UC's Capstone Experiences
Each major program of study at UC is specifically designed to prepare you to work effectively and contribute productively within your chosen field or profession. Together, General Education and major-specific requirements help all students develop a well-rounded approach to their chosen fields of study. Requirements and learning outcomes for each major can be found through departmental webpages. (See below for links to all of UC's colleges.)
A significant component of each baccalaureate students’ and some associate degree students’ general education experience at UC is participation in a senior-level capstone experience that is designed to put the finishing touches in your education at UC and help you transition into the world of work and citizenship or prepare you for further education in graduate school. Each capstone is designed by highly trained faculty to provide quality learning experiences, frequently involving partnerships with community agencies or professional organizations.
Each capstone experience is unique, specifically tailored to help students in the majors demonstrate the specific skills and knowledge they have developed in their courses of study. But each capstone also ensures that students have mastered the four baccalaureate competencies: critical thinking, effective communication, social responsibility, and knowledge integration.
For more information about your chosen major, choose the link to your home college. For an overview of the kinds of capstone experiences offered in each college, choose "capstone overview."
College of Allied Health Sciences
The College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) was granted status as a college by the University Of Cincinnati Board Of Trustees in March of 1998. It consists of programs that were in existence in various colleges throughout the University, which were brought together in a state of the art building with access to University Hospital, Children’s Hospital and many other health care agencies. CAHS programs include undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs in speech-language pathology, audiology, dietetics, nutrition, genetic counseling, clinical laboratory science, advanced medical imaging technology, transfusion and transplantation sciences, physical therapy and physical therapy assisting.
Each department has its own capstone and senior year experience plan to address their varying accreditation requirements. This diversity guarantees multiple approaches to engaged learning across the college. Each department has documented their current senior year capstone experience as follows:
The Department of Analytical and Diagnostic Sciences offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science degrees and certificates in the following majors: Advanced Medical Imaging Technology, Transplantation and Transfusion Science , Clinical Laboratory Science, and Genetic Counseling. The Department of Analytical and Diagnostic Sciences is composed of two graduate programs and two undergraduate programs. The undergraduate programs are Advanced Medical Imaging Technology and Clinical Laboratory Science. The capstone experiences for both undergraduate programs involve a series of seminars culminating in the development and presentation of a fundamental research project involving an aspect of state-of-the-art practice. Under direction of faculty, students prepare a written report and present their findings at the College’s annual PRaISE Conference.
The Health Science degree has several areas of concentration including Sports and Biomechanics and Exercise Science, and is well suited for individuals interested in the growing field of allied health sciences. The degree prepares undergraduate college students for graduate studies in the areas of physical therapy, medicine, dentistry, nutrition, genetic counseling and other health related master and doctorate degrees. The curriculum also provides students with associate degrees, especially in the areas of allied health sciences, and the opportunity to complete a bachelor’s degree in a related area. The Health Science majors in the Sports and Biomechanics track are required to take the Recreation Across the Lifespan sequence of classes in the senior year. This is a year-long sequence that includes information on exercise and activity development for healthy geriatric, healthy adult and healthy pediatric populations. A component of the course is community engagement and service at local senior and community centers. As an extension of the didactic material, the students develop exercise or activity programs that are population specific that are then executed with the people at the centers at which the students are assigned. Students are placed at the Clifton Senior Center and the Corryville Recreation Center. Since this a required course for all Health Science seniors in the Sports and Biomechanics Track, 100% of the student population is involved. The courses in the sequence are currently compartmentalized, with each community project ending with the quarter’s end and a new project beginning with the new target population.
