Capstone Experience Purposes
An International, Multidisciplinary Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.2.19Keywords:
undergraduate capstone, syllabi, module outline, catalog, calendarAbstract
Capstone experiences (CEs) serve a variety of purposes in higher education as opportunities to apply academic skills, explore post-graduate life and employment, and achieve a meaningful undergraduate event. This study investigated the purposes of CEs through a content analysis of institutional course syllabi/course outlines/module outlines and catalog/calendar descriptions at five institutions of higher education: a large public research university in Canada, a large public teaching university in the United Kingdom (UK), a college of a large public research university in the United States (US), and two medium-sized private liberal arts universities in the US. Using the CE purposes found in a review of scholarly literature as a research guide, the authors analyzed 84 institutional documents. CE purposes that appeared in the sample at lower percentages when compared with published studies included oral communication, a coherent academic experience, preparation for graduate school, preparation for life after college, and civic engagement/service learning. Implications for practice include the need for instructors and administrators to consider revising CE documents to better reflect the content and goals of the courses and to address the requirements of other audiences (e.g., program reviewers, accreditation evaluators). Moreover, the results of this study may assist educators in considering reasons for omitting explicit purposes from CE documents and/or justifying the inclusion of previously omitted purposes.
Metrics
References
AACU. 2014. VALUE Rubric Development Project. Association of American Colleges & Universities. https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics
Barefoot, Betsy O., Betsy Q. Griffin, and Andrew K. Koch. 2012. “Enhancing Student Success and Retention Throughout Undergraduate Education: A National Survey.” Brevard, NC: John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. http://www.jngi.org/research-publications/NationalSurvey.
Boyer Commission. 1998. “Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities.” Stony Brook, NY: Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED424840.
Braun, Virginia, Victoria Clarke, Nikki Hayfield, and Gareth Terry. 2019. “Thematic Analysis.” In Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, edited by Pranee Liamputtong, 843–60. Singapore: Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_103.
Bringle, Robert G., Roger N. Reeb, Margaret A. Brown, and Ana I. Ruiz. 2016. “Integrating Service Learning into the Curriculum: Statistics, Research Methods, and Research Capstone.” In Service Learning in Psychology: Enhancing Undergraduate Education for the Public Good, 139–49. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14803-010.
Brown, Angela Humphrey, and Barbara Benson. 2005. “Making Sense of the Capstone Process: Reflections from the Front Line.” Education 125, no. 4: 674–92.
Capstone Design Community. 2020. http://capstonedesigncommunity.org/.
Coates, Hamish. 2010. “Development of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (Ausse).” Higher Education 60, no. 1: 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9281-2.
Cunningham, Doreen F., Alieu Wurie, Grace E. Byfield, and Mark A. Melton. 2015. “Impact of Stem Capstone Undergraduate Research Courses at Saint Augustine’s University.” In Infusing Undergraduate Research into Historically Black Colleges and Universities Curricula, 17:179–96. Diversity in Higher Education. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420150000017009.
Cuseo, Joseph B. 1998. “Objectives and Benefits of Senior Year Programs.” In The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition, edited by John N. Gardner and Gretchen B. Van der Veer, 21–36. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Cyphert, Dale, Elena Nefedova Dodge, and Leslie K. Duclos (Wilson). 2016. “Developing Communication Management Skills: Integrated Assessment and Reflection in an Experiential Learning Context.” Business and Professional Communication Quarterly 79, no. 4: 416–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329490616660815.
Delprino, Robert P. 2013. Human Side of the Strategic Planning Process in Higher Education. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for College and University Planning. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=3544816.
Devlin, Marcia. 2013. “Bridging Socio-Cultural Incongruity: Conceptualising the Success of Students from Low Socio-Economic Status Backgrounds in Australian Higher Education.” Studies in Higher Education 38, no. 6: 939–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.613991.
Dong, Matthew, Run Yu, and Zachary A. Pardos. 2019. “Design and Deployment of a Better Course Search Tool: Inferring Latent Keywords from Enrollment Networks.” In Transforming Learning with Meaningful Technologies, edited by Maren Scheffel, Julien Broisin, Viktoria Pammer-Schindler, Andri Ioannou, and Jan Schneider, 480–94. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29736-7_36.
