A Capstone Project

What is a Capstone project?

A capstone project is a culminating academic, intellectual, and collaborative college experience. It serves as a comprehensive demonstration of the skills, knowledge, and expertise a student has acquired throughout their academic journey.

Capstone projects are valuable because they help students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and project management skills while also serving as a significant addition to their academic portfolio.

Key characteristics of capstone projects include:

  1. Portfolio focused: Lead project in a portfolio for job applications or further education

  2. Design Showcase: Demonstration of a students visual communication design skills

  3. Integration of learning: They require students to synthesize and apply knowledge from various courses

  4. Real-world application: Address real-world problems with academic learning with practical application

  5. Independent work: Students have autonomy in choosing their topic and managing the project

  6. Research-based: Some capstone projects involve in-depth research and analysis

  7. Presentation: Culminates in a final product, such as a paper, presentation, etc. presented to faculty and peers.

  8. Duration: These projects generally span many weeks/months

  9. Interdisciplinary: Many capstone projects encourage students to draw from multiple fields of study

  10. Self-Defined by the student. Pick a project you're proud of.

Exercise

  • Define your capstone project

  • Present it to the class

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