Capstone Conversations

As we enter our final week dedicated to student presentations, I wanted to create some space for more meaningful reflection on the course. The English Department wants to make this course as useful as possible, and we put a lot of time and effort into developing the course, talking about it with current English majors, and, now, piloting it. But this is just the start. The first few times a course is taught represents a sort of experiment, and we hope to learn what worked best and where improvements can be made.

The conversations we have today will help us as we engage this process of improvement.

For the first 30 minutes of class, you will be divided into 2 groups. Each group will have a volunteer leader to walk you through the framing and questions below, and another member to take notes. The instructor will be out of the room during this time to encourage open, honest, and constructive reflection.

When I return, we can engage in a broader conversation about the course, where group–rather than individual–perspectives are discussed. You are welcome to voice your personal views directly, but I also understand that some might be more comfortable delivering their thoughts in the context of the broader group conversation.

Here is the general script that I ask you to follow:

Values and Viability:

The goal of this section of the course was to help you to develop and hone a sort of conceptual and practical literacy around the values and viability of English studies–a way, in other words, of talking and thinking about the work you’ve done over the past few years for a range of external audiences. 

We read and wrote about defenses of the literary, philosophical reflections on the life of the mind, arguments for and against narrative thinking, models of attention to life and living, economic analyses, and longer explorations of the viability of English and the liberal arts more generally for the world of work. 

  • Which readings (or kinds of readings) were most engaging and / or valuable? 
  • Did you find the informal blogging around these assignments to be a useful way to practice the ways you think and write about your work, and to engage the ideas of others?
  •  What other kinds of assignments (or ways of structuring the assignments) might have worked better for you? 

Alumni Engagement: 

The goal of this section of the course was to help you feel connected to a broader cohort of CofC English majors. This involved our week of virtual and in-person alumni roundtable discussions, the Alumni Profile assignment, and the creation of an English Alumni group on LinkedIn to support networking. 

  • Which of these activities and assignments did you find most useful? 
  • Were you able to connect meaningfully with your profile connection? What would have helped you form a stronger connection? 
  • How could this part of the course have been more effectively structured, or what other kinds of assignments, events, or readings, could have been included to make it more useful for you?

Career Center Engagement: 

The goal of this section of the course was to focus on career preparation, career-related reflection, drafting or polishing of resumes/CVs, discussing interview and networking skills, and engaging in broader career preparation. 

  • Which of these activities and related assignments (e.g. resume, flower reflection, career center presentations) did you find most useful? What was least useful? 
  • How could this unit of the course be more effectively structured (e.g. less / more engagement with career center, different readings beyond or replacing the Parachute book, etc.).

Portfolio / Website Building: 

The goal of this part of the course was for you to create a professional online presence that adds depth and texture to the character you present in professional settings–a space to introduce yourself, to house your best work, to spark conversations with those who encounter the site. 

We discussed site structure and design aesthetics, explored technical aspects of website building, artifact selection, and collaborative editing. As this part of the course focused more intensely on your own work, more time was allotted to collaborative editing, some supplementary “style” readings/viewings, required and optional one-on-one conferences, and independent work. The culmination of this part of the course will be the final presentations, which allow you to practice more formal presentation skills and will also ask you to demonstrate some of the conceptual literacy around the values/viability of English. 

  • How did the balance of independent work, individual conferences, and collaborative editing work for you? What did we spend too much or too little time on? 
  • What aspects of this part of the course could have been more clearly presented? 
  • What other activities or readings would have helped support your work during this part of the semester? 

Other Stuff: 

A few years ago, the English Department formed an ad hoc committee to lay the groundwork for this course. We explored what other English departments are doing, and we surveyed our own student population to get a sense of potential interest in this course vs. a traditional literary seminar. No matter how much preparation was undertaken, however, the first few times a course is offered is always an experiment. And so: 

  • How do you feel about the broader value of this kind of course?
  •  What more could be done to make it most valuable to most English majors? 
  • Should students have a choice between this more professionally oriented course and a 400-level seminar cross-listed with a graduate course? 
  • Any other broader reflections or thoughts?

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