Students of Food and Nutrition explore the effects of food on human health and the body, as well as the social, psychological, environmental and technological factors that influence health. Academic requirements include course work in nutrition, food science and physiology, which provide a solid foundation in the fundamentals of food and nutrition. Also, as a major firmly based in the sciences, Food and Nutrition requires course work in biological and chemical sciences, mathematics and statistics. The Department of Nutritional Sciences has four undergraduate majors: Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP), Food and Nutrition with a Business concentration, Food and Nutrition with an Exercise Science concentration, and Food and Nutrition with a Pre-Medicine concentration. The capstone experience for all undergraduates is the completion of a professional portfolio. The portfolio was selected as the capstone experience because the accrediting organization for the undergraduate degrees, the American Dietetic Association (ADA), requires that all students enrolled in majors meeting the didactic program requirements complete a professional portfolio. Senior-level students enrolled in the Food and Nutrition majors are also required to complete a course called Professional Seminar (2 credits) during winter quarter, where a portion of the course is designed to assist students in assembling their portfolio according to department and general education requirements. Students in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP) do not enroll in the Professional Seminar course, because they are completing the supervised practice component of their undergraduate degree in their senior year. They receive information about assembling their portfolio in an educational session offered during winter quarter and from one-on-one advising from the CP program director.
The undergraduate program in communication sciences and disorders and the graduate program with specialties in Speech-Language Pathology and in Audiology comprise the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, located in the College of Allied Health Sciences which is housed in the French East Building on the University’s medical/east campus. The Master’s degree program in Speech-Language Pathology and the Doctorate degree program in Audiology are accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). A faculty member in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders coordinates the program in Public School Certification. The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) has a long history of community engagement activities and service-learning. The National Student Speech-Language Hearing Association University of Cincinnati Chapter has consistently provided volunteer hours in the Cincinnati Reads Program and at the local Ronald McDonald house. A junior level course has included a service-learning partnership for the past six years. Currently, there is no consistent, institutional CSD capstone community based opportunity for all graduating seniors. At the present, the capstone project is individualized. Students complete a questionnaire describing their specific interests within the profession. They are then matched with a faculty member who shares their interest and directs their capstone project. The CSD goal is to consolidate this experience and have as its focus a service learning activity.
Currently the College’s faculty is exploring the possibility of integrating a community engagement activity into the capstone experience of all undergraduate senior students. Currently freshman students in the College are involved in service learning experience.
Return to List
College of Applied Science
A typical description of a senior design capstone at the College of Applied Science (CAS) begins with “an original effort by a student to investigate and solve a complex problem resulting in an independent design-and-build project of substantial technological sophistication. The completion of the baccalaureate thesis includes proof-of-design, working demonstration and scientific documentation culminating in presentation and defense.” Since 1974, programs at CAS have required senior projects as capstone experiences for most of the degree programs. Since the initiation UC’s General Education Capstone in 2001, all CAS baccalaureate programs require a formal capstone experience as part of a degree granting program in the college.
CAS capstones require a culminating experience for seniors that include a series of senior design courses that combine an innovative mix of complex project management, creative design and an opportunity for individual ingenuity. Generally the first course in the capstone sequence is devoted to identifying a problem related to the discipline and planning a project which provides a realistic solution. Project proposals are approved by faculty who supervise students in this process which allows the student to address social and ethical issues and real problems in the community. Seniors are required to complete a senior capstone sequence of courses throughout their graduating year (9-12 credit hours) culminating in Tech Expo, a full scale industrial exhibition displaying their work and held in May at the Duke Energy Center, Cincinnati’s convention center.
Tech Expo is an amazing industrial exposition in which students present and display their projects designed to reflect community involvement, cultural awareness, and environmental issues to the faculty and industrial board judges, colleagues, alumni, and the general public. During the past 21 years the exposition has grown into a full scale industrial exposition for seniors to present their projects and in recent years include business and industry sponsors’ exhibits. Duke Energy Center’s large exhibit hall is filled with creative and innovative design reflecting the individual and collaborative work of the college and enthusiastically reviewed by visitors from throughout the region.
