This paper, led by Charles Pezeshki from Washington State University, explores how to improve capstone design projects by better understanding student growth and how external clients can help. It emphasizes that coordinated actions between instructors and clients are key to unlocking student development opportunities. The article introduces tools for assessing and enhancing the skills of professionals who mentor capstone teams.
Steve Beyerlein and Charles Pezeshki frame instructor/client coaching around three interaction windows: pre-project scoping, preliminary design review, and detail design review. Capstone instructors need to identify student development opportunities within these windows and prepare those involved to take advantage of them. A client assessment rubric and common project scenarios are provided to help instructors coach their clients.
The research uses data from 50 projects archived by Charles Pezeshki’s project management software, examining client behaviors related to motivation, experience, interaction, and institutional design. Results are interpreted based on the authors’ experience with over 350 capstone projects. Archetypical client scenarios are formulated to examine best practices in coaching clients at key intervention points. Ultimately, the goal is to balance the relational aspects clients already possess and develop higher-level skills that students need. For clients with a communal perspective, emphasis is placed on individual performance. For clients with an individualistic perspective, coaching involves developing stronger group identification. The work of Charles Pezeshki and Steve Beyerlein provides a framework for successful capstone design.