Ag capstone course stresses hands-on work

griculture capstone course caters to students' interests.

By Joey Soto

Published Oct. 24, 2008

Professor Joe Zulovich has a plan for his students when they walk into his capstone Agricultural Systems Management course.

On Tuesday afternoon Zulovich outlined that plan during a discussion at the Conley House hosted by The Campus Writing Program.

Students are presented several different real-world problems at the beginning of the course. Students rank those that interest them most and then are assigned to a team to find a solution.

"When they are working on a problem that interests them, they seem to have more drive," Zulovich said.

As a capstone course, it is designed to incorporate everything students should have learned in their earlier classes, Zulovich said.

Zulovich said he has found that students tend to work best when they are given an option of which problem to work on.

Although a majority of the course involves problem solving, another component is expressing the problem and solution in a clear and concise format, both written and orally.

"One thing I tell them is you may have the best solution in the world, but if you can't explain it then it isn't worth a hoot," Zulovich said.

Zulovich said he found with experience that the more information he provides groups about the problem, the more apt they are to really excel in finding their solution.

A unique system of grading is used to help ensure everyone is participating appropriately. At the beginning of the semester Zulovich distributes deadlines for when certain progress reports are due.

Zulovich has students carbon copy messages between group members to him about their progression in their research as a means to keep tabs on who is performing which tasks. Near the end of the project, Zulovich said he sees real-world problem solving.

"We're forcing the synthesis of independence and working together to solve a problem," Zulovich said.