CSE 498, Collaborative Design, is the senior capstone course for students majoring in computer science. Teams of students design, develop, and deliver a significant software system for corporate clients.
The CSE capstone teams compete for four prestigious awards.
On Design Day, the winners are selected by a panel of judges including CSE corporate partners and the department chairperson.
CSE 498 capstone teams present their projects on Design Day in a variety of ways. Teams create and set up an exhibit where they demonstrate their software systems and answer questions to Design Day attendees. Each team will play their project videos and answer questions for a panel of judges.
The CSE capstone team with the best overall Design Day performance will be honored with the Auto-Owners Exposition Award, which is sponsored by Auto-Owners Insurance Company of Lansing, Michigan.
One of the hallmarks of CSE 498 capstone projects is that of praxis, the process of putting theoretical knowledge into practice. Teams apply a wide variety of information technologies to produce solutions to complex problems in areas such as business, engineering, computing, and science.
The CSE capstone team that engineers the software system that is the most technically challenging will be recognized with the Chrysler Praxis Award, which is sponsored by Chrysler LLC of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
The CSE 498 experience represents the capstone of the educational career of each computer science major. An intense semester of teamwork produces impressive deliverables that include a formal technical specification, software, documentation, user manuals, a video, a team web site, and Design Day participation. The resulting sum—the capstone experience—is much greater than the parts.
The capstone team that delivers the best overall capstone experience will be recognized with the Crowe Sigma Award, which is sponsored by Crowe Chizek and Company LLC of Oak Brook, Illinois.
Each CSE 498 capstone team produces a video that describes and demonstrates their software product. Starting with a storyboard and a script, teams use Camtasia Studio 5 to synthesize screen recordings, video, audio and other multimedia to produce their project videos.
And the TechSmith Screencast Award goes to…the CSE capstone team with the best project video. The award is sponsored by the creators of Camtasia Studio, TechSmith of Okemos, Michigan.