Return to List
McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
The McMicken College of Arts and Sciences provides a wide array of exceptional capstone opportunities for its students, with a range of experiences as diverse as the college's numerous degree offerings. All capstone courses provide outstanding outlets for students to work with faculty to synthesize and apply what they have learned throughout their undergraduate careers in a culminating work, practicum, research project or activity. In a number of departments, capstone work can include significant field experiences.
For example, undergraduate students of classics worked as part of a collaboration between UC Classics and Albanian archaeologists at the site of Bonjaket, near the ancient town of Apollonia. The UC team unearthed thousands of artifacts and the foundation of a temple from the archaic period (late sixth-early fifth-century BC), apparently a sanctuary to the Greek goddess Artemis, and one of the earliest monumental Greek temples on the shores of the eastern Adriatic. Other capstone projects involve partnerships with local agencies, schools or cultural centers. Capstone students in communication documented the oral histories of Holocaust survivors for the "Mapping Our Tears" exhibit at the Center for Holocaust and Community Education, Journalism students worked with local agencies as part of an interdisciplinary team to tell the stories of children seeking adoptive families. The children's stories will become part of an online "heart gallery," a Web resource for potential adoptive parents.
A number of A&S students have used their capstone experiences to launch their careers and graduate education. In geography, many students have extended their capstone research into successful MA and PhD theses; in economics, students partnering with area agencies on writing grants or developing economics curriculum have found these experiences made significant contributions to their resumes. Capstone students in biology, chemistry and physics often work in industrial, medical or university laboratories (sometimes in paid internships or co-op placements) locally and abroad. In a number of cases these research efforts have lead to very noteworthy student awards. Last year, a UC physics student won the prestigious Katherine E. Pope Summer Fellowship for work related to a capstone project. The fellowship is awarded to only one student from across the country each year and allows an undergraduate to pursue research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC).
Return to List
Business
The College of Business offers several capstones centered on students’ majors. Two representative capstone experiences include those for Finance majors and for Marketing majors. The Finance Capstone course is designed give students experience solving a variety of “real world” business problems by integrating finance and other business concepts. Emphasis is placed on learning topics via the case method. A mixture of lectures and text reading assignments (which provide a theoretical/conceptual framework) supplement the main emphasis on application and case analysis of various real-world financial situations. For case analysis, students put themselves into the case situation, analyze it, and make recommendations. Students are expected to be able to share their analysis with others, and defend or amend their analysis as the class discussion progresses. The cases often introduce new material, especially of an institutional nature. An essential part of the course is group work, where students learn from each other preparing for class. The types of topics covered vary from the development and application of corporate financial policy (e.g., payout policy, capital budgeting decisions, and the various methods of raising capital) to real and security investment strategies.
Conversely, the Marketing Capstone is designed to provide the student with a cohesive understanding of marketing through the exploration of marketing problems presented in a case study format. Taking a managerial perspective, there is an emphasis on qualitative and quantitative market analysis, customer knowledge, financial performance analysis, and strategy formulation, all within the context of the macro competitive environment faced by the organization. Students will make decisions about the development and allocation of the organization’s marketing resources to achieve long-run customer value and financial return for the organization. Because the capstone is designed to be an integrative experience and illustrate marketing decision-making in practice, students must draw upon material from prior marketing and business coursework.
Return to List
College-Conservatory of Music
Bachelor of Music, Orchestral Instruments & Voice
CCM Drama has provided a consistent and exceptional capstone experience for its students for a number of years, and elaborately showcases the work of the students in annual Cincinnati, New York, and Los Angles Actor Showcase events. Given the number of different and diverse majors in CCM, we can only highlight a few capstone experiences here, particularly since each capstone experience is uniquely tailored to facilitate the academic and professional needs of students. For example, the CCM Drama Senior Showcase provides a highly visible venue for students to present their work to the industry and to the public, including parents/families and alumni, and in fact has become a very successful means for casting directors, agents, and managers to evaluate students in the graduating class, contributing to our record of successful graduates. Students generally spend at least two quarters of the senior year engaged in research, rehearsals, master classes, and preparation of a final product. The CCM Drama faculty continually refines both the nature of the capstone experience and the methodology for teaching. The senior showcase gives us an ideal opportunity to receive feedback while in Cincinnati, from members of the industry in both New York and Los Angeles, and from alumni of CCM Drama.
