Covid-19 has disrupted many aspects of the traditional NYU Abu Dhabi student experience, and the Capstone Project is no exception. The Capstone is meant to be the culminating experience of a student’s time at NYUAD, where seniors design and execute a research or creative project with the mentorship of a faculty member.

“The Capstones are supposed to bring together all the student’s skills, the understanding they’ve developed throughout their classes and empower students to design and work on their own projects in order to demonstrate this comprehensive understanding of their specific disciplinary areas,” said Eric Hamilton, Faculty of Social Sciences and Chair of the Capstone Taskforce. “I tend to think of the Capstone as your first real opportunity to, from start to finish, design, execute and present an independent project. Spending the time to do that can be very challenging, but you get this incredible set of skills.”

Katharina Klaunig, Class of 2021 who majors in Social Research and Public Policy, agreed with this assessment. “I think the benefit of the Capstone Project is being able to dive deeply into a topic that you're interested in, apply the theory and skills you learned over the past three years, maybe learn or strengthen some skills along the way and work with a faculty advisor.”

The skills gained from the Capstone experience will be useful regardless of what path students take after graduation. Understandably though, students not intent on pursuing graduate school or other pathways tied to their Capstone may find the process more tedious. “I think for students who realize that they do not directly need Capstone for the career they want to pursue, Capstone feels like a burden,” said Klaunig.

Capstone is a serious focus for faculty, and there were a number of efforts made from the beginning of the year to ensure that seniors were prioritized to return to campus and access lab spaces and studios. Nonetheless, Capstone projects that previously required a great deal of in person work — including ethnographic field work, lab research or arts performances — have been heavily disrupted. When the pandemic hit suddenly halfway through the spring 2020 semester, considerations were made for seniors completing their Capstone project. The main accommodation was the option to cover grades on seniors’ transcripts, including that for Capstone, showing only whether or not the project was successfully completed rather than a letter grade.

A number of students from the Class of 2021 have expressed frustration that this same accommodation is not being extended to their class as well. “We constantly exist with the stress of the pandemic, and not everyone has learned — at least I haven’t — how to manage it on a day-to-day basis,” explained Alexandra Markova, Class of 2021 and Interactive Media major. “I’m struggling to perform in a normal way because the situation is not normal. I don’t have the capacity to create.”

Gabrielle Branche, Class of 2021, and who is also majoring in Interactive Media, expressed her support for a graded Capstone while suggesting other aspects of leniency. “I personally like having a graded Capstone, I think it pushes me to do my best work.”

The covered grades policy has not been extended to the Class of 2021 for a few reasons. According to Hamilton, as explained during a senior year listening session on Feb. 10, communications from NYU and the UAE Ministry of Education to the university specifically stated that the university is not allowed to make changes to their normal pass/fail or covered grades policies for the current year. By their assessment, the Class of 2021 did not face the same acute upheaval as the Class of 2020; they have been living in the pandemic longer and have, hypothetically, had the time and space to adjust.

Additionally, covering Capstone grades would potentially cause more suspicion about a student’s transcript than an imperfect letter grade.

“Hypothetically, students would have their first year grades covered, last spring covered and then potentially a year of Capstone courses covered. All of a sudden you have up to five semesters where you’re hiding your grades from the outside world,” Hamilton hypothesized. “Then people might start to wonder, ‘Why did this student feel the need to hide so many grades?”

Hamilton further emphasized the extent of effort that faculty have put into transforming the Capstone experience, and how that is a potential factor against the push for pass/fail. “It doesn’t always feel good to put in all of that effort and then have students turn around and decide that they don’t want the grade to count,” he added.

Many students acknowledge that covered grades may not be possible, but have suggested other alternatives to show compassion toward students.“I think it’s important to have certain institutional measures to ensure Capstone grading is more lenient this year to account for the fact that our class has been navigating the various hurdles of graduating during the height of a pandemic,” said Siya Chandrie, Class of 2021 and a Political Science major.

Arts students with creative projects have expressed a unique concern about deadlines. “We have to make our project, and then we have to write about it, and then defend it. It would be nice to have more space between when the project is due and all the deliverables are due,” shared Branche. Markova agreed: “A more flexible deadline would be much more accommodating to the artistic nature of the project that requires creativity.”

Students have also expressed interest in eliminating the requirement of having two graders for the project, instead allowing students’ mentors to be the primary graders. “Having worked with us closely, our Capstone mentors are most aware of not only the amount of effort that went into our project, but also the unique struggles each individual may have faced in producing this Capstone during a truly unprecedented year,” said Chandrie. “To me, this is a more holistic, empathetic and accommodating way of grading our work this year.”

“I think solutions such as extended deadlines, more lenient grading, eliminating a second reader would be good. These suggestions were brought up in the listening session and the Academic Representatives will continue to bring these suggestions, feedback and voices to our conversations with faculty,” shared Klaunig, who also serves as the Social Science Representative in Student Government.

The experience of conducting Capstone is such an integral part of a student’s career that faculty want to give students every chance of success, not only in terms of their GPA but also in developing lifelong skills.

Hamilton emphasized that in many ways, employers look for indicators of success that aren’t a student’s GPA. While student concerns about grades and transcripts are understandable, especially for those applying to graduate school, the skills gained from Capstone will inevitably have more power for your applications and skill set, he stressed.

During a listening session with senior students, faculty and administration also highlighted the importance of communication. Hamilton noted that while all faculty are aware of the challenges facing students to a certain extent, they can’t always know exactly what a student might be going through. He encouraged students to be open and honest with their mentors so that faculty can best support them.

“If it's challenging, I'd encourage students to speak to their Capstone convenor, program head, or their Academic Representatives to think about how to approach the conversation,” added Klaunig.

While the proposed accommodations are still in the works, Hamilton stressed how seniors, despite challenges, are simultaneously excelling in a new environment: “At least for the next couple of years, work around the world will be dominated by these kinds of formats and our students will be well equipped to navigate that better than they would without these experiences.”

With ongoing conversations around the Capstone policies for the Class of 2021, the proiect will inevitably take on new forms, although at its core, the goal of learning and growing remains unchanged.