Education Autobiography

University of Bridgeport

CAPSTONE 390 Section 12

Fall 2017

Instructor: Stephanie Oda
Classroom: Dana Hall, Room 22	Office Hours: By Appointment
Class Meeting Time: M/W 11:00 a.m. – 12:15	Email: [email protected]

Course Syllabus

Course Description: The capstone course allows students the opportunity to cap (“provide a fitting climax or conclusion to”) their education with the identification, development, completion, and presentation of a project relevant to their major programs and/or career goals. Alone or in small groups (maximum number of four per group) students will devise a project that represents their interests, challenges their skills and growing expertise, and contributes to their academic and/or professional field. The projects should not duplicate in any way projects or assignments alreadycompleted prior to enrollment in the capstone course and should not draw on a single previous course but instead should take an interdisciplinary approach, combining methods, philsophies, and skills acquired across general education and major program courses. While the identification and development of the project will be pegged to specific assignments and due dates, the overall structure of the project will be devised by students , establishing a version of the classroom we might call “decentered” or “flipped.” Class time will be devoted to incremental work on and presentation of the final project in addition to class readings and discussions. Unique to the capstone experience, students will be deteremining their own course of study and fulfillment of class requirements within established guidelines and timetables.

Examples of capstone projects include: case studies, business plans, marketing campaigns, research papers, artwork, design concepts, engineered products, policy proposals, community organizing, poetry or short story collection, or screenplay.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will demonstrate qualitative and quantitative research methods, as the topics allow, in their projects.

2. Students will present their substantive projects to an identified audience, using appropriate media (audio, visual, demonstrative, written, oral, etc.)

3. Students will use interdisciplinary case study methodology to provide contextual significance of their projects within broader political, industrial, or social frames. (This synthetic approach should combine at least two different areas in to consideration of the major project.)

4. Students will gather quality information sources that establish their authority over the content of their presented projects.

Assignments: These will be posted online to Canvas for a grade and also be presented in class so that students can learn from and critique each others’ work.

1. Education autobiography:

Adapted from the education curriculum, these essays ask students to create a narrative describing and reflecting on their experiences as a learner, emphasizing, but not exclusive to, their time in college. The essay should distinguish between your general education courses and those of your major. Autobiographical information (memories, reflections, self-knowledge) should be synthesized with academic recollections. The essay should culiminate in an assessment of how you learn best; what themes and areas of general and major-specific study interest you most and why; how your life experiences have shaped your educational histories; what career goals grow out of your undergraduate experiences; how these autobiographical educational experiences connect to broader social, political or cultural issues. The essay should also identify and explore areas of competence and expertise within each student’s field he/she has achieved.

2. Identification and explanation of an example(s) or model of a project similar to or inspirational of student’s own project:

Students need to research and choose at least one model project to emulate as they put together their own. They will write a brief essay identifying, describing and analyzing this model project(s), explaining how it relates to their own project goals and they learn from studying it as an example of work that inspires or teaches them about their areas of interest.

3. Project Pitch

Also called the “elevator speech,” this is an opportunity for students to “pitch” or sell the class on their idea for the final project and what they hope to accomplish in completing the project. The art of the pitch is condensing a project in to its most basic parts and also describing it in a way that hooks an audience’s attention; it shoud be presented in about a minute. The idea of the “elevator speech” is having only the length of an elevator ride to describe your project to a prospective employer. In any construct, the pitch is both compelling and reflective of a deep, comprehensive knowledge of your project.

4. Project Outline:

This assignment is a step by step explanation of how your project will be developed from beginning to end. Since not all students will be creating the same kind of project, each student or group will need to plan how to accomplish the project in a timely way, breaking it in to its parts and setting deadlines for when each phase of the project should be completed. The project outline is like a contract, committing students to their own project management schedule.

5. Presentation of Final Project:

All projects will be presented to the rest of the class for critique and commentary.

6. Final Project

All projects will be turned in a for a final grade assigned by the instructor.

Grading: Class Attendance 10%

Class Participation 20%

Development of Final Project 30%

Presentation of Final Project 10%

Final Project 30%

Canvas: [Online Learning Management System (LMS)]. Available through MyUB (portal), Canvas allows professors to post and manage readings and assignments (including written essays), update course activities, and contact students.

University of Bridgeport Principles of Integrity

The University of Bridgeport is committed to fostering an environment of academic integrity, mutual respect and individual responsibility.  We are a community that values the voice of students in their pursuit of academic excellence and personal growth. By choosing to be a member of this community, each student demonstrates respect for the core values of trust, honesty and ethical behavior and commits to upholding these standards. These principles will guide conduct both in and out of the classroom and on and off campus.  This applies to interactions with all members of the community as well as the use of university resources and facilities.

University of Bridgeport Policy on Plagiarism

“It is the student's responsibility to familiarize himself or herself with and adhere to the standards set forth in the policies on cheating and plagiarism as defined in Chapters 2 and 5 of the Key to UB http://www.bridgeport.edu/pages/2623.asp.”

