PANL 5008S: Capstone Project - Carleton University€¦ · 5. Final Capstone 40%. The final...
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PANL 5008S: Capstone Project Logistics Faculty: Paloma Raggo email: [email protected] Office: School of Public Policy and Administration, Room 5135 River Building, Carleton University e-schedule & virtual office hours: By appointment only on Wednesday. Course website: https://www.carleton.ca/culearn/ I. Course Aims and Objectives PANL 5008 Capstone Project is a mandatory course for this program and is undertaken with a community partner (a philanthropic or nonprofit organization, social enterprise, government department or corporation that works with this sector) on an issue of relevance to the organization or sector as a whole. It is an unpaid research project conducted o↵site during a 3 month period (1 semester, May—August) under the guidance of the faculty supervisor. At the end of the term the student will be required to give a formal presentation on their research findings to the organization via webinar, and potentially to your faculty supervisor and MPNL colleagues. It culminates in a 50-60 pages (or equivalent) analytical work graded by the faculty supervisor. Overall the course will ask that students: ◦ Work independently on the research project. ◦ Engage and communicate their progress with their community partner, reader, and peers. ◦ Produce pieces of their larger project by the assigned deadlines. ◦ Reflect critically and provide feedback to their colleagues. More specifically to PANL 5008, students will: ◦ Design a research project to answer the problem/question/need identified by the community partner. ◦ Identify suitable research strategies to answer the questions. ◦ Synthesize the academic literature relevant to the research project. ◦ Collect and analyze data relevant to the Capstone. 1
Transcript of PANL 5008S: Capstone Project - Carleton University€¦ · 5. Final Capstone 40%. The final...
PANL 5008S: Capstone Project
Logistics
Faculty: Paloma Raggoemail: [email protected]�ce: School of Public Policy and Administration, Room 5135River Building, Carleton Universitye-schedule & virtual o�ce hours: By appointment only on Wednesday.Course website: https://www.carleton.ca/culearn/
I. Course Aims and Objectives
PANL 5008 Capstone Project is a mandatory course for this program and is undertaken witha community partner (a philanthropic or nonprofit organization, social enterprise, governmentdepartment or corporation that works with this sector) on an issue of relevance to the organizationor sector as a whole. It is an unpaid research project conducted o↵site during a 3 month period (1semester, May—August) under the guidance of the faculty supervisor. At the end of the term thestudent will be required to give a formal presentation on their research findings to the organizationvia webinar, and potentially to your faculty supervisor and MPNL colleagues. It culminates in a50-60 pages (or equivalent) analytical work graded by the faculty supervisor.
Overall the course will ask that students:
� Work independently on the research project.
� Engage and communicate their progress with their community partner, reader, and peers.
� Produce pieces of their larger project by the assigned deadlines.
� Reflect critically and provide feedback to their colleagues.
More specifically to PANL 5008, students will:
� Design a research project to answer the problem/question/need identified by the communitypartner.
� Identify suitable research strategies to answer the questions.
� Synthesize the academic literature relevant to the research project.
� Collect and analyze data relevant to the Capstone.
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� Produce a professional research report to share with the community partner, reader, andcolleagues.
� Identify new areas for future research.
� O↵er concrete recommendations on best practices to the community partner.
� Disseminate research results via the development of webinars for the community partnersand to reach a broader audience.
By the end of the course you will be able to independently produce a high quality researchreport that will provide your community partner with empirical-based evidence to address theproblems/questions/issues that they faces in their activities. This course gives you hands-onresearch experience and allows you to apply what you have learned throughout the MPNL corecourses.
This course will rely on your ability to work independently and to utilize CUlearn. It requires thatstudents organize their time e�ciently to meet deadlines, produce high quality work, and o↵ersupport to other colleagues in the course. Students must regularly go to our CULearn website topost your assignments and comments on your colleagues’ work.
The course addresses the following aspect of research:
1. Research Design: What are the best research strategies to answer the question?
2. Data Collection: What evidence do I need to collect to answer the question?
3. Data Analysis: How can I understand the data I have collected?
4. Result Communication: How can I share and disseminate the knowledge I have collected?
5. Peer-Reviewing: How can I learn from other projects? How can I help my colleagues toproduce a better research project?
