capstone

Capstone Experience to Assess Knowledge and Skills

This workshop shows how the Geology & Geophysics capstone experience prepares majors to be better scientists, and it …

Rubrics to Curriculum Map: Assessment Tools Inform ACM Curriculum Plans

Animation is one of the three degree tracks in ACM Department. It has 2 full-time faculty positions and …

Poster will outline new learning objectives for the Geography department as a result of a faculty discussion of the uniqueness of the discipline and the knowledge we want the students (majors) to take away from. Poster will then discuss methods of direct assessment of certain learning objectives that are included in the capstone course for majors.

Rethinking the Discipline and Student’s Learning Goal

Poster will outline new learning objectives for the Geography department as a result of a faculty discussion of …

The Master of Early Childhood Education Program is a 2-1/2 year, 30 credit hybrid program is primarily delivered through intensive summer sessions and once a month hybrid seminars. It was conceived in 2003 to meet a statewide need for a graduate level leadership degree in the field. This interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty across three departments in the COE and the CTAHR has graduated four cohorts (90 students). The culminating assessment for the program is a Plan B Portfolio that demonstrates competency in light of five mandatory standards and two student chosen elective standards. The context surrounding ECE has changed dramatically in the past few years as has our student demographics. Our first cohort was composed primarily of long-time practitioners leaders statewide. In contrast, current students are a diverse group ranging from earlier career professionals to "second chancers" with limited involvement in the broader profession. The program also attracts more applicants from non-resident students and has seen decreasing applications from disadvantaged minorities and neighbor island residents. This poster looks at the faculty steering team's process of revisiting program documents, standards, SLOs and Key Assessments in light of our current student demographics. Multiple data sources were used to identify barriers and to develop supports that scaffold student transitions into graduate level academic writing and to more intentionally support the Plan B Capstone. Proposed revisions to the overall program promote opportunities for active involvement in the profession and broader community and place-based experiential learning to inform community specific Plan B professional contributions.

Revisiting the Plan B Capstone of the MEd ECE Program

The Master of Early Childhood Education Program is a 2-1/2 year, 30 credit hybrid program is primarily delivered …

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, and global context of the twenty-first century. We offer one of two undergraduate programs in the School of Communications (College of Social Sciences), serving approximately 200 active Communication Department undergraduates, with an average of 80 graduates per year. Our program offers three area tracks with senior capstones. In each of these capstones, students create an e-portfolio that is used for program assessment. This poster reports the process and results of the Communication Department’s 2013 BA assessment. A panel of faculty and Advisory Board members assessed all the e-portfolios in the Communication in Communities track (n=40). A rubric with measurable items associated with our seven SLOs was employed. We present a summary report demonstrating the percentage of graduates at each level of the rubric (unacceptable, marginal, proficient, or exemplary) and report the total percentage meeting our benchmark for each SLO. We describe how the results of our annual assessment were shared with Communication faculty, and we outline the changes we have begun to implement that we anticipate will have the greatest impact on curricular improvement

Communication BA Curriculum Assessment Using e-Portfolios

The Communication Department’s mission is to meet the challenges and opportunities of communication in the emerging technological, multicultural, …

The Political Science faculty modified existing departmental, undergraduate student learning outcomes (SLOs), which informed assessment development and curricular improvement. Using informal appraisal by individual faculty of student performance at the senior capstone level, the undergraduate curriculum committee found that students’ writing skills need to be addressed in a more cohesive and purposeful way in the curriculum. A 200- level writing politics course was designed to address the gap. In short, the discussions around the learning outcomes revision resulted in faculty collaboration in assessmentdriven curricular improvement. These discussions and innovations are part of a two-year plan to improve program assessment in the department.

Learning Outcome Driven Curricular Improvement – An Example from Political Science

The Political Science faculty modified existing departmental, undergraduate student learning outcomes (SLOs), which informed assessment development and curricular …

The Global Environmental Science (GES) program offers a B.S. degree through the Department of Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. A defining characteristic of the program is the requirement for all majors to conduct a year-long senior research project working one-on-one with a faculty mentor. The research experience is directly integrated into the curriculum as follows: 1) students are introduced to research opportunities through OCN 100 Seminar in Global Environmental Science, 2) the GES curriculum is tailored to the student’s specific interests through selection of 4 upper division electives that complement and support their choice of research topic, 3) students earn OCN 499 Undergraduate Thesis credits while conducting their research, and 4) OCN 490 Communication of Research Results provides instruction and experience in written and oral presentations related to thesis results. Graduation requirements include submission of a written thesis and a public oral presentation of the research findings. This integrated capstone research experience provides a locus for assessment of nearly all GES program learning outcomes. Written theses are read and assessed by faculty mentors and the program chair. Oral presentations are assessed by the faculty mentor and the program steering committee, including the program chair. To date, assessments have been conducted through informal evaluations and group discussion. Development of assessment rubrics are under consideration.

The Global Environmental Science Senior Research Thesis: A Locus for Program Level Learning Outcome Assessment

The Global Environmental Science (GES) program offers a B.S. degree through the Department of Oceanography in the School …

Open-Doors Communication for Continual Assessment

American Studies -The UHM American Studies Department is one of the oldest and largest American Studies departments in …

Kumu, Kuleana, Kaona: Assessing Multiple Viewpoints

The faculty of Hawaiian Studies (HWST) developed a blended assessment plan for our undergraduate program over the past …

Capstone Signature Assignment Development in a History BA Program

The Department of History has been engaged in assessment work of our undergraduate major, identifying how we can …

Develop a Capstone

The first half of this document defines and discusses the capstone experience. The latter half covers using capstones for …