Writing Capstone

Objectives (r7)

WritingCapstone Objectives

Print this document out in color to follow best the instructions and examples.

Enter the following information:

Applicant Name (Last, First)
Texas State Email:
Cell Phone:

The graph below shows how the capstone objectives align with the four highest levels of learning based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Note what the student can do at each level. Your four objectives will align with the four highest levels, starting with Objective 1 at the Applying level and progressing still higher with completion of Objective 2 at the Analyze level and Objective 3 at the Evaluate level.Objective 4 demonstrates the highest level of your capstone performance—the Create level, and this results in your final project deliverable to your capstone supervisor.

Continue on to the worksheets in the following pages to develop your four objectives. In so doing, read carefully the instructions as you construct your objective statements. Then complete the Final Review on the last page in this document.

Note:The Capstone Coordinator reviews first your worksheets and Final Reviewpage for following directions, quality writing, and completeness—failure to do so may result in rejecting your application for further processing to enroll in OCED 4360/4361.

Capstone Objective-4 Worksheet

Use the following graphic organizerto design your Objective 4 statement.

Objective 4 Component / My Objective 4 Component…
Select aCreate Action Verb from this list:
Create, Modify, or Produce
Select a Number (limited to 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10) and a Unit (e.g., chapter, section, topic, module, channel, function, stage, or component). Make sure to hyphenate the number-unit you select.
Select a Product (e.g., manual, handout, poster, video, plan, tool etc.) This is what you will deliver to the capstone supervisor.
Write a short phrase describing the Product Content. (e.g., to support technical sales, on grade 4 math strategies, for non-profit fundraising, for a new product launch…) Make it short but descriptive.
Write “based on”.
Select an External Criteria: (e.g., standards, criteria, guidelines, recommendations, or best practices). Your criteria are the foundation of your final product.
Write “as defined by”.
Select an Outside Authority: (e.g., National Center for Victims of Crime, Association of Recording Engineers, American Diabetes Association, etc.) Your outside authority cannot be your site organization. The authority must be one your capstone supervisor will recognize as a higher authority in its industry, sector, or marketplace.

Examples:

  • Create a 7-section plan on expanding business to Mexico based on international business practices as defined by the Organization of American States.
  • Produce a 5-topic video about the history of Crystal City based on criteria as defined by the American Society for the Preservation of Historical Sites.
  • Modify a 10-module lesson plan with instructional strategies for elementary teachers based on best practices as defined by the National Council of Mathematics Teachers.

Write your Objective-4 statement in the box below based on your components in the table.

Capstone Objective-3 Worksheet

Use the following graphic organizer to design your Objective 3 statement.

Objective 3 Component / My Objective 3 Component…
Select an Evaluate Action Verb from this list:
Appraise, Assess, or Evaluate
Select a Number: Take the number from Objective 4 and add 5, 6, or 7 to it.This number is how many you will evaluate to select the quantity in your final product.
Select a sub-unit based on your Objective 4 Unit. Here are some units and their sub-unitsin parenthesis you might consider: section (topics), topics (main ideas), modules (sections or topics), channels (outlets), functions (steps), stages (transformations), components (elements).
Write a short phrase describing the Sub-Unit Content. (e.g., to support technical sales, on grade 4 math strategies, for non-profit fundraising, for a new product launch…). Make it short but descriptive.
Write “based on”.
Select an Internal Criteria:preferences, needs, or findings. Your internal criteria guide you in deciding what to keep or discard from the sub-units.
Write “as defined by”
Enter the Data Collector phrase: write a survey of when you are surveying a population of experts; write a database of when the data pre-exists, e.g., 2017 Customer Complaints; write processing output from for software tests.You may want to leave this table entry blank until you complete Objective 2.
Enter the Data Source (e.g., field-agents, elementary science teachers, non-profit executives, software end-users, etc.) You may want to leave this table entry blank until you complete Objective 2.

Examples:

  • Appraise 12 topics on expanding business to Mexico based on guidelines as defined by a survey of Mexican-import local vendors.
  • Assess 10 topics about the history of Crystal City based on preferences as defined by a questionnaire to Crystal City Council Members.
  • Evaluate 15 instructional strategies for teaching mathematics based on findings as defined by a survey to elementary teachers.

Write your Objective-3 statement in the box below based on your components in the table.

Capstone Objective-2 Worksheet

Use the following graphic organizer to design your Objective 2 statement.

