Education Commons^™

The Vignette Method: A Flexibile Method For Capstone Courses And As A Supplemental Learning Experience In Research Labs, Susan Sprecher

Faculty Publications—Sociology and Anthropology

Many departments in colleges and universities require a capstone course that involves the students conducting a research project. This author has had over 20 years of experience teaching such a capstone course and describes a flexible research method for student research projects – the vignette study (an experiment embedded in a survey). She also has teams of undergraduate students working in her lab for research credit make progress on a vignette design as one of several research activities. The vignette study can be used for students across many majors, including but not limited to sociology, psychology, criminal justice, nursing, social …

Transforming Criminal Justice Internships Into Capstone Courses: A Response To The Challenges Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Beau Shine, Kelly Brown

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 resulted in the declaration of a national emergency that closed universities across the nation. With no warning, faculty were required to move classes from face-to-face to completely online instruction. This situation posed many difficulties, but particularly for faculty who were teaching and supervising students completing internships. Interns were removed from their internships abruptly as agencies and departments moved to essential personnel only. Faculty scrambled to create online learning experiences that met academic learning outcomes and the goals of criminal justice students enrolled in these courses. This paper details our experiences with these challenges, particularly …

Teaching The Engineering Design Process To High School Students By Implementing A Non-Traditional Engineering Capstone Course, Joseph Woodard

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This plan B project is to showcase the implementation of an engineering design capstone course at a remote, rural public high school, in a non-traditional (after-school) format with a small group of students. The project documents successful strategies along with challenges that were learned from such an implementation of this course. Three high school students were supported in learning to solve an extended design challenge, in this case creating an augmented reality (AR) sandbox. The project shows how a capstone course can be utilized in teaching students to solve complex, ill-structured problems.

In this project, a manuscript was prepared for …

Posters As An Effective Assessment Tool For A Capstone Course, David Gosselin, Doug Golick

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

A rubric was developed to assess student posters as a mechanism to evaluate learning outcomes for a senior capstone course. The analytic rubric allows for the efficient and systematic collection of data from posters by students who worked across a variety of disciplines including the physical, biological, Earth sciences, social science, and the humanities. The rubric effectively addressed a fundamental assumption and requirement put forth during rubric development, that is, it needs to be relatively easy to use without training while at the same time producing consistent results across evaluators. The overall Chronbach’s alpha of 0.80 across semesters indicates acceptable …

Student Engagement In A Team-Based Capstone Course: A Comparison Of What Students Do And What Instructors Value, Op Mccubbins, Thomas H. Paulsen, Ryan Anderson

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Student engagement is an important consideration across all levels of education. The adoption of student-centered teaching methods is an effective way to increase student engagement. Student engagement is at risk when instructor expectations and student participation in purposeful engagement activities are not aligned. Traditionally, student engagement is measured at the institutional level, which proves less than useful to instructors who wish to gauge engagement in specific courses in higher education. In this study, we sought to determine classroom level engagement in a capstone farm management course recently converted to the team-based learning format by comparing student perceptions regarding participation in …

Learning Module On Electric Motors Modeling, Control, And Testing (Lm-Emmct), Ana Djuric, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Ece Yaprak, Wen Chen

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to develop and integrate a learning module on Electric Motors Modeling, Control and Testing (EMMCT) into the Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) and Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) programs. Preparing future engineers to work in highly automated production requires proper education and training in mechatronics theory and applications. Although Engineering Technology programs at various universities offer various courses related to the controls, electrical motors, and automation, they are not including the same methods when it comes to the selection of appropriate electrical motor for a specific application in mechatronic system. MET student do have exposure to …

Integrating Faculty Led Service Learning Training To Quantify Height Of Natural Resources From A Spatial Science Perspective, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy, Kai Busch-Peterson, I-Kuai Hung

Faculty Publications

Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) faculty members were trained how to integrate service learning activities within senior level classes at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Nacogdoches, Texas. The service learning training, taught under the acronym Mentored Undergraduate Scholarship (MUGS), involved meeting with fellow faculty members over the course of an academic year during the fall semester to first learn how to incorporate service learning activities in a senior level class followed by its incorporation into a class the following spring semester. The service learning model was applied to students in GIS 420, a senior level …

Integrating Hands-On Undergraduate Research In An Applied Spatial Science Senior Level Capstone Course, David Kulhavy, Daniel R. Unger, I-Kuai Hung, David Douglass

Faculty Publications

A senior within a spatial science Ecological Planning capstone course designed an undergraduate research project to increase his spatial science expertise and to assess the hands-on instruction methodology employed within the Bachelor of Science in Spatial Science program at Stephen F Austin State University. The height of 30 building features estimated remotely with LiDAR data, within the Pictometry remotely sensed web-based interface, and in situ with a laser rangefinder were compared to actual building feature height measurements. A comparison of estimated height with actual height indicated that all three estimation techniques tested were unbiased estimators of height. An ANOVA, conducted …

Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project: A Requirement For The Ms In Sustainability Degree, Latif M. Jiji, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, George A. Smith

Publications and Research

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 …

Cive 489: Senior Design—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Karen Schurr

