Writing and Manuscript Guidelines

The manuscript writing guidelines can be read on this Google Drive Link: Read here 

5. IT131D - Introduction to IT Research

By the end of the course, students are expected to:

Course Credit: 3 units

Course Prerequisites: None

Introduction to IT Research serves as the proposal stage of the Capstone. With the assistance of the Faculty-in-Charge (FIC), students are expected to form groups of three. They are to seek the company clients and determine the issues that require IT solutions. As the course is based on a Systems Analysis and Design program, students are expected to use the learned strategies and techniques to, in great detail, the ff:

The FIC, with the coordination of the CPAR Coordinator, should be able to assign faculty advisers for each of the capstone groups.  The formed group shall remain intact for the duration of the Capstone Program.

Activities for IT131D

It is strongly recommended to have a final presentation or defense to properly vet the proposal. This is decided by the FIC of IT131D. Students are highly encouraged to go through the feedback of the faculty members and experts to re-align the proposal according to proper standards.

6. IT132DL - Capstone Project and Research/L

The course gives an overview of software engineering processes from start to end. Students are expected to produce the documentation of system to be built based on the requirements of the project client.  

The students will be asked to look for software development projects for the course. The process will start from requirements elicitation up to deployment of the application. Object-oriented designs and UML diagrams are used in the documentation. Strict formatting of the document is required on this course.  Groupings are balanced based on the size and complexity of the projects. 

Course Credit: 3 units

Course Prerequisites: IT131D

A. Capstone Progress

The CPAR Coordinator will meet with the students to determine the faculty advisers for each group should none be assigned. Each student group should have a well-prepared Capstone manuscript from the Proposal prepared and a good foundation on what the client problems are and what the solution is.  Each group is expected to continue and update the manuscript with progress of the project. As this course is a software engineering centric study, capstone groups are expected to apply the software development strategies and techniques (e.g. agile development, waterfall, white box testing, black box testing, etc.) as taught in the course. The major milestones are determined by the CPAR Coordinator/Faculty Adviser. 

By the end of the course, there are several major expectations from the group:

Activities on Capstone

7. IT141DL - Capstone Project and Research 2/L

The course marks the completion of the implementation and benchmark phase of the student's Capstone Program. A successful defense and all required revisions are required to complete the course and therefore the entire Capstone Program. Capstone groups are strongly advised to proceed in IT141DL only if they can complete the Capstone within the semester.

Course Credit: 3 units

Course Prerequisites: IT132DL

A. Before Defense

The group should complete the system and ready the manuscript. The adviser serves as the gate towards Final Defense. It is of prime importance that the system addresses the issues that were identified from Introduction to IT Research. Work closely with the Faculty Adviser and make sure all the functional requirements and the objectives of the capstone are satisfactorily accomplished. The manuscript and your system are the bases of panelist's measure of success of the research work, so make sure that all is in order.

B. Capstone Defense

C. Online Defense (Remote Learning Setup)

Capstone defense will be delivered in two phases.  In the first phase, student capstone group is required to construct a video presentation recording of their system and a brief background of their capstone. The content of the video should cover:

The capstone group will also include a soft copy of their manuscript for the panelist’s reference. This video presentation will be hosted on YouTube and will be 30 minutes long.  The YouTube video will be unlisted so the only way to access the video is through the link provided.

These links will be circulated to panelists.  There will be two kinds of feedback from the panelists from this video.

This will also be the venue where the panel gives additional probing questions and will be requesting responses from the group.  This could be further clarification, additional demonstration, and other inquiries regarding the capstone or your design decisions.

Once this phase is done, the panelist will be deliberating the verdict. The verdict and the revisions will then be given to the students. The students are tasked with completing their revisions.

D. Result of the Defense

The decision of the Panel is final and unappealable.

The verdict of the defense can be:

In the event of revisions, suggestions and changes to the system made by the panel will be deemed required for integration by the students unless unforeseen or remarkable circumstances make such modifications irrelevant as determined by the members of the panel. Students are expected to find the panelist and gain approval for the software revisions made. The protocol for the approval of revisions is left to the discretion of the panelists.

If the verdict is accept with (or without) (major or minor) revisions, the group will have passed Capstone provided that all revisions (if there are any) are completed.

The verdict otherwise will be redefense. Make special note of the panel's revision list and have the adviser check and make sure the group is ready for defense. The cycle repeats until the group passes Capstone or the group runs out of time.

Collaborate with the adviser to complete the revisions.

E. Printing & Submission

With an accepted verdict, once the revised manuscript and system has been accepted by all members of the panel, the manuscript will be book bound and submitted to the CPAR Coordinator according to the protocol stated below:

F. Grading

Grading of the Capstone is assessed by the panelists during deliberation. The grade will only be issued if and only if the group received an Accepted verdict. The major grading rubrics are:

G. Faculty Adviser Evaluation

At the end of the Capstone Program, students are requested to evaluate the Faculty Adviser on his or her strengths and provide areas of improvement. Consult with the CPAR Coordinator for further details.

8. The INC Policy

The Incomplete (INC) status is given to the students who fail to complete necessary Capstone-related requirements in the relevant courses. Policy for INC and completion follows the University Student Handbook. The capstone group is strongly advised to seek the counsel of the FIC of the course (IT131D, IT132DL, IT141DL) on how to complete the course.

Capstone groups compositions are maintained as much as possible. However, if there are students within the group who are not eligible to enroll due to INC, they will be removed from the group.

9. Publication Requirements

Once the capstone group has gathered sufficient data and results under the discretion of their adviser, students are strongly encouraged to seek publication opportunities from local or international research conferences, local or international journals. An IST colloquium may be arranged as a venue for groups to present their works. Capstone groups are encouraged to seek the assistance of their respective Faculty Advisers and the CPAR Coordinator.

The publication requirement are deemed completed when the group is able to complete the ff:

In writing the paper, the Faculty Adviser serves as the last co-author of the paper. As such, the assigned Faculty Adviser is expected to guide the capstone group in completing the paper. All conference and journal publication fees are expected to be handled by the students themselves. Consult with your Faculty Adviser for any issues related to this.

10. Library Requirements

The University Library has specific documents that need to be signed off by the student.  An archive of the library forms are provided here only for reference as these may be outdated. Students are strongly advised to consult the library for updated procedures.  Please look at the library website as well: https://library.uap.asia/featured/research-support?id=42