Structuring Technical Capstone Projects for Non-Profit and Low-Budget Community Organizations
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Students in most technical programs work on original capstone projects that integrate and synthesize concepts and principles that are taught throughout the program.These capstone projects or practicums are usually the last course in the program.At our institution, School of Engineering and Computing (SOEC), National University, many technology-based capstone projects are undertaken every year, where students define, design and implement projects in the areas of Computer Science, Information Technology, Wireless Communications, and Cyber Security.Structuring and customizing some of these projects for non-profit or low-budget startup organizations will have significant positive impact in our local community and enhance the institution's vision of providing useful community service.This vision of providing quality community service is supported by the university leadership and practiced by faculty and staff.Designing and implementing these projects enables hands-on practical experience for our students, thus creating a win-win situation for both the community and the students.Most of these capstone projects are completed with minimal budget and within an intensive short duration of time: two to three months as delivered in SOEC at National University.This study identifies criteria and determines ways to structure technical capstone projects to make them effective and beneficial to the community, and provide a valuable real-world learning experience to students.Two projects, one for a non-profit organization and the other for a privately owned low-budget local business, are selected and analyzed to support the hypothesis that quality community projects can be undertaken and completed with low-budget and time constraints.The results clearly demonstrate that this is a viable and practical way to enhance the vision of providing useful service to the community, improving student learning, and at the same time, meeting all required learning outcomes of the academic program.
Authors: Bhaskar Sinha, Pradip Dey, Gordon Romney, Mohammad Amin, Debra Bowen
Institutions: National University, National University
Language: English
Subfield: Architecture
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4409667481