A cloud-based tool for assigning students to projects

As a part of the overall engineering curriculum, senior capstone projects provide the necessary opportunity for engineering graduates to apply their technical skills towards solving contemporary, open-ended, and challenging engineering problems. At Rowan University, both juniors and seniors engage in such hands-on projects across their last four terms in the engineering program. In the recent years, over 80 projects have been presented to over 250 students - demanding a clear need for a software solution to manage student assignment. A cloud-based platform was developed for managing projects and assigning students. This solution used Google Forms to generate a list of projects with details for students to review and accept student preferences. An algorithm that assigned students to projects using multi-level criteria processed the projects and student preferences. Replacing the previously laborious exercise of assignment was a primary motivator for this effort. The algorithm utilized Google Apps Script's ability to generate and manipulate data objects while having full access to Google's variety of cloud services. Furthermore, to create a robust platform for improved student assignment, new project and student requirements that could not previously be accommodated were added. For the Fall 2014 term, the new automated approach was compared to the old manual sorting method by each of the four engineering departments. Beyond the obvious benefits, further advantages of the automated assignment are documented here. This paper describes the automation approach in detail and provides insights for implementing such a platform elsewhere. With the addition of scripted algorithms, several frequently used tasks can be automated with varying degrees of complexity. The effort described here is a robust example of the utility that cloud-based services provide to the academic profession.