CS 472 Spring 2026 > Syllabus

CS 472 Spring 2026
Syllabus

COURSE:	CS 472 Senior Capstone II. 3 credits.
Time & place:	5:35–7:05 pm TTh, 535 Duckering. Any changes in the meeting schedule will be announced in advance on the class webpage.
Prerequisites:	CS 372; CS 471.
INSTRUCTOR:	Glenn G. Chappell, Dept. of Computer Science.
Office:	539 Duckering.
Office hours:	In person 3:30–4:30 pm MW, 1:15–3:15 pm T, 1:15–2:15 pm Th on spring 2026 class days, or by appointment; private Zoom meetings available on request.
E-mail:	`ggchappell@alaska.edu`
TEXTS:	Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited, 3rd ed. (required) Eric Brechner, Agile Project Management with Kanban (recommended)
WEB PAGE:	`https://www.cs.uaf.edu/~chappell/class/2026_spr/cs472` UA Canvas will be used for exam submission.

Course Topics & Goals

CS 472 is the second half of a two-semester capstone sequence comprising CS 471 (fall) and CS 472 (spring). It is intended to be taken by CS majors in the final year of their BS or BA degree program—or in the equivalent portion of a BS/MS program. The sequence covers software development processes, software quality, and related legal and ethical issues, culminating (in CS 472) with a semester-long group software-development project.

CS 472 topics include working as part of a software development team, developer-customer interaction, developer ethics & law, software usability & usability testing, software licensing, and non-disclosure & non-compete agreements.

Upon successful completion of CS 472, students will:

Have (further) experience developing software as part of a team following an agile development model.
Have (further) experience doing software usability testing.
Have an improved understanding of software design and implementation, developer-stakeholder interaction, and ethical and legal issues involved in software development.
Have improved skills in technical communications, including both formal and informal oral presentations.
Have completed a quality group software project for a customer.

Important Dates

For more details, see the Semester Plan, on the class webpage.

Fri, Feb 27	Take-Home Midterm Exam available, 5 pm
Mon, Mar 2–Fri, Mar 6	No class meetings (Take-Home Midterm Exam)
Fri, Mar 6	Take-Home Midterm Exam due, 5 pm
Mon, Mar 9–Fri, Mar 13	No class meetings (Spring Break)
Fri, Mar 27	Last day to withdraw (“W” on transcript)
Thu, Apr 23	Last regular class meeting
Thu, Apr 30	Noon—project deliverables due to customers Final Exam period 5:45 –7:45 pm—Final Presentation

Procedures

Class meetings—Lecture-discussion format with frequent student group presentations.

Homework—There will be no homework assignments. Occasional readings may be assigned. Also, the Take-Home Midterm Exam and the Project (see below) will be done outside of class meetings.

Exams—One exam will be given: a Take-Home Midterm. There will be no Final Exam; the final exam period will be used for the Final Presentations. See Important Dates.

Project & Presentations—Throughout the semester, students will work in an assigned team to develop a software project for an external customer. Each team will make 13 in-class presentations on their ongoing project: 3 formal (recorded) and 10 informal. Final presentations will be made during the final exam period for an audience including the class and others.

Other—Students must have clothing appropriate for professional-level presentations.

Grades

Course grades will be based on points earned, using a 90-80-70-60 scale. The +/− grading system will not be used. Point totals will be as follows.

Team Grading*
Informal Presentations (total)	150 pts
Formal Presentation #1	25 pts
Formal Presentation #2	25 pts
Final Presentation (formal)	35 pts

Individual Grading
Informal Presentations (total)	150 pts
Formal Presentation #1	25 pts
Formal Presentation #2	25 pts
Final Presentation (formal)	35 pts
Contributions to Project**	125 pts
Midterm Exam	75 pts
Class Participation	330 pts

TOTAL	1000 pts

*Under normal circumstances, all team members receive the same team grades. Exceptions may be made for unexcused absences on presentation days, or other failure to participate.

**Guided by feedback from project stakeholders and other team members.

Policies

Students are expected to be at every class meeting on time, and are responsible for all class content, whether present or not. If absence is necessary, notify the instructor as soon as possible; in particular, absences due to scheduled events must be arranged ahead of time.

Communication with the instructor outside of class will be via e-mail and the class webpage. Students are expected to check both their UA e-mail account and the class webpage daily during the semester.

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated, and will be dealt with according to UA procedures.

Students pay the CS lab fee. Payment allows access to the CS labs.