26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
Designing Online Capstone Courses in Partnership with Industry
Irena Bojanova and Rana Khan
University of Maryland University College
Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs have been in existence for the last decade as an industry oriented alternative to the PhD degree that is increasingly more valuable for employers (Benderly, 2009).
Currently, there are over 190 programs at 94 institutions (www.sciencemasters.com) and the numbers are growing steadily, both nationally and internationally. A hallmark of Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs is the presence of a professional component integrating industry internships into the curriculum
(www.npsma.org). Typically, the PSM internships follow the standard model of being a degree requirement, where full-time students seek out industry projects either by themselves or with help from the degree program (Babco, Mahler & Tobias, 2009). Some PSM programs created innovative internship models such as three components internship programs, extended duration recruitment internships, or virtual internships. (Babco, Mahler & Tobias, 2009)
In this paper a novel approach for integrating industry-based internships into programs that are offered completely online is presented; teaching strategies for quality performance on real-life projects are described; and lessons learned are shared.
Online Capstone Courses
The Graduate School of Management and Technology (GSMT) at the University of Maryland University
College (UMUC) offers five PSM programs. These programs are among the first PSM designees that are offered completely online. Being PSM programs, they are designed to cover more science than MBA, more computation than MS, and more professional skills than PhD, and have the goal to prepare students for science careers outside academia, emphasizing project management, communication, presentation, and leadership skills. The structure of the UMUC online PSM programs includes five core courses and six specialization courses with the program culminating in a specialization specific capstone course (Figure
1). The capstone course is taken towards the end of the program and has at least one major, semester long assignment that requires application and synthesis of gained knowledge
(www.umuc.edu/programs/psm.shtml).
New Student
Common Core (5 courses)
Specialization (6 courses)
Capstone (1 course)
Graduation
Figure1.
Program Structure for the BIOT and TLMN PSM programs
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26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
Innovative Internship Model
Securing industry internships for any program and successfully incorporating them into curricula is a challenging endeavor. It becomes even more challenging for an online program where students, instructors, and companies are geographically dispersed and may be in different time zones. Since
UMUC’s PSM programs are completely online, a novel approach has been used to integrate the professional component into our programs. The PSM programs in Biotechnology (BIOT) and
Telecommunications Management (TLMN) at UMUC have designed capstone courses that focus on science and integrate virtual internships (Conroy & Khan, 2009). The core of each capstone course are group projects, aimed at providing small teams of students with an intern experience and an opportunity to work on a mutually beneficial industry involved project over the length of a semester. The BIOT and
TLMN programs have found effective ways for involving companies and efficient ways of conducting these internship-like projects completely online.
Table 1 shows the structure of the BIOT and TLMN capstone courses designed with emphasis on the industry sponsored projects that comprise 60% of the final course grade The combination of group and individual deliverables within the project structure promotes timeliness and accountability by each member of a team.
Table 1. Capstone Course Structure
Activity
Conferences
Milestones
Weekly participation
% from Final Grade
40% Assignments or Research paper
Group project
SWOT analysis
Financial analysis
Project outline
Status report
Presentation
Final Report
Individual contribution
Peer evaluation
Company Evaluation
60%
There are two main planning phases for an online industry involved group project: a preparation phase and a project phase.
The preparation phase is initiated months ahead of the semester start and is an ongoing process. The program directors attend conferences and program related events to identify companies that might be interested in sponsoring projects. A few weeks before the class opening date, the interested companies are provided with a template to present their projects. Then, prior to the first semester day, the capstone course instructor creates a document with all the projects available for a given semester and posts them in the online classroom.
The project phase starts at the beginning of the semester. In week 1, the students’ prioritize their project selections and get assigned to teams of 4 to 5 members. Then, each team member adopts one of four given roles: a project manager, an editor, drafter, and a company interface and prepares for the kickoff meeting with the company lead. During the rest of the semester the teams conduct research and submit deliverables, distributed fairly evenly over the 12 weeks semester. The project outline is due in week 2, the midterm status report is due in week 6, the final report and presentations are due in week 12. For each team member peer evaluations and a company evaluation are due also in week 12.
