The senior project course has been offered yearly since 1987. In this two-semester sequence, you will complete a substantial real-world project sponsored by industry, a research organization, non-profit, or CU Boulder Department.
How Project Selection Works
- Sponsors submit project proposals, including a brief description and optional visual aids.
- Students review the proposals and speak to sponsors during a fall Project Fair.
- Students submit project preferences, which are used by the instructor to select projects and form teams.
Development
Beginning immediately after project selection, your team will weigh pros and cons of applying the various lifecycle options to your project. Many teams will use an agile approach structured around a series of short, 2- or 3-week software development iterations after a short initial planning stage, while others might spend more time evaluating project requirements and planning their approach to development.
Each development iteration includes planning, development and release. Throughout the project, your teammates are responsible for organizing, scheduling and completing their tasks; however, a very important aspect of each iteration is that the sponsor is closely involved in reviewing the project and providing feedback and direction.
Documentation
Several documentation artifacts are developed as part of these iterations over the course of the year, including requirements, design, a test plan and documentation for both end users and future developers. The nature of documentation for a specific project is detailed by the project sponsor.
Presentations
Your team will also give several presentations over the course of the project, which culminates in a poster/demo presentation at the Computer Science Expo during the last week of classes, and a final demo at the sponsor site.
Course Outcomes
Upon completion of the class, you should possess: