LIB-495 Capstone question.

[ChilliDawg]

I am one month into my Capstone with TESU.  I am not going to get into specifics about who my mentor is, but I do have a question for those of you who have been here.

How long do you usually have to wait before getting feed back on each written assignment?  Is two weeks normal to not have any feedback or grades on the book, AFTER the assignment was submitted?  Our second assignment is due and we do not have feedback on the first, yet.  No discussions have been graded after one month.  

This may be expected, and I am just not familiar with it.  How much mentor involvement should we be seeing?

[zzzz24]

took less than a week for my first grade

[TexasTink]

Have you asked them when they would be posting the grade? I have my grades from the first module, they were posted about a week after due date. The discussion grade didn’t get posted though and I messaged the mentor about it. Something happened and the grades had randomly disappeared without her realizing it. She was able to fix it quickly and we have our grades now. It might be possible that happened with your mentor as well?

[Merlin]

I took the business capstone and not the LA capstone, but I think my experience is relevant.

I didn't receive feedback or a grade on my first assignment until I had already turned in my second assignment and was ready to submit my third (so like 6 weeks late). Likewise, my course mentor was always at least 2-3 weeks behind on the discussion topics as well. He caught up on the assignments towards the end of the course, but even then my final assignment ended up being graded after my final paper was graded and he never caught up on discussions... the last 3 weeks worth didn't get responded to.

Most of the instructors are running multiple classes and I'm sure it is hard to keep up with everything, so I didn't mind so much. Though, like you, I was concerned early on particularly since I wanted to be sure I was doing things correctly and didn't want to end up making the same mistakes on multiple assignment submissions due to lack of feedback. Once I got the results on my first assignment I realized that I was doing things right and stopped worrying.

Some people actually recommend looking for courses that look like they will fill up all open seats. A full class suggests that the instructor will be busy and will have a harder time keeping up. Therefore, they are likely to be more liberal when grading since they may not have as much time to spend reviewing assignments as someone with fewer students.

[vetvso]

I received feedback almost every week, and he worked most of the time during the Christmas break. I had Otto and he was demanding but fair. I wrote updates all along the way here. If you are taking the capstone they already expect you to know basically what to do. I for one am not a great writer and did alright. https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...one-Course

[mudball]

Our discussion posts were graded extremely quickly. The written assignments were always graded by Wednesday or Friday of the same week they were due, and thoroughly with many comments. Questions were always answered within one to two days.

[ChilliDawg]

I took the business capstone and not the LA capstone, but I think my experience is relevant.

I didn't receive feedback or a grade on my first assignment until I had already turned in my second assignment and was ready to submit my third (so like 6 weeks late). Likewise, my course mentor was always at least 2-3 weeks behind on the discussion topics as well. He caught up on the assignments towards the end of the course, but even then my final assignment ended up being graded after my final paper was graded and he never caught up on discussions... the last 3 weeks worth didn't get responded to.

Most of the instructors are running multiple classes and I'm sure it is hard to keep up with everything, so I didn't mind so much. Though, like you, I was concerned early on particularly since I wanted to be sure I was doing things correctly and didn't want to end up making the same mistakes on multiple assignment submissions due to lack of feedback. Once I got the results on my first assignment I realized that I was doing things right and stopped worrying.

Some people actually recommend looking for courses that look like they will fill up all open seats. A full class suggests that the instructor will be busy and will have a harder time keeping up. Therefore, they are likely to be more liberal when grading since they may not have as much time to spend reviewing assignments as someone with fewer students.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Merlin, thank you.  I figured that may be the case.  It would have been nice to have the instructor's feedback after the first assignment.  i always like to get a baseline of where a Professor stands.  I like to know their expectations and teaching style.  

Fortunately, I am a pretty good writer, and have years of writing experience.  Wish I could say the same for my math skills. I am almost done with my entire project, but feedback would be nice. 

I will just ride it out, and keep submitting my assignments on time.

[Supermind]

I am reading about this ETS Proficiency profile. When does one take that test? And how does one prepare for this ETS test? Any specific study materials? I am beginning the Capstone course on April 1st.

[vetvso]

I am reading about this ETS Proficiency profile. When does one take that test? And how does one prepare for this ETS test? Any specific study materials?  I am beginning the Capstone course on April 1st.

This was a simple 15-minute item that was unremarkable in any way to me for the capstone. However, for SOC110, it was a test and I needed to do some extra writing based multiple choice tests that I completed 100%

[Merlin]

I am reading about this ETS Proficiency profile. When does one take that test? And how does one prepare for this ETS test? Any specific study materials?  I am beginning the Capstone course on April 1st.

The ETS Proficiency Profile is generally planned into your last month of the capstone course, but you can technically take it any time before that. I took it in the first week, for example.

As for study material, it is a skills assessment that measures critical thinking, reading comprehension, english composition, and basic mathematics skills. The assessment isn't graded, so there is no passing score needed and you don't need to study for it. The results of the test are scored to create a number (similar to an SAT score) which can then be compared against the national average scores to determine a rank/percentile. I assume these scores are used for some internal purpose by the school, perhaps in comparison to an earlier test taken towards the beginning of a degree? Maybe it factors into funding or something? I do know that they also ask for a bit of demographic information as part of the assessment, so the scoring is broken up by student categories.

In any case, it is nothing to worry about. I aimed to get the highest score I could because I'm competitive and that's just the way I am, but you can pick (a) for every answer and still get the same credit for completing the assessment. I think you get 45 minutes all told, and I ended up taking the whole time because I was aiming for a top score, but others completed it in like 5 minutes by just picking the first thing that sounded right.