RE: [Fwd: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!]

[sh...@e-z.net]

Recommending a project to OSU Capstone;

I have had success when able to commit 3 or more hours per week planning
the supervision and direction of student projects.

Students work best when project is communicated with enthusiastic support
to solving their logistic problems.  The mentor may also need to offer
project discipline and direction for students that underperform.
I have also had to revise the project requrements when a student drops
the school course work, to have a successful project. The mentor should
be able to identify project related resources and documentation - thus
maximizing the student's attention to building the proposed project.

The project is at best a learning platform for students even if the work
is not germane to providing patches to a given Apache project.  If their
work can enhance the code base of your Apache project, that would be a
blessing.  The students should end with a positive attitude toward the
Apache Software Foundation and encouraged participation in the community.

The project should be designed for a public display in May 2017 as part
of the school engineering exposition.  The exposition has tables or booth
space to showcase their student project.

I can offer some on-campus time with students for any Apache project
that is willing to offer and mentor an Oregon State University - Capstone
project.

I am also offering a project for consideration this school year.

Sincerely,
Steven J. Hathaway
shathaway@a.o


> I supervised a capstone project last year. The overhead was significant
> but, theoretically, the reward was good. The problem was that, in my case,
> the students did not provide patches as part of their work. Instead we got
> a monster patch which is still sitting in JIRA waiting for me to find the
> time to review it.
>
> This is not necessarily the students fault. I could have been more
> forceful, or I could have been more hands-on and helped them get set up.
> But the lesson learned is that putting an hour a week into these projects
> is not enough.
>
> That being said, if I had 3 hours a week to put into this I would
> certainly do it again.
>
> Ross
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: shathawa@e-z.net [mailto:shathawa@e-z.net]
>> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2016 11:35 PM
>> To: dev@community.apache.org
>> Subject: [Fwd: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!]
>>
>> I have participated in Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon USA)
>> undergraduate senior projects in the past. The Capstone program is an
>> opportunity for our open source software communities to propose a three-
>> term project for students and provide mentors to the projects.  The
>> mentors
>> get to interact with students and their evaluation becomes a part of
>> their
>> performance evaluation grade.
>>
>> These Capstone university projects can readily support the Apache
>> Software
>> Foundation health.
>>
>> I live and work within commute distance of the university.  One of the
>> previous projects had a mentor in Denmark.  International cooperation
>> can be
>> accommodated.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Steven J. Hathaway
>> shathaway@a.o
>>
>> ---------------------------- Original Message
>> ----------------------------
>> Subject: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!
>> From:    "D. Kevin McGrath" <dm...@eecs.oregonstate.edu>
>> Date:    Mon, August 22, 2016 12:30 pm
>> To:      shathawa@e-z.net
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Colleagues --
>>
>> Have you always wanted a particular software tool developed for your
>> use,
>> but have never had the time to do it yourself? Well then, read on. Have
>> I got
>> a deal for you!
>>
>> My name is Kevin McGrath. I am the instructor who runs the OSU Computer
>> Science Senior Capstone class. The Capstone class is a 3-quarter (Fall,
>> Winter,
>> Spring)
>> "career preparation" experience. The major piece of this is doing a
>> significant
>> 3 member team project.
>>
>> When the students come to the first class on September 24, I want to
>> present
>> them with a list of exciting, creative, and real-experience software
>> engineering project possibilities. This is where you come in. I am
>> looking for
>> you to use your needs and experience to propose those project
>> possibilities.
>>
>> A web site has been setup to give you more information, and let you
>> enter
>> and edit your project proposals:
>>
>>
>> 	https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3a%2f%2fe
>> ecs.oregonstate.edu%2fcapstone%2fsubmission%2f&data=01%7c01%7cRoss.
>> Gardler%40microsoft.com%7c69dffb91914e465f88b908d3cb068ca9%7c72f98
>> 8bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7c1&sdata=Y5%2f34BYPOXEwKHTC0sm4jNG
>> QVxTqoxU7RGLoJBj02S0%3d
>>
>> You have until September 15 to get yours in. If any clarification would
>> be
>> necessary, you'd have from the 15th to the first day of term to clarify.
>> That is
>> when the students will see them, and will start the selection process.
>> In that
>> process, I ask the students to "bid" on their top 5 choices. I
>> ultimately make
>> the final project assignments, but endeavour to take their preferences
>> into
>> account. I find I get better results that way.
>>
>> There will likely be more projects proposed than students teams to do
>> them.
>> *So, really sell your project.* Definitely don't understate its
>> cool-ness factor!
>> The more excited you sound in the description, the more excited they are
>> likely to be when doing it. Excitement is contagious! If you'd be
>> interested in
>> pitching your project to the students in person, please let me know!
>> Personally pitched projects tend to generate more excitement from the
>> students.
>>
>> After projects have been selected, we will follow a client-contractor
>> model in
>> which I "run" the software contract company and you are one of our
>> valued
>> clients. The students "report" to me, but you, as client, work directly
>> with
>> them to design the requirements, set the timeline, approve the progress.
>> You
>> also get to help assign grades.
>>
>> This year I'm asking you to explicitly distinguish the projects that are
>> research
>> oriented vs. those that are more software engineering focused. If you
>> would
>> like to propose a research project for the students, please indicate
>> this using
>> the Additional Comments field.
>>
>> Given the nature of a research oriented project, I find that better
>> results are
>> had if the students are initially aware of the type of project. If you
>> are unsure,
>> that is not a problem. I'm happy to work with you on the details of your
>> project -- just submit it, and then we can chat about any changes that
>> might
>> be necessary.
>>
>> Any project can be proposed from anybody. I don't care where you are
>> from,
>> just that your project represents an excellent software engineering
>> experience for the students.
>>
>> Do remember, however, that these are seniors. They have taken the core
>> classes so far, but most have not taken some of the electives that would
>> really
>> help in some projects, such as graphics, AI, computer vision, etc. Keep
>> that in
>> mind when proposing.
>>
>> Several additional points to keep in mind:
>>
>>          1) We ask for about 1 hour per week to interact with the
>> students
>>
>>          2) If you propose a project that will be handed off to another
>>              engineer/developer to mentor, please list their name as
>> well
>>              as an additional contact.
>>
>>          3) Any IP restrictions need to be listed. These can include
>> NDAs,
>>              assignment of IP, etc. University policy is that students
>> own the IP
>>              of their projects, so if you have something else in mind,
>> be very
>>              clear from the proposal. Negotiations/agreements will be
>> between
>> you
>>              and the students, rather than you and the university.
>>
>>          4) The general scope of the project is what you would give one
>> 6-month
>>              intern.
>>
>> If you have questions or want to discuss project possibilities, feel
>> free to
>> contact me at:
>>
>> 		 D. Kevin McGrath
>> 		 Instructor, Computer Science
>> 		 Oregon State University
>> 		 2109 Kelley Engineering Center
>> 		 541-737-1420
>> 		 dmcgrath@eecs.oregonstate.edu
>>
>> Thanks for your time -- I look forward to working with you!
>>
>> 						 -- Kevin McGrath
>>
>>
>>
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