ICT Capstone projects: The edge of chaos
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Capstone project processes and assessment methodologies continue to be problematic. Experience has led us to review our assessment rubrics and methods with every iteration in an attempt to refine and improve the practice and outcomes. This review has surveyed a broad range of capstone projects describing approaches to practice, assessment and sizing. In their widest sense capstone projects are described as being ambiguous and complex, tantamount, as the title of this paper implies, to artfully practising as if one is \\'on the edge of chaos.\\' There have been promising taxonomies mooted or developed to give insight into evidence of the skills, practice, knowledge and understanding associated with capstone projects. There appears to be, however, a dilemma in terms of creating a succinct vision that might inform the sizing and assessment of projects and enable us to capture its ephemeral nature. Complexity theory appears to go some way towards unpacking relevant factors which could inform the development of tools for assessment and sizing of projects. There are professional heuristics employed in the sizing of projects and standards for the assessment of capstone projects. From this review it can be seen that a fluid but accurate methodology should be developed which addresses the dilemma in such a way as to provide robust conceptual, pedagogical and sociological sizing and assessment practices.
Author: Sylvia C. Chard
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W327866536