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Academic programs commonly feature a capstone experience as the final building block of the course of study. Often, capstone experiences allow students to demonstrate mastery in the context of an authentic learning experience—a real-life problem or project situated in the field of practice. The growing number of academic programs conducted online raises the question of how distance environments can support an authentic experience in a program capstone. We examine the concept of the capstone, tracing connections to authentic learning frameworks; summarize some of the literature on online capstones; and propose guidelines for structuring online capstones to support rich authentic learning experiences. We then describe two examples of online capstones from our own master’s programs, focusing on features highlighted in our guidelines. We conclude that online capstones can satisfy the requirements of an authentic learning model, but must be specifically designed to include critical components of authentic learning, utilizing an array of tools, strategies, good pedagogy, and good design.

The development and use of the portfolio has become a critical feature of many Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs. The portfolio assignment has grown out of deepened appreciation of learning theory and the application of both performance measurement and management systems in MPA program curricula. The portfolio assignment as part of a capstone experience can contribute to the development of professional practitioners of public service. Based on review of the literature on the use of portfolios in professional degree programs and a case study of two MPA programs, this article seeks to deepen our understanding of the portfolio as an effective pedagogical tool and assessment strategy, and it offers conclusions about best practices in using portfolios.

The current paper used data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education-a longitudinal, pretest/posttest design-to estimate the effects of participation in the ten \"high-impact\" educational practices put forth and endorsed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) on a variety of liberal arts educational outcomes. The high-impact practices included in the study were: first-year seminars, academic learning communities, writing-intensive courses, active and collaborative learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, service learning, internships, and capstone courses/experiences. Findings from ordinary least squares regression analyses suggested that active and collaborative learning as well as undergraduate research had broad-reaching positive effects across multiple liberal arts learning outcomes, such as critical thinking, need for cognition, and intercultural effectiveness. Several other high-impact practices-including study abroad, internship, service learning, and capstone course/experience-had more narrowly focused positive effects on student learning. Overall, this study's findings support AAC&U's advocacy of high-impact practices as pathways to student success.(HRK / Abstract übernommen).

Despite extensive evidence supporting the benefits of undergraduate research, the economics profession has been slow to incorporate such experiences into the curriculum. Where such experiences have been developed, they are often targeted toward high-achieving students. In this article, the author reports on a transformative capstone experience that effectively involved average undergraduate students in meaningful economic research by utilizing community interaction to motivate deep engagement. The author argues that by making community interaction and concrete economic analysis central elements of the capstone course, the benefits of undergraduate research can be extended to all students (not just the elite) and that doing so is critical to our students' mastery of higher-order proficiencies.

This research chronicles the development of a capstone experience by a regional comprehensive university. The process began with a multi-year project during which the faculty annually reviewed the results with a view to determining if the class provided the deep learning culminating experiences anticipated. A major measure of success was the desire to replicate the deep learning common in face-to-face classes in the online environment. The results of 166 students were analyzed, 82 online and 84 face-to-face, to determine if a difference existed. A one-way ANOVA tested the score differences among 10 sections and determined the students’ scores did not differ significantly. Finally, a two-sample t-test between proportions determined that there was not a significant difference between the online and face-to-face students with respect to the level of assessment scores earned. Given that online and face-to-face students demonstrate the same level of knowledge, does this beg the question, what value does face-to-face class time offer?

For many health professional programs, practicum capstone experiences are vital to the application of theory to practice, evaluation of knowledge gained, and building confidence in students before entering the workforce. In spring 2020, the ability to provide these experiences as usual suddenly changed due to the halt of practicum placements caused by Covid-19. This paper discusses how the capstone course was altered under these unusual circumstances, the student experience, and lessons learned. Three practicum options were created: a traditional in-person practicum, virtual practicum experiences with a health administrator or as a research assistant, and a virtual multi-pronged practicum. The multi-pronged virtual practicum experience combined a case study acquired from AUPHA, an 8-hour Covid-19 webinar module set, and three Zoom meetings with a quality-of-life specialist. Feedback received from students was that in-person practicum experiences are viewed as superior; practicum supports the application of knowledge; students felt prepared for practicum, and Covid-19 was impactful. The need for increased transparency, clearer directions, and weekly meetings for virtual practicum experiences are some of the lessons learned. Finally, the need for support during a crisis, especially from specialty organizations like AUPHA, is crucial to creating valid solutions and bringing some tranquility to the chaos.

