The Capstone Experience for the Religious Studies Major

The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones – in ter...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Upson-Saia, Kristi (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2013
In: Teaching theology and religion
Year: 2013, Volume: 16, Issue: 1, Pages: 3-17
Further subjects:B senior seminar
B learning outcomes
B capstone
B departments
B undergraduate curriculum
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:The purpose of this essay is to offer a survey of religious studies capstones from twenty-nine U.S. colleges and universities, to identify the most common frustrations about the capstone, and to observe how departments resolve such frustrations. I conclude that the most successful capstones – in terms of students' performance and faculty satisfaction – are those that are carefully linked to their department's major curriculum, pedagogies, and staffing, that set out to achieve a reasonable set of objectives, and that are aligned with their institutional mission, culture, and expectations for assessment. Yet, I argue that it is becoming increasingly difficult to design our capstone experiences according to the above principles because of the proliferation of departmental and institutional pressures we presently face. Finally, I offer some guidelines by which we might devise or revise our capstones to alleviate some of the most common pressures.
ISSN:1467-9647
Contains:Enthalten in: Teaching theology and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/teth.12001