In January: The Capstone workgroup met with the Learning and Teaching Commons Advisory Committee to discuss the possibility of creating a repository of examples of successful capstones, to help both faculty and students envision future capstone project possibilities

The workgroup finalized our vision list of goals for Capstones at Evergreen:

Short Term Goals (by June 2021):

• Develop common, college-wide definitions and language about capstones. Promote the immediate integration/popularization of capstone language (reflective of current practices and capacities) in advising, catalog copy, faculty mentoring, academic statement support and recruitment/admissions materials, including the web-site. 

• All Paths create transparent, student-facing documents advising prospective students in their path on the capstone process, structure, and faculty support systems currently available for them in that Path. [This dovetails with existing path projects]. Paths should pursue means of gathering information to help us better define the Capstone project and process, including the variety of projects in their area and how they are completed, supported, etc. These could include documents about long-term academic planning. 

• Develop plan for community input/feedback for supporting Capstones with students; create community-facing documents on capstone possibilities and connections. 

• Create clear icon/phrase for the CMD and on-line catalog so students can quickly see which programs support capstone work. 

• Think through developmental/pedagogical scaffolding structures (both for students and for faculty workload/sharing of resources like common workshops). 

• Develop path and CAT capstone information sessions for Mentoring Days (and possibly as part of Greener Foundations), to help students anticipate future capstone possibilities. These documents should include scaffolding for long-term planning. 
•  Create a central location for a repository of examples of completed student capstone work (perhaps in the Learning and Teaching Commons), as a place where students could learn about the range of possibilities for capstones.  

• Celebrate and describe the variety and range of capstone experiences on the college web-site.
• Commence discussions about the impact of expanded capstone access on faculty and staff workload, especially faculty FTEs. Envision new FTE structures to recognize increased faculty workload. 

 Medium term  (within 2-3 academic years): 

• Establish the expectation that most, if not all, students complete a capstone as a culminating part of their undergraduate studies. Make sure that all students have access to clear information, mentorship and advising about how to prepare, undertake, and successfully complete capstone projects.  

• Re-establish the Internship office in Advising to support foundational learning and capstone internships at organizations 

• Hire / appoint Capstone Coordinator: staff and/or rotating faculty position (or something appropriately linked in with Teaching and Learning Center. 

• Continue to develop pedagogical scaffolding structures (both for students and for faculty workload/sharing of resources like common workshops). 

• Encourage Paths, Schools, etc. to develop an interdisciplinary presentation series in which students engaged in capstone work can give brief public presentations of their capstone work. (Indeed, capstone work could be highlighted in any quarter.) 

• Create a Community Partnership Coordinator at CCBLA or shared across public service centers to support outreach for community determined projects that invite student participation as capstone experiences. 

•  Transcript structures be redesigned so that the first page includes (just under the designation of the degree awarded) the line “Capstone: xxx,” or “Advanced Capstone: xxx” followed by the title of the specific capstone project, as proposed by the student and approved by that student’s faculty mentor or faculty capstone team. (This change could be made in the near term, independent of the Transcript Redesign workgroup’s work – though that group should also take up the question of capstones once the Capstone workgroup has made recommendations.) Should the title be followed by a brief explanation/description? Should the academic statement contain a new “subtopic” addressing the capstone? 

• Add “Capstone Development” to INT/ILC online system. (The creation of a proposal doesn’t necessarily need immediate faculty support but can trigger support services and potential advising / mentoring responses). 

• Continue, expand, develop presentation series in which students engaged in capstone work can give brief public presentations of their capstone work – possibly a day of presentations in each quarter.