Fall 2015 CSCE 482:
Senior Capstone Design
Instructor:
Dr. Tracy Hammond,
Director, Sketch Recognition Lab,
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science,
Texas A&M University
SRL Lab: 330 Teague
Lecture (HRBB 302 & 229):
Monday, Wednesday 1:00pm - 4:00pm
TA Contacts and emails:
Raniero Lara-Garduno, 330K Teague, raniero@tamu.edu
Office Hours: Mo, 4pm - 5pm
Tu, 2pm - 3pm
Class Structure:
There will be 4 class-wide lectures. Class lectures will conclude when the teams are finalized. After teams are formed, each team will have a weekly group meeting with the instructor to discuss group specific progress. The remaining class days will be time for groups to work on their projects.
Instructor Class Office Hours:
Each team will schedule a weekly meeting with the instructor. Additional individual hours can be scheduled by request.
TA Office Hours:
Each team will schedule a half hour weekly meeting time to update the TA with your progress. Additional individual meetings can be scheduled by request.
Course Description:
Credits: 3. Project-based course to develop system integration skills for solving real-world problems in computer science; significant team software project that integrates advanced concepts across computer science specializations; projects require design, implementation, documentation and demonstration, as well as design methodology, management process and teamwork.
Prerequisites
Senior classification; at least two CSCE courses from one track including 411.
Fall 2015 CSCE 482:
Senior Capstone Design
Instructor:
Dr. Tracy Hammond,
Director, Sketch Recognition Lab,
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science,
Texas A&M University
SRL Lab: 330 Teague
Lecture (HRBB 302 & 229):
Monday, Wednesday 1:00pm - 4:00pm
TA Contacts and emails:
Raniero Lara-Garduno, 330K Teague, raniero@tamu.edu
Office Hours: Mo, 4pm - 5pm
Tu, 2pm - 3pm
Class Structure:
There will be 4 class-wide lectures. Class lectures will conclude when the teams are finalized. After teams are formed, each team will have a weekly group meeting with the instructor to discuss group specific progress. The remaining class days will be time for groups to work on their projects.
Instructor Class Office Hours:
Each team will schedule a weekly meeting with the instructor. Additional individual hours can be scheduled by request.
TA Office Hours:
Each team will schedule a half hour weekly meeting time to update the TA with your progress. Additional individual meetings can be scheduled by request.
Each team will schedule a half hour weekly meeting time to update the TA with your progress. Additional individual meetings can be scheduled by request.
Course Description:
Credits: 3. Project-based course to develop system integration skills for solving real-world problems in computer science; significant team software project that integrates advanced concepts across computer science specializations; projects require design, implementation, documentation and demonstration, as well as design methodology, management process and teamwork.
Prerequisites
Senior classification; at least two CSCE courses from one track including 411.
Recommended Readings:
-
Writing for Computer Science, Second Edition, by Justin Zobel. Springer, 2004.
-
Extreme Programming Installed [1st edition] by Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, and Chet Hendrickson
-
The Design of Future Things by Don Norman
-
Mythical Man Month [2nd edition] by Frederick P. Brooks
-
The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper
-
Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business, by Respecting the Earth, by Ray Anderson
-
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, by David Bornstein
-
Selected Conference Papers: You are responsible to select and blog about four conference papers per week that is relevant to your project topic. These papers will form the basis of your prior work section in your final report.
GitHub Source Control Repository:
All students will have access to a GitHub repository to update and share their code. Students are expected to use this for all of their day to day coding work. Students are expected to upload their code regularly. The repositories will be checked weekly to determine code contributions.
Learning Goals:
We will specifically be trying improving your ability to deal with knowledge uncertainty, enabling you to understand and critique work in the field, as well as hypothesize and implement new solutions, even when these solutions are not obvious.
During the semester, you will learn/practice how to:
-
identify needs
-
identify/hypothesize a solution
-
create a sophisticated software or hardware system for that solution
-
identify and critique the current work in the area
-
improve reading, writing, and critical thinking skills
-
plan a product development cycle
-
work effectively in teams
-
manage team priorities
-
manage uncertainties
-
take papers through multiple drafts
-
present effectively
-
communicate effectively in writing and speaking
-
identify appropriate evaluations for a solution
-
evaluate a software solution
-
analyze results
-
formulate conclusions and/or select the best solution with appropriate justification;
-
evaluate the worth and importance of these conclusions - including their placement in a social, historical, and environmental context, as appropriate;
-
and work effectively as a leader and/or member of a team
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing
Design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data
Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
Function on multidisciplinary teams
Identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems
Identify and summarize knowledge of the key insights of the field
Understand professional and ethical responsibility
Communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
Understand of the field of computing in a global and societal context
Display a knowledge of contemporary issues
Use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
Recognize the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
Create reusable long lasting code.
