final year projects

Almost all undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes at the University of Reading have a dissertation or capstone project as a key concluding and integrative part of the curriculum. While this experience is valued by both staff and students, it may be necessary for some programmes to review their provision in order to make the capstone project fit with changing student expectations and needs, as well as with departmental resources.

What does it need to involve?

While capstone projects differ significantly between different disciplines, Healey et al. (2013) state a number of key characteristics that should underlie the capstone project:-

1. It should be an extended piece of work It should be research- or enquiry-based.
2. It should be relevant to a discipline or take an interdisciplinary approach.
3. It should be underpinned by a range of relevant sources.
4. It should be contextualised and show recognition of the provisional nature of knowledge.
5. It should incorporate an element of critical thinking, challenge and evaluation.
6. It should be clear what it is contributing.
7. It should have a clearly defined and justifiable methodology.
8. It should build up to its conclusions and, where appropriate, have an element of reflective commentary, including recommendations.
9. It should communicate the research outcomes appropriately and effectively (Healey et al. , 2013, p28-29).

As long as the capstone project fulfils these essential characteristics there is a wide variety of modes of study, methods of communication and assessment that it might take.

Design ideas

Alternative modes of study. A traditional mode of study for students on their capstone project is to work on self-contained projects with a strong disciplinary focus. You may consider alternatives to this mode, for example:

Team working with individual contributions or self-reflection. One interesting idea for enhancing and developing team-working is that only one member of each group need be at weekly supervision meetings with explicit need to facilitate communication between the group and the tutor.

Work- or community-based projects. Particularly for courses with a vocational focus, projects with a strong consultancy element with the student based in a business or community organisation can allow students more freedom to develop novel modes of thinking and enquiry.

Interdisciplinary or practice focused. One benefit of this approach is to ensure a strong problem-based approach to study, encouraging students to seek out resources and expertise from outside their home department.

Inheritance of projects or areas of study from previous students. Some institutions explicitly require students to hand over projects from year to year, ensuring a transfer of ideas, techniques and data. Transacting this exchange is a great opportunity for peer-to-peer learning.

Alternative methods of communication. Most capstone projects require students to produce a long-form piece of written work. While there are undoubted benefits to this approach, in some cases it may be appropriate to augment or replace it. Some alternatives are:

• A business plan for a company based on the research.
• A portfolio of materials that could be used by teachers for communicating new ideas.
• Means of demonstrating creative practice such as performance or workshops.
• Products or processes suitable for commercial use along with accompanying documentation.
• Digital products such as blogs, websites and apps.

Alternative means of assessment. One consequence of diversifying the modes of study or communication for capstone projects is a need to consider how best to assess them. This is particularly true in cases where students on the same programme are offered alternative capstone project options. Some institutions also offer student choice in how their capstone project is assessed. To maintain equity, a standard approach is to use identical but broad marking criteria for all approaches.

In addition to assessment by academics, some parts of the capstone project might be assessed by:

• Peer assessment particularly where team approaches are used
• Assessment by industrial partners
• Assessment of the research proposal in addition to the final product
• Assessment of the response to criticism or self-reflection on the research process
• Assessment of interim reports or project logs detailing the research process
• Assessment of the final presentation at student research days or poster conferences

Alternative means of celebration.

Since the capstone project is, for many students, the culmination of their study at university, an important part of the process is to celebrate and recognise their achievement at the end of the project. Some means by which you might do this can be found here.

Reference

Healey M., Lannin L., Stibbe A. and J. Derounian (2013). Developing and enhancing undergraduate final-year projects and dissertations. York: Higher Education Academy.