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26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
Current Experiences and Lessons Learned
The newly designed capstone courses and virtual internships offer a unique opportunity for online students to apply the knowledge, gained through the program, to real-life industry projects. The redesigned BIOT and TLMN capstone courses have been offered for seven and two semesters respectively. The results from questionnaires for students and company liaisons indicate that the projects and the way they are conducted provide mutually beneficial experiences and deliverable outcomes. The students gain the experience of working on real industry projects, while being mentored by industry experts and potential future employers. The companies receive free, quality products, opportunity to interact with graduate students, and identify potential future employees. The industry interest is demonstrated by increase in the number of first time participating companies and returning companies
(Table2)
Table 2. Industry Project Examples
Company BIOT Projects Company TLMN Projects
Towson
University
Naval Medical
Research Center
BioMat
Sciences
Analysis of EST libraries from
R.solani; Development of software tools to facilitate EST analysis and dbEst Genbank submission
Market Analysis of Real-Time
PCR Assays to Diagnose
Rickettsioses and Scrub Typhus
Market analysis of the oral healthcare field
SDNanosciences Market analysis and recommendations for the launch of a new product
Cisco
Systems
GTSI
Develop an approach for a global
Cisco public sector strategy for next 3 years—Washington, D.C.
Metro Rail Systems
Research on how technologies can spur economic development, and drive investment in small cities
Market research on network/WAN management tools
Maravedis Smart Grid and New Carrier
Valuable lessons were learned during the subsequent semesters of conducting industry involved capstone projects. Long term collaborative relationships need to be established with a set of companies, interested in providing projects on a regular basis. The capstone course structure has to be well defined, while keeping the projects milestones flexible for companies to adjust them for particular projects. Projects’ descriptions have to be clear and detailed enough to allow students to evaluate them and make choices based on their research interests and background experience. It is important to have a realistic scope of work that can be achieved within the specific time frame. The company liaisons have to define detailed milestones and deliverables to reinforce team members’ responsibilities and accountability. It is important to plan ahead and have all material ready prior to the first day of class. The class set up has to be ready before the semester start to allow faculty to focus on weekly discussions and regular and detailed feedback. The emphasis in the course has to be on developing teamwork, project management, communication, presentation, and leadership skills.
Conclusions
Our seven semesters of PSM experience demonstrate that online programs can successfully incorporate real-life projects by restructuring capstone courses to include virtual internships in partnership with industry. Our students find that “industry sponsored capstones are more credible and legit” and “provide industry insights, which is important”. The companies have used the student reports to write a grant
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26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
Copyright 2010 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference funding proposal, a business plan for venture capital funding, to validate research conducted by the company, and to develop marketing strategies and contacts for their product or technology. In summary, the presented internship model can be adopted by other online programs to lay the path for their students in becoming successful managers and entrepreneurs.
References
Babco, E., Mahler, J., & Tobias, S. (2009). Professional science master’s update: The internship component. CGS Communicator , 42 (6).
Benderly, B., L. (2009, July 3). Taken for granted: An alternative to the Ph.D. track, Science Career
Magazine .
Conroy, R., & Khan, R. (2009). Integrating virtual internships into online classrooms, Journal of
Commercial Biotechnology , 15 (2), 97-112.
PSM Program Statistics. Available from: http://www.sciencemasters.com
NSPMA: Available from: http://www.npsma.org
UMUC Professional Science Master’s (PSM) Degrees. Available from: http://www.umuc.edu/programs/psm.shtml
About the Presenters
Dr. Irena Bojanova is a Program Director at the University of Maryland University College. She has managed academic programs at UMUC, Johns Hopkins University, and PIsoft Ltd.. She also co-started an
IT company funded by a venture capitalist, currently employing hundreds of developers, and co-founded a successful educational company in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her current research interests are in educational innovations, virtual environments, cloud computing, and student learning assessment. Dr. Bojanova has received awards for excellence in teaching, research, and program management. She received a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science / Mathematics from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Address: University of Maryland University College
Graduate School of Management and Technology
3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, MD 20783-8030
E-mail: ibojanova@umuc.edu
URL: http://www.umuc.edu
Phone: 240-684-2428
Dr. Rana Khan is a Professor, in the Biotechnology Program at the University of Maryland University
College. Her current research interests include the effect of mentoring on student success, integrating corporate involvement in degree programs, and developing strategies to increase graduate degree attainment among minorities. She has received several awards in recognition of her dedication and commitment to the cause of education and two grants from the Department of Education. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Address: University of Maryland University College
Graduate School of Management and Technology
3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, MD 20783-8030
E-mail: rkhan@umuc.edu
URL: http://www.umuc.edu
Phone: 240-684-2430
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