Integrating Student Learning: The Capstone Course in Communication

• In Event: Capturing the Senior Experience: Responsive Capstone Courses Promote Stability through the Recognition for Change

Abstract

I taught the senior seminar course for the Communication major at Trinity (Washington) University for 11 years. Over the years the course morphed from a senior thesis style course to a course designed to provide an opportunity to assess whether the students had achieved an appropriate level of proficiency in general education goals as well as communication major goals in order to graduate. The course and subsequent assessment was also intended to provide information that program faculty could use to fuel program change and course re-development.

Students who take the course receive the following direction on the capstone syllabus:

“The hallmark of a well-prepared student of communication is the ability to form and answer questions about communication and to communicate the answers in well organized written and oral presentations. Throughout your study of communication you have investigated various contexts of communication – interpersonal, group, organizational and mass communication. You have studied what other scholars have learned. It is now time for you to demonstrate your ability to contribute to that dialogue.

Specifically, upon completion of Senior Seminar each student will be able to:

• Formulate relevant communication research questions
• Select appropriate research methods to answer those questions
• Articulate clearly in both written and oral fashion unique answers to communication research questions”

These clearly articulated student-learning outcomes were measured using rubrics to evaluate three mini-research projects students completed as part of the capstone course. The rubrics provided information about how well students were able to demonstrate the desired outcomes. This paper will discuss the data that was gathered from the rubrics, general information that the data revealed and how it was used to guide program and course development.

Author

• W. Bradford Mello, National Communication Association