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Course Background: Over recent years, the careers of professional civil engineers have become increasingly collaborative, multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial and focused on sustainability. With that comes an expectation from the profession to adequately prepare work force entrants for such challenges. In addition to traditional foundations in math, science, engineering fundamentals and an understanding of professional ethics, graduates now need interdisciplinary depth, critical thinking ability, ingenuity, creativity, leadership, multifaceted communication skills, flexibility and a broad understanding of civil systems in global economic, environmental and societal contexts. The UNL Civil Engineering Department strives to meet the profession's expectation with the capstone design course, CIVE …

Characteristics Of Quality Agricultural Magazine Capstone Courses Based On The Five R'S Model, Traci Nicole Rushing

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to assess students' and instructors' perceptions regarding the value of an agricultural communications magazine capstone course at three universities that were identified as exemplary in an effort to describe the characteristics leading to the course's success. Using a qualitative survey methodology, the investigator administered an open-response survey, conducted personal interviews with purposively-selected students in each course and the instructors, and made field observations. Both the interviews and the surveys consisted of six, in-depth questions crafted after Andreasen's (2004) of a successful magazine capstone course. Based on students' and instructors' perceptions through the lens of Andreasen's (2004) model, …

A Semi-Automatic Approach For Project Assignment In A Capstone Course, Mark Chang, Allen Downey

Mark L. Chang

This paper presents a semi-automatic approach to assigning students to project teams for a year-long, industry-sponsored senior capstone course. Successful assignment requires knowl- edge of at least individual project requirements, student skills, student personalities, and student project preferences. This mix of hard skills, soft skills, and interpersonal impres- sions requires human involvement to produce a high-quality assignment. The importance of faculty input often requires that the assignment process be labor- and time-intensive.

Our approach attempts to reduce the time required to perform this assignment by selectively automating parts of the task flow. An automated search uses a randomized greedy algorithm …

The Student-Run Public Relations Firm In An Undergraduate Program: Reaching Learning And Professional Development Goals Through ‘Real World’ Experience, Douglas J. Swanson Ed.D Apr

Douglas J. Swanson, Ed.D APR

A student-run public relations firm can offer a variety of benefits for an undergraduate program in which there are limited resources for professional involvement by students. The article is a case study that profiles a student-run firm launched in conjunction with a capstone course in a journalism department. Specific learning and professional development goals were established for students, the department, and for clients served by the firm. The article presents a brief summary of successes, along with a discussion of opportunities and challenges. General recommendations are offered for establishing a student-run public relations firm.

Building Momentum For Business School Curriculum Change: Measurable Lessons From A Pilot Course In Real Business Experience, Mark Uchida, Craig Caldwell, Friel Terry, Lawrence Lad

Lawrence J. Lad

Curriculum change requires thoughtful planning and a willingness to experiment with different modes of content delivery. While many business schools are experimenting, few measure student outcomes against the traditional courses they replace. One element of Butler University's College of Business Administration curriculum revision was a pilot course, "Real Business Experience ", in which students developed a professional business plan, sought and received funding from a professional level funding panel, and ran their businesses. To determine whether the pilot course was successful in reaching its goal of "teaching students about the messiness of business and developing more adaptable and confident business …

Building Momentum For Business School Curriculum Change: Measurable Lessons From A Pilot Course In Real Business Experience, Mark Uchida, Craig B. Caldwell, Friel Terry, Lawrence J. Lad

Craig B. Caldwell

Curriculum change requires thoughtful planning and a willingness to experiment with different modes of content delivery. While many business schools are experimenting, few measure student outcomes against the traditional courses they replace. One element of Butler University's College of Business Administration curriculum revision was a pilot course, "Real Business Experience ", in which students developed a professional business plan, sought and received funding from a professional level funding panel, and ran their businesses. To determine whether the pilot course was successful in reaching its goal of "teaching students about the messiness of business and developing more adaptable and confident business …

Questions Of Transfer: Writers' Perspective On Familiar/Unfamiliar Writing Tasks In A Capstone Writing Course, Heather G. Lettner-Rust

English Theses & Dissertations

Understanding what students bring from one writing context to another may the central concern for teachers of writing from elementary school to adult learning. Research from the field of composition studies offers knowledge about writing as process(es) (Emig, 1971; Shaughnessy, 1979; Russell, 1999), as socially constructed performances (Flower & Hayes, 1980; Bartholomae, 1985; Bloom, 1985), and as part of a larger activity system (Russell, 1997). This dissertation ties together theories of writing as an activity in a broader system of tools and outcomes and current research on transfer in writing in order to illustrate writers' perspectives on particular writing tasks. …

Building Momentum For Business School Curriculum Change: Measurable Lessons From A Pilot Course In Real Business Experience, Mark Uchida, Craig B. Caldwell, Friel Terry, Lawrence J. Lad

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Curriculum change requires thoughtful planning and a willingness to experiment with different modes of content delivery. While many business schools are experimenting, few measure student outcomes against the traditional courses they replace. One element of Butler University's College of Business Administration curriculum revision was a pilot course, "Real Business Experience ", in which students developed a professional business plan, sought and received funding from a professional level funding panel, and ran their businesses. To determine whether the pilot course was successful in reaching its goal of "teaching students about the messiness of business and developing more adaptable and confident business …