Fernández, Óscar, Dana Lundell, and Seanna Kerrigan. 2019. “Taking High-Impact Practices to Scale in Capstone and Peer Mentor Programs, and Revising University Studies’ Diversity Learning Goal.” The Journal of General Education 67, no. 3–4: 269–89. https://doi.org/10.5325/jgeneeduc.67.3-4.0269.
Ferren, Ann, and David Paris. 2013. “How Students, Faculty, and Institutions Can Fulfill the Promise of Capstones.” Peer Review 15, no. 4: 4–7.
Frazier, Marian L., Thomas LoFaro, and Carolyn Pillers Dobler. 2018. “A Cross-Discipline Modeling Capstone Experience.” PRIMUS 28, no. 3: 266.
Gardner, John N. 1998. “The Emerging Movement to Strengthen the Senior Year Experience.” In The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition, edited by John N. Gardner and Gretchen Van der Veer, 1: 3–20. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Gardner, John N., and Gretchen Van der Veer. 1998. The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Goodwin, Adam, Laura Chittle, Jess C. Dixon, and David M. Andrews. 2018. “Taking stock and effecting change: Curriculum evaluation through a review of course syllabi.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(6), 855–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1412397
Grahe, Jon E., and Robert C. Hauhart. 2013. “Describing Typical Capstone Course Experiences from a National Random Sample.” Teaching of Psychology 40, no. 4: 281–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628313501040.
Grose-Fifer, Jillian, Patricia J. Brooks, and Maureen Ann O’Connor. 2019. Teaching Psychology an Evidence-Based Approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Habibi, Arash, Azam Sarafrazi, and Sedigheh Izadykar. 2018. “Delphi Technique Theoretical Framework in Qualitative Research.” International Journal of Engineering and Science 3, no. 4: 8–13.
Hammer, Sara, Lindy Abawi, Peter Gibbings, Hazel Jones, Petrea Redmond, and Syed Shams. 2018. “Developing a Generic Review Framework to Assure Capstone Quality.” Higher Education Research and Development 37, no. 4: 730–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1453787.
Hauhart, Robert C., and Jon E. Grahe. 2010. “The Undergraduate Capstone Course in the Social Sciences: Results from a Regional Survey.” Teaching Sociology 38, no. 1: 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X09353884.
Hauhart, Robert C., and Jon E. Grahe. 2012. “A National Survey of American Higher Education Capstone Practices in Sociology and Psychology.” Teaching Sociology 40, no. 3: 227–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X12441715.
Hauhart, Robert C., and Jon E. Grahe. 2015. Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses. 1st ed. Book, Whole. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Healey, Mick, and Alan Jenkins. 2009. Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry. York, UK: Higher Education Academy.
Henscheid, Jean M., John E. Breitmeyer, and Jessica L. Mercer. 2000. Professing the Disciplines: An Analysis of Senior Seminars and Capstone Courses. Columbia, SC: National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (University of South Carolina).
Henscheid, Jean M., Tracy L. Skipper, and Dalin G. Young. 2019. “Reflection, Integration, Application: Intentional Design Strategies for Senior Capstone Experiences.” New Directions for Higher Education, no. 188: 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20349.
Higher Education Classification Association. n.d. “Joint Academic Coding System.” Joint Academic Coding System. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.
Hinton, Karen E. 2012. A Practical Guide to Strategic Planning in Higher Education. Electronic resource. Johnstown, NY: Society for College and University Planning.
Huang-Saad, Aileen, Matt Gibson, James Goebel, Brandon McNaughton, and Richard Sheridan. 2016. “Student Learnings from a Multidiscipinary Capstone Entrepreneurship Course.” Journal of Engineering Entrepreneurship 7, no. 1: 13–23. https://doi.org/10.7814/jeenvp.
Kain, Edward L. 1999. “Building the Sociological Imagination Through a Cumulative Curriculum: Professional Socialization in Sociology.” Teaching Sociology 27, no. 1: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2307/1319241.
Karagozoglu, Necmi. 2017. “Antecedents of Team Performance on Case Studies in a Strategic Management Capstone Course.” The International Journal of Management Education 15, no. 1: 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2016.11.001.
Kilpatrick, John, Kathy Lund Dean, and Paul Kilpatrick. 2008. “Philosophical Concerns About Interpreting AACSB Assurance of Learning Standards.” Journal of Management Inquiry 17, no. 3: 200–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492607312024.
