Digest No. 11 - August 2023
Delivering Focused Outcomes with Capstone and Writing-Intensive Courses
Capstone courses usually occur in the final year of a student’s study. They ask students to produce a unified demonstration of their learning and skill in their chosen major field. They often require an extended period of work and study and are designed to help students integrate their knowledge, gain mastery experiences, and help them showcase their skills in tangible ways that may be useful in the job market. Writing intensive courses use writing as a tool to help students think more deeply and clearly, and often require students to write a series of smaller papers throughout the semester and at least one large paper over an extended period of time. Often, students also gain experience writing for different audiences and revising their written work. In the context of this study, a writing intensive course was considered to be any course that required students to author a 20-page (or longer) paper.