Undertaking Capstone Projects in Education

A Practical Guide for Students

Jolanta Burke, Majella Dempsey

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367748449
• eBook ISBN: 9781000484588
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Undertaking Capstone Projects in Education provides students with all of the information required to successfully design and complete a capstone project.

Guiding the reader in a step-by-step process, this book covers how to create a question, select a topic of interest, and apply the best possible design solutions. Structured in a way that will help readers build their skills, chapters explore all aspects of the capstone project from the inception of the idea, to laying the foundations, designing the project, analysing the data, and presenting the findings.

Filled with examples and written in a friendly and collaborative style, this key guide uses simple language and easy-to-understand examples to unpack complex research issues. This book is essential reading for students and anyone interested in undertaking a capstone project in the field of education.

1

The foundation

DOI: 10.4324/9781003159827-1

Almost ten million academic, peer-reviewed articles were published in the last decade about education. Researchers worldwide designed, conducted and shared their studies on education. They discussed the gaps in research. They addressed and reflected on the implications of their research for practitioners. Yet only a small percentage of them have been read and used by educators. Partially, it is because practitioners are not aware of most research that is published, or sometimes they find it difficult to discern which article is worthwhile reading and applying to practice. Another reason, however, is because the leap between the theory and practice is often too difficult to take, and it requires carrying out a capstone project to realise how educators can tap into the endless potential of academic research to improve their practice. In capstone project research, theory and practice come together in new and exciting ways with the practitioner at the heart of the endeavour. This is what this book is about, a journey of enhancing your skills to help you not only complete a final-year project but also become a research-informed educator for many years to come.

1.1 Structure of the book

Completing a capstone project is like building a house. When building a house, firstly, you need to set up solid foundations that you can rely on. Then, you need to review and enhance your skills to enable you to build it. Next, you need to make decisions about the materials you wish to use, come up with a plan of action, and follow it through until the house is complete and ready to be used.

Similarly, this book is structured in a way that will help you build your skills and complete a capstone project in education. In Chapter 1, we will start by setting out the foundations for the project. You will find out what capstone projects are all about and how they compare with other final-year projects. This chapter will also clarify the intricacies of capstone projects that will help you understand the role they play in research and educational practice. By the end of Chapter 1, you will have a helicopter view of what is required of you when embarking on a capstone project.

Chapter 2 will focus on you and your skills. When designing and carrying out a capstone project, you will need to ascertain how skills that you already have developed can be amplified and help you on your capstone project journey and what skills need a little bit of extra work to complete your project. Specifically, we will introduce you to a Perceive-Audit-Understand-Substitute-Edify (PAUSE) reflection model that will allow you to choose your topic, carry out your project, and apply it more effectively to educational practice. We will also provide you with some evidence-based and practical guidelines on how best to make choices, engage in research-based practice, improve your critical thinking, and improve your project management skills. You will require all these skills to help you complete your capstone project.

In Chapter 3, we will introduce you to a step-by-step process, which will provide a helicopter view of your capstone research project. We will also help you understand differences between some of the most confused concepts associated with research, such as empirical vs desk-based projects, quantitative vs qualitative research, inductive vs deductive reasoning and research methodologies vs methods in research. You will need clarity about these terms in order to make important decisions about the design of your capstone project.

Chapter 4 will delve deeper into the first step of the capstone project design, which is the interest. In this chapter, we will guide you through techniques you can use to select a topic. We will then help you plan a strategy for reviewing the literature relating to a topic of your interest. Finally, by the end of this chapter, you will be able to create the most appropriate research question for your capstone project.

In Chapters 5, 6, and 7, we will discuss the design of your capstone project. Specifically, in Chapter 5, we will help you understand your ontological and epistemological positioning. In Chapter 6, we will introduce you to the methodology spectrum, which will allow you to select the best methodologies for your project. Finally, in Chapter 7, we will review an array of methods available that will help you carry out your project. By the end of Chapter 7, you will have a better understanding as to how your research project will be designed.

Chapter 8 is dedicated to the analysis of an empirical capstone project. This chapter is only relevant to those who carry out research with participants. We will review some of the important ethical considerations for your project. We will then discuss your data gathering and data analysis strategies. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to make important decisions about the analysis aspects of your project.

Finally, in Chapter 9, we will discuss the presentation of your project. We will delve deeper into the artefacts you can create as part of your project, which will help you in your educational practice. We will help you reflect on the implications of your project for practice and prepare your written and/or oral presentation of it. By the end of this chapter, you will know what steps you need to take to successfully complete your capstone project.

The content of this book is the fruit of years of our experience of supervising students through capstone projects. We have supervised students completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as higher-level doctoral degrees and Ph.D.’s. What differentiates each level is the skills, topics, and the research design you select and conduct. Regardless of whatever degree you are completing your capstone project for, the process remains the same.

