Students complete their education with a culminating experience where they will synthesize their knowledge to solve real-world problems, often for local industry sponsors.

Early-Career and Early-Career Accelerated students are required to complete a three-quarter Capstone project, or one-quarter Practicum project or internship, respectively. Mid-Career students can elect to complete a culminating experience project to support their career growth or transition. Culminating experiential learning projects provide students the opportunities to:

• Synthesize their classroom learning into a tangible product that solves a real-world problem.
• Demonstrate their teamwork, problem-solving, critical-thinking, managerial, and technical skills to potential employers.
• Network with local industry partners and gain insight into how various companies work.

“I found that by the time I began my Capstone project, I was ready to brainstorm, plan, execute and iterate with time team extremely effectively.”

— Kenny Garrison, ’21

Capstone highlight

In 2023, a group of MSIM students worked with Microsoft’s Azure Lab Services to simplify the lab creation process for educators and make them easier for educators without a technical background. These students won the iSchool’s Capstone innovation award for their unique solution that improves the lives of teachers and positively impacts student learning outcomes.