A postgraduate capstone project: Impact on student learning and organizational change

Author:

Elwell Gordon R.1ORCID,Dickinson Thad E.1ORCID,Dillon Michael D.1

Affiliation:

1. Central Michigan University, USA

Abstract

The capstone course serves to integrate accumulated knowledge with a culminating experience or project and is a common component in undergraduate and graduate programs. The research on capstones courses shows that many capstone experiences or projects involve students working with outside clients, such as local businesses and organizations, to solve problems or develop new projects or campaigns. Such capstone experiences or projects seek to offer students real-world, career-building experience, while the clients seek to benefit from the learned academic knowledge of the students. Where the literature is scarce on client-based capstone projects is when the client is the student’s employer or career-related organization. A graduate program in administration at a public Midwestern university in the USA offers a different approach to the student–client model by requiring a degree-culminating capstone project that challenges adult students to apply their learned knowledge to solve administrative problems not for an outside client but at their place of employment or career-related organization. The researchers surveyed 66 alumni and interviewed 6 on how the capstone project had benefited their work-related learning and its impact on their employer or career-related organization. Students perceived an improvement in their ability to define and analyze administrative problems in their workplace, while the employers or organizations which implemented the project recommendations experienced positive organizational change. This case study contributes to the literature on capstone courses by examining the relevance of a work- or career-related capstone project to students and their workplace.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Education,Business and International Management

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3