1.2 How to read this book

We recommend that you read this book twice. Firstly, it is useful to read it from cover to cover to familiarise yourself with the overall concepts and see a bigger picture of the capstone project. We suggest you stop throughout and reflect on what you have read and how it can be applied to your practice. Then, when you read it the second time, we advise that you use your highlighter and fully engage with the book, stopping at relevant sections, re-reading them, and taking notes. When you engage actively with this book, it will make it easier for you to complete your capstone project.

Have you ever run or watched someone running a marathon? On their route, there are several “water stations” where participants can stop, refill, and take a break. Similarly, we have created a series of break-out sections, the aim of which is to enhance your experience of engaging with the material. Each one of them begins with an image that symbolises the content. Here are the images and descriptions for them.

	Reflection TimeThis image indicates reflection time. We encourage you to stop reading at this point and reflect upon the section so that you can make an informed decision as to what steps to take when designing your capstone research project.
	Recap timeWhen you see this image, it means that we stop and recap the most important parts of this chapter to help you make sense of what has been discussed.
	Self-assessmentWhen you see this box, we ask you to complete a short survey to help you become aware of your strengths and areas for improvement.

Most importantly, however, don’t forget to enjoy this experience, as the book will help you develop skills to tap into the limitless potential of research so that you can use it effectively in your educational practice for years to come.

1.3 Myths

Myths about capstone projects permeate the education system and prevent institutions and professionals from engaging with them fully. The most prevalent myth associated with a capstone project is calling it a mini-thesis, which does not do it justice, as there are fundamental differences between these two final-year assessments. Yet, we have heard both students and academics referring to it this way for years. Even though it is understandable, given that theses have been in the academic lexicon for centuries, it undermines the important role that capstone projects play in education, which relates to enhancing educators’ research-based practice capacity, instead of primarily adding value to a research base. This is why a concerted effort needs to be made in educational institutions to start referring to it as a capstone project, not a mini-thesis.

Calling it a mini-thesis diminishes its impact and is conducive to students perceiving it as a lesser version of an academic thesis. This is yet another myth associated with capstone projects, as capstone projects are major pieces of work that culminate an engagement with an educational programme. Over the years, we have received many emails from students wondering whether they would be awarded the same quality of a degree if they choose to take a capstone project route, instead of a thesis. Their question showed a fundamental lack of understanding of the differences between these two assessments, which we will explain further in this chapter. Needless to say, the award received for completing a capstone project is equally important, and it addresses a different need. While a thesis focuses on adding to the wealth of research, the cornerstone of a capstone project is to enrich the educational practice.

These myths lead to only a small percentage of students selecting capstone projects in education, as their final-year assessments (Henscheid and South Carolina Univ 2000), which highlights an urgent need for change. Firstly, this change refers to the way in which academics view capstone projects. The more they appreciate its value, the more likely they are to recommend it to their students. Secondly, students need to have a better understanding of the intricacies involved in the designing and successful completion of a capstone project so that they are confident about their decision. Most importantly, however, there is an urgent need for a systemic change that allows for capstone projects to be seen as an equal contender to traditional approaches to completing a final-year project. Until myths are dispelled and a better understanding of capstone projects is prevalent, they will not be used to their full capacity. This book aims to address this gap and provide an easy-to-use guide for both students and academics interested in it.

1.4 Definition and benefits

Capstone projects are final-year projects focused on enhancing evidence-based practice in education. They are usually introduced in three- and four-year university degree programmes, however they are also increasingly popular in one- and two-year postgraduate programmes (Hammer et al. 2018; Hauhart and Grahe 2010), as well as doctoral capstone projects for those completing the highest level of education. They enable students to reflect on, and apply to their daily practice, the knowledge they have gained during their studies, as well as learn how to pose, or solve work-related problems and enrich educational practice using evidence-based solutions. Capstone projects are a pinnacle of evidence-based practice.

What makes capstone projects particularly useful is that they encourage students to apply evidence-based solutions to their work-related issues (Lunt et al. 2008). Given the amount of educational research being published each year, it is essential for you to learn how to read it, discern its value, and, most importantly, apply it in your daily practice to further improve your outcomes. The application of research is an acquired skill, which can be learnt by completing a capstone project. This is why capstone projects are often seen as particularly useful for preparing students for jobs after graduation (Beer et al. 2011).

Regardless of whether you are a student seeking a job after graduation, or an existing education professional, the skills you learn by carrying out a capstone project are invaluable for enhancing your career and your outputs. Think about it. If you have two surgeons to choose from to remove your appendix, both graduated ten years ago but only one enga...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents Page
• List of tables Page
• List of figures Page
• Foreword Page
• About the authors Page
• Acknowledgements Page
• 1 The foundation
• 2 Developing skills
• 3 Getting ready, set, go
• 4 The interest
• 5 Positioning
• 6 Methodology spectrum
• 7 Methods
• 8 The analysis (empirical only)
• 9 The presentation
• Index