Capstone Course Research Articles

Training undergraduate biomedical science majors in peer review and constructive criticism through a senior capstone course.

Effective scientific communication is crucial for undergraduate students to succeed in future graduate or professional careers in the biomedical sciences. Peer review and constructive criticism are essential to producing written science communications. Unfortunately, training in how to perform peer review and incorporate constructive criticism is minimal in undergraduate science courses. Here, I describe a senior thesis course for immunology and microbiology majors that encourages students to integrate iterative peer review to improve their writing skills and their ability to incorporate feedback. In this course, students are expected to complete one of the following written projects that focuses on an immunological disorder or infectious disease: a research proposal, a case study, or a meta-analysis/systematic review. Each project is separated into six assignments, and each assignment is assessed through specifications (SPECS)-based grading and peer review where students have multiple attempts to improve their scores on each assignment. Approximately 40% of each student's grade is based on their ability to incorporate feedback from peers and instructors. Preliminary survey results suggest that students are eager to learn how to effectively incorporate peer and instructor feedback. Enhancing training in peer review will encourage students to embrace constructive criticism, which will be essential for their future careers. Initial findings indicate that students are positively engaging with the peer-review process, and the use of SPECS grading fosters a growth mindset. Continued research will further explore how this method can enhance students' confidence and skill in integrating feedback into professional scientific communication.

Embedding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into the Career Curricula

The United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework for addressing global challenges, linking environmental sustainability to individual and social well-being and social justice. This article explores how embedding the SDGs into career development can enhance career exploration and contribute to a sustainable future. Drawing on experiences from teaching a senior career capstone course, it highlights strategies for integrating the SDGs into career interventions. Key components include developing personal mission statements, researching organizations, analyzing future work trends, and conducting informational interviews. The article also presents evidence of the course's impact on students' thinking and provides practical advice for implementation.

A Capstone Course for Secondary Math Educators Moving to College-Level Teaching

The University of Tennessee has a Master of Mathematics (M.M.) program for secondary educators interested in college-level teaching. The program includes a capstone course on topics related to college-level teaching and can be thought of as a kind of professional development which allows secondary educators to explore options for their careers. This paper outlines the design, structure, and implementation of the course, including that it incorporated findings from an active research project. We describe details of class design, activities, our reflections, and how the course can serve as a way for teaching ideas to flourish between high school and college educators.

A Capstone Course in Public Writing About Mathematics

This article describes a major capstone course centered on public writing, whose underlying pedagogical principles are transferable to courses across the curriculum. The course aims to strengthen students' mathematical agency and their ability to effectively communicate mathematical ideas. In its unique format, students repeatedly take turns writing articles aimed at a variety of audiences and editing peers' work. Student reflections and survey data demonstrate that this collaborative, active format builds students' confidence in math and writing and their sense of belonging in the mathematical community. The last section offers suggestions for getting started with implementing aspects of this pedagogy.

Creating group work-integrated learning experiences for non-clinical health degrees: A practitioner reflection

Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences, integral for equipping students with the skills and knowledge crucial for employment and success in their chosen careers, have traditionally been associated with accreditation requirements in professional programs. More recently, acknowledging the importance of WIL experiences in non-professional programs has grown. In this reflective paper, the experiences of the practitioner tasked with developing a new WIL capstone course for students in Health and Biomedical Science degrees are described. Grounded in social exchange theory, where interactions are viewed as exchanges aimed at maximising rewards while minimising costs, the intent was for student groups to engage with a range of authentic project experiences offered by industry, community, and academic staff (the WIL partners). Critical elements were the active involvement of a diverse array of partners and the importance of relationship building for the long-term sustainability of the project experiences. I discuss and reflect on the specific strategies employed to engage the WIL partners, inspiring them to collaborate and develop meaningful projects suitable for students pursuing various career paths. Additionally, I reflect on the invaluable experiences and feedback provided by our partners.

