A Web-based Method for Quality Control of Capstone Projects

Engineering programmes typically include a capstone project completed by individual students carrying specific requirements from a technical and accreditation perspective. To ensure that all proposed projects can be considered equally suited to address these requirements is a complex task. This creates a quality control problem since all projects must therefore comply with technical, curriculum, and accreditation requirements. In many cases, the quality assurance process is handled by a single project coordinator. However technically skilled, this is an unrealistic expectation when the number of projects increases. Peer-reviewing is a method to address this problem but manually assigning reviewers to project definitions only partially addresses the problem. A web-based tool was developed that guides individual project proposers through the requirements of a project, requires a self-review, and provides a peer-review process that rewards early active participation in the peer-reviewing process. Results indicate that the automated reviewing process is faster than using a single reviewer and that a more balanced set of feedback and outcomes is provided. This significantly improves the overall quality of the projects. The collective responsibility has improved the overall quality of the projects and also increased awareness of the various aspects to which each project should comply.