A set of steps to prepare CCT students to complete a synthesis during their final semester (or very soon after) (version 12/09/08, rev. 10/22/09)

The CCT faculty thinks the Program needs to do better in helping students complete their capstone syntheses in a timely manner. To this end, we want to institute or affirm the practices and requirements to follow. Please peruse the various links to appreciate the rationale for these practices.

1. Entrance interview with your general advisor and other faculty members (before or soon after admission)

At this time we would encourage you to

Explore and become familiar with the resources available in the website, handbook, and wiki: http://www.cct.umb.edu , http://www.cct.umb.edu/handbook.html , http://cct.wikispaces.com

Submit a provisional plan for taking courses, http://www.cct.umb.edu/planner.html

Make your own connections among ideas and experiences from different courses by starting a Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio, http://cctrpp.wikispaces.com/

Participate in monthly CCT Community activities, http://cct.wikispaces.com/CCTNetwork

Join the social network site ("ning") in order to connect with alums and other members of the wider CCT community whose interests you share or are intrigued by, http://cct.wikispaces.com/CCTNetworkNing

Take steps to acquire Research and Study Competencies progressively over the course of your studies, http://www.cct.umb.edu/competencies.html

2. Mid-program check-in

Two weeks after the end of the semester in which you take their fifth course towards the CCT M.A. you should submit your Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio thus far and evidence of Research and Study Competencies you have acquired.

The CCT faculty will review these and meet with you to make recommendations (which may include suggesting that you put a hold on taking courses in order to finish incompletes and/or spend a semester improving writing skills and acquiring more Research and Study Competencies)

3. Advance preparation for Capstone

Use an elective to take a specialized course outside CCT (if appropriate) or do an independent study to complete literature review for the synthesis project. (The change, effective for students starting fall 2008 and beyond, to require 4 rather than 3 electives was made with this in mind.)

Graduate Assistant as writing guide,

coaching you to get access to writing-improvement resources and courses available on and off campus, including Graduate Writing Center, paid editors, and (possibly) CCT alums who will serve as buddies

Look ahead and take note of the wide range of options for the capstone synthesis, http://www.cct.umb.edu/capstone.html. These options are starting points only. See examples of previous students' projects, http://www.cct.umb.edu/abstracts-TOC.html, to appreciate the ways that students stretch or reconfigure the options to match the kind of project that is most helpful for their personal and professional development.

Continue to update Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio, so that reflection/metacognition on CCT experience can enter your synthesis project.

Encourage more "practice" to be synthesized in the "synthesis of theory and practice," through a supervised experience in a school, workplace, or community setting in the Reflective Practice course (http://www.cct.umb.edu/courses#688)

4. Prerequisites for taking the Capstone Seminar

Completion of CCT 692, Processes of Research and Engagement

No more than one incomplete left and not on academic probation

Synthesis proposal submitted with advisors arranged before the semester starts, http://www.cct.umb.edu/synthforms.html .

Readers can be drawn from a wide range of part-timers and faculty from other departments, http://www.cct.umb.edu/synthadvisors.html

5. Capstone completion during final semester

Students start the synthesis project with a meeting at the end of the previous semester, or even at the start of the previous semester if the instructor has time to advise you during that pre-synthesis semester.

CCT tries to run the synthesis seminar every semester,

if need be by combining students from two semesters into one section's worth, even if some of you have to be supervised more like independent studies.

Students form buddy pairs to coach each other before and during the synthesis semester

Marathon day at the end of the semester* to provide faculty and peer support for students to focus and bring the pieces together and to complete the final steps (see " When you can see the end in sight," at http://www.cct.umb.edu/synthforms.html ). (* Usually Saturday before Memorial Day and, if needed, two Saturdays before Xmas).

6. Capstone completion afterwards

Incompletes for the synthesis course are coded as "Y," which means they do not turn into incompletes after a year.

For each semester of incomplete completion, it is best to register for 1 credit independent study to affirm to yourself and your advisors that you want their involvement in completing your synthesis. Alternatively, if money is really an obstacle, pay program fees, which keep your student status active.

CCT 692 and 694 are open to participation of non-enrolled synthesizers as a structure and support system to complete the synthesis project. (However, again, it is best to register for 1 credit independent study.)

The synthesis instructor, not the Program Coordinator, takes responsibility for followup and coaching/coaxing their students through to completion. At the same time, as a matter of good professional practice, students should respond to emails and phone calls, even if it is to say—no apologies needed—that progress has been limited.

Marathon day (see above) is strongly recommended for incomplete synthesizers.

Option to shift to a Reflective Practitioner's Narrative prepared in a way that weaves in work done throughout the program of study (including in a Reflective Practitioner's portfolio) and in what you have done to date in your incomplete synthesis project. (This option should be pursued only after consultation with synthesis advisor, ensuring that everyone is on the same page about what is expected. Incomplete synthesizers may choose to attempt this as a one-month intensive, in which case you can request to be given a question, much like in a take-home comprehensive exam, to guide you in producing this Narrative.)

If you run up against the 5-year limit for completion, you can apply for a "statute of limitations" extension by submitting the required form with a concrete plan for completion.

Before approving the S.O.L. extension (or earlier than that if you have let your student status become inactive), the program coordinator will ask (but not require) you to sign forms that allow you to be graduated with a Certificate if you "disappear" (i.e., stop paying program fees and communicating with your advisors). The reason for the request is that the Program needs to reduce the number of students in the all-but-synthesis category. (Note: If you graduate with a Certificate and want to reactivate your M.A. studies at a later date when you are ready to finish your synthesis, all of the Certificate and other CCT credits can count.)