6. Community Engagement : How can I make my research productive and relevant to mycommunity partner?
The course generally follows the same structure:
1. Submit your draft.
2. Comment on your assigned peer’s work.
3. Revise your work.
4. Continue working on the rest of the project.
5. Communicate your progress with your reader and community partner.
To evaluate your progress I will assess your participation and engagement with your colleagues’work. I will evaluate the progress you make throughout the course and the final assignments.
II. Course readings
There are no assigned readings for this course as you will create your own reading list. Please referto your PANL 5006 notes and readings for your research design strategies and methodology section.I suggest that you rely on
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McNabb, David E. 2012. Research Methods in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management:
Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. New York: ME Sharpe, 3 ed.
You will find various tutorials on the course’s website through CULearn.
III. Course Policies
As you will see, we have a detailed structure that we must follow. It is importantthat all students in the group meet the require deadlines are our course progressionhinges on everyone’s participation.
� Communication: I will ask you to communicate with your reader and community partnerand CC me on the “scheduled” exchanges (see detailed schedule). Please be very professionalin your correspondence with your partners and readers. Please be responsive to emails, inother words, don’t go M.I.A. for too long.
� Email: The best way to reach me is via email. Do not leave voice messages on my phoneas I am not always in the o�ce. I use filters to manage my email inbox and I would kindlyask your assistance. Please label all your messages’ subject using the following (all in oneword, no spaces) @PANL5008. For example, your message subject could read: @PANL5008
Question about readings theme 1. If you do not use the course label @PANL5008 ,I cannot guarantee that I will read your email. Emails with the label @PANL5008will have priority in my inbox. Thank you for your help.
� General Communications: I expect communications to be respectful and courteous. Pleaseavoid “text talk” (I am not a fluent speaker of it) and include basic courtesy greetings inyour emails. I feel it is important to overcompensate courtesy as online communication canoften lead to misunderstandings.
� Responsiveness: I check my emails once a day expect during our break periods. I willanswer all emails within 48 hours or less except during the week-ends. If your questionrequires a long answer, it would be more e�cient to discuss on the phone or via Skype.
� Assignments: You will need to post your assignments in your folders by creating a newthread in the forum AND under the assignment tab for the week. You need to post them onBOTH locations.
� Final Capstone: For the final Capstone, please use only PDF files. I will not accept.doc, .docx, .xlsx, .txt, .rtf... There are three reasons for this policy. 1) To avoid viruses, 2)Formatting and software conflicts, 3) I can only comment on PDFs because of the software Iuse to grade. If you do not send me the file in PDF, I will send the file back and ask you toconvert it.
� Templates: Please use the Capstone template for your final paper. It is not mandatory forthe various assignments, however I strongly recommend that you use the template. You willsave a considerable amount of time later on.
� Contesting a Grade: If for any reason you would like to revisit one of your grades pleasemake a written demand (pdf). State the issue than explain in details why you would like meto review your grade. Please refer to the page, question, and complete answer. It will makethe process easier.
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� Technology: Everyone is expected to have access to a functioning webcam and external USBmicrophone as well as a high speed internet connection. You will need access to a ***workingwebcam and microphone*** because you will be uploading your webinar presentations.
IV. Course Requirements
1. Late submission penalty: Late submission of assignments (graded or not) will result in a5% deduction per day on your final grade. An assignment will be considered late after 9AMon the due date. This penalty applies to each assignment. It is important that you meet thedeadlines as others need your work to complete theirs (comments). Assignments less than 4hours late will be given a 3% penalty only.
2. Revised assignments 20%. I will grade your revised introduction/background (June 23,9AM EDT) and, revised full draft I (August 11, 9AM EDT). Each will be worth 10% ofyour grade. The goal of grading the revised versions is to allow you to submit a very highquality product. My expectations are high as you will have every possibility to improve yourassignments. I will mark accordingly.
