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, <

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.