Survival: a tale of a senior project

Abstract

In 1984 the Computer Information Systems Department at Humboldt State University implemented a B.S. degree program in Computer Information Systems. Prior to that year the program had been offered under the auspices of a Business Administration degree as a concentration. In the evolvement of the program since 1984. The faculty of the department determined that a senior project course would form an appropriate capstone course for all CIS majors. The course and its incorporation into the degree program will occur in 1987/88. It so happened that Bailes and Sayers' paper [1] and the opportunity to apply their guidance occurred at the beginning of the spring semester. The story of our experiment with the course using a variation of the "contract" suggested by Bailes and Sayer, as written by the three students involved, follows.One semester, three graduating seniors found themselves with class schedule conflicts that prevented their taking a particular required course. When it became obvious that they could not schedule the conflicting class, the chair of their department assigned to them a senior project. The guidelines for the project were adapted from ones outlined in the SIGCSE Bulletin Vol. 18 No. 4, December 1986. The students could do whatever they wanted for a project so lon g as the department chair approved, and they fulfilled the objectives. Here is what these graduating seniors did.