3. Participation 20%. Students are asked to provide detailed comments to their peers by10PM EDT on due day (See schedule & peer assignment). Late comments will results in a 5%deduction of your participation grade. You must provide substantive comments, edits, andgive informed suggestions. You need to also help your colleagues with editing, presentation,and writing style. I will evaluate the quality of your comments and engagement with yourcolleagues’ work. For commenting, you will use the track-changes and the comment functionin MS Word and if needed, post comments in the relevant thread. I will post a tutorial forthose not familiar with editing functions (see tutorials). If you are using another softwaresuch as Open O�ce, please let me know and I will help you use the editing functions.
4. Webinar 20% Students will prepare a 15-20 minutes presentation of their research. l will askstudents to use a powerpoint template to be distributed later on. Students will use camtasia
relay, a software provided at no charge by Carleton University, to capture their lectures andpowerpoint presentations. All the instructions will be posted under Course Administration inCUlearn. Students will post a PDF of their presentations in the corresponding forum thread.Students not presenting will be asked to submit a peer-review evaluation at the end of theweek.
5. Final Capstone 40%. The final Capstone will consist of a 40-60—page paper. You will beevaluated on the overall quality of your final product. This grade will be determined after Iconsult with your reader and community partner. This paper needs to be carefully researched,presented, and edited because it will be widely disseminated. I will ask everyone to submit aself-evaluation. Group members will be assigned the same grade.
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V. Grading scheme
In graduate school, expectations about analytical abilities and performance are higher than inundergraduate work, and what is an acceptable grade is also di↵erent. SPPA has expanded uponthe grading system outlined in the Graduate Calendar in order to give you a fuller description ofstandards. This explanation is intended to provide clarification of the Graduate Calendar, andin no way overrides it. Carleton University uses a 12 point grading scale from A+ (12) to D- (1).Your overall Grade Point Average (GPA) will be calculated on the basis of this 12 point scale andthe final evaluation you receive in courses will be submitted as letter grades corresponding to thisscale. Here is how to interpret grades in terms of our expectations of performance (see table IV.Grading Scheme).
Grades of A- or B+ should be considered as good, solid performances that hover around the averagefor graduate work. In any given class, most of the grades are likely to be A- or B+. Thereare usually fewer grades of A, and an A means you have done very well; grades of A+ are quiterare (but we do give them). A grade of B- is a strong signal that things did not go wellin the course, and you were considerably below average. Normally, graduate students donot get credit for courses with a grade less than B-. In the case of this course, final grades will beawarded as letter grades, but I will calculate your final grades based on the weighted mean of thegrade point equivalencies. Example: A- on an exam worth 30%; B+ on a paper worth 45%; and Bfor participation worth 25%:
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A- 10 x .30 = 3.00B+ 9 x .45 = 4.05B 8 x .25 = 2.00Final 9.05 or B+
IV. Grading scheme
Letter grade CU no. Indicates that workis: Range (%)
SPPA explanation
A+ 12 Outstanding 90-100 For written work, virtually pub-lishable. Demonstrates excep-tional evaluative judgment, out-standing critical thinking, andmastery of technical as well asliterary aspects of writing.
A 11 Excellent 85-89 Demonstrates superior grasp ofmaterial, very strong criticalthinking, and capacity to under-stand and extend underlying pat-terns.
A- 10 Very good 80-84 Demonstrates strong grasp of ma-terial, its component parts, andcapacity to analyze their relation-ships to each other.
B+ 9 Good 77-79 Demonstrates clear understand-ing of material and ability to ap-ply concepts. Written work iscompetent.
B 8 Satisfactory 73-76 Satisfactory, but below average.Demonstrates comprehension ofmaterial, reasonable but notstrong analytical capacity, withlimitations in the ability to applyconcepts.
C+ 6 Less than adequate67-69
Did not demonstrate an adequateunderstanding of the materialor the ability to apply the con-cepts. Writing and/or presenta-tions show serious problems.
C to D- 50-66 Grades in this range indicatework that is passable in some re-spects but does not meet the stan-dards of graduate work.
