- Bringing student’s education into focus on issues topics relating to global understanding.
- Providing the faculty with the opportunity to teach current topics that may not be found in their normal survey course curriculum.
- Providing a means of administering standardized tests which will be used in assessing some student learning outcomes of the institution.
- Providing a collection point for Student Portfolios which will be used for the assessment of the institution-wide General Education Learning Objectives and the learning objectives of Degree Programs.
Capstone courses provide a culminating experience for students completing degree programs at Missouri State -West Plains. AA in General Studies students will take IDS 297 Topics in Globalization. Other degree programs have developed Capstone Courses for their unique programs. These courses provide opportunities to expand students’ perspectives beyond their culture and give them an opportunity for critical analysis and integration of materials and ideas from previous courses in their degree program. Capstone courses require students to examine complex issues in a substantial communications project. Such projects may be written, spoken, electronic, or visual.
Entrance into a capstone course requires the completion of the basic education core or general education core of a particular degree program and completion of 40 credit hours; therefore, these courses are designed for sophomore level students.
Capstone courses were approved through the curriculum process, added to the course catalog, and introduced into the course schedule. By spring 2006, the following capstone courses were taught on the West Plains campus:
- China (CHI 297),
- Honors (HNR 298), and
- Nursing (NUR 220).
In fall 2006, the following capstone courses are being offered:
- Real World Mathematical Modeling (IDS 297), and
- Science and Society (IDS 297).
The Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS 297) and Honors (HNR 298) courses are approved for the AA degree program. China (CHI 297) also fulfills the capstone requirement with approval by the Dean. In the Nursing Program the capstone requirement is Nursing (NUR 220). In the Division of Business/Applied Technology and Public Service, Finance General Business (FGB 284) is used as the capstone course for most AAS programs. In this division other programs including Computer Graphics Programming, Fire Science, Law Enforcement, and Respiratory Therapy have developed unique capstone courses.
Development of proposed capstone courses is underway, and other capstone courses are in transition. Planned capstone courses offerings for spring 2007 include:
- Child and Family Development (CFD 297),
- China (CHI 297),
- Finance and General Business (FGB 284),
- Fire Science (FST 208),
- Honors (HNR 298),
- Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS 297),
- Nursing (NUR 220),
- Political Science for Law Enforcement (PLS 251), and
- Respiratory Therapy (RST 264).