Performance Division capstones are by their nature public events, since they are recitals that are opens to the public and free of charge. They continue to benefit students in that the repertoire learned for the capstone recital continues to be used as audition material for graduate school auditions and other future performances opportunities. The program notes that are written for the recital help students to reflect on the music and help to prepare them to communicate more directly with their audience about the music they perform. Likewise, the capstone projects for piano majors consist of their senior recital, plus written program notes. These performances are open to the public and often draw a significant number of people external to the university community. In aggregate, these recitals have presented music of all composers and all styles, including jazz as well as classical music; thus, they are a welcome and worthy addition to the cultural life of the universe and of the city.
Preceded by a variety of teaching internships and field experience opportunities during the first 3 years of study, the Capstone to the Music Education Program is the Student Teaching Experience in the final year of study. Each student is individually placed by music education faculty with a host school and mentor teacher(s) in the Greater Cincinnati Area. Student preference, background and aspirations are considered in selecting the most appropriate placement. Host school sites vary demographically--rural, suburban, and urban-as well as in the array of curricular opportunities available. In addition to the traditional offerings in general music, band, orchestra and choir, a number of programs support special offerings such as children's choirs, steel drum bands, music technology experiences, Winter Guard, and music theater productions.
The entire experience begins at the opening of the school year for what is termed 'September Experience'. All students, regardless of the academic term in which they student teach, participate in the launch of a new school year, observing and assisting their mentor teachers and becoming a part of the school community. This is followed by full-time engagement as student teacher during the fall, winter or spring quarter. During both of these periods, student teacher responsibilities are gradually increased to include all aspects of the teacher's role in today's schools and communities. Guidance and support are provided by the mentor teacher(s) and a university faculty supervisor. Held concurrently with the student teaching experience is an on campus student teacher seminar in which discussions relative to each student's experience take place along with procedural matters pertaining to licensure application and future employment. Placement rate of CCM Music Education Program graduates is 100%.
Finally, the Capstone Experience for Electronic Media is incorporated into the senior year of each Electronic Media major. The student is required to make a public presentation. Each presentation must utilize at least one of the many electronic tools available to our majors. While the content of the presentation has to address the four baccalaureate competencies, the overall presentation will also serve as a portfolio piece, showcasing the technical sophistication and intellectual maturity of the individual student. Many majors have also used the capstone requirement as an opportunity to reflect upon their career expectations, researching the opportunities available to them. Others have incorporated their internship experience locally, nationally and even internationally into their presentations. All E-Media Faculty members are supervising as well as evaluating the capstone presentations. A discussion follows each presentation, providing for immediate feedback to the student. Moreover, the quality of the presentations is also the yardstick of the teaching effectiveness in the E-Media Division. We are always seeking new and better ways of teaching this culminating experience for our students.
Return to List
Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning (DAAP)
DAAP has provided exceptional capstone experiences for its students for a number of years, and elaborately showcases these in the annual DAAPworks exhibition held in the week prior to graduation each June. DAAPworks provides a highly visible venue for students to present their work to the public, including parents/families and alumni, and in fact has become a very successful means for potential employers to evaluate students in the graduating class, contributing to our enviable record of successful placement of graduates. Most of the disciplines in the College engage the students in individual capstone projects, while the remaining provide interdisciplinary group experiences. Many capstone projects are designed to involve students in the community, in cultural awareness, and/or in environmental issues. Students generally spend at least two quarters of the senior year in research, design, and prototype production of a final product.
