Capstone Requirements Research Articles

Improving Communication of Public Health Bachelor's Degree Programs Through Visual Curriculum Mapping.

Undergraduate students balance course requirements for the university, college, school, and major. Each set of requirements, including degree-specific curriculum, is intended to promote synergistic interaction of competence, skills, and knowledge, beyond serving as a collection of individual courses. Understanding of curriculum is important for program recruitment as undergraduate students are more informed when deciding between bachelor's degrees options. Among cohorted programs, this understanding is also helpful in communicating and promoting common intellectual experiences. Comprehension of curriculum is especially important for persistence when students are better able to articulate the connections between course and competencies needed to advance in coursework. To improve universal design for learning within program advising, visual curriculum maps were created as infographics to support student understanding of Bachelor of Arts in Public Health degree requirements and specific capstone course pathways. This map is printed as a small booklet and has been pilot tested among prospective students with positive feedback, then implemented in routine advising sessions. Visual maps of capstone requirements were well-received in concept, however constructive student feedback during pilot testing necessitated further revision. Student feedback also encouraged the application of culturally appropriate visuals and analogies to celebrate student diversity. Visual aids such as these may improve access to information among students through universal design, and also improve recruitment, retention efforts, and student buy-in to degree curricula.

A quantitative review of LIS programs accredited by ALA and CILIP under contemporary technology advancement

PurposeAdvancements in technology have led to many changes in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). As global communications and technology continue to become more available and sophisticated, LIS programs need to prepare students for employment in rapidly changing and globalized LIS professions.Design/methodology/approachData from a total of 63 programs from the American Library Association (ALA) and 32 programs from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) was collected through openly accessible websites of these programs. Areas explored include program name, name and level of the academic unit offering the program, credit hours, required courses, percentage of required courses and capstone measurements used within the different LIS programs.FindingsA majority of programs still preserve the keyword “Library” in their name, but not the academic units offering them. Most programs in ALA and CILIP follow a semester-based program. Research methods, internships, practical experience, combined with traditional library core and information technology requirements were found to constitute the major subjects in general. Comprehensive exams were replaced by e-portfolios among ALA programs while a dissertation remains the preferred choice of capstone requirement for CILIP.Originality/valueScant studies compare accredited LIS programs worldwide, motivating the study of the similarities, differences and trends of LIS programs under the current globalized technology-driven knowledge economy. This paper seeks to fill the literature gap and promote a global discussion and understanding of LIS curricula in different regions of the world, guiding potential students to select their suitable LIS programs.

Research-Based Approach in Business Courses: An Anchor for Industrial Design Students’ Comprex

The study intends to determine and tailor-fit a teaching methodology that espouses a higher level of learning considering concepts in management, marketing, production/operations management. The proponent consolidated a five-year comparative data utilizing a traditional approach in teaching for midterm and a research-based approach for finals among students from 2014 to 2019. The study results provided a remarkable improvement in the students’ academic performance given a specific rubric in scoring research outputs with the close monitoring and guidance of the proponent. This evidence supports the researcher’s contention that a research-based approach in teaching business is a grounded foundation and an effective preparation for students who will be taking up COMPREX (Industrial Design Thesis) as a capstone requirement for graduation. Business research provides the basic business framework and model that students can work with and develop to make their business ventures thrive in the design industry in the future. It is recommended that courses under the business cluster institutionalize using a research-based approach through a research output as a final requirement for these courses. A review of the current syllabi must also be undertaken to integrate and formulate guidelines and rubrics in conducting and scoring research outputs.

Implementation of a research capstone course with expanded flexibility

Background and purposeA research-focused capstone course was designed to improve flexibility in the way pharmacy students meet the university's capstone requirement. The requirement aims to integrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes from didactic coursework and to apply them in a scholarly way to improve critical and evidence-based thinking, communication skills, and professionalism. This report describes the capstone course and faculty and student perceptions after the first year of implementation. Educational activity and settingThe course allows students to work with a faculty advisor on a four-semester hour research project of mutual interest that can be completed in any one of three semesters. After the first student cohort completed their projects, faculty and student perceptions were captured via electronic survey. FindingsA total of 38 students (36%) and 22 advisors (71%) responded to the survey. Approximately 90% of students and faculty agreed that student groups had achieved course objectives upon completion. Although faculty members felt that participating in the capstone course increased their workload and in some cases reduced their productivity, faculty members felt that the course had a beneficial impact for students.Summary: The new capstone course was well received. The flexibility of the course was both a strength and a limitation as most students wanted more structure in the expectations and grading of the project in the form of a rubric or other standardized assessments.

