An Effective Approach to Integrated Learning in Capstone Design

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech has developed an integrated approach to its capstone Senior Design course in which students form teams and identify, scope, and execute projects for real-world clients. Historically, the course has focused mainly on the engineering challenges of industry projects, but the skill set required of new industrial engineering and operations research practitioners is much broader. The new course structure creatively integrates internal and external resources for teaching business skills, soft skills, professionalism, and legal issues in an interdisciplinary, on-demand team-teaching format. Assessments show that student preparation has increased, especially in nontechnical areas. In addition, project quality has dramatically improved and is much more consistent. Both an external review board and the most recent ABET review cited the new Senior Design course as one of ISyE's strengths.