Capstone Programs
Capstone finds it root in the Latin for head and can refer to "The crowning achievement or final stroke; the culmination or acme" (American Heritage Dictionary, 2006)
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University of Nevada
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Both general and major capstone offering with 132 general capstone courses among 42 departments and another 55 courses in 31 departments that offer the major capstone experience.
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Portland State University
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In reviewing the list of courses offered in the Winter of 2008 it is clear that many of these capstone courses also reach into the community with a variety of partnerships.
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Indiana University School of Informatics
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They are so proud of the results of their capstone programs they have 6 years of high quality work listed
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Stony Brook University
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The Boyer Commission in Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities defines the capstone experience as : “All the skills of research developed in earlier work should be marshaled in a project that demands the framing of a significant question or set of questions, the research or creative exploration to find answers, and the communication skills to convey the results to audiences both expert and uninitiated in the subject matter.” The report further suggests that students will be best prepared for the demands of the capstone experience when earlier coursework is inquiry based.”
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University of California Berkeley
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A good example of how a university integrated the capstone courses.
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University of Cincinnati
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This university requires that all capstone programs “ensures that students have mastered the four baccalaureate competencies: critical thinking, effective communication, social responsibility, and knowledge integration.”
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Additional notes regarding capstone courses.
· Truman State College explains some of the faculty benefits of capstone courses. “Benefits of the capstone courses are varied, but an examination of the benefits of a specific capstone can best demonstrate some of the potential contributions capstone courses can make. Team teaching the capstone course brings opportunities several times a week for colleagues to reflect on and discuss student learning in the major. Inevitably, such discussions include references to the curriculum, specific assignments, and teaching pedagogy. Faculty have the opportunity to learn teaching strategies and discipline subfields from each other. This is a particularly good opportunity to mentor new faculty about the importance of discipline objectives, high expectations for students, and frequent faculty-student interaction. Through collegial discussions, program objectives are shared, cohesiveness increases, and improvements are planned.”
· “The earliest capstones can be traced to the end of the eighteenth century when college presidents taught courses generally integrating philosophy and religion. One of the most famous was a class at Williams College in Massachusetts taught by President Mark Hopkins that inspired, among others, future U.S. President James A. Garfield. Since its inception, the senior seminar has appeared and disappeared in colleges and universities throughout the United States.”(http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1812/Capstone-Courses-in-Higher-Education.html )
· More than 700 accredited institutions responded to a National Resource Center survey 10 years ago about capstone courses with “50.9% of respondents indicated that the primary goal of senior seminars and capstone courses is to foster integration and synthesis within the academic major. 22.1% of respondents indicated that the primary goal of senior seminars and capstone courses is to either promote integration and connections between the academic major and the work world or to improve seniors' career preparation and pre-professional development. 5.7% of respondents indicated that promoting integration and connections between general education and the academic major was the primary goal of these courses and 5% indicated that the primary goal was to promote the coherence and relevance of general education.”
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