Revising a civil and environmental engineering capstone design course

The current paper describes the development and subsequent revision of the capstone design course for civil and environmental engineering students at Rowan University. Students take the course in both the fall and spring terms of their senior year. The course challenges and allows the students to demonstrate the engineering skills they have acquired through the undergraduate curriculum. The course was developed following a review of other capstone courses described in literature. Open-ended design projects are developed with assistance from industry advisors and presented to the students at the start of the course. The students then spend two semesters preparing solutions to the problems. The first year the course was offered went much as expected based on the instructors' previous experiences. Students complained of vague instructions, too much work, and lack of experience. However, additional student concerns with fairness and inequitable workloads were expressed. Refinements to the project selection process and course administration were made to address these concerns.