UCLA’s Capstones Reviewed in Chronicle of Higher Ed

Every UCLA undergrad with a dollar bill can see a capstone. Indeed, that particular capstone can see him/her, or so it appears.  However, the Chronicle is reviewing capstone courses and their merits and demerits.

College Too Easy? UCLA Makes It Tougher
By Dan Berrett (excerpt): During a review of undergraduate programs at the University of California at {sic] Los Angeles, Judith L. Smith was struck by an uncomfortable realization: Too many majors demanded too little from students. Some students could graduate without ever taking a senior seminar or completing a substantial research project. The result, says Ms. Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education, is that students could “be pedestrians and walk through the major.”  Just as UCLA had done when it revised its general education requirements, the university saw that it needed to reboot its upper level undergraduate courses. The institution coalesced around the idea of capstones, which are cumulative projects that students complete near the end of college… [The article goes on to discuss capstone offerings in different departments and their pros and cons.]

Full story at
http://chronicle.com/article/College-Too-Easy-UCLA-Makes/133187/