Some of the more notable capstone examples include the Graphic Design senior group project that each year is funded by a non-profit sponsor to design and professionally produce a full-size educational exhibit for that organization. In the past few years, resulting exhibits have included UC’s 100th Anniversary Celebration of Co-op, an exhibit on Discrimination done in collaboration with UC and Hebrew Union College, and an historical exhibit for Cincinnati Public Schools.
Students in Architecture, Interior Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Digital Design, Fine Art, and Planning develop individual capstone projects. Many of the projects developed by seniors in these majors focus on social and environmental issues, particularly in regard to connections to the community and practices in sustainability. For example, students in the Digital Design program are given a different socially oriented theme each year, such as "diversity," "discrimination," and "freedom." The Fashion Design and Product Development students not only design a cohesive collection of clothing as individual capstones, but collectively produce the annual DAAP Fashion Design show, recently named by Cincinnati Magazine as one of the city’s top 101 things to see or do.
Faculty in the programs continually refine both the nature of the capstone assignments and the methodology for teaching. DAAPworks gives us an ideal opportunity to receive feedback from faculty in our own college as well as throughout the university, from alumni of our programs, and from professionals. We pride ourselves on actively seeking new and better ways of teaching this culminating experience for our students.
Return to List
College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH)
Capstone experiences in CECH are as diverse as the many programs in the college: Secondary Education, Middle Childhood Education, Paralegal, Early Childhood Education, Criminal Justice, Health Promotion and Education, and Addiction Studies. Here are three sample capstone experiences that students might encounter in CECH.
The Secondary Education Capstone for the 2005-2006 year requires that each candidate is assessed on his or her ability to demonstrate the four baccalaureate competencies in the five methods courses and in field clinical setting in urban and suburban high school classrooms.
The Middle Child Education Capstone for the 2005-2006 year required that each candidate build a digital story that portrayed their journey to being a teacher and to present this to their peers in the class. They cut their story (made with Windows Producer software) to a CD and handed this in. These CDs were used to evaluate the work with the rubric designed for this purpose this year. The student must also build a portfolio on their last two years of study and teaching experiences and support each reflection with appropriate data (documents, images, etc.). This project enables the teacher candidate to summarize the undergraduate study of education and to evaluate the experience through a series of four written reflections with supporting data. Each reflection will explore what teacher candidates have learned in their interactions with various aspects of the Middle Childhood Program.
The Criminal Justice Capstone for the 2005-2006 year requires two courses: 18-CJ-495 and 18-CJ-496. Each course requires the students to complete 72 hours of placement in a criminal justice setting (e.g. police ride-along, probation, courts, treatment centers). Furthermore, they must submit the following requirements: One page reflection on each “shift” they complete; a resume approved by the CDC; an evaluation of their placement completed by their supervisor; hand written thank you letters to individuals they worked with; and a 5 page research paper on a topic pertaining to their field placement.
Return to List
College of Engineering
From its inception over 100 years ago, the College of Engineering has had a capstone experience as an integral part of our undergraduate educational programs. This capstone experience, traditionally referred to as Senior Thesis or Senior Project, has been the culminating experience which blends the underpinning mathematics, science and engineering coursework into a meaningful end result in which the student focuses on the whole of their educational program, rather than on individual pieces. Integrating the principles, concepts and applications in a meaningful design project helps launch the student’s career into the real world of the engineering profession.
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has described the requirements of this design experience as “Students must be prepared for engineering practice through the curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints. It must embody an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.” These are the guiding principles used in creating the senior projects in each of our nine undergraduate engineering programs.
Spanning either two or three quarters of the senior year, these projects are often ideas which have been suggested by faculty or perhaps initiated to meet the needs of local industry. In the Mechanical Engineering Design Clinic, industrial sponsors bring both project needs and industrial guidance to bear on the final solution. All departments use a coordinator for senior design projects who leads in the overall objectives and common principles such as ethical and environmental issues. The detailed work of each team of students is then under the close supervision of a member of the faculty who offers the needed technical advice and sense of direction. In some of the projects which have been sponsored by industry, there is also an industrial mentor as an integral part of the advising team.