The Magazine Mirage: Implementing Experiential Learning for Capstone Curriculum in a News Desert

This study explores a Capstone course’s pedagogical process and considers both the challenges and triumphs that emerge from experiential learning within a news desert region. The research employs micro-ethnographic methods to analyze the learning outcomes gleaned by both students and instructors of one magazine publishing Capstone course over the timespan of 9 years, 2014 to 2023. The research acknowledges the pedagogical evolution of the Capstone course as both a means of assessment and workforce preparation and seeks to add the concept of the Capstone as a venue for service and community journalism.

Issue on Teaching and Training Future Health Informaticians:Partnering with Students to Develop a Capstone for a Graduate Health Informatics Program.

To assess the desirability, feasibility, and sustainability of integrating a project-based capstone course with the course-based curriculum of an interdisciplinary MSc health informatics program guided with a student-partnered steering committee and student-centered approach. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey (n=87) and three semi-structured focus groups (n=18) of health informatics students and alumni. Survey data was analyzed descriptively. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and then analyzed using a general inductive and classic analysis approach. Most students were supportive of including a capstone project but desired an option to work independently or within a group. Students perceived several benefits to capstone courses while concerned over perceived challenges to capstone implementation, evaluation, and managing group processes. Themes identified were: 1) professional development, identity, and career advancement; 2) emulating the real world and learning beyond the classroom, 3) embracing new, full circle learning, 4) anticipated course structure, delivery, and preparation, 5) balancing student choice, interests, and priorities, and 6) concerns over group dynamics, limitations, and support. This study demonstrates the value of having students as partners at each stage in the process from methods conception to course curriculum design. With the steering committee and the curriculum developer, we codeveloped a student-centered course that integrates foundational digital health-related project knowledge acquisition with an inquiry-based project which can be completed independently or in small groups. This study demonstrates the potential benefits and challenges that health informatics educators may consider when (re)-designing capstone courses.

Transformative but Not Easy: Students’ Experiences of an Interdisciplinary, Project-Based Capstone Course

In this study we explored the experiences of students who completed a project-based, interdisciplinary capstone course that was offered at a large university in Southern Ontario, Canada. To do so, we interviewed students after they completed the course, adopting a constructivist perspective and a phenomenological approach. Interview transcripts were analyzed, resulting in four themes: (1) communication, (2) group dynamics, (3) successes, (4) differences between program requirements. In addition to revealing tension between fostering student autonomy and providing students with support, our findings also demonstrate that students valued the capstone course for the knowledge and experience gained from learning to work as an interdisciplinary unit rather than the tangible output of a given project.

An eclectic problem-based learning model in an entrepreneurship capstone course

An eclectic problem-based learning model in an entrepreneurship capstone course

Integrating open education practices with data analysis of open science in an undergraduate course.

The open science movement produces vast quantities of openly published data connected to journal articles, creating an enormous resource for educators to engage students in current topics and analyses. However, educators face challenges using these materials to meet course objectives. I present a case study using open science (published articles and corresponding datasets) and open educational practices in a capstone course. While engaging in current topics of conservation, students trace connections in the research process, learn statistical analyses, and recreate analyses using the programming language R. I assessed the presence of best practices in open articles and datasets, examined student selection in the open grading policy, surveyed students on their perceived learning gains, and conducted a thematic analysis on student reflections. First, articles and datasets met just over half of the assessed fairness practices, which increased with the publication date. There was a marginal difference in how assessment categories were weighted by students, with reflections highlighting appreciation for student agency. In course content, students reported the greatest learning gains in describing variables, while collaborative activities (e.g., interacting with peers and instructor) were the most effective support. The most effective tasks to facilitate these learning gains included coding exercises and team-led assignments. Autocoding of student reflections identified 16 themes, and positive sentiments were written nearly 4x more often than negative sentiments. Students positively reflected on their growth in statistical analyses, and negative sentiments focused on how limited prior experience with statistics and coding made them feel nervous. As a group, we encountered several challenges and opportunities in using open science materials. I present key recommendations, based on student experiences, for scientists to consider when publishing open data to provide additional educational benefits to the open science community.

