Effective capstone models and approaches that enhance student achievement Archives

Cooperative Learning Instructional Activities in a Capstone Design Course

Posted on 6 January 2021

“Our experiences convinced us that the cooperative learning approach both enhanced our students’ understanding of these topics and encouraged them to incorporate the associated skills into their working skill set. Including team exercises that dealt with various steps in the design process provided a “jump-start” on these unfamiliar activities in a structured, short duration exercise […]

Preparation of Engineering Students for Capstone Design Experience through a Microprocessors Course

Posted on 6 January 2021

“The approach relies on providing the students the freedom to choose their own project area as well as the utilized technology...Data collected, over five consecutive course offerings, shows that this approach is an effective method to prepare engineering students for their senior design capstone courses.” (p.91) “Results show that around 54.17% of the students have […]

Effects of the Meetings-Flow Approach on Quality Teamwork in the Training of Software Capstone Projects

Posted on 6 January 2021

“A team process known as the meetings-flow (MF) approach has recently been introduced in software capstone projects in engineering programs at various institutions...The results revealed that MF significantly enhances a team's communication and coordination and balances members' contributions by giving mutual support and effort. It has relatively less influence, however, on student team cohesion.” (p.201) […]

Effects of Simulation on Student Satisfaction With a Capstone Course

Posted on 6 January 2021

“Overall, the results indicate that simulations can be an effective learning method to increase students’ satisfaction and enhance university course quality in higher education.” (p.39) “Improved decision-making skills were identified as a key outcome in students’ evaluation of the simulation and its impact on student satisfaction. The simulation provided an opportunity for students to evaluate […]

Service Learning and the Capstone Experience

Posted on 6 January 2021

This study analyzes the results of this learning strategy by using a follow-up survey that rates the student on 20 categories of character using the Service Learning Benefits (SELEB) scale (Toncar et al. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 14(3), 223-238, 2006). Business and economic majors at colleges and universities are being challenged to create […]

Experiences with Flipping the Marketing Capstone Course

Posted on 6 January 2021

“This article reviews the experiences of a flipped classroom approach in a marketing capstone course...Preliminary results suggest that student learning improved using the flipped approach. However, students have strong, diverse opinions about its value and need training to excel in the flipped environment.” (p.51) “From the student's perspective, sample unfavorable comments in Table 4 suggest […]

Using wikis to investigate communication, collaboration and engagement in Capstone engineering design projects

Posted on 6 January 2021

“Wikis were set up for teams of engineering students from different disciplinary backgrounds and years...Wikis were considered a potentially useful tool to track engagement for Capstone design projects in engineering subjects.” (p.247) “Overall, the first cohort of students perceived the wiki to be a useful tool, with 62% of the cohort agreeing or strongly agreeing […]

Service-Learning in a Capstone Modeling Course

Posted on 6 January 2021

“A service-learning project provides a coherent theme for a modeling capstone course, motivating many aspects of the modeling process and bringing together skills from various parts of a student’s background.” (p.516) “Since students bring different viewpoints and backgrounds to their problem, the group may be able to perform various analyses beyond what any individual member […]

Using Business Plan Development as a Capstone Project for MPH Programs in Canada: Validation Through the Student Perspective

Posted on 6 January 2021

“Business planning provides students the opportunity to engage in practice based learning, applying theoretical knowledge to practice.” (p.791) “Group work is critical to the value added from completing the business plan as a capstone project. Students recognize that it provides them with an avenue to present their own ideas, and work collaboratively with others to […]

Strengthening Capstone Skills in STEM Programs

Posted on 6 January 2021

“ICap experiential courses gradually introduce challenging and open-ended assignments that foster cognitive learning. Consequently, those higher level skills important in the capstone course are strengthened: critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, teamwork, communications, information literacy, and design process.” (p.6) “In our experience, ICap yields the following transformational benefits to students, instructors, experiential courses, and the curriculum: (1) […]