Building Capacity for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics: A Case Study at Georgia College

The Georgia College mathematics department has reimagined its major requirements to integrate meaningful undergraduate research experiences. We have developed and implemented a multi-year action plan to transform our major. In this article we discuss how the department has developed and implemented a year-long research experience as a capstone requirement. We address how we gained faculty and student buy-in, built a curriculum to support the experience, and developed assessment and evaluation tools. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and next steps in the program.

A worldwide survey of MATESOL programs in 2014: Patterns and perspectives

This article reports on a survey of 241 Master of Arts programs in TESOL (MATESOL) in 16 countries serving as a snapshot of second language teacher education in 2014. After an initial screening by a set of criteria, these programs were first identified, and their course offerings, among other criteria, such as entrance and capstone requirements, were categorized. In total, 3,877 courses across 15 knowledge fields were coded with frequency counts taken. Our analysis revealed that the most frequently appearing course offerings tended to focus on teaching methods. However, large differences appeared among the programs with regard to the offering of courses in various knowledge fields. Differences also appeared between US and non-US programs, particularly with regard to practicum requirements. Several other patterns and themes emerged from the data including the extensive coverage of social and cultural aspects of language learning in elective courses, and the lack of focus on specific English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts in course offerings, among others.

Capstone interdisciplinary team project: a requirement for the MS in sustainability degree

Purpose – This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to sustainability problems often require professionals with different training and backgrounds to work as a team. A sustainability curriculum should provide students with the skills needed to competently participate in an interdisciplinary team. Design/methodology/approach – Instructors drawn from different departments and divisions of the college developed a pool of sustainability-focused Capstone projects and acted as mentors to teams of students with diverse undergraduate backgrounds. Students attended workshops designed to provide training in teamwork, research and report preparation. An independent evaluator designed an evaluation protocol to assess the course’s impact both while it was implemented and after the course was concluded. Findings – Early experience with the program strongly indicates that the Capstone project requirement is an effective learning tool. However, identifying qualified mentors, developing suitable projects, assembling teams and administering the Capstone course are demanding tasks. Although students often experience difficulties in the early stages of their work, they ultimately express satisfaction and appreciation for the skills learned in the course. Practical implications – The inclusion of a capstone team project in a graduate sustainability curriculum is strongly recommended. Adopting such a course requires significant effort and sustained faculty engagement. Originality/value – Although there is considerable experience with undergraduate engineering Capstone course requirements, little is known about interdivisional capstone requirements at the level of master’s degree in Sustainability. This paper details new and relevant experience helpful to the implementation of such a requirement.

Undergraduate research as a capstone requirement

If a mathematics department has a capstone course, how does undergraduate research figure into that capstone requirement? What challenges are involved when instituting undergraduate research as part of the capstone experience? These were the central questions for discussion in the undergraduate research as a capstone requirement breakout session at the 2012 Trends in Undergraduate Research in the Mathematical Sciences conference. In short, there is not one design that will satisfy the needs and goals of every mathematics program, but a department seeking to implement undergraduate research as a capstone requirement may benefit from the experiences of other departments. This article discusses the common objectives of a capstone in mathematical sciences and presents several successful models that incorporate undergraduate research in a capstone experience. The challenges and questions associated with each model are also discussed.

Looking Back Across the Years: Alumni Reflections on a Community Design Service Learning Experience

This paper examines the perceptions of alumni on a service learning experience they engaged in as graduate students. As students, they were enrolled in West Virginia University’s Master of Public Administration program and participated in the West Virginia Community Design Team. Since 1997, the Community Design Team (CDT) program has engaged the state’s rural communities through volunteer teams of faculty, professionals, and students who assist in community efforts to assess and envision their futures. Through a curricular-based approach of integration and reflection, students are able to incorporate their CDT experiences into their overall graduate education. After briefly describing how integration and reflection are pursued through portfolio and capstone requirements, the paper then focuses on alumni recollections of how they encountered small rural communities, their lasting lessons gained from the experience, their evaluations of the place of service learning in graduate education, and their advice to others seeking to engage communities through university outreach and service projects. Data was gathered for this paper through in-depth interviews with alumni who participated in the CDT program as students. The results also suggests that alumni perspective is important not only in assessing service learning experiences but in reinforcing lessons learned by revisiting the experience years later. The research also seeks to add to our understanding of service learning in graduate education. KEYWORDS service learning; graduate education; community engagement

