Doug
We have been using History and Systems as the Psychology capstone course for
about 4 years. Recently our dean has been pushing all of the departments in
Arts & Sciences to incorporate capstone experiences in their curriculum.
She has been passing around some guidelines that have come from (I'm sorry I
don't have the complete reference) Schneider, C. G and Schoenberg, R.
Contemporary Understandings of Liberal Education.
Goals of capstone courses/projects/activities
Integrate and apply knowledge and capacities from study in the major
Integrate expert disciplinary knowledge with study in other disciplines/
General Education
Integrate expert disciplinary knowledge with complex demands of research or
work setting
Capstone courses and assessment:
Enumerate skills and describe essential knowledge gained through the major
Embed assessment in the capstone course or activity
Possible strategies for learning in capstone courses/projects/activities
Collaborative inquiry
Experiential learning
Service learning
Research (inquiry based learning)
Integrative learning
Our Psychology Department Curriculum Committee (I'm the chair this year) has
been evaluating our capstone course in relation to the information and
direction from the dean and we believe that History and Systems meets the
goals provided to us. We do not use this experience for post college
preparation. Rather as a means of integrating the student's experience in
the Psychology Department. It is one of the few courses that provides an
overview of all of psychology and shows how the subfields evolved from and
relate to each other. Those of us who have taught this course (I'm teaching
it for the first time this semester) see History and Systems as providing
the synthesis of educational experiences one would want from a capstone
course.
This is a 3 credit course required of all psych majors. I think most
students do enjoy this class. We have enrollment capped at 20 so these are
relatively small classes. Students see it as a great preparation for the
psych GREs. I should have additional feedback at the end of the semester.
Hope this helps
Gary
Gary J. Klatsky
Department of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Oswego State University (SUNY) http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky
Oswego, NY 13126 Voice: (315) 341 3474
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On
Behalf Of Doug Peterson
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 4:17 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: Senior Capstone Course
I am working with our departmental assessment committee and we have been
discussing a senior capstone course. As of now there are some differing
opinions regarding the content of this course and how many credit hours is
should be worth.
I am hoping that there may be some members out there who have experience
with this type of course.
Our first pass at content was to consider a 1 hour per week course which
covered basic post college preparation activities (applications to grad
school, resume writing, etc.) as well as some assessment issues (e.g., GRE
subject test or similar instrument).
I would be interested in hearing other's opinions regarding what things
should were done in the course, or how it could be handled. If your
institution has a course like this, I would also be interested in knowing is
it targeted at pre-grad school students or all psychology majors? is it
required? What do students/faculty think of it?
Doug
Doug Peterson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of South Dakota
414 E. Clark
Dept. of Psychology
Vermillion, SD 57069
Voice: (605) 677-5295
Fax: (605) 677-6604
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
