Senior students in the CS411 and IS Honors classes have the unique opportunity of gaining ‘real world’ experience while completing their college careers.
Students work in groups of three to four to develop software for Clarion’s student, campus and business communities.
Dr. Jon ODonnell, associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer Information Science, has instructed the capstone course for the past five years, and feels that the experience is vital to the students’ development and preparation to join the workforce.
“Clarion’s CIS graduates have had great success after leaving Clarion, with many receiving multiple job offers even before completing their last semester,” says ODonnell.
He adds, “Clarion’s philosophy on computer information science runs more to the applied side, as opposed to the theoretical, and with this capstone course providing students with the opportunity to work on projects for actual clients, its ongoing successes have provided the inspiration to continue pursuing these projects.”
“The hands-on design of Clarion’s CIS major is a real selling point to incoming students, and with the added internship-type experience of developing software for local businesses, our graduates have an edge when entering the job market, which also appeals to students.”
The process for identifying potential projects is a simple one. An email is distributed to the Clarion University community, as well as through the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). There has been no shortage of ideas throughout the years.
Once projects are accepted for consideration, student teams meet with their clients during the first few weeks of the semester. Work continues on the project throughout the semester culminating in a finished product presentation to the client, course instructor, and their classmates near the end of the semester.
Past project topics have varied widely, including those that directly benefit Clarion’s students, faculty and staff, as well as the local business community. Projects are chosen for their sustainability and ongoing usefulness.
Many of these ideas have been transformed by students into successful final products for local businesses, including Clarion County Airport, Clarion-Forest VNA, and Clarion’s CUmentor program, to name a few.
Other clients have included a local pottery company, a behavioral health service organization, a machine shop, an electronics manufacturing firm, and the Barnes Center of Clarion’s SBDC.
Clarion County Airport
Don Cumpston, president of the Clarion County Airport Authority, was looking for a way for area pilots to easily check the availability of planes and reserve use of rental and club aircraft.
The program developed by Clarion students provides 24/7 real-time access for pilots and vital information for the airport’s maintenance staff.
“Working with the Clarion students was a pleasure, and we look forward to further enhancing this product with another student group in the future,” said Cumpston.
Clarion-Forest VNA
The Clarion-Forest Visiting Nurses Association (VNA), who provides in-home health care services, has many professional employees who must submit daily reports on their activities.
Tom Long II, network and systems administrator at VNA, saw a need for a web-based management system for Google Apps to organize these reports.
The student-designed software, WebGAM, provides the VNA with the necessary tools to fill in the gaps in the Google Apps management tools currently in use.
“Due to the complexity of the product design, it was decided early on that it would be best for the students to provide a solid, well-documented foundation for myself and others to continue to build on, rather than trying to cram all of the desired feature development into the somewhat short timeframe of a semester,” says Long.
“The WebGAM software is functional, but still a work in progress. I appreciate the hard work of the students, and with the most important piece of the puzzle, the documentation, done very well, it has allowed me to pick up where they left off.”
“I am hoping to continue development of WebGAM next semester with another group of students since this collaboration was so successful,” says Long.
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Clarion University’s CUmentor Program
A major component of the CUmentor program is effectively matching students with alumni and/or employer mentors. The process of matching now takes approximately 10 minutes from start to finish, as compared to 50 minutes when manually matching participants, all thanks to software created by a student group in CIS411.
The ‘home-grown’ software utilizes an algorithm that generates accurate matching capabilities between mentees and mentors, significantly shortening the match-making process, according to Josh Domitrovich, coordinator for Career Mentoring and Internships at Clarion.
“The value of this program is priceless, and has been meeting our needs from day one. Since its launch in October, 65 matches have been made, and that is a true blessing to our office in terms of effectively utilizing our time,” says Domitrovich.
“The group was phenomenal to work with, and I would without hesitation participate in the process again if needed,” he adds.
Two of this year’s topics designed by students for students deal with student rentals and the Clarion Area Transit buses.
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RateMyStudentLandlord.com
RateMyStudentLandlord.com is an online tool for students to submit their ratings of the student housing options and landlords around Clarion. The ratings allow students to learn from others when searching for an apartment and/or landlord.
Ryan Robertson, along with Tucker Glover, Patrick Camloh and Wellington Rodrigues are the project coordinators.
“Our team enjoyed working on a project that helps students at Clarion, and are excited this software may eventually be used by other rural colleges such as Slippery Rock, Edinboro, and Grove City.”
A ‘star rating system’ allows students to evaluate their rental experiences including the areas of fairness, upkeep, value and overall rating.
Students are also asked the questions: What was good about your rental experience?; What was bad about your rental experience?; Did you get your security deposit back in full? If not, what happened?; and Did you break your lease? If so, what happened?
According to Robertson, a second-generation Clarion student, “RateMyStudentLandlord.com is not meant to bash bad landlords, but instead promote good landlords that provide their student tenants with a great living experience, and there is a proctor in place that oversees the system to eliminate the incidence of unfair or untrue ratings.”
ODonnell says, “The student rating system is launching before the end of the semester so that current seniors can give initial ratings in time for incoming freshman and for those students moving from university-based housing to the community.”
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PinPoint Transit
The team of John VanSickle, Joe Fallecker, and Kellie Wyatt have developed the PinPoint Transit app for students and community members to track where the Clarion Area Transit (CAT) bus is located and how long it will take for the bus to arrive at any designated pickup location.
The app involves three components that work together to make everything possible, Passenger, Driver and Web Server.
The Passenger app allows riders to view real-time information about where the bus is and how long it should take for the bus to arrive at your location.
The Driver app, used by the CAT bus drivers, allows them to select what route they are servicing, and which bus they are driving.
Once these are selected, they choose “Enter Service” and the app takes over to continuously report location, direction and other information to the web server where it can be processed between the Driver and Passenger applications.
“PinPoint Transit was designed to work on any computer, tablet or smartphone, and its main function is to eliminate the unpleasant experience of waiting in the rain or snow for a bus,” says VanSickle.
CIS411 capstone courses, such as those mentioned here, should not be just a bullet point on a student’s resume, but a launching point for an actual discussion about real-life experiences, and how those experiences can benefit a potential employer.
“Even though the students are not permitted to accept any money for their work on these projects, and are basically considered unpaid internships, the experience gained by our students, as well as the service they are providing to the community and the university, is invaluable,” says ODonnell.
“And as long as there are problems out there that need solving, Clarion’s CIS students will be here to help.”
For more information about the CIS411 course projects or Computer Information Sciences degrees, contact Dr. ODonnell or the CIS department at 814-393-2442.