Characterizing decision-making opportunities in undergraduate physics coursework

A major goal of physics education is to develop strong problem-solving skills for students. To become expert problem solvers, students must have opportunities to deliberately practice those skills. In this work, we adopt a previously described definition of problem solving that consists of a set of 29 decisions made by expert scientists. We quantified the amount of practice undergraduate physics students get at making each decision by coding the decisions required in assignments from introductory, intermediate, and advanced physics courses at a prestigious university. A research-focused capstone course was the only example that offered substantial practice at a large range of decisions. Problems assigned in the traditional coursework required only a few decisions and routinely reduced potential opportunities for students to make other decisions. In addition, we modified traditional physics coursework to offer more decision-making practice. We observed that this increased the number of decisions students actually made in solving the problems. This work suggests that to better prepare undergraduates for solving problems in the real world, we must offer more opportunities for students to make and act on problem-solving decisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Creating authentic remote work integrated learning: A new approach using HyFlex classrooms

This article reflects on the experience of a multi-disciplinary teaching team delivering an applied project course in a business master’s program. This capstone course was developed to address industry and government expectations for work-ready graduates. In the course students act as consultants for business clients, completing a project over two semesters to recommend solutions for real business issues. The focus of this article is on the innovative delivery of the course utilizing newly built HyFlex technology-enabled classrooms and how this multimedia technology presented opportunities and learnings for future work-integrated learning (WIL) courses.

From leaves to fabric: the beauty of Econic

Learning outcomes This case is primarily intended fior students to evolve ideas in context to the challenges catering to a green fashion clothing line selling their products in the emerging economy of India wherein the masses are far behind considering the sustainable value of their products. In response to these challenges, the learners would be able toanalyze the influence of internal and external enhancers and inhibitors on a sustainable fashion brand to improve its scalability; articulate the factors influencing diffusion of sustainable fashion apparel; and formulate a strategic plan to aid in the growth and scalability of the brand and building micro-economies that will thrive in the future.The case also addresses topics like consumer attitude toward sustainable fashion clothing line and pricing challenges faced by such brands in developing economies like India. Case overview/synopsis This case describes the challenges faced by the co-founders, Sanghamitra and Mayuree, who introduced a sustainable fashion apparel brand called Econic. Marketing and sales of Econic’s products came with a bundle of challenges, and it was not easy to convince customers about the authenticity, quality and pricing of these products. Indian consumers had less awareness of the value of sustainable fashion clothing thereby presenting a huge challenge for Econic to flourish and sell their products in India. Thereafter, the brand aimed at expanding beyond the geographical boundaries of India. This further led Econic to face a cutthroat competition from various established players with comparatively huge market shares. Majority of Econic’s sales arose from expatriates or outlanders. Considering the response of local impediments and constraints from India, Sanghamitra began targeting the foreign markets. She saw global expansion as an opportunity for driving the brand’s growth. Eventually, Econic witnessed nascent success when the founders started exporting their products in the markets of UAE [1] and USA [2]. Contrarily, the brand’s co-founder Mayuree felt that it was too early for the brand to enter international market, and instead, it would be more sensible to focus attention in India itself. The approach of both the co-founders seemed paradoxical. At one point, Econic was facing a fierce local competition for their products. How could the brand increase awareness and acceptance of its products was an area of concern for Sanghamitra. Second, expanding into international market posed certain other challenges. The key dilemmas encountered by the co-founders continued to remain that which growth strategy should Econic adopt; how could Econic ascertain to set foot into which market; what were the likely scalability challenges they faced by entering international market; and what could be the finest marketing strategy for their brand. Complexity academic level The case is relevant for students in disciplines of green marketing, principles and concepts of sustainability, climate change and development, corporate social responsibility, marketing and strategy. It is designed for advanced MBA/PGDM and capstone courses. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Assessing readiness: the impact of an experiential learning entrustable professional activity-based residency preparatory course

