capstone courses education

Capstone Courses: What and Why

Reviewed and edited by Tyson Schritter : 28 March, 2024.

After four (or five, or six) years of work towards a college degree, most students are very anxious to walk across the stage, grab their diploma, and be on their way into the working world. But many students must complete one final thing before walking that stage: the capstone course.

What Is a Capstone Course?

A capstone course can have a variety of names, depending on where you go to school. A capstone might be called a culmination project, senior thesis, or a final exhibition. Don’t be confused—under any name, the capstone is just a final assignment to help you synthesize and demonstrate what you’ve learned through your studies.

Capstone courses vary in form depending on your major. If you’re an English major, you may have to write a long paper interpreting multiple pieces of literature. If you’re a design major, you may have to put together a show exhibiting theoretical magazines.

If you’re an engineering major, you may be asked to put together a project to illustrate how a certain building or bridge could be built in a structurally sound way. The capstone course is intended to apply all of the knowledge and skills you’ve gained over a college career in one assignment.

A capstone course is not always a paper, though a paper is often a piece of it. Art students may put on exhibitions of their work, while other students will have to pass an oral examination, defend their thesis to a group of professors, or complete a book.

A capstone is often multifaceted, meaning there’s a presentation or performance, a paper, and research that all come together to make the complete project.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the scale of the projects described. Most students spend an entire semester putting together their capstone and completing the necessary research.

Why a Capstone Course?

You may be asking yourself, “Why is the capstone necessary? It sounds like a lot of work.” Though daunting, most students find that the capstone is the most rewarding college project. Here’s a few reasons why the capstone course is important:

• Improves confidence and self-perception : Your capstone will not only help your professors see how much you’ve learned and accomplished—it will also prove your potential to yourself. Looking back upon a project that took you months of hard work and dedication is rewarding, and will help you realize how much you are capable of.
• Increases rigor of senior year: Some colleges use a capstone course to increase the rigor of the final year. Some students are able to finish their difficult classes by their junior year, bringing a cloud of senioritis and laziness in that final year. A capstone increases the stakes, helping students focus their energy towards a final project and the continuation of learning.
• Hones skills:  As you apply skills and knowledge to a self-driven project, you are able to learn what you don’t know and ask questions before entering the professional world. The capstone is a safe, guided space to finish learning.
• Builds your résumé:  Your degree is a stamp of approval from the college that you’re knowledgeable in a certain area of study, and your internships show professionalism and real-world experience. But your capstone shows motivation, drive, planning, and application of knowledge and skills. A capstone on your résumé is proof to future employers that you have the skills you say that you do.
• Demonstrates learning and knowledge : Most people have a moment during their careers when they are asked a question and think, “I took a class on that, but I have no idea what the answer is.” Just because you go to class doesn’t mean you learned something. A capstone allows you to apply the knowledge you have gained through college, so you’ll be able to answer those tough questions in the real world.

Now that you’ve got a grasp on what a capstone course is, we want to hear your thoughts.  Do you have any other questions about capstones? Is there another way you would rather complete a culminating experience?  Feel free to comment below!

Abby is a student at Walsh University . She enjoys ministry and meeting people where they are in their personal and faith lives, which is why she is pursuing a degree in counseling. She is involved in many areas on campus, being a PASS coach, giving campus tours, and ministering at Holy Mass. Her biggest goal in life is to use her talents to help others and make a positive impact in the world!

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Design a Capstone Experience

Designing IDEAL capstone experiences is important for promoting the learning and development of all students and for setting them up for success beyond college.

A capstone experience is the culmination of a student's study in a particular major. A capstone experience at Stanford  encourages students to “integrate knowledge and skills developed in the major and to learn and think independently with the tools of the discipline.” Examples include an honors thesis, senior paper or project, and capstone seminar with individual student projects.

Capstones are considered a high-impact educational practice and have been widely shown to be of integral importance to students’ learning and mastery of course material in a major. They require students to assume agency over their learning, synthesize diverse perspectives, respond to targeted feedback, and approximate the methods and outcomes of experts in authentic, real-world contexts. At the same time, students might come to a capstone experience with varying prior experiences, as well as varying future interests and pathways.

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Steps to consider

In pre-capstone courses: 

• Integrate skills that will be highlighted in the capstone course, such as literature review and synthesis, data collection, recommendations of finding to real world settings (you can use VALUE rubric s as a guide) 
• Use the learning goals established for the capstone course to help individual courses integrate goals earlier in the coursework (Stanford Teaching Commons Learning Outcomes Guide )

Stanford examples and resources

• Designing Capstone Experiences , from CTL.
• Bioengineering capstone
• Human Biology capstone
• Religious Studies capstone
• Urban Studies capstone

The VPUE website on Designing Capstones

Evidence-based Capstone Principles and the Capstone Curriculum website  Guidelines for teachers  published by the Australian Government Office for Teaching and Learning

Reynolds, Julie, Smith, Robin, Moskovitz, Cary, Sayle, Amy (2009). “ BioTAP: A systematic Approach to Teaching Scientific Writing and Evaluating Undergraduate Theses ”, Bioscience , 59(10), 896-903. 

Howe, Susannah, Goldberg, Jay (2019). “ Engineering Capstone Design Education: Current Practices, Emerging Trends, and Successful Strategies ”, In Design Education Today . 

Morreale, Joseph C., Shostya, Anna (2020). “ Creating Transformative Learning Experience Through a Capstone Course in Economics ”, International Review of Economics Education , 35, 100198.