At the University of Waterloo, capstone projects are a core component of many engineering and computer science programs. They provide students with the opportunity to work on a substantial project that integrates and applies the knowledge and skills they have developed throughout their degree. Given the importance of capstone projects in demonstrating a student’s abilities before graduation, the evaluation process is rigorous and aims to comprehensively assess student learning outcomes.

There are typically multiple components that make up a student’s final capstone project grade. One of the primary evaluation criteria is the final project deliverable and demonstration. Students are expected to produce detailed documentation of their project including a final report, user manual, architecture diagrams, code documentation and other materials depending on the project type. They must also arrange to demo their working project to a panel of faculty members, teaching assistants, and other evaluators. The demo allows students to showcase their project, explain design decisions, respond to questions, and display the functional capabilities of what they developed. Evaluators will assess many factors including the thoroughness and organization of documentation, how well the project fulfills its objectives and requirements, the demonstration of technical skills, and the student’s ability to discuss their work.

Another major evaluation component is the project planning and development process. Students maintain a project journal or blog where they document their progress, milestones achieved, challenges encountered and how they overcame issues. They may also submit interim deliverables like requirements documents, architectural plans, test cases and results. Faculty evaluators will review these materials to gauge how well students followed an organized development approach, their process for identifying and solving problems, version control practices, testing methodologies and ability to work independently towards completion. Feedback is often provided to students along the way to help guide them.

Peer and self evaluations are another part of the assessment. Students will complete evaluation forms commenting on the contributions and skills demonstrated by other group members, if applicable. They also conduct a self-assessment reflecting on their own performance, areas for improvement, lessons learned and what went well. This provides valuable reflection for the students and allows evaluators additional perspective on individual efforts within a team context.

Faculty advisors and supervisors play a key role in project evaluation through meetings, conversations and direct observation of students. Advisors provide progress reports commenting on work ethic, technical troubleshooting abilities, communication skills and other soft skills exhibited over the course of the project. They also evaluate any presentation rehearsals to get a sense of how students will perform during their final demo.

Besides the work of faculty evaluators, many capstone projects incorporate reviews or evaluations from external stakeholders. This could include industry representatives for professionally oriented projects or community members for projects addressing real-world problems. Their feedback provides an outside perspective on how well the project meets the needs of its intended users or beneficiaries.

Once all evaluation components are complete, faculty assign final grades or marks based on rubrics that outline specific assessment criteria. Rubrics examine factors like technical accomplishments, documentation quality, process, presentation skills, problem solving, and meeting project requirements and objectives. To pass, students must demonstrate the application of classroom knowledge to independently complete a functioning project that shows initiative, organization and professional capabilities. Grades are meant to reflect the depth and breadth of student learning over the multi-month capstone experience.

In total, the evaluation process aims to provide multiple touchpoints that capture capstone projects from project planning and development stages through to the final product. Using methods like documentation reviews, advisor meetings, peer feedback, external evaluations and formal demonstrations allows for a comprehensive assessment of each individual student’s competencies, teamwork, and ability to launch an end-to-end project. The rigorous evaluations help ensure Waterloo engineering and computer science graduates enter the workforce with strong project management and applied problem solving expertise.