ABSTRACT As medical schools move to integrate the Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency (EPAs) into curricula and address the transition from student to resident, residency preparatory courses have become more prevalent. The authors developed an experiential learning EPA-based capstone course for assessment to determine impact on learner self-assessed ratings of readiness for residency and acquisition of medical knowledge. All fourth-year students from the classes of 2018–2020 completed a required course in the spring for assessment of multiple EPAs, including managing core complaints, performing basic procedures, obtaining informed consent, and providing patient handoffs. Learners selected between three specialty-based parallel tracks – adult medicine, surgery, or pediatrics. Students completed a retrospective pre-post questionnaire to provide self-assessed ratings of residency preparedness and comfort in performing EPAs. Finally, the authors studied the impact of the course on knowledge acquisition by comparing student performance in the adult medicine track on multiple choice pre- and post-tests. Four hundred and eighty-one students were eligible for the study and 452 (94%) completed the questionnaire. For all three tracks, there was a statistically significant change in learner self-assessed ratings of preparedness for residency from pre- to post-course (moderately or very prepared: adult medicine 61.4% to 88.6% [p-value < 0.001]; surgery 56.8% to 81.1% [p-value < 0.001]; pediatrics 32.6% to 83.7% [p-value 0.02]). A similar change was noted in all tracks in learner self-assessed ratings of comfort from pre- to post-course for all studied EPAs. Of the 203 students who participated in the adult medicine track from 2019–2020, 200 (99%) completed both the pre- and post-test knowledge assessments. The mean performance improved from 65.0% to 77.5% (p-value < 0.001). An experiential capstone course for the assessment of EPAs can be effective to improve learner self-assessed ratings of readiness for residency training and acquisition of medical knowledge.

Implementation of the photovoice methodology in a project-based upper-division physics course

Photovoice is a type of participatory action research in which individuals document their experiences through photography. Through the taking, captioning, and reflecting on photographs that they have taken, participants are able to affect change within their communities. Participants also take part in an interview or focus group about their photos at the end of the photovoice process in which they determine themes that appear in their photos, allowing them to participate in the research being done. We used the photovoice methodology in a small, project-based, upper-division, physics capstone course at the University of Colorado Boulder, in which students worked on an authentic industry project in partnership with a company in the quantum industry. As an example of the types of research results and benefits one could obtain using photovoice, we present a discussion of how we implemented the photovoice process within this course and present some of our results, including students’ experiences with the photovoice process. Photovoice may be particularly useful in understanding new, unique courses, as it allows students to co-create research that highlights ideas about the course that researchers would not know to ask about in more traditional research methodologies such as reflection questions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Leveraging experiential learning to increase undergraduate students’ advocacy skills and political efficacy

ABSTRACT Experiential learning is an approach to teaching that emphasizes hands-on experiences that provide students with an opportunity to synthesize the concepts and theories they have learned in a natural and meaningful way, which can deepen their knowledge, self-efficacy, and skill acquisition. We developed a unique strategic communication capstone course to refine communication-based skills in the context of an advocacy campaign that focused on activities related to political participation, a form of civic participation and engagement. Over the course of a 15-week semester, students identified an issue they would like to change, researched the issue, investigated members of the legislature and their positions, and developed supporting material, which culminated in a trip to present their ideas to state- and federal-level legislators. Fifty-one undergraduate students completed a written 15-minute survey that included structured and open-ended questions before and after their participation in the course. Participants showed increased confidence in skills related to political advocacy and increased political efficacy, which has the potential to increase future political engagement and participation. Open-ended questions revealed that many students felt more empowered to interact with elected officials, gained positive perceptions about the political process and players, and felt that they could create change.

Incorporating Concept Maps into Physiology Laboratory Protocols to Support Content Mastery

The journey of an undergraduate physiology student weaves a tapestry of knowledge. Despite even the best pedagogical practices, misconceptions or missed key concepts are inevitable - in some respects, these (hopefully small) gaps may even be preferable for continued learning. Many degree programs have a capstone course or project that is the culmination of this journey. At Michigan State University (MSU), the Capstone Laboratory Course in Physiology has taken these knowledge gaps in stride and applied the use of concept maps to stitch the final pieces together. Concept maps are diagrams of physiologic phenomena and mechanisms broken down into simplistic parts, usually an effector and resultant change or process. Resembling circuit diagrams, these concept maps take an engineering approach to physiology, demonstrating how each component plays a role in the system in parallel or in series with each other. We used a collection of maps curated by Dr. William Wonderlin of MSU College of Human Medicine on a browser-based application of his own creation called PhysNav.org. In the pre-lab preparatory materials, students are shown a concept map showing the primary mechanism associated with a given week’s lab procedures. Each week students are asked to hypothesize the outcome of the in class experiment (e.g., “Will ECG lead I, II, or III show the largest QRS deflection”) and explain mechanistically using a concept map why they made that prediction. Before doing the weekly in-class human physiology lab protocol, students are asked to draw the map on a white board and annotate the changes that are expected to occur during an experiment based on their written hypothesis. Each team of students must verbally explain the mechanism and annotations to the teaching staff to be checked off before proceeding with the experiment. This checkpoint is essential to discover any misconceptions. Once approved, teams take a photo of the map to use for studying and post-lab homework. Students rate concept maps 4.23/5 for usefulness in review of content (n=53). The course also has independent projects where students develop their own concept map. Student rate concept maps 4.1/5 as being helpful for explaining project mechanisms (n=53). Student feedback about these concept maps has been positive, with some developmental critiques that have been well-received. Many students note that without these maps, they would not be prompted to diagram a concept or develop this type of approach to a mechanism. In conclusion, we have successfully incorporated concept mapping to ensure that lab protocols focus on physiology mechanisms and not just cookbook procedures. Michigan State University Department of Physiology. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Empowering Students in Medical Device Design: An Interdisciplinary Soft Robotics Course

Experiential learning in biomedical engineering curricula is a critical component to developing graduates who are equipped to contribute to technical design tasks in their careers. This paper presents the development and implementation of an undergraduate and graduate-level soft material robotics design course focused on applications in medical device design. The elective course, offered in a bioengineering department, includes modules on technical topics and hands-on projects relevant to readings, all situated within a human-centered design course. After learning and using first principles governing soft robot design and exploring literature in soft robotics, students propose a new advance in the field in a hands-on design and prototype project. The course described here aims to create a structure to engage students in fabrication and the design approaches taken by practitioners in a specific field, applied here in soft robotics, but applicable to other areas of biomedical engineering. This teaching tips article details the pedagogical tools used to facilitate design and collaboration within the course. Additionally, we aim to highlight ways in which the course creates (1) opportunities to engage undergraduates in design in preparation for capstone courses, (2) outward facing opportunities to connect with practitioners in the field, and (3) the ability to adapt this hands-on experience within a typical lecture structure as well as a hybrid online and in-person offering, thus expanding its utility in bioengineering departments. We reflect on course elements that can inform future design-based course offerings in soft robotics and other design-based multidisciplinary fields in bioengineering.

Integrating industry-crowdsourced projects in university capstone courses: A comparative study using parametric statistics and sentiment analysis

This study explores integrating industry-crowdsourced projects within capstone courses of a 4-year Bachelor of Science program at an accredited American university. A unique business consulting model was developed for the final year course, aligning students with 16-weeks industry projects that reflected their academic goals and the program’s learning objectives. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of this pedagogical approach compared to traditional capstone courses. This evaluation involved collecting data from grading systems and anonymous course surveys. A novel aspect of the research design was the synergetic combination of nonparametric and parametric statistical techniques with modern machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyse the students’ grades, survey comments and third-party course opinion comments. Additionally, independent third-party course ratings were examined to triangulate the results. Findings revealed that while the academic performance in the industry-crowdsourced capstone course mirrored that of the traditional course, the industry-crowdsourced variant elicited significantly more positive responses in course surveys. Furthermore, ML sentiment analysis of comments from third-party forums indicated a stronger positive reception for the industry-crowdsourced course over the traditional approach.

Raising the Stakes on a Political Science Major Field Test: Evidence From a New Capstone Course

Using a major field test (MFT) is a common method of program assessment. For accurate assessment to take place, however, students must be sufficiently motivated to perform. This paper studies a change in major requirements that associated a major field test to a grade in a political science capstone course. After controlling for possible confounders like Gender, Age, Ethnicity, and differences in GPA and ACT scores, a modest but statistically significant treatment effect was found. However, the fit between a student’s program GPA and MFT scores did not improve, leading to questions about how best to assess political science knowledge for program graduates.