Objective 2 Component / My Objective 2 Component…
Select an Analyze Action Verb from this list:
Analyze, Categorize, or Classify
Select a Data Collector and precede it by the quantity you will analyze as follows: 25 surveys, 10 website models, 15 geographic profiles, 250data records, etc.). The quantities shown are the minimum expected to analyze. Now that you know the “data collector”, go back to Objective 3 and enter the data collector phrase after “as defined by”.
Enter the Data Source (e.g., from field-agents, from city historical photos, from website end-users, from 2017 Customer Profiles, from crime victims, etc.) The data source defines the participants represented in the data collection. The participants can be in your site organization, or external, but they must represent an “expert” group that can guide you in your evaluation decisions.Now that you know the “data source”, go back to Objective 3 and enter it after the data collector entry.
Write “based on”.
Select an External Criteria: (e.g., standards, criteria, guidelines, recommendations, or best practices). Your external criteria are the foundation of your selections from evaluating in Objective 3.
Write “as defined by”
Write “research of selected sources.”

Examples:

  • Analyze 25 surveys from entrepreneurs based on best business practices as defined by research of selected sources.
  • Categorize 15 sites in Crystal City for historical significance based on guidelines as defined by research of selected sources.
  • Classify 30 instructional strategies from fifth-grade science teachers based on performance standards as defined by research of selected sources.

Write your Objective-2 statement in the box below based on your components in the table.

Capstone Objective-1 Worksheet

Use the following graphic organizer to design your Objective 1 statement.

Objective 1 Component / My Objective 1 Component…
Write the Apply Action Verb, “Research”.
Write “15 sources”. One of your sources can be artifacts already archived for you in a select location (e.g., museum, library, etc.) Otherwise, your sources will come from websites, reports, books, articles, videos, etc.
Write a short phrase describing the source subject- matter. (e.g., on technical sales training, on grade 4 math strategies, on non-profit fundraising, on new product launches…) Make it short but descriptive.
Write “based on”.
Select an External Criteria: (e.g., standards, criteria, guidelines, recommendations, or best practices). Here, use theExternal Criteria from Objective 4.
Write “as defined by”
Select an Outside Authority: (e.g., USDA, Association of Recording Engineers, Texas Education Agency, The American Diabetes Association, etc.) Here, use the Outside Authority from Objective 4.This is intentional. Your final product to the capstone supervisor is only as good as the foundation you establish in Objective 1.

Examples:

  • Research 15 sources on expanding business to Mexico based on international business practices as defined by the Organization of American States.
  • Research 15 sources about Crystal City history based on criteria as defined by the American Society for the Preservation of Historical Sites.
  • Research 15 sources on fifth-grade instructional practices based on best practices as defined by the National Council of Mathematics Teachers.

Write your Objective-1 statement in the box below based on your components in the table.

When you are done with all four objectives, complete the Final Reviewon the next page to validate your objectives conform to the capstone required format, structure, and criteria.

Final Review

In the space below, copy your four objectives 1 to 4 from the worksheets above.

Objective 1 (Apply)
Objective 2 (Analyze)
Objective 3 (Evaluate)
Objective 4 (Create)

Type your initials in the left column below if your 4 objectives meet the criteria.

Initials / Criteria
My objectives use the select action verb(s) provided in the worksheets.
My objectives have quantities as defined in the worksheets.
My objectives 1 and 4 use the same Outside Authority, which is external to the site organization, and that the capstone supervisor recognizes as a higher authority in its industry, sector, or marketplace.
My sequence of objectives 1 through 4 builds from one to the next resulting in my successful completion of the capstone. If not, there is the possibility that you are working on multiple capstones. Note: Your only capstone is Objective 4—the other objectives build toward creating your final product for the capstone supervisor.
There are no conjunctions like “and”, “or”, or “in addition to” in any of the objectives, nor are there any commas (“,”). The only exception is when a conjunction is part of an organization’s name (e.g., Association of American Colleges and Universities”.
Note: Using conjunctions implies you have multiple criteria, which will confound the evaluation of your objectives. For example, say you are using two Outside Authorities for Objective-4, e.g., the American Diabetes Association and the US Association of Pastry Chefs. How will the 5-section manual on healthy eating meet standards from more than two Outside Authorities? Make your life simple: do not use conjunctions, which implies you do not have conflicting criteria.

If you cannot initial each criterion, go back to your worksheets and make revisions, and then do the Final Review again. When you can initial each criterion, you are then ready to copy and paste your four objectives in your Application, where indicated (Capstone Objectives section).

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