IT bachelor capstone project during lockdown: Student experiences

Abstract

Medical lockdown was a fact in Norway March 2020. As a result, bachelor students were no longer able to complete their studies in an ordinary way. New forms of collaboration and communication had to be established quickly, while many companies were closed down and employees worked from home. This study focuses on students in a bachelor program in IT working on their bachelor thesis. We used a survey questionnaire and grades from the bachelor capstone project to evaluate effects caused by the situation. The findings show that infection control measures due to Covid-19 has had a significant perceived negative effect on collaboration, communication and results. In contrast to this, the results in the form of grades are unaffected by the situation. This indicates that students felt stressed by the situation, but in practice handled this stress well. For future projects such as these, we recommend guiding students to regularly use online communication tools, even when physical proximity is possible. If major disruptions happen, supervisors should help students focus on this as a learning opportunity.