http://edwired.org/2009/04/09/is-it-time-for-a-new-capstone-course/ Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:32:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://edwired.org/2009/04/09/is-it-time-for-a-new-capstone-course/comment-page-1/#comment-36658 teaching carnival « Bethany Nowviskie Mon, 18 May 2009 03:08:14 +0000 http://edwired.org/?p=489#comment-36658 [...] Collin Brooke contemplates tools (including greater ambitions for tag clouds) as small pieces too loosely joined. Bill Wolff focuses on teaching students to create meaningful tags. David Bill looks at what’s happening in higher ed and begins to think through learning, grades 6-12. And Mills Kelly rethinks the capstone course. [...] [...] Collin Brooke contemplates tools (including greater ambitions for tag clouds) as small pieces too loosely joined. Bill Wolff focuses on teaching students to create meaningful tags. David Bill looks at what’s happening in higher ed and begins to think through learning, grades 6-12. And Mills Kelly rethinks the capstone course. [...]

]]> http://edwired.org/2009/04/09/is-it-time-for-a-new-capstone-course/comment-page-1/#comment-35103 Angela Smith Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:06:53 +0000 http://edwired.org/?p=489#comment-35103 I wholeheartedly agree an alternative approach would be useful for history majors. A variation is needed for those students who wish to move into particular fields such as public history. I would suggest one other option you did not include in your post, a process learning course with a resulting product such as a documentary, website, museum exhibit, or a archival project. Any of these end products would encourage students to dig in and "do" history. They end up with a product they can use to showcase their skills. Yes, it is necessary to prepare students by teaching them the content of history, but teaching them with hands-on projects pushes them into utilizing the core skills of a historian: research, contextualization, interpretation, and writing. I have supervised several independent studies and senior projects for both history majors and media studies students and the results have been very positive. I think it would work in a classroom setting, and I will test my suggested approach next fall at Belmont University. I'll let you know how it goes. I wholeheartedly agree an alternative approach would be useful for history majors. A variation is needed for those students who wish to move into particular fields such as public history. I would suggest one other option you did not include in your post, a process learning course with a resulting product such as a documentary, website, museum exhibit, or a archival project. Any of these end products would encourage students to dig in and “do” history. They end up with a product they can use to showcase their skills. Yes, it is necessary to prepare students by teaching them the content of history, but teaching them with hands-on projects pushes them into utilizing the core skills of a historian: research, contextualization, interpretation, and writing. I have supervised several independent studies and senior projects for both history majors and media studies students and the results have been very positive. I think it would work in a classroom setting, and I will test my suggested approach next fall at Belmont University. I’ll let you know how it goes.

]]> http://edwired.org/2009/04/09/is-it-time-for-a-new-capstone-course/comment-page-1/#comment-35031 Sterling Fluharty Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:56:21 +0000 http://edwired.org/?p=489#comment-35031 I like these proposals. Would it be easier to pull this off if the prerequisites for these alternative capstone courses were interdisciplinary courses that served not just history? What if English, Journalism, Media Arts, and Library Science joined with History to provide a course about the public presentation of cultural heritage? What if Community Planning, Political Science, Economics, Medicine, and Urban Studies collaborated with History in offering an introductory course on service learning? I like these proposals. Would it be easier to pull this off if the prerequisites for these alternative capstone courses were interdisciplinary courses that served not just history? What if English, Journalism, Media Arts, and Library Science joined with History to provide a course about the public presentation of cultural heritage? What if Community Planning, Political Science, Economics, Medicine, and Urban Studies collaborated with History in offering an introductory course on service learning?

]]>