Course Description

Students will complete a graduate aeronautics capstone project. Path for national journal publication and conference presentation, including LU research week.

Rationale

The Aviation Capstone courses (AVIA 680 and 681) are culminating efforts of the entire learning experience for the Master’s student in the School of Aeronautics. The Aviation Capstone is a two-part series of courses to encompass research, project development, implementation, and lessons learned. This is to be a program culminating experience in which the student applies and demonstrates their knowledge and skills in creating a defined product that will have a personal impact and an impact on the aviation community.

The goal of the capstone is to provide students with an industry-centered educational experience focused on their chosen cognate. The two capstone courses are consecutive courses taken at the end of the student’s Master’s degree program.

The Capstone experience seeks to challenge and expose students to cognate specific real-world problems, constraints, and performance issues. The combination of the two capstone courses (AVIA 680 and 681) will require students to develop and test essential skills specific to their chosen topic and require the implementation of research knowledge within the aviation industry. Students are required to seamlessly merge a biblical worldview into practical applications throughout the culminating experience.

AVIA 681 is the final course of a two-part series of courses. In AVIA 681, you will focus primarily on implementation and reflection. Get access to additional courses views Liberty University.

Measurable Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Successfully implement a capstone research project.
2. Conduct a graduate-level research project.
3. Write a 15-20 page paper in APA format while integrating a Biblical worldview.
4. Engage professionally within the aviation community.
5. Begin to make an impact in the aviation industry.

Course Assignment

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

The student will complete the Discussion: Class Introductions in a visual presentation format. The visual presentation must include a recorded presentation and will have a maximum time limit of 5 minutes. The student will be creative with the presentations. The student is required to reply to 2 other classmates threads. Each reply must be at least 150 words.

The Aviation Capstone Handbook provides essential information for the successful completion of a two-part course series, AVIA 680 and AVIA 681. This quiz will ask you to acknowledge that you have read the Aviation Capstone Handbook.

Quiz: AVIA 680 Capstone Paper Assignment

You will upload your AVIA 680 Capstone Paper Assignment.

Throughout the academic writing process, the ability to give and receive feedback is important. Providing feedback to your peers requires you to critically think about the assignment’s intention and ensure your peer meets the expectations of the assignment. Furthermore, receiving peer feedback allows you to gauge whether or not your writing is clear, concise, and meets the assignment parameters. Your writing can greatly improve by giving and receiving feedback. This skill will serve you greatly in your work environment, as you seek to communicate more clearly and with purpose.

In this course, you will have the opportunity to review your fellow classmate’s work and offer insightful and constructive feedback on multiple assignments. You will be assigned to a Peer Review Group within Canvas. Throughout the course, you will work in this group to conduct peer reviews of specific papers. You will exchange papers within the Canvas Peer Review Group files area in Canvas, read the paper, and provide feedback on your classmate’s paper. (MLO: A, B, D, E)

Each student will log 40 hours in the implementation of their project. The implementation of the Aviation Capstone is the culminating experience of hands-on learning with expertise in the aviation field of study and the topic chosen. While at the Implementation Site, the student must have a mentor who is supervising and guiding the experience.

The implementation is a multifaceted experience with three components. Students must fulfill each component in sequential order.

1. Implementation Site Paper: Part 1 — Group Peer Review Assignment
2. Implementation Site Paper: Part 2 Assignment
3. Implementation Experience Reflection: Group Peer Review Assignment

(MLO: A, B, D, E)

The mentor is an important component of your implementation. This is an opportunity for you to talk over your capstone topic, research, implementation, and conclusions with an expert in the aviation field. The goal is to use your mentor’s expertise to speak to the conclusions of your capstone and to integrate the conclusion with the implementation itself.

There are four assignments that must be accomplished.

1. Mentor Interview: Group Peer Review Assignment
2. Mentor Interview Reflection Paper: Part 1 — Group Peer Review Assignment
3. Mentor Interview Reflection Paper: Part 2 Assignment
4. Mentor Evaluation Form Assignment

(MLO: A, B, D, E)

The Aviation Capstone involves researching and writing a 15-20 page paper about a topic chosen.  (MLO: A, B, C, D, E)

The student presentation should incorporate all aspects of thinking on the topic chosen: an examination of Scripture, research, discussions, and conclusions based on knowledge, experience, and reflection of efforts. A Biblical worldview should be intrinsically and purposefully woven throughout the entire presentation. The presentation should demonstrate mastery of the capstone, content, implementation, and reflection of the Aviation Capstone. (MLO: A, B, C, D, E)