An Online Tool for Capstone Design Course Communication

The communication requirements associated with the instruction of a Capstone Design course can be extensive. This paper describes a utility used to simplify and improve communication between the instruction team members, and communication from the instruction team to the student design groups. This resource is part of a larger suite of tools that make use of a MySQL database to keep record of information. The communication tool is accessed through a web-browser connected to the database via a secure Apache web server and CGI scripts written using the Tool Command Language. The display of student identification photographs has allowed the instruction team to deliver personalized instruction even with large class sizes. This tool has been continually developed over the last five years using exclusively open-source or freely-available software and has greatly streamlined the communication required during instruction of Capstone Design courses.