Capstone
Capstone is
learning and real-world experience in action.
The students are exposed to a real-life learning experience which opens
windows of opportunities for their growth.
Within the span of an academic year, students work in groups in order to
address different challenges and situations, and provide possible opportunities
for a client organization.
Proposed Capstone Guidelines
A capstone project,
as per recommendation of the Faculty of the College of Computer Studies, should
adhere to the following requirements, guidelines, and policies:
A. Grouping Guidelines
1. A capstone group should be composed
of a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of four (4) members only. In special cases, a group may have five (5)
members upon the approval of the capstone adviser and either the CCS program
head/IT coordinator, academic dean, or the Registrar.
2. The grouping may adhere to any of the
following circumstance as regard by the capstone adviser:
a.
Students may choose their own group members;
b.
The capstone adviser may assign a leader and form a group as he
or she deemed appropriate and unbiased; or
c.
The capstone adviser may assign a leader for each group and the
leader has the prerogative to choose his or her member(s).
Note:
* Guidelines A2b
and A2c ensure that outstanding enrolled students in the capstone subject have
the capacity to lead a group and there is an even distribution of leaders for the
batch. A leader is determined by the capstone adviser (and as per
recommendation by the faculty of the CCS) based on the academic performance of
the student.
** For Guidelines A2a
and A2c, the capstone adviser has no right to force or coerce the leader of a
group or the group itself to accept a particular student to become a member of
a group.
3. In the event a student intends
to develop a capstone project alone, the student is required to write a request
letter addressed to his or her capstone adviser by stating the circumstances of
his or her decision. Likewise, the
letter should be duly signed by the student’s parent or guardian as a form of
consent. Upon approval of the capstone adviser,
the letter should be approved and signed by the CCS program head/IT coordinator
and the dean of the academic affairs for the request to become final and
binding. Lastly, the student will not be
given any provision to join in any group during Capstone 2. When the student withdraws his or her
intention to go solo, a written withdrawal request letter should be addressed to
his or her capstone adviser. The
withdrawal period should be observed before the approval of a Capstone project.
4. After grouping, presentation of three
(3) project titles, and the approval of a Capstone project, the students are no
longer allowed to dissolve the group for any reason. The group members of Capstone 1 should be the
same group members for Capstone 2.
5. A group can be dissolved on the
following grounds:
a.
Guideline A4 is not meet, specifically the approval of a
Capstone project;
b.
A member officially dropped the subject;
c.
A member exceeded the absences ceiling and has been given a grade of 'Dropped' or its equivalent by
the capstone adviser;
d.
A member can no longer attend to his or her class due to health concern,
life threatening situation, migration, etc; or
e.
A member has been given a failing grade.
6. When a group has been dissolved with
only one (1) remaining member, the remaining member may choose to continue the
group’s project or may opt to join another group provided this will take place
before the midterm period. Two (2) or
more remaining members should continue the group’s project and are not allowed
to disintegrate to join other groups.
7. Finally, the member(s) of a group
have the right to evict a member that does not participate in the group’s
undertakings and becomes a liability to the group. The concerned member(s) should prepare a
letter of request for eviction to be addressed to the capstone adviser and duly
noted by the CCS program head/IT coordinator together with the dean of the
academic affairs before a hearing date will be set. All members of the concerned group should be
present during the prescribed hearing date(s) where the capstone adviser should
act as a moderator and to be supervised by the CCS program head/IT coordinator. The outcome of the hearing should be made
known to all concerned parties after the dean of the academic affairs
acknowledged the recommendations made by the capstone adviser and the CCS
program head/IT coordinator. Once the result
of the proceeding(s) affirms the eviction, the evicted member will no longer be
allowed to work with his or her group or join any group for that matter. The evicted member may observe the following
options:
a.
He or she can continue working alone with the same project like
that of his or her former group; or
b.
He or she needs to re-enroll the same subject and join a new
group afterwards.
B. Project Proposal Guidelines
1. Each group or proponent is required
to present three (3) Capstone project titles each of which is client-based and
covers the following areas of interest.
a.
A Standalone System with Device. Requires only a computer to operate
regardless of the number of users. In order for this kind of system to qualify
as a capstone project, there should be an additional device connected to the
computer. A good example of this device is a barcode reader or a biometric
device.
b.
A LAN-Based System. Requires two or more computers
connected to one another. This kind of set up allows simultaneous processing,
either with the same set of activity or with defined task assigned to several
different users.
c.
An Online System. The system should be operational and
accessible using the internet.
d.
A Mobile Application. The software should be executed in a mobile
phone.
2. The capstone adviser may:
a.
Solely evaluate the presented capstone project titles and
approve the project title that qualifies for a capstone project; or
b.
Evaluate the presented capstone project titles together with the
panel of examiner(s) and recommend a project title that qualifies for a capstone
project.
3. A capstone project should be a new
project and not as a continuing project from other subjects.
4. Once a capstone project title has
been approved, no proposal of the same will be entertained – i.e., identical
operations, identical products and/or services.
5. The approved project title will be
the working project of the group or the proponent for both Capstone 1 and
Capstone 2.
6. By midterm, a group or proponent who has no approved project title yet is
already considered ‘Failed.’
C. Project Development Guidelines
1. Plagiarism. A Capstone project should be an original
piece of work, and it should be free from any plagiarism issue. A plagiarized software or document will
result into an automatic failing grade.
2. Capstone 1 covers the preparation of
Chapters 1 to 3 and at least 30 to 50 percent of the proposed system. The system requirements should cover the Graphical
User Interface (GUI), user module, and file maintenance.
3. Capstone 2 covers the completion of
the entire document as well the delivery of the finished system.
4. Any software template and/or
bootstrap is prohibited. The development of a capstone project should start
from the scratch. The use of middleware must
be duly approved by the capstone adviser and should be properly discussed in
the document.
5. Republic Act 10173 – Data Privacy Act
of 2012. A group or proponent should strictly observe the provisions of RA 10173 for their mutual
protection and that of their client.
6. In the event the group or the
proponent experiences challenges they deemed difficult to handle and could
hamper the development and completion of the Capstone project:
a.
During Capstone 1, the group should write to their adviser a letter
of request for a change of Capstone project.
The adviser may approve such request granted that there is enough time
for the group to be able to submit all the required deliverables. In case there is an insufficient time left,
the group or the proponent needs to re-enroll the subject.
b.
During Capstone 2 and the first two weeks of the start of the
semester, the group should write to their adviser a letter of request for a
change of Capstone project. Beyond this
period, no group or proponent should be granted such request. The requesting group or proponent needs to
undergo the same process as required in Guideline B of this manual.
D. Project Presentation Guidelines
a. Capstone 1.
1.
Only a capstone project that has been approved or cleared by the
capstone adviser should be presented before the panel of examiners. This means that a group or proponent has successfully complied and submitted all the necessary
requirements of the project as evaluated by the capstone adviser.
2.
There is no project presentation during the final examination
week. The project presentation should be
held two (2) or three (3) weeks before the final examination week in order to
provide ample time for possible
revisions as required or recommended by the panel of examiners.
3.
Each group or proponent is required to submit a set of their
final document (in hard copy form) to their adviser at least three (3) days
before their scheduled presentation date.
The number of copies of the final document depends on the number of the panel
of examiners.
4.
The presenters are required to be in their proper corporate
attire during the project presentation.
The corporate attire should adhere to the guidelines on the standard
dress code of the institution.
5.
A group or proponent with incomplete requirements will not be
allowed to present their project before the panel of examiners in their scheduled
presentation date. Upon completion of
the requirements, they are eligible to present their project before the final
examination week only. The group or
proponent should be the one to:
a.
Look for a presentation date;
b.
Prepare the presentation room;
c.
Prepare all the necessary documents and pertinent requirements;
and
d.
Look for the panel of examiners and should be duly approved by
the CCS program head/IT coordinator.
Note: The final grade that the group or proponent
will receive should be a step lower but
not lower than 3.0 in case they will receive a passing grade.
6.
A group or proponent who did not successfully deliver the requirements
of the subject will not be allowed to present their work. They will be given a grade of either INC or 5.0. A group or proponent with a grade of INC or
5.0 will not be allowed to enroll the Capstone 2 subject. However, an INC grade can be completed before
the start of the next semester where the presenter should adhere to the guidelines
listed in D5. The highest possible grade
that a group or proponent will receive upon completion will be 3.0.
7.
During project presentation, a non-appearing member will be
given a grade of INC given the following circumstance:
a.
There is a valid reason duly backed by legal documents; or
b.
The group agreed to drop the non-appearing member in order to
proceed with the presentation.
8.
Checking and validation of minor project revisions will be handled by the capstone adviser. Whereas, the panel of examiners may request for
a second presentation within the allowed presentation dates for a project that
has been evaluated as ‘Major Revision.’
b. Capstone 2.
1.
A group or proponent with complete documentation and completed almost
all of the major system deliverables will be allowed to present their work before
the panel of examiners.
E. Grading Guidelines
a. Capstone 1.
1.
A group or proponent who did not comply with the major
requirements of the subject will receive a failing grade.
2.
A student with a grade of INC or 5.0 is not allowed to enroll in
Capstone 2.
3.
A group or proponent with a grade of INC is still given an
opportunity to comply with the requirements by observing the guidelines listed
in D5a to D5d. The group or proponent
should be able to present their Capstone 1 project before the start of the
class of the next semester. The highest
possible grade that a group or proponent should receive is 3.0. Should they fail to deliver the requirements,
their grade will remain unchanged.
b. Capstone 2.
1.
A group or proponent who did not comply with the major
requirements of the subject will receive a failing grade.
2.
A group or proponent with a grade of INC is still given an
opportunity to comply with the requirements by observing the guidelines listed
in D5a to D5d. The group or proponent is
given a year to comply with the requirements.