Kim, Moon-Soo. 2017. “Multidisciplinary Team Index in Capstone Course of Higher Education.” Advanced Science Letters 23, no. 3: 2038. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2017.8586.
Kinzie, Jillian. 2013. “Taking Stock of Capstones and Integrative Learning.” Peer Review: Washington 15, no. 4: 27–30.
Krippendorff, Klaus. 2012. Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. 3rd edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Kuh, George D., and Carol Geary Schneider. 2008. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU).
Landis, Cynthia M., Susan B. Scott, and Susan Kahn. 2015. “Examining the Role of Reflection in EPortfolios: A Case Study.” International Journal of EPortfolio 5, no. 2: 107–21.
Lee, Nicolette, and Daniel Loton. 2019. “Capstone Purposes Across Disciplines.” Studies in Higher Education 44, no. 1: 134–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1347155.
Levine, Arthur. 1978. Handbook of Undergraduate Curriculum. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Linstone, Harold, and Murray Turoff. 1979. The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Mackenzie, Sara L. C., Deborah M. Hinchey, and Kathryn P. Cornforth. 2019. “A Public Health Service-Learning Capstone: Ideal for Students, Academia and Community.” Frontiers in Public Health 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00010.
Magnanti, TL, and K. Natarajan. 2018. “Allocating Students to Multidisciplinary Capstone Projects Using Discrete Optimization.” Interfaces 48, no. 3: 204–16. https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.2017.0940.
Marsolek, M. D., and N. E. Canney. 2016. “Facilitating Habitual Reflection in Students - Application to an Engineering Capstone Project.” In 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2016.7757482.
Martin, Jason M. 2018. “Culminating Capstone Courses.” In Transformative Student Experiences in Higher Education: Meeting the Needs of the Twenty-First Century Student and Modern Workplace, edited by Michael G. Strawser, 41–56. New York: Lexington Books.
Maul, Andrew. 2018. “Judgment Sampling.” Electronic resource. In The Sage Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, edited by Bruce B. Frey, 913–14. Los Angeles: SAGE Reference.
Melonçon, Lisa, and Sally Henschel. 2013. “Current State of U.S. Undergraduate Degree Programs in Technical and Professional Communication.” Technical Communication 60, no. 1: 45–64.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). n.d. “Classification of Instructional Programs.” https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/Default.aspx?y=56.
Padgett, Ryan D., and Cindy A. Kilgo. 2012. 2011 National Survey of Senior Capstone Experiences: Institutional-Level Data on the Culminating Experience. Columbia, SC: National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
Schermer, Timothy, and Simon Gray. 2012. “The Senior Capstone: Transformative Experiences in the Liberal Arts.” The Teagle Foundation. http://www.teaglefoundation.org/Library-Resources/Special-Projects/The-Senior-Capstone-Transformative-Experiences-in.
Smith, Barbara L. 1998. “Curricular Structures for Cumulative Learning.” In The Senior Year Experience, edited by John N. Gardner and Gretchen Van der Veer, 81–94. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Starr‐Glass, David, and Tanweer Ali. 2012. “Double Standards: When an Undergraduate Dissertation Becomes the Object of Two Different Assessment Approaches.” Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 37, no. 2: 179–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02602938.2010.515016.
Stephen, John, Diane H. Parente, and Randy C. Brown. 2002. “Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Balancing Functional and Integrative Knowledge Using Large-Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes.” Journal of Management Education 26, no. 2: 164–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/105256290202600204.
Wang, Melissa, and Dawn M. Bohn. 2018. “Charging to the End: Course Activities for Semester-Long Student Engagement in an Undergraduate Product Development Capstone Course.” Journal of Food Science Education 17, no. 3: 85–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4329.12138.
Young, Dallin George, Jasmin K. Chung, Dory E. Hoffman, and Ryan Bronkema. 2017. 2016 National Survey of Senior Capstone Experiences: Expanding Our Understanding of Culminating Experiences. Columbia, SC: National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina.
Zablith, Fouad. 2016. “Towards a linked and reusable conceptual layer around higher education programs.” In Open Data for Education: Linked, Shared, and Reusable Data for Teaching & Learning, edited by Dmitry Mouromtsev and Mathieu d’Aquin, 86–102. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30493-9_5.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Russell Kirkscey, Julie Vale, Jennifer Hill, James Weiss
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