F Failure
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VI. Academic Accommodations
You may need special arrangements to meet your academic obligations during the term. For anaccommodation request the processes are as follows:
� Pregnancy obligation: write to me with any requests for academic accommodation duringthe first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is knownto exist. For more details visit the Equity Services website: http://www2.carleton.ca/
equity/
� Religious obligation: write to me with any requests for academic accommodation duringthe first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is knownto exist. For more details visit the Equity Services website: http://www2.carleton.ca/
equity/
� Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: The Paul Menton Centrefor Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students with Learning Disabili-ties (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical conditions, and impairmentsin mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring academic accommo-dations in this course, please contact PMC at 613-520-6608 or [email protected] for aformal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact your PMC co-ordinator to send me your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term, andno later than two weeks before the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring accom-modation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with me toensure accommodation arrangements are made. Please consult the PMC website for thedeadline to request accommodations for the formally-scheduled exam (if applicable) athttp://www2.carleton.ca/pmc/new-and-current-students/dates-and-deadlines/
You can visit the Equity Services website to view the policies and to obtain more detailed informa-tion on academic accommodation at http://www2.carleton.ca/equity/
VII. University Policy on Plagiarism & Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is an instructional o↵ence that occurs when a student uses or passes o↵ as ones ownan idea or work of another person, without giving credit to the source. The punishments forplagiarism at Carleton are significant. You could fail the course, or, under certain circumstances,be expelled from the university. If you are using someone elses words–in a quotation–refer to thesource in a footnote or bracketed reference. If you are paraphrasing someone else’s text (that is,not quoting directly, but closely following the line of argument), refer to the source just as youwould for a quotation, except that quotation marks are not used. If you are using someone else’sideas, acknowledge this in a footnote, or by a clear reference in the text of your essay. Materialcopied or paraphrased from the Internet must also be properly cited.
[Last updated April 22, 2014]
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 1
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, May 5, 14Outline/ Timeline
BBB meeting: 6:30PM EDT
Tuesday, May 6, 14Comments on outlines
Wednesday, May 7, 14Abstract 250 words
Thursday, May 8, 14Comments on Abstracts
Friday, May 9, 14
Email Reader Revised outline & abstract
Saturday, May 10, 14
Sunday, May 11, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, May 12, 14
Tuesday, May 13, 14
Wednesday, May 14, 14
Thursday, May 15, 14
Friday, May 16, 14
Saturday, May 17, 14
Sunday, May 18, 14
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
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Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, May 19, 14
Tuesday, May 20, 14
Wednesday, May 21, 14
Thursday, May 22, 14
Friday, May 23, 14
Saturday, May 24, 14
Sunday, May 25, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, May 26, 14
Questionnaires, Interviews schedule, Bibliography list
Tuesday, May 27, 14Comments on questionnaires
Wednesday, May 28, 14
Annotated bib part I (10-15 sources)
Thursday, May 29, 14Comments on bibliography
Friday, May 30, 14
Email Reader Questionnaires/ touch base
Saturday, May 31, 14Sunday, June 1, 14
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, June 2, 14
Tuesday, June 3, 14
Wednesday, June 4, 14
Thursday, June 5, 14
Friday, June 6, 14
Saturday, June 7, 14
Sunday, June 8, 14
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Tasks: Discuss with your reader, literature/annotated bibliography, schedule your interviews
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Tasks: Annotated bibliography part II & III, draft introduction, data collection
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 3
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, June 9, 14Introductions 750 words
Tuesday, June 10, 14Comments on Introductions
Wednesday, June 11, 14
Annotated bib part II (10-15 sources)
Thursday, June 12, 14
Tutorials for data analysis, webinars, transcription
Friday, June 13, 14
Saturday, June 14, 14
Sunday, June 15, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, June 16, 14
Tuesday, June 17, 14
Wednesday, June 18, 14
Thursday, June 19, 14
Friday, June 20, 14Saturday, June 21, 14
Sunday, June 22, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, June 23, 14
Revised introduction/background, final annotated bibliography
Graded (10%)
Tuesday, June 24, 14Comments on bibliography
Wednesday, June 25, 14
Methodology section draft pat 1. 750 words
Comments on revised introduction
Thursday, June 26, 14Comments on methodology
Friday, June 27, 14
Email reader/community partner introduction & annotated bib
Saturday, June 28, 14Sunday, June 29, 14
Tasks: data collection, drafting methodology sectionW
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 4
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, June 30, 14
Methodology part II- 1000 words
Tuesday, July 1, 14
Wednesday, July 2, 14Comments on methodology
Thursday, July 3, 14
Friday, July 4, 14Revised methodology
Saturday, July 5, 14
Sunday, July 6, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, July 7, 14
Tuesday, July 8, 14
Wednesday, July 9, 14
Thursday, July 10, 14
Friday, July 11, 14
Saturday, July 12, 14
Sunday, July 13, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, July 14, 14
Tuesday, July 15, 14
Wednesday, July 16, 14
Thursday, July 17, 14
Friday, July 18, 14
Saturday, July 19, 14
Sunday, July 20, 14
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Summer Institute Week 1
Summer Institute Week 2
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 5
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, July 21, 14
Tuesday, July 22, 14
Wednesday, July 23, 14
Thursday, July 24, 14
Friday, July 25, 14
Saturday, July 26, 14
Sunday, July 27, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, July 28, 14
Results I, draft tables, graphs, mindmaps
Tuesday, July 29, 14
Comments on results I
Wednesday, July 30, 14
Results II, draft tables, graphs, mindmaps
Thursday, July 31, 14
Comments on results II
Friday, August 1, 14
Email Readers & Community partners with preliminary results
Saturday, August 2, 14
Sunday, August 3, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, August 4, 14
Tuesday, August 5, 14
Wednesday, August 6, 14
Thursday, August 7, 14
Friday, August 8, 14
Saturday, August 9, 14
Sunday, August 10, 14
Tasks: drafting results, webinar preparation (ppt), drafting recommendations, general editing
Tasks: data analysis, drafting results
Email reader/community partner progress report
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PANL 5008: Capstone Detailed Schedule [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 6
Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, August 11, 14Full rough draft I, Webinar
Graded (10%)
Tuesday, August 12, 14Comments on full draft
Wednesday, August 13, 14
Comments on Webinars (all)
Thursday, August 14, 14Full draft II, revised
Email reader full draft II
Friday, August 15, 14Revised webinar
Comments full draft II
Saturday, August 16, 14
Sunday, August 17, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, August 18, 14
Tuesday, August 19, 14
Wednesday, August 20, 14Final Capstone
Thursday, August 21, 14
Friday, August 22, 14Final Webinar
Saturday, August 23, 14
Sunday, August 24, 14Days Due Participation Tasks Reminders
Monday, August 25, 14
Tuesday, August 26, 14
Wednesday, August 27, 14
Thursday, August 28, 14
Friday, August 29, 14
Last day Email partner & reader final products
Saturday, August 30, 14Sunday, August 31, 14
Final editing, formatting
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PANL 5008: Capstone Peer Assignments [email protected]
Last updated 4/22/14 7
Week 1 Week 3 Week 5 Week 7 Week 8 Week 10 Week 12
Black, KathrynWalker, Andrew Brouillard, Anne Richards, Jenna Nunes, Erika Northcott, Clare Horn, Jaime Groia, Emma
Brouillard, AnneBlack, Kathryn Groia, Emma Scott, André Richards, Jenna Nunes, Erika Northcott, Clare Horn, Jaime
Groia, EmmaBrouillard, Anne Horn, Jaime Black, Kathryn Scott, André Richards, Jenna Nunes, Erika Northcott, Clare
Horn, JaimeGroia, Emma Northcott, Clare Black, Kathryn Brouillard, Anne Scott, André Richards, Jenna Nunes, Erika
Northcott, ClareHorn, Jaime Nunes, Erika Brouillard, Anne Black, Kathryn Groia, Emma Scott, André Richards, Jenna
Nunes, ErikaNorthcott, Clare Richards, Jenna Groia, Emma Brouillard, Anne Black, Kathryn Horn, Jaime Scott, André
Richards, JennaNunes, Erika Scott, André Horn, Jaime Groia, Emma Brouillard, Anne Northcott, Clare Walker, Andrew
Scott, AndréRichards, Jenna Walker, Andrew Northcott, Clare Horn, Jaime Groia, Emma Brouillard, Anne Nunes, Erika
Walker, AndrewScott, André Black, Kathryn Nunes, Erika Northcott, Clare Horn, Jaime Groia, Emma Brouillard, Anne
Assigned peer (giving comments to)
Stud
ents
(yo
u)
