General Education Requirements

FKL Capstone Learning Experience

Last revised 2/3/2012

The FKL Capstone Learning Experience constitutes a total of six credits, which build on a student's course of study within their major while extending the FKL Core Curriculum throughout the baccalaureate program. The FKL Capstone Learning Experience can be either within the college-level program or the department-level major (and may be restricted to majors or open to both majors and non-majors). Only upper-level students may enroll in these courses.

The FKL Capstone Learning Experience must emphasize critical thinking, inquiry-based learning, and at least one of the other dimensions of the FKL Core Curriculum. The FKL Capstone Learning Experience should also include an interdisciplinary approach that extends the liberal arts goals of the FKL Core Curriculum. This approach should allow students to employ skills and knowledge learned within the major in ways that lead students to reflect upon specific issues and problems beyond the discipline.

There are two ways to fulfill the FKL Capstone Learning Experience:

Option 1

Writing Intensive (WRIN) - 3 credits
Three of the six Capstone Learning Experience credits must be a Writing Intensive course and may, but are not required to, satisfy the Gordon Rule Communication. For example, in Foreign Language majors, writing in languages other than English is acceptable. In addition, these courses may focus on writing within the discipline, where students gain skills that assist in their preparation for professional work or graduate studies. Writing-intensive courses or experiences must incorporate process writing, which involves opportunities for students to revise writing assignments in response to feedback from the instructor or graders assigned to the course. At a minimum, students should write 4500 words for the Writing Intensive course, excluding assignments for which students do not receive any feedback. All drafts of such papers count toward the 4500 word minimum. To enable quality feedback on written work, Writing Intensive courses should not have more than 30 students per grader.

Capstone Course (CPST) - 3 credits
The three additional credits needed to complete the FKL Capstone Learning Experience will be in the form of a Capstone Course (CPST). Capstone Courses extend the liberal arts goals of the FKL Core Curriculum through to the junior and senior year, providing students with a culminating educational experience. Capstone Courses may be exclusively for majors or open to non-majors. All Capstone Courses must lead to a summative product that engages substantively with the selected FKL dimensions, such as a paper of at least five pages, a presentation of at least 10 minutes, or a performance of at least five minutes.

Option 2

Capstone Learning Experience (CLEX) - 6 credits
Alternatively, instructors and students may meet the requirements of the FKL Capstone Learning Experience by together creating a single, six-credit Capstone Learning Experience (CLEX) course combining the demands of both the WRIN and CPST courses. In this case, WRIN and CPST components must be integrated into the overall course design and meet the above requirements.

It is expected that all FKL Capstone Learning Experience requirements be completed with USF-Tampa courses.

Students must achieve a proficiency level of at least C- in the WRIN course and in the CPST course, or in the CLEX course, in order to receive FKL Capstone Learning Experience credit.