What are SW Capstone courses?
The 8-credit Signature Work project consists of Capstone courses taken as two 4-credit courses or two 2-credit courses and one 4-credit course, along with the final public presentation of the final Signature Work product and other outcomes. Capstone courses allow mentors and mentees to focus on concluding the SW research and creating SW products. The ultimate goals of Capstone courses are:
- For the student: Completing the SW project, SW product, and SW Portfolio for submission.
- For the mentor: Evaluating the student’s SW and submitting a final grade.
The nature of the capstone courses is like independent study, where the mentor and mentee agree on the frequency and format of the meetings. This structure applies to team projects as well as individual signature work. Mentors should work with mentees to determine the best way to structure the capstone courses, based on SW and other academic needs.
All students must complete all 8 credits of Capstone courses to graduate. If a student receives a failing grade (F) in any Capstone, they will need to retake it before they will be allowed graduate.
Capstone Timeline
Mentors and mentees can choose from two Capstone course formats:
- Two 4-credit courses (CAPSTONE495 + CAPSTONE496) taken in that order in any of the first 3 sessions of the senior year.
- Or two 2-credit courses (CAPSTONE495A + CAPSTONE495B) and one 4-credit course (CAPSTONE 496). CAPSTONE495A may optionally be taken in the spring of the student’s junior year. The rest must be taken in the first three sessions of the senior year.
Capstone courses cannot be taken in the same session, and all Capstone courses must be completed before the end of senior year Session 3. Capstones also act as a grade submission mechanism for the Signature Work Project, Product, and SW Portfolio. Starting with Academic Year 2024-25, mentors will grade each Capstone separately, rather than giving one grade at the end of the process.
Capstone Criteria
- Capstone course prerequisites: Students must pass the basic Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training provided by the CITI Program.
- Mentor and mentee should collaboratively design a syllabus including course structure and rubric for Capstone courses.
*Please note that students who wish to take a 2-credit Capstone in the spring of their junior year will need to have completed their RCR training before they register for it.
The following grade indicators should be followed to grade the SW project, as outlined in the DKU UG SW Capstone Evaluation Guide, which is available on the SW website.
Indicator | Grade Range |
Excellent | A |
Good | B |
Acceptable | C |
Poor | D |
A student doing poor work would receive a “D” range (D+, D, D-) or above. Grades in the “D” range may be used to satisfy the SW requirement for graduation, but they count towards the maximum of 8 credits allowed with “D” grades to graduate. A grade below the “D” range is considered unsatisfactory and is marked as fail.
Capstone 495 Assessment
Students taking Capstone 495, whether as a 4-credit course their senior year or two 2-credit courses, one of which may be taken in their junior year, will be engaged in the Signature Work process. They will be reviewing their field-specific literature, setting up and conducting research in the field or laboratory, compiling and analyzing data, planning and executing creative projects, etc. Throughout, they should be checking in regularly with their mentor and meeting progress milestones/deadlines as set collaboratively by the mentor and student. It is recommended that mentors and students meet at minimum once every two weeks during Capstones.
No one universal rubric can cover the wide variety of possible student paths through Capstone 495. It is up to each mentor to determine their own rubric and communicate their expectations to the student. Additionally, students who take 2-credits of Capstone 495 in their third year may require different benchmarks and standards than students to who take it for 4 credits in their fourth year. That said, some questions that mentors may want to bear in mind include:
- Had the student finished their prerequisites (SW Proposal and RCR, IRB or IACUC approval if required, methodologically-necessary thematic classes) in a timely fashion, so as not to delay the start of their Capstone 495 work?
- Did the student make their regular meetings with the mentor? Was the student prepared for these meetings? Could the student provide evidence for their continued progress?
- Did the student meet milestones/deadlines as set in collaboration with the mentor?
- Was the student meaningfully responsive to mentor feedback?
- Was the student following the procedures laid out in their SW Proposal? If not, could they provide a sufficient justification for the changes?
Note that if students take 495 as two 2-credit courses, the mentor will assign grades to them separately. Each grade should be tailored to the sort of progress students expect to make in that session.
Capstone 496 Assessment
If Capstone 495 is about assessing the Signature Work process, Capstone 496 is for assessing the SW outcomes: the product and portfolio (with a bit of process left in). Given the wide range of possible SW products, the prevailing academic standards for the student’s field of study should guide the mentor’s assessment.
Uniquely, Capstone 496 is not graded at the conclusion of the term when it was taken. Instead, the mentor will submit their grade after the student has submitted their final product and portfolio to the Signature Work Office. For students taking 496 in Session 3, this will not be a large difference. For students taking 496 in Session 2, however, that means the grade will be submitted roughly two months after the conclusion of the course.
Given that Capstone 496 is intended to be the time when the student finishes their SW products, students who take 496 in Session 2 should have a clear plan for how they intend to use that time. Students are highly discouraged from using 496 solely to conduct research; trying to write an entire academic paper in Session 3 while taking a full course load is not a recipe for success.
Beyond the SW product, the 496 grade should also reflect the SW Portfolio: whether students uploaded all their required materials on time, and whether those materials meet basic academic standards. Mentors might also consider the 496 process: whether students continued meeting with them on schedule, met their internally-set deadlines, etc. (See Capstone 495 Assessment for more guidance on process.)
A suggested grade breakdown:
Scholarly Project |
| Creative/Design Project |
|
Process | 5% | Process | 5% |
Portfolio | 5% | Portfolio | 5% |
Paper | 90% | Creative/Design Product | 45% |
|
| Explanatory Text | 45% |
In addition to giving a letter grade, mentors will also judge SW products as falling into one of three categories:
- Adequate to minimal academic standards and worthy of Distinction (see Graduation with Signature Work Distinction in the Policies section)
- Adequate to minimal academic standards
- Inadequate to minimal academic standards
(Note that a mentor might give a student a passing grade for Capstone 496 and still judge their product(s) Inadequate to minimum academic standards.)
Student work judged Inadequate will trigger a review process identical to that of the Second Reader Review. See the Second Reader Review section for more information.
