ECM200: Capstone Project

Module code: ECM200

Module provider: Economics; School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Full year

Module convenor: Professor Giovanni Razzu, email: g.razzu@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 23 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to give students an opportunity to synthetize and apply their knowledge by completing a project for an external organisation. It will represent an effective and practical way of building experiential learning opportunities into the curriculum. Working together on the Capstone, students will have the opportunity to:

• Develop project management, teamwork, and communication skills
• Integrate and synthesize the lessons from prior coursework
• Engage in a "real world" organisational experience
• Further develop and consolidate communication skills

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Integrate and synthesise prior knowledge and learning from multiple topic areas, including between core and optional modules, thus helping them to connect their learning
2. Apply synthesised knowledge and skills to an initial partially structured authentic/real problem
3. Gain from enhanced skills in future team working and project work

Module content

Working in small groups and overseen by a faculty member, the students complete a project on behalf of an external organisation, which can be business companies, government agencies, not-for-profits, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). The program is designed to give our students hands-on experience, and to give external organisations an opportunity to benefit from an independent analysis of an existing or prospective initiative, policy or area of concern. Students will work in teams, with interdisciplinary backgrounds if appropriate to the nature of the project and external organisation’s requests, to deliver an agreed output on time and to high standard. An academic supervisor will provide guidance through-out the project. The project will require a significant amount of research and inquiry and help students to negotiate successfully the transition to the next stage of their career.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Students work in team to deliver the external organisation’s output, a report and/or presentation that results from a comprehensive analysis of an issue facing the external organisation: a key decision, a critical policy, a new challenge, an emerging opportunity, or a new program or initiative. Working closely with the external organisation, the student will prepare a comprehensive analysis of the issue, combining economics with other political, institutional, managerial, legal, or other analyses, depending on the nature of the issue. Students will be assigned an academic supervisor who will support and provide advice to them in the preparation and delivery of the final output to the external organisation.

Study hours

At least 15 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs