In this lesson, you will learn about:
- What a capstone project is.
- How to be successful in your capstone project.
- Explore some examples of previous capstone posters.
Students in an occupational therapy program will be expected to complete a capstone project, or sometimes referred to as a capstone experience. This is similar to a graduate program’s thesis. The difference is that in a capstone project, you often work as a group with your peers. The capstone is a culminating project that students produce to shower their proficiency and achievements in theory, research, program development, and dissemination. Here is an example of a capstone description by a school. “Students in the occupational therapy program spend their last three semesters creating a capstone project. This major academic achievement represents a synthesis of content learned throughout the program”.
In a capstone project, you work with a faculty member and peers to come up with a research question. You may perform some research in the literature to see what evidence is available. You identify a gap or need for research and design a study. After you get approval, you get to conduct the research. You then analyze your results and come up with a research report. You will often write a paper that evolves over the semesters, similar to a thesis, produce a poster for presentation, and even write a manuscript to submit to real scientific or healthcare journals. My capstone project in graduate school is how I got to be published in a low vision journal for blindness that acts as evidence-based research that directly influenced occupational therapy practice. How cool is that? If you are feeling overwhelmed, do not worry. You will have the full support of your faculty and peers to be successful. It actually is a lot of fun and great learning experience in conducting research, working in a team, networking with professionals, and learning about the occupational therapy process. You get to even put your capstone project in your resume, which acts a great ice breaker and talking point in your OT job interview!