Developing realistic capstone projects in conjunction with industry

The information technology (IT) industry has the expectation that graduates of IT programs should be productive from day one with little or no additional training. In order to provide graduates who can meet this expectation, experiential learning activities are essential for today's undergraduate student. Experiential learning activities are beneficial at all course levels; however, experiences that occur early in a program are limited by the students' lack of broad-based knowledge in the field and do not provide a capstone experience. While internships and cooperative experiences are perhaps the easiest way to provide such learning activities, they may not be practical for all students. This paper addresses the benefits of developing capstone projects in conjunction with industry and how the authors develop such projects.