Business 421 capstone | TESU | Tips from our members

[bjcheung77]

TESU uses ProctorU and it's all going to depend on the proctor or your computer. I have done over 30+ ProctorU exams on StraighterLine alone, it doesn't really bother me, I've had a couple or three issues here and there, I just go with the flow and get it done...

[TopHatWombat]

For the final project, I chose the nuclear power case scenario (the scenario requirements are visible in a publicly available document that anybody can see before they register for the class, so I don't think I'm giving away anything secret here). This was based on my experience in that industry, the fact that it was the subject of my first TESU degree 20 years ago, and just a continued personal interest in the subject. One interesting difference between that case scenario and the other two options is that the other two specifically state which companies you're analyzing and writing a recommendation for (Google and Lockheed Martin), whereas the third option just says "a utility company". My assumption is that most students chose to write the case study about TEPCO, since that is the owner of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that experienced the disaster in question. I took a very different approach, however, and choose a specific U.S. utility company that happens to own and operate a nuclear power plant as part of their energy mix. This is submitted but not yet graded, so I don't know yet whether my approach was welcome or not, but I think it allowed me to present the analysis and strategy options from a unique perspective. I guess I'll edit this post after grades in a couple weeks to reflect how it was received.   My total time spent on the final project was about 12 hours.

Just to follow up on this: My approach to the final project turned out to be acceptable, as Dr. Courts gave me a 100% on it. Final grade for the course was a 97%, with my only "miss" being an 89% on the midterm exam. I'll thus reiterate use of the Quizlets posted earlier as being excellent preparation for the exam, while adding an emphasis on writing quality papers so that you get a 100% on all those, minimizing the impact of a lower midterm exam grade.

[LevelUP]

You may not need to use academic sources for your citations, depending on your professor.

For example, with Dr. Cruse, we were allowed to use sources from established news outlets. It might be helpful to clarify the citation requirements if they aren't provided in the welcome forums.

[Yenisei]

In terms of difficulty and time commitment, is it easier to do the Guided Study version of the capstone than the Online Course version?

[bjcheung77]

In terms of difficulty and time commitment, is it easier to do the Guided Study version of the capstone than the Online Course version?

I've not tried the GS option, but believe it's practically the same, as OL has discussions, GS has extra assignments... Both are to be done in the same number of weeks.