Prospective Student Teachers’ Concerns Regarding the Student-Teaching Experience

The capstone requirement for all kindergarten to grade 12 teacher candidates is the student-teaching experience, and teacher educators must prepare prospective student teachers well for this event. An awareness of characteristics and concerns expressed by prospective student teachers may support teacher educators’ efforts to prepare teacher candidates to be effective in the classroom and to learn from the student-teaching experience. Using Q methodology, data from 54 prospective student teachers were collected and analyzed regarding their concerns specifically related to this experience. Four discrete student types emerged, each with distinctive subjective concerns: (a) managing students, (b) managing instruction, (c) making the grade, and (d) managing difference. The authors believe that Q methodology was uniquely beneficial in providing a nuanced and thus potentially valuable picture of teacher- candidates’ concerns regarding the student-teaching experience.

Encouraging Scholarship: Medical School Programs to Promote Student Inquiry Beyond the Traditional Medical Curriculum

Many medical curricula now include programs that provide students with opportunities for scholarship beyond that provided by their traditional, core curricula. These scholarly concentration (SC) programs vary greatly in focus and structure, but they share the goal of producing physicians with improved analytic, creative, and critical-thinking skills. In this article, the authors explore models of both required and elective SC programs. They gathered information through a review of medical school Web sites and direct contact with representatives of individual programs. Additionally, they discuss in-depth the SC programs of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; the University of South Florida College of Medicine; the University of California, San Francisco; and Stanford University School of Medicine. The authors describe each program's focus, participation, duration, centralization, capstone requirement, faculty involvement, and areas of concentration. Established to address a variety of challenges in the U.S. medical education system, these four programs provide an array of possible models for schools that are considering the establishment of an SC program. Although data on the impact of SC programs are lacking, the authors believe that this type of program has the potential to significantly impact the education of medical students through scholarly, in-depth inquiry and longitudinal faculty mentorship.

One Medicine, One University: The DVM/MPH Program at the University of Illinois

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Veterinary Medicine (UIUC-CVM) and the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health (UIC-SPH) are in the fourth year of a collaborative Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health dual-degree program. The two campuses, one urban and one rural, are 150 miles apart but are sister schools within the University of Illinois system. This article describes the origin of the program, how the program functions across two campuses, its academic focus, required coursework, and research projects designed to fulfill the program's capstone requirements. The article shows how two campuses can be linked through a combination of online and on-site didactic coursework, briefly describes innovative proposals for projects within the United States and abroad, and highlights faculty committed to educating cross-trained public-health professionals while addressing the national need for veterinarians trained in public health. The authors also discuss how the dual-degree program has led to the formation of the Illinois Center for One Medicine, One Health (ICOMOH), an intra-university collaboration focusing on the interface of human, animal, and ecosystem health.

A New Vision for Pharmacy Education: It Is Time to Shift the Old Paradigm and Move Forward

A New Vision for Pharmacy Education: It Is Time to Shift the Old Paradigm and Move Forward

Introducing Standards and Sustainable Design

Abstract The ABET Engineering Criteria require a capstone design project where students use “appropriate engineering standards.” One of the ABET design constraints that students must consider is “sustainability.” The new United States Standards Strategy has as one of its goals to “establish standards education as a high priority within the United States private, public and academic sectors.” The first Fundamental Canon of the ASCE Code of Ethics states in part that civil engineers “shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.” ASTM E 2432-05 Standard Guide for General Principles of Sustainability Relative to Buildings provides a framework for organizing student design projects to accomplish multiple objectives. However, IEEE’s experience in introducing standards in senior design courses indicates that the senior year may be too late and that the introduction to standards should occur in the first or second year. The purpose of this paper is to outline strategies for including standards and sustainability in courses throughout curricula to build the experience, knowledge, and interest necessary to fulfill the ABET capstone requirements in a meaningful way.

Undergraduate Psychology Curricula in North Carolina

To provide information on psychology curricula in North Carolina, college catalog descriptions of the 42 undergraduate psychology programs in the state were examined. Although most programs (79%) offered only a general psychology baccalaureate degree, 21% offered specially designated degrees and within-degree concentrations, usually in addition to a general degree. When the 63 degree options of these 42 programs were examined, the modal minimum introductory, methodological, and capstone requirements were found to be a 1–term introductory course, a 1–term statistics course, a 1–term experimental design course, and I integrative experience, which was most often a history and systems course or a senior seminar. These components are very similar to those of the model undergraduate curriculum recommended by Brewer et al. (1993).