Assessment Item F1 – Capstone Course Exercise – CS399 or CS490
Skill being assessed: Apart from the technical software engineering aspect of their
capstone experience, can the student orally communicate the essentials of their
project to an audience with a broad range of computing experience.
Program outcome to which this skill is mapped: (f) An ability to communicate
effectively with a range of audiences
Performance Assessment Abstract: A 15-minute oral presentation, with 5
additional minutes to answer follow-up questions from the audience. The
presentation should not be overly technical. The audience will be composed of
computer science instructors and students, with the students' backgrounds ranging
from those in introductory courses to those in junior-senior level courses. Your
presentation must:

Provide the background leading up to your project. If it is a practicum, what
motivated you to choose this topic? If it is an internship, what kind of
company are you working for and what specific needs did they want
addressed by your project?

Provide an overview of the design of the software you wrote for your project.
If it was one large program, what was its underlying structure? If the
development was object-oriented, describe the key classes and how they
interacted. If the software you wrote consisted of several smaller
applications, describe any unifying relationships between them. For example,
did they have to coordinate their access to the same database? How were
they all related to the original goals of your project?

Indicate to your audience the greatest challenges you faced in your project
and how you overcame them.
Your presentation should be guided by a set of slides that you have prepared for the
talk. A computer projector will be provided for you to show the slides to your
audience.
Rubric for Evaluation
Criteria
Explanation of
background
leading up to the
project.
Exemplary
The goals of the
project and their
relationship to a
set of welldefined
requirements
and needs are
clearly
Satisfactory
The goals of the
project and their
relationship to a
set of well-defined
requirements and
needs are clearly
explained.
However, the
Marginal
Although the
goals of the
project are
discussed during
the presentation,
they are
presented in a
fashion that is
Deficient
The student
largely ignores
this aspect of the
presentation,
choosing instead
to focus on much
more technical
detail that cannot
Overview of the
design of the
software
developed for the
project.
Description of
challenges faced
in the project and
how they were
overcome.
Oral presentation
style
explained in a
largely nontechnical
fashion that is
appropriate
even for the
members of the
audience who
are at the early
stages of their
study of
computing.
Using
appropriate
diagrams (e.g.
UML at the level
of students in
our
introductory
courses), the
student
provides a lucid
description of
the overall
design of their
software
artifact(s).
From this
description, it is
clear that sound
software design
principles were
followed.
The major
challenges faced
in the project
are explained in
sufficient detail
to allow a clear
exposition on
the part of the
student
regarding how
each of the
challenges were
met and
overcome.
The
combination of
slides used by
the student,
along with their
impeccable
presentation
explanation at
times is too
technical,
particularly for
the members of
the audience who
are at the early
stages of their
study of
computing.
often
disorganized,
thereby obscuring
them from the
audience.
be understood by
a large portion of
the audience.
Using appropriate
diagrams (e.g.
UML at the level of
students in our
introductory
courses), the
student provides a
description of the
overall design of
their software
artifact(s) that is
largely
understood by all
in attendance.
However, this
description
occasionally
becomes
confusing because
of flaws in the
design of the
system.
The major
challenges faced
in the project are
explained in
sufficient detail
but the strategies
used to overcome
them are not
made clear by the
student.
The student
provides a
description of the
overall design of
their software
artifact(s).
However, at many
points during the
presentation the
description is
largely not
understood by
those in
attendance
because of flaws
in the
organization of
the presentation
content.
The student
provides only a
vague description
of the overall
design of their
software
artifact(s),
illustrating that
either they were
very disorganized
in their approach
to developing the
software or they
are not capable of
conveying the
essence of that
design to a broad
audience.
The major
challenges faced
in the project are
only vaguely
explained, making
it impossible to
adequately
discuss how they
were overcome.
The major
challenges faced in
the project are
inadequately
explained, leaving
much doubt about
the student's
ability to orally
convey such
problem
descriptions to an
audience.
The student
presented
material in a
largely selfconfident and
unambiguous
fashion.
Although the
student presented
an adequate
amount of
material, the
organization of
that material
The student
appeared to have
not prepared well
for the
presentation,
leaving their
audience confused
style and
delivery, made
all aspects of
their
presentation
engaging for
everyone in
attendance.
However, the
organizational
detail of the
presentation
appeared at times
to be not well
thought out
beforehand by the
student.
lacked coherence,
thereby
detracting greatly
from the student's
ability to engage
those in
attendance.
and disinterested
in the talk.