Capstone | AHS @ Olin

The AHS Capstone

The AHS Capstone is an optional project that represents the culmination of a student’s AHS experience at Olin College. It is a four-credit project that can only be fulfilled by enrolling in and successfully completing AHSE 4190 at Olin College. The Capstone is offered every semester, and it can count towards a student's 12-credit AHS Concentration, i.e., students can complete eight credits of AHS Concentration coursework and then the four credit AHS Capstone will serve as the final four credits of Concentration work.

Effective September 2012, the AHS Concentration is now being called a twelve-credit sequence with Capstone as an optional path for the final four credits. This is effectively the same as the past system's inclusion of a “Course Capstone” option.

Successful completion of the AHS Capstone automatically fulfills Olin's OSS (Olin Self Study) requirement.

The AHS Capstone must be preceded by the AHS Capstone Preparatory Workshop, or "Prepstone."

AHS Capstone Preparatory Workshop (a.k.a., “The Prepstone”)

The AHS Capstone Preparatory workshop (AHSE 3190) is a one-credit P/NC activity offered every semester to give students a major head start on an AHS Capstone. All students must complete this workshop before starting an AHS Capstone. In Prepstone, students will complete the Capstone Proposal and some of an Annotated Bibliography, and may be hand in these exact documents in the following semester. Students will also have the chance to begin locating resources (including a mentor) for projects, and will receive valuable feedback.

AHS Capstone Overview

The AHS Capstone is a four-credit activity that can be taken during any semester of a student’s junior or senior year, after first completing the one-credit "Prepstone" (Preparatory Workshop) described above. The AHS Capstone presupposes student effort of twelve hours per week including meeting or seminar time. This activity is an opportunity for each student to pursue a self-designed advanced project in the area of their AHS Concentration. AHS Capstones usually represent individual work, although students may petition for permission to work together on some common aspects of their Capstone while preparing all deliverables individually.

AHS Capstone Goals and Common Features

The AHS Capstone addresses several major learning objectives. First, it requires all students to assume full ownership of an advanced AHS project, from conceptualization to implementation and presentation. Related learning objectives include:

Actualizing and articulating a vision
Assessing and articulating the relevance and merits of a project before deciding to undertake it
Developing lifelong learning skills related to advanced independent work in an AHS subject (time management, overcoming challenges, etc.)

Second, the AHS Capstone culminates in the production of a significant deliverable, involving the following learning objectives:

Take an analytical approach to a creative or scholarly challenge (use analysis as a part of the creative process without jeopardizing creativity)
Address questions uncovered during the research or creative process
Understand and articulate the context of a question or challenge before engaging it
Explain complex processes and conclusions to non-specialists
Demonstrate graduation-level competence in communication

Finally, the AHS Capstone represents an opportunity to learn more about the methods of an AHS discipline.

Demonstrate scholarship, expertise, or proficiency in the methods and practice of an AHS discipline
Analytically explore the depth of an AHS subject or topic
Build upon and deepen prior AHS experience
Understand the context of an AHS field and strategically use this contextual understanding to plan and execute research or a creative project

Because the AHS Capstone includes all of these lifelong learning goals related to the planning and actualization of individual projects, the AHS Capstone fulfills Olin's OSS requirement.

AHS Capstone Policies

AHS Capstones take many different forms, including (but not limited to!) artistic or musical creative projects, research projects in any AHS discipline, and activity-centered projects such as community service work. All AHS Capstone students must complete a proposal, work with a disciplinary mentor, attend weekly seminars, and do work relevant to their AHS Concentration experience. These guidelines are discussed below.

Checklist. All students must submit an AHS Capstone checklist to ahs@olin.edu before finals period during the semester prior to their capstone work. Students register for the AHS Capstone on registration day the semester before taking it, as with any other course (i.e., register for a fall Capstone the prior spring, and a spring Capstone the prior fall). The AHS Capstone Checklist is included in the “forms” section of this webpage.
Mentor. Prior to the start of their AHS Capstone semester, students must locate a disciplinary expert qualified to supervise all aspects of the student’s project. This expert may be from any school anywhere, and must have a PhD or other “terminal” degree in the relevant AHS field (i.e., MFA). In extenuating circumstances, students may have an Olin faculty member in a discipline other than the student’s Concentration as a mentor. In this case, the Olin mentor will help with competency development and the overall project planning and completion process.
Attendance at Olin College seminars. All students regardless of project choice must attend Capstone seminars throughout the semester. AHS Capstones cannot be completed during a student’s study away semester.
Prior AHS experience. All AHS Capstones must build upon prior experience in an AHS area. This experience will usually be obtained by completing the coursework comprising the AHS Concentration before beginning the Capstone. Students may petition to undertake an AHS Capstone that does not build upon the coursework of an AHS Concentration. However, the burden of proof will be upon the student, who must illustrate why they are qualified and prepared to undertake an advanced project in this field.