Critique and evaluate research in the field
Learning Needs and Activities:
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing
-
Weekly Status Updates: Identifying problems and applying computing solution
-
Completion of Project: Applying computing to problem
Design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data
-
User Studies 1 and 2
Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
-
Group Proposal (Project Plan and Components sections only)
-
User Studies 1 and 2
-
Final Paper (content component only)
Function on multidisciplinary teams
-
Group proposal – Team Bio section only
-
Peer Review
-
Development and alignment of Gantt chart
Identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems
-
Group Proposal (Project Plan and Components sections only)
-
Project implementation
-
Final Presentation (Strength of Material and Organization sections only)
-
Final Paper (Implementation and Results sections only)
Identify and summarize knowledge of the key insights of the field
-
Literature survey and critique
Understand professional and ethical responsibility
-
Completion of IRB Certification
-
Dress, manner, actions, and presentation during IAP poster presentations
-
Dress, manner, actions, and presentation during final presentations
Communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
-
Weekly in class demonstrations and updates
-
Group Proposal
-
IAP Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
-
AggiExpo Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
-
SRW Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
-
User Study 1 (clarity section only)
-
User Study 2 (clarity section only)
-
Final Paper
-
Final Presentation
-
Final Video
Understand of the field of computing in a global and societal context
-
Presentation of User Stories
-
Group Proposal (Research Benefits section only)
-
User Studies 1 and 2 (Introduction and Motivation sections only)
-
Final Presentation (Overall Awareness of Audience section only)
-
Final Paper (Introduction section only)
Display a knowledge of contemporary issues
-
Literature Survey
-
Use of GIT as source control
-
Problem motivation
Use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
1. Implementation of projects
Recognize the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
1. Final presentation
2. Future research
Create reusable long lasting code.
1. Implementation of solution
Critique and evaluate research in the field
1. Weekly presentation and critique of related work
2. Prior research section of presentation and final paper.
Grading:
Deliverable Percentages:
Class Participation: 10%
Weekly Summaries: 20%
Presentations: 20% (IAP alternate, SRW alternate, AggieExpo alternate, Final)
Mini-deliverables: 20% (Gantt Chart, Prior Work Blogs, Posters, etc.)
Final Project: 30%
This assessment is only a guideline, students need to perform well in each section in order to do well in the class.
IRB Training: 100%
You need to complete IRB training before you can do any of the assignments. Until your IRB is completed, your assignments are considered late and not submitted.
Attendance Policy: 100%
Attendance is vital for class discussion. To make clear the importance of attendance, students are permitted a maximum of 5 absences before they automatically fail the course.
Presentations Participation: 100%
Your group is required to present in every presentation: IAP Poster Session, SRW alternate, AggiExpo alternate, and Final presentation. All group members must be present at the final presentation. At least one member must be present for each of the other presentations. You can decide as a group which members can/will attend since the others are outside of regular class time.
Literature Review:
Each student must review 10 papers over three weeks of the course and write a summary of these papers on the discussion group. Each student must select different papers. The total papers read in the group will thus be 10x the number of group members. The final paper will have a literature review reflecting what is read in the group.
Final Paper Grading Rubric:
http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/hammond/resources/writing/Paper%20Writing%20Guidelines.html
Final Oral Project Presentation Grading Metrics:
Metric 1: An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing (482)
How to display as a team: Explain the implementation of your project
Metric 2: An ability to design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data (482)
How to display as a team: Describe your evaluation, your reasons for your choice for your evaluation metric, how you evaluated your data, and your results
Metric 3: An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs (482)
How to display as a team: display the designed system and give a demo of it working. describe how others have used it. describe the original needs of the users and how the system meets those needs
Metric 4: An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams (482)
How to display as a team: explain what each person did. but more importantly, explain how your team was multidisciplinary
Metric 5: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems (482)
How to display as a team: Describe how you identified that there was a problem needed to solve. how you decided how to solve it, and how you actually solved it
Metric 6: An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (482)
How to present as a team: discuss the ethical implications of your research. How will this better the earth? This not only includes discussion of your IRB application, but also how your system may affect society, positive and/or negatively
Metric 7: An ability to communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
How to display as a team: all members should take part in the presentation. The final paper will be available to the industry members.
