EDU 520: Capstone: The Professional K-12 Educator

Overview

Over the course of your master’s program, you have encountered many theories, learned many skills and strategies, and discussed many aspects of educational effectiveness. Now you will have a chance to synthesize all of this information by producing a capstone project that exemplifies your newly acquired knowledge and expertise.

During the eight weeks of this course, you will select something from your educational portfolio and develop it further as proof of your readiness to receive a master’s degree. Your capstone project may take any form, as long as it meets the specific educational objectives defined for the course. Some examples of the kinds of capstone projects that are acceptable include:

• A grant proposal
• A community website
• A curriculum or program development and/or implementation
• An appraisal of an existing program
• An internship

NOTE: Unlike other JIU courses, the modules in this course are not created equal. Modules 1, 3, and 4 will each be one week in duration, and will focus on planning and then reporting on your project. You will actually be implementing or developing your project during Module 2, which will last five weeks.

Introduction

Students enrolled in JIU’s School of Education will work with sponsors for their professional synthesizing projects to ensure their work addresses the authentic needs of specific learning communities. It is important for you to identify your sponsor during the first week of the course in order for the sponsor to collaborate with you on your project. You can read more about the sponsor and download the forms from the Sponsor Workbook.

This course serves four different populations of students; therefore the program learning objectives are unique to the student. The program learning objectives for all programs are listed on the Project tab on the right-hand side of the top navigation bar. You can also find the program objectives in your Program Bulletin.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Complete a capstone project that demonstrates successful application of the knowledge and skills you have acquired during your tenure at JIU to a real educational issue or opportunity. Your capstone project should demonstrate your proficiency with the learning objectives for your program area.
• Demonstrate how your Capstone project connects to the JIU competency bank in a convincing way.
• Incorporate the Total Professional Advantage™ deliverables into your capstone project.

Course Requirements

Academic advisor permission required for registration.

• You may choose to complete your course project by building Web pages. Please visit the My Courses page under Academic Help, and click on “How do I request FTP access for use in my courses?” to request web space. Directions on how to upload your project will be sent to you by email.

Required Texts
EDU 520 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore