Capstone Excelsior

[skybirds]

There are several threads on this topic. I plan to
Do a BSc. In liberal studies. This requires either a
major or two focuses. I'm doing the focuses so I
can diversify my learning. A majkor requires 30
Credits in one subject. Excelsior has a lot of Psych
Courses. I plan to focus on Emergency Management
and Psych. Focuses require 12 credits with 3 in the upper level.
Could some one explain what a capstone is and whether
It is relevant to my case

[marianne202]

A capstone is a course that comes at the end of your degree and involves demonstrating your knowledge of the material you learned along the way. Normally, you can't register for the capstone until you are like 3-6 credits from completion. When I completed my BSLS at EC I didn't have to do a capstone, but I did for my BSHS with them. I think they now require a capstone for all their graduates. The BSHS capstone involved writing 3 long papers each taking a month to prepare. Each paper focused on usually 2-3 of the core classes from the degree. So one might have been on creating a complete medical practice from the finanical aspect, so we had to create all the necessary demographics of the practice then create a budget, then create a grant proposal based on the practice, patients served and include the finanical info. So this would have covered by HR class, budget and finance class and my research methods in psych class. Now I did test out of the HR and research methods classes, but I still had to know the basic functions. This also brought in the aspects of writing skills and basic knowledge of the field. It wasn't too bad. If you like writing papers and doing research it isn't bad. They also gave us a project that relied on using a text from one of the classes. The problem was that text wasn't used in my class, so they had to provide the necessary info. They do say to not get rid of your texts before you do your capstone as they can make you use them again for that course. Good luck!

[skybirds]

Thanks Marianne for the information. I hope this isn't an escalation of requirements for Excelsior. Writing a paper or doing a project is a good excuse to get me off the hook for doing a masters Time money and difficulty. Higher gas prices, Higher rent. I'm the incredible shrinking man
I hope it is a pleasant new learning experience and not overly difficult. I
know two people that are doing masters and are having mental blocks.

[marianne202]

I found it to be enjoyable, but I had a decent teacher who held video chats to go over the specific requirements for those that chose to attend. It was usually, the same two of us each time and we ended up doing well in the course. I'm not sure about the other students. If you look at it as a culmination of putting all your knowledge into a practical application it made it more fun.

I'm working on my master's now and I can tell you that I'm hitting the mental block wall myself. It is hard to overcome once you hit it. I need a bulldozer to get through it! As I look at the my bills and reduced income, thanks to teaching salaries being cut, I wonder why I'm doing this to myself too. But I try to keep an eye on the end prize and hope I can get there to collect it!

Good luck!

[skybirds]

Yeh sounds like fun. Can't test all the time. A capstone actually
shows you know something. I read about a lawyer that
racked up $250,000 in student loans. I hope he doesn't
end up as a financial advisor