Metric 8: An understanding of the field of computing in a global and societal context
How to display as a team: needs specification? prior work and why the world needs what you are creating?
Metric 9: A knowledge of contemporary issues
How to display as a team: presentation of recent research in the area as well as current needs and how the recent research does not fulfill that need
Metric 10: An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
How to display as a team:
Metric 11: A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
How to display as a team: describe why what you did is just the beginning and what we need to do in the future and how this work inspired you to do more. what are your goals. how will you continue to better the earth.
Metric 12: The ability to create reusable long lasting code.
How to display as a team: describe the ease of using teammates code. describe the ease for a random person to use it. describe the ease for you to use it 1 week, 1 month, and 1 year from now.
Video and Demo:
Make a video demo of the project in a graphically pleasing and enjoyable format.
Duration : 1 to 2 minutes.
Submission : Youtube link and video file stored in a DVD
Project name
Team members
Description of the project
Demonstration of the project
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy Statement
The following ADA Policy Statement (part of the Policy on Individual Disabling Conditions) was submitted to the University Curriculum Committee by the Department of Student Life. The policy statement was forwarded to the Faculty Senate for information.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, the legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Department of Student Life, Services for Students with Disabilities, in Cain Hall or call 845-1637.
Copyrights
The handouts used in this course are copyrighted. By “Handouts” we mean all materials generated for this class, which include but are not limited to syllabi, lab problems, in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets. Because these materials are copyrighted, you do not have the right to copy such handouts, unless the author expressly grants permission.
Scholastic Dishonesty
As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one’s own the ideas, work, writings, etc., that belong to another. In accordance with this definition, you are committing plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own, even if you have the permission of the person. Plagiarism is one of the worst academic sins, for the plagiarist destroys the trust among colleagues without which research cannot be safely communicated. If you have questions regarding plagiarism, please consult the latest issue of the Texas A&M University Student Rules [http://student-rules.tamu.edu], under the section “Scholastic Dishonesty”.
Academic Integrity Statement
"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do."
Upon accepting admission to Texas A&M University, a student immediately assumes a commitment to uphold the Honor Code, to accept responsibility for learning and to follow the philosophy and rules of the Honor System. Students will be required to state their commitment on examinations, research papers, and other academic work. Ignorance of the rules does not exclude any member of the Texas A&M University community from the requirements or the processes of the Honor System. For additional information please visit: http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor
University Regulations, Section 42, define scholastic dishonesty to include acquiring answers from any unauthorized source, working with another person when not specifically permitted, observing the work of other students during any exam, providing answers when not specifically authorized to do so, informing any person of the contents of an exam prior to the exam, and failing to credit sources used. Disciplinary actions range from grade penalty to expulsion.
This course has a zero-tolerance policy. Academic misconduct on any assignment will result in failing the entire course! All such cases will be referred to the Aggie Honor Council for additional disciplinary action by the University. Finally, misconduct will also result in an "Unsatisfactory" rating on the annual departmental review of Ph.D. students. Please refer to http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/acadmisconduct.htm for more information about the scope and meaning of academic misconduct.
On all course work, assignments, and examinations at Texas A&M University, the following Honor Pledge shall be preprinted and signed by the student: "On my honor, as an Aggie, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work."
- Writing for Computer Science, Second Edition, by Justin Zobel. Springer, 2004.
- Extreme Programming Installed [1st edition] by Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, and Chet Hendrickson
- The Design of Future Things by Don Norman
- Mythical Man Month [2nd edition] by Frederick P. Brooks
- The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper
- Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business, by Respecting the Earth, by Ray Anderson
- How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, by David Bornstein
- Selected Conference Papers: You are responsible to select and blog about four conference papers per week that is relevant to your project topic. These papers will form the basis of your prior work section in your final report.
GitHub Source Control Repository:
All students will have access to a GitHub repository to update and share their code. Students are expected to use this for all of their day to day coding work. Students are expected to upload their code regularly. The repositories will be checked weekly to determine code contributions.