All senior design projects must, of course, have a major written document which brings together the work in a cohesive body, suitable to the practice of engineering. The projects culminate in an oral presentation made to a group of students, faculty advisors and, in the case of industrially-sponsored projects, practicing engineers from industry. There, the designs are critiqued one final time. In many of our programs, there is a poster session held in a public venue, such as the TUC atrium, to showcase the collective work of our student body. The end result of the projects is not only a very significant way to launch the engineering careers of the students, but in several cases the beginnings of new products and even small companies. This is the ultimate measure of success of our students and we take considerable pride in their accomplishments.
Return to List
College of Nursing
The capstone experience in the College of Nursng is implemented through the students’ final clinical course that includes a precepted clinical practicum in either a community or an acute care setting. In
either case, the graduating senior is practicing along side a RN, performing the role expected upon graduation. This final practicum services as a vehicle for the graduating students to demonstrate their
achievement of the four baccalaureate competencies, critical thinking skills, knowledge intergration, communication and social responsibility and to deal with the complexity of current practice. Rubrics for the assessment of the students are discipline specific for nursing, and clearly relate nursing practice to the four baccalaureate competencies. The practicum places the student into a real world setting with real world expectations for demonstrating their level of proficiency. Students work the same shifts, assignments, etc as a practicing RN. The experience provides an opportunity for students to “really put things together” before taking their first position as a RN. The capstone experiences take place in a variety of insititutions in the Greater Cincinnati area. The students provide input into the selection of the site where they will have their experience. They, therefore, have an opportunity to “test the waters” in of a clinical area in which they think they would like to practice.
Return to List
Raymond Walters College
At Raymond Walters College, the Radiation Science Capstone course was first offered during spring quarter of 2005. The initial focus of the course was on individual research, and the presentation of the research and results in both written and verbal forms. Assistant Professor Julie Gill, Ph.D., further developed the course for 2006. The revised course utilized a problem based learning format. Students worked in group to solve a problem and then developed and implemented solutions to that problem. The problem was based on a visit by the JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions) in which the students served on a committee charged with identifying areas for improvement needed at a medical center. They then had to plan and implement change strategies. As a closing event for the course, the students simulated the delivery of a presentation to the Medical Centers Board of Directors. For 2007, Professor Gill has been investigating the possibility of a multi-disciplinary experiential capstone opportunity for students. This work has been done and continues in cooperation with Assistant Professor Alan Vespie, M.Ed. of the Advanced Medical Imaging Technology Program in the College of Allied Health Sciences. The focus presently under consideration is related to advancing technologies and continuing professional education. The Radiation Science Technology program has utilized the data acquired from the capstone course to assess the general education competencies in the areas of critical thinking, effective communication, knowledge integration. This data has also been used for program assessments required for accreditation of the Medical Dosimetry concentration. As such, the capstone course has been improved upon each year it has been offered and the results of the assessments acquired from the course have been used to improve upon the program.
Return to List
School of Social Work
The Bachelor of Social Work Program Capstone experience is comprised of seven courses in the senior year and culminates with an integration paper in the final quarter. Students receive a capstone orientation at the beginning of their junior year and are told to keep all course assignments for future use in their integration paper. The capstone experience has changed over time. Originally, the integration paper was the final assignment in the spring quarter. The paper grade was part of the course grade and read independently by faculty to determine mastery of General Education competencies. Student feedback resulted in several modifications. The second year we re-wrote the descriptions of all 10 paper topics to clarify assignment requirements. Last year we introduced the capstone at the junior orientation and continued our clarification of assignment requirements. This year (2005-2006) we developed a set of course assignments which allow students to work on different parts of the integration paper throughout the senior year and in all social work courses.
Return to List
|
