CAPSTONE EXPERIENCES/COURSES

Definition:

A capstone is an entire course, portion of a course, or field experience (internship, work placement, etc.) expected at or near the end of a student's academic career. These experiences usually require students to demonstrate all or a portion of the skills they have acquired as a part of their matriculation in and through a given program or curriculum. They may be part of a formal course, program, or graduation requirement.

Costs:

Significant time investment for development and implementation (similar to FYE?)
Instructor compensation
Additional time for scoring and grading (is assessment separate from course evaluation?)
FTSE benefit
Data collection and storage
Time to review results and make improvement decisions
Any other costs associated with specific instruments embedded in the course

Advantages:

Multiple measures can be administered to an attentive and motivated group of students
Flexible
Benefits to the student: summative experience, preparation for the future, learning community
Consistency: all students get the same assessments at the same time
All the other benefits associated with the chosen instruments

Disadvantages:

Costly development and maintenance (time and effort)
If required, it can be a disincentive to graduation.
If optional, the student population may not be representative.
Cannot be used for benchmarking or longitudinal data for each student beyond a single semester
Mostly a summative assessment for the student, not formative
All other disadvantages associated with the chosen instruments

Implementation Suggestions:

Make earlier course work inquiry-based to prepare and stimulate the students for the course.
The nature of the capstone experience will vary, but it should be of equal value regardless of future discipline.
Encourage and require collaboration.
The experience should enable the student to bring to a symbolic conclusion the acquisition of knowledge and skills.
Faculty and student work together in shared or mutually reinforcing projects.
Select multiple appropriate, reliable, and valid instruments for assessment.
Develop specific, measurable criteria, especially for performances
Survey students for course/experience improvement.

Recommendation:

Capstone courses/experiences seem most appropriate for four-year institutions with a fairly well defined or constant student population. At PVCC, a capstone course may be useful for some specific programs, but it does not seem feasible for our general education population due to the swirl and graduation disincentive.

Bibliography/Resources:

Mesa Technical College, 2000-2001 Student Learning Assessment Model, handouts from 2001 AAHE Assessment Forum

Seybert, Jeffrey, "Assessing Student Learning", Assessment Update, Volume 6, Number 4, 1994

Shepard College, "VII. Culminate With a Capstone Experience" Ten Ways to Change Undergraduate Education,
http://www.shepard.edu/assessweb/capstone.html

Van Kollenburg, Susan E., ed. A Collection of Papers on Self-Study and Institutional Improvement: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the North Central Association: Serving the Common Good: New Dimensions in Higher Education. Chicago, The Higher Learning Commission. 2001.