A postgraduate capstone project: Impact on student learning and organizational change

• Published in: Industry & higher education Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 334 - 343
• Main Authors: Elwell, Gordon R., Dickinson, Thad E., Dillon, Michael D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.06.2022; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult Learning; Alumni; Campaigns; Capstone courses; Capstone Experiences; Capstone projects; Career Education; Careers; Employers; Employment; Graduate studies; Graduate Study; Learning; Learning Experience; Local businesses; Organizational Change; Problem Solving; School Business Relationship; Student Projects; Students; Workplace Learning; Workplaces; organizational change; student learning; Business–education relationship; capstone; graduate education
• ISSN: 0950-4222; 2043-6858
• DOI: 10.1177/09504222211036584

The capstone course serves to integrate accumulated knowledge with a culminating experience or project and is a common component in undergraduate and graduate programs. The research on capstones courses shows that many capstone experiences or projects involve students working with outside clients, such as local businesses and organizations, to solve problems or develop new projects or campaigns. Such capstone experiences or projects seek to offer students real-world, career-building experience, while the clients seek to benefit from the learned academic knowledge of the students. Where the literature is scarce on client-based capstone projects is when the client is the student’s employer or career-related organization. A graduate program in administration at a public Midwestern university in the USA offers a different approach to the student–client model by requiring a degree-culminating capstone project that challenges adult students to apply their learned knowledge to solve administrative problems not for an outside client but at their place of employment or career-related organization. The researchers surveyed 66 alumni and interviewed 6 on how the capstone project had benefited their work-related learning and its impact on their employer or career-related organization. Students perceived an improvement in their ability to define and analyze administrative problems in their workplace, while the employers or organizations which implemented the project recommendations experienced positive organizational change. This case study contributes to the literature on capstone courses by examining the relevance of a work- or career-related capstone project to students and their workplace.