\"Doing economics\" is an important theme of undergraduate economics programs. Capstone courses increasingly include instruction in \"data literacy\" and the STEM-related skills of quantitative and empirical methods. Because the professional discipline has moved in this direction and because of greater employer demand for these skills, data visualization is a key component of data literacy. Tableau is a free data visualization software widely used in the data analytics industry. In this article, the authors introduce an exercise that teaches the fundamental Tableau concepts and commands needed to create charts, assemble them in a dashboard, and tell a story of patterns observed in the data. The exercise assumes no prior experience in Tableau and is appropriate for undergraduate upper-level economics courses or an empirical methods course.

In this paper, we consider the design of capstone courses to prepare university students for secondary school teaching professions in initial training. Our aim is to prepare prospective teachers to develop an approach for doing mathematics which they then impart to their pupils. This posture involves systematically questioning the mathematical work carried out, developing and clarifying general methods, and identifying links between the various aspects of the knowledge involved. This is not a research article as such, but presents a set of reflections and proposals in mathematics didactics. After summarising previous works on Klein’s second discontinuity, we specify our aim in terms of the type of mathematical work to be conducted with students and their future pupils before summarizing our theoretical background on learning, practice and training. We then present various axes based on the hypotheses we have adopted regarding our objectives, meaningful representations of mathematics, and discourses fostering subsequent reinvestment. We outline a capstone course dedicated to Arithmetic for prospective French teachers following these principles. The conclusion sets out a discussion on further perspectives.

Undergraduate programs that focus on disciplinary knowledge and skills can reinforce pre-existing mindsets or ideologies that can lead to insufficient questioning of certain types of information (e.g., empirical data or model results) or insufficient valuing of certain types of information (e.g., Indigenous knowledge).  One way to address this challenge is to include values-based learning and assessment strategies that empower students to better understand and engage with their complex and changing worlds.  General Education (GenEd) Capstone Experiences (CE) often seek to instill such values, but scholarly analysis of the pedagogies and their effectiveness is limited, as is discussion on the inclusion of similar pedagogies in discipline-focused courses. This study addresses this research disparity by using a mixed methods approach to investigate student and faculty perceptions of the values integrated by a GenEd CE program and the pedagogies used to integrate those values.  Results demonstrate that the integration of reflection and discussion pedagogies has the potential to influence a variety of values-based outcomes, including thoughtfulness, openness, and responsibility.  Institutional leaders and CE instructors may integrate these pedagogies into their CEs, with mindful attention to the associated values that they seek to instill. 

Capstone experiences (CEs) are established high impact practices (HIPs) designed so students can synthesize their knowledge and skills obtained across their academic training. Understanding how instructors’ intrinsic motivation and external expectations influence the design of CEs can help institutions create resources to support instructors when developing and teaching CEs. We aimed to determine whether different levels of intrinsic motivation were associated with: (1) demographics of faculty teaching CEs, (2) structure of CEs, (3) pedagogy or assignments used by faculty teaching CEs, and (4) use of resources and/or perceived resource effectiveness available to faculty teaching CEs. We used a fixed convergent mixed methods approach in which quantitative and qualitative research questions were distributed via survey and interviews, respectively. Data were collected and analyzed independently. Analyzed data were merged to compare and interpret qualitative and quantitative results pertaining to faculty perceptions of motivation related to teaching CEs. Instructors who develop and teach CEs are highly intrinsically motivated. The quantitative and qualitative data reveal the instructors’ perceptions of value of and their interest in the CE were the most common intrinsic motivators. The participants with the highest levels of intrinsic motivation used more evidence-based pedagogical approaches, reported higher colleague recognition, and reported access to more teaching resources. Understanding the factors that promote motivation to develop and teach CEs is imperative to support instructor and student success when engaging in this type of HIP.