Learning Goals:
We will specifically be trying improving your ability to deal with knowledge uncertainty, enabling you to understand and critique work in the field, as well as hypothesize and implement new solutions, even when these solutions are not obvious.
During the semester, you will learn/practice how to:
- identify needs
- identify/hypothesize a solution
- create a sophisticated software or hardware system for that solution
- identify and critique the current work in the area
- improve reading, writing, and critical thinking skills
- plan a product development cycle
- work effectively in teams
- manage team priorities
- manage uncertainties
- take papers through multiple drafts
- present effectively
- communicate effectively in writing and speaking
- identify appropriate evaluations for a solution
- evaluate a software solution
- analyze results
- formulate conclusions and/or select the best solution with appropriate justification;
- evaluate the worth and importance of these conclusions - including their placement in a social, historical, and environmental context, as appropriate;
- and work effectively as a leader and/or member of a team
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing
Design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data
Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
Function on multidisciplinary teams
Identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems
Identify and summarize knowledge of the key insights of the field
Understand professional and ethical responsibility
Communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
Understand of the field of computing in a global and societal context
Display a knowledge of contemporary issues
Use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
Recognize the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
Create reusable long lasting code.
Critique and evaluate research in the field
Learning Needs and Activities:
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing
- Weekly Status Updates: Identifying problems and applying computing solution
- Completion of Project: Applying computing to problem
Design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data
- User Studies 1 and 2
Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
- Group Proposal (Project Plan and Components sections only)
- User Studies 1 and 2
- Final Paper (content component only)
Function on multidisciplinary teams
- Group proposal – Team Bio section only
- Peer Review
- Development and alignment of Gantt chart
Identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems
- Group Proposal (Project Plan and Components sections only)
- Project implementation
- Final Presentation (Strength of Material and Organization sections only)
- Final Paper (Implementation and Results sections only)
Identify and summarize knowledge of the key insights of the field
- Literature survey and critique
Understand professional and ethical responsibility
- Completion of IRB Certification
- Dress, manner, actions, and presentation during IAP poster presentations
- Dress, manner, actions, and presentation during final presentations
Communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
- Weekly in class demonstrations and updates
- Group Proposal
- IAP Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
- AggiExpo Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
- SRW Presentation (Spring only - alternate TBA)
- User Study 1 (clarity section only)
- User Study 2 (clarity section only)
- Final Paper
- Final Presentation
- Final Video
Understand of the field of computing in a global and societal context
- Presentation of User Stories
- Group Proposal (Research Benefits section only)
- User Studies 1 and 2 (Introduction and Motivation sections only)
- Final Presentation (Overall Awareness of Audience section only)
- Final Paper (Introduction section only)
Display a knowledge of contemporary issues
- Literature Survey
- Use of GIT as source control
- Problem motivation
Use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
1. Implementation of projects
Recognize the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
1. Final presentation
2. Future research
Create reusable long lasting code.
1. Implementation of solution
Critique and evaluate research in the field
1. Weekly presentation and critique of related work
2. Prior research section of presentation and final paper.
Grading:
Deliverable Percentages:
Class Participation: 10%
Weekly Summaries: 20%
Presentations: 20% (IAP alternate, SRW alternate, AggieExpo alternate, Final)
Mini-deliverables: 20% (Gantt Chart, Prior Work Blogs, Posters, etc.)
Final Project: 30%
This assessment is only a guideline, students need to perform well in each section in order to do well in the class.
IRB Training: 100%
You need to complete IRB training before you can do any of the assignments. Until your IRB is completed, your assignments are considered late and not submitted.
Attendance Policy: 100%
Attendance is vital for class discussion. To make clear the importance of attendance, students are permitted a maximum of 5 absences before they automatically fail the course.
Presentations Participation: 100%
Your group is required to present in every presentation: IAP Poster Session, SRW alternate, AggiExpo alternate, and Final presentation. All group members must be present at the final presentation. At least one member must be present for each of the other presentations. You can decide as a group which members can/will attend since the others are outside of regular class time.
Literature Review:
Each student must review 10 papers over three weeks of the course and write a summary of these papers on the discussion group. Each student must select different papers. The total papers read in the group will thus be 10x the number of group members. The final paper will have a literature review reflecting what is read in the group.
