SoTL Commons Conference Presenters
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PS-9: The Role of the Instructor in the Success of Undergraduate Real-life IT Capstone Team Projects
Karen Patten (University of South Carolina-Columbia): pattenk@mailbox.sc.edu
Lynn Keane (University of South Carolina-Columbia): lynn.keane@sc.edu
Undergraduate students on real-life IT capstone projects integrate major concepts learned in their IT program while gaining valuable experience successfully planning and completing the projects. The success of the project involves students, real-life clients, and instructor(s). One issue with these student projects is successfully delivering the real-life IT project objectives differs from assessing the student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to focus on the influence of the instructor(s) in assuring the success of the multiple projects as well as measuring the actual and perceived student learning outcomes. Three different instructor ‘roles' are critical: the ‘teacher,' the ‘coordinator' of the project teams as a ‘portfolio manager,' and the ‘mentor' to the individual students. The study describes the instructor tools to assess student performance and project success and identifies issues encountered and lessons learned over the last three years. The study provides recommendations for other IT capstone faculty.