WHAT IS A CAPSTONE THESIS PROJECT?

The thesis provides students with an opportunity to integrate their studies in DMDL and G4L, and prior knowledge and experience while concentrating on a single project of personal-professional interest. The thesis project should demonstrate proficiency and skill in theory and practice, imagination and creativity, and an understanding of current and emerging trends in the field of educational communication and technology and the design of media for learning.

The project should take students to new levels of understanding in their own areas of interest and make a contribution both to current knowledge and understanding in those areas and to the learning of those for whom the project is designed. Thesis projects may be "new" or they may be significant extensions of projects started in previous courses in the program, produced by the individual student.

Semester 1: Exploring and Defining

In semester 1, you will explore questions such as: What is your passion? What issues, trends, opportunities to improve learning are personally meaningful to you? What are your professional goals? The focus of 1st semester is on researching, defining and proposing a project (e.g. an initial understanding of "the" problem, early design prototype, thesis paper outline, research plan). Your work in the 1st semester is to lay a foundation based in theory and evidence.

Semester 2: Refining & Developing

In the second semester of thesis, you will focus on further refining and developing your ideas from the 1st semester into a project that presents the culmination of your work in the DMDL or G4L program.

If you are doing a design project, you will continue to develop, evaluate and iterate on your design. If you are doing a research paper, you will collect and analyze data, and write up your findings. If you are doing a scholarly paper, you will continue researching and writing.

The last few weeks of the 2nd semester will be focused on creating a presentation of your work in preparation for the ECT Design EXPO, one that will serve as a portfolio piece and resume builder, but that will also foster dialogue with a larger community.

The second semester of the thesis class has a flexible structure to reflect the diversity of individual students' projects.