Final Paper Grading Rubric:
http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/hammond/resources/writing/Paper%20Writing%20Guidelines.html
Final Oral Project Presentation Grading Metrics:
Metric 1: An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and computing (482)
How to display as a team: Explain the implementation of your project
Metric 2: An ability to design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data (482)
How to display as a team: Describe your evaluation, your reasons for your choice for your evaluation metric, how you evaluated your data, and your results
Metric 3: An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs (482)
How to display as a team: display the designed system and give a demo of it working. describe how others have used it. describe the original needs of the users and how the system meets those needs
Metric 4: An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams (482)
How to display as a team: explain what each person did. but more importantly, explain how your team was multidisciplinary
Metric 5: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve computer related problems (482)
How to display as a team: Describe how you identified that there was a problem needed to solve. how you decided how to solve it, and how you actually solved it
Metric 6: An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (482)
How to present as a team: discuss the ethical implications of your research. How will this better the earth? This not only includes discussion of your IRB application, but also how your system may affect society, positive and/or negatively
Metric 7: An ability to communicate effectively – both orally and in writing
How to display as a team: all members should take part in the presentation. The final paper will be available to the industry members.
Metric 8: An understanding of the field of computing in a global and societal context
How to display as a team: needs specification? prior work and why the world needs what you are creating?
Metric 9: A knowledge of contemporary issues
How to display as a team: presentation of recent research in the area as well as current needs and how the recent research does not fulfill that need
Metric 10: An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern computing tools necessary for computer science practice
How to display as a team:
Metric 11: A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
How to display as a team: describe why what you did is just the beginning and what we need to do in the future and how this work inspired you to do more. what are your goals. how will you continue to better the earth.
Metric 12: The ability to create reusable long lasting code.
How to display as a team: describe the ease of using teammates code. describe the ease for a random person to use it. describe the ease for you to use it 1 week, 1 month, and 1 year from now.
Video and Demo:
Make a video demo of the project in a graphically pleasing and enjoyable format.
Duration : 1 to 2 minutes.
Submission : Youtube link and video file stored in a DVD
Project name
Team members
Description of the project
Demonstration of the project
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy Statement
The following ADA Policy Statement (part of the Policy on Individual Disabling Conditions) was submitted to the University Curriculum Committee by the Department of Student Life. The policy statement was forwarded to the Faculty Senate for information.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, the legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Department of Student Life, Services for Students with Disabilities, in Cain Hall or call 845-1637.
Copyrights
The handouts used in this course are copyrighted. By “Handouts” we mean all materials generated for this class, which include but are not limited to syllabi, lab problems, in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem sets. Because these materials are copyrighted, you do not have the right to copy such handouts, unless the author expressly grants permission.
Scholastic Dishonesty
As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one’s own the ideas, work, writings, etc., that belong to another. In accordance with this definition, you are committing plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own, even if you have the permission of the person. Plagiarism is one of the worst academic sins, for the plagiarist destroys the trust among colleagues without which research cannot be safely communicated. If you have questions regarding plagiarism, please consult the latest issue of the Texas A&M University Student Rules [http://student-rules.tamu.edu], under the section “Scholastic Dishonesty”.
Academic Integrity Statement
"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do."
Upon accepting admission to Texas A&M University, a student immediately assumes a commitment to uphold the Honor Code, to accept responsibility for learning and to follow the philosophy and rules of the Honor System. Students will be required to state their commitment on examinations, research papers, and other academic work. Ignorance of the rules does not exclude any member of the Texas A&M University community from the requirements or the processes of the Honor System. For additional information please visit: http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor
University Regulations, Section 42, define scholastic dishonesty to include acquiring answers from any unauthorized source, working with another person when not specifically permitted, observing the work of other students during any exam, providing answers when not specifically authorized to do so, informing any person of the contents of an exam prior to the exam, and failing to credit sources used. Disciplinary actions range from grade penalty to expulsion.
This course has a zero-tolerance policy. Academic misconduct on any assignment will result in failing the entire course! All such cases will be referred to the Aggie Honor Council for additional disciplinary action by the University. Finally, misconduct will also result in an "Unsatisfactory" rating on the annual departmental review of Ph.D. students. Please refer to http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/acadmisconduct.htm for more information about the scope and meaning of academic misconduct.
On all course work, assignments, and examinations at Texas A&M University, the following Honor Pledge shall be preprinted and signed by the student: "On my honor, as an Aggie, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work."
