HomePublicationsSeries on Engaged Learning and TeachingCultivating CapstonesPart 2 Chapter 8: Just a Few Minutes of Your Time: Using Qualitative Survey Data to Evaluate and Revise a Capstone Research Project at an Early College Network Book MenuCultivating Capstones SectionsPart 1Part 2Part 3ChaptersIntroductionChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14ConclusionBook Resources Contributors Buy in PrintISBN: 9781642674170January 2023 Matthew Park, Paul Hansen, Guy Risko, and Joshua Walker The Bard Early College Network includes ten schools that, through dual-enrollment courses taught by faculty with terminal degrees, allow students to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree simultaneously, tuition free. In their third and fourth years on a Bard Early College campus, students enroll in the Bard Seminar Sequence, a four-semester sequence of interdisciplinary courses that emphasize close reading, critical inquiry, and scholarly writing. During their fourth and final semester of Seminar, students complete a capstone project that culminates in a ten-page research-based essay and presentation. The Seminar capstone project serves two primary functions: it highlights and reinforces the academic skills that students have developed over several years, and it prepares them for the increasingly independent work that will be asked of them as they pursue bachelor’s degrees and careers. Students across the Bard Early College Network come from a multitude of educational backgrounds and bring a wide variety of interests and ambitions to the Seminar classroom. While the BHSEC campuses are unique in that they employ a traditional college faculty in a public high school setting, the writing-as-a-process elements of the capstone research project would look familiar to instructors of first-year writing at any college or university. The thorniest capstone-related issues faced at the BHSECs, which include an academically diverse student body and the coordination of instructors from multiple departments located in multiple cities, makes this chapter especially relevant to institutions facing similar challenges. Discussion Questions In addition to producing a research paper, discuss the benefits gained by students participating in the capstone? Examine the success of the network approach that was applied to the improvements made to the capstone experience. How might this approach be adapted for your institutional context? In your institution’s evaluation of the capstone experience, what has been the role of qualitative data? Does your institution have a way to systematically consider or assess the experiences students bring to their college career? How does your institution engage alumni about their perceptions of the purpose and value of the capstone experience? Share: