Honors undergraduate research course, a prime assessment and a proposal for a link with capstone design experience

Abstract

This paper reports on a newly structured honours undergraduate research course (HURC) and its extension to senior capstone design experience. First, we introduce briefly the course design, and implementation. Then we follow up with student learning outcomes assessment from two cohort offerings. Considering student and faculty participators feedback, an extension was thought to senior capstone design experience based on the undergraduate research course. Typical benefits of the course are highlighted. From two cohort offerings, it was noticed that the students already gone through the process achieved significant performance. A comparison is being performed between two groups of students; those who did their capstone design project after taking the HURC Course and a second whom did not take the HURC course prior to their capstone design experience. Preliminary comparisons show the significant high benefit for the students who had taken the course in better performing at the senior capstone design experience.