For Wednesday, Sept. 9, read articles posted to Canvas: , “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, Sample Educational Autobiography* by Tom Casey, and “Guidelines for the Educational Autobiography* (*keep in mind that we are adapting this assignment to the Capstone course and not every guideline is applicable to what you are writing)

Weekly Schedule

(Stay Tuned -- Dates and Assignments are S

ubject to Change)

Week 1 Monday, 8/28	Introduction
Wednesday, 8/30	Read together in class: “Finding Myself Through My College Major” Explain nature of Educational Autobiography & how it is being adapted for this class Watch in class & discuss Educational Autobiography examples on youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYgwx04IDl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSmgI60tbg Lecture: Writing the Educational Autobiography Free write exercise: Getting started on the educational autobiography Due Monday, 9/11 in class: Full draft of Educational AutobiographyCanvas essays/guidelines for writing
Week 2 Monday, 9/4	Labor Day—No Classes
Wednesday, 9/6	Lecture: Expectations for presentations: presenters and respondents Screening: TED talk (Sir Ken Robinson) on re-thinking education https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley
Week 3 Monday, 9/11	Due: Hard copies of Educational Autobiographies in class for peer critique
Wednesday, 9/13	Education Autobiography presentations in class DUE on Canvas: Education Autobiography Papers (11:59 pm)
Week 4 Monday , 9/18	Finish Education Autobiography presentations in class. Each person presents educational autobiography. Options include narrated slide presentation; video; highlights from essay. (5-7 mins.) Final draft review in class (peer critique). Lecture: Introduce the final project & the 3 criteria every final project must have (see syllabus: 2 kinds of research; interdisciplinary; larger political/social/industrial/cultural frame)
Wednesday, 9/20	Remaining Education Autobiography presentations In-class work: 2 lists (all kinds of projects completed in school; kinds of projects regularly produced in professional field: overlap?) Lecture: Examples of final projects meeting 3 criteria
Week 5 Monday, 9/25	Small Group Workshop: bring to class 3 separate ideas for final project
Wednesday 9/27	Small Group Workshop: bring to class 3 separate examples of professional or “real world” model of selected final project – visual component required TED Talk (Adam Leipzig): “How to Know Your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M DUE on Canvas on Monday: 1-2 page description of professional or “real world” model
Week 6 Monday, 10/2	Professional or “real world” model of final project in-class presentations (3-5 mins.) TED Talk (Dan Bricklin): “Meet the Inventor of the Electronic Spreadsheet” https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_bricklin_meet_the_inventor_of_the_electronic_spreadsheet
Wednesday, 10/4	Professional or “real world” model of final project presentations TED Talk (Dan Bricklin): “Meet the Inventor of the Electronic Spreadsheet”
Week 7 Monday, 10/9	In-class work: 3-5-page paper developing final project, showing exactly how it meets the 3 main criteria (2 kinds of research; interdisciplinary; larger political/social/industrial/cultural frame) and outlining every step necessary to complete the final project and dates by which each step should be completed TED Talk (Alan Smith): “Why You Should Love Statistics” https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_smith_why_we_re_so_bad_at_statistics
Wednesday, 10/11	Hard copies of Final Project Development paper due in class for peer critique
Week 8 Monday, 10/16	In-class work: Research components DUE on Canvas: Final Project Development paper (11:59 pm)
Wednesday, 10/18	Research Presentations (5-7 mins) TED Talk (Isaac Lidsky): “What Reality Are You Creating for Yourself?”
Week 9 Monday, 10/23	Research Presentations; In-class work on Project Outline
Wednesday, 10/25	In-class work: Interdisciplinary approach DUE on Canvas: Project Outline (11:59 pm)
Week 10 Monday, 10/30	Interdisciplinary approach Presentations
Wednesday, 11/1	Interdisciplinary approach Presentations TED Talk (Adam Grant): “Are You A Giver or a Taker?”
Week 11 Monday, 11/6	In-class work: “Larger Frames”
Wednesday, 11/8	“Larger Frames”Presentations
Week 12 Monday, 11/13	“Larger Frames” Presentations TED Talk (Laura Vanderkam): “How To Gain Control of Your Free Time” Canvas essays: excerpts from Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom by Stanley Fish
Wednesday, 11/15	Canvas essays: excerpts from Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom by Stanley Fish
Week 13 Monday, 11/20	Elevator Pitch presentations Canvas essays: excerpts from Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom by Stanley Fish
Wednesday, 11/22	Elevator Pitch presentations Canvas essays: excerpts from Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn't Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom by Stanley Fish
Week 14 Monday, 11/27	Final Project Presentations TED Talk (Steven Johnson): “The Playful Wonderland Behind Great Inventions”
Wednesday, 11/29	Final Project presentations TED Talk (Isaac Lidsky): “What Reality Are You Creating for Yourself?”
Week 15 Wednesday, 12/6	DUE on Canvas: Final Projects (11:59 pm)