This course examines the processes that shape the coastal zone, produce coastal hazards, mitigate those hazards through engineering, impact coastal societies and economies, and influence public policy and planning to reduce vulnerabilities and risks. The capstone project is an opportunity for you to assemble and integrate this wide array of processes – and to apply modern Earth Science principles of systems thinking – into a single project.
You will investigate the coastal processes, hazards and policy of a world city that is threatened by storms, tsunami and/or sea level rise.
Your finished product will be a presentation-quality PowerPoint created using the Coastal City Slide template. This presentation will encapsulate the key concepts learned in the course relative to one coastal city. You will gather and record details about your city and submit these details as assignments when prompted at certain stages in the course.
Directions and Requirements
The CVAT
To complete your Capstone, you will first work to complete the Coastal Vulnerability Audit Tool (CVAT) PowerPoint, using the template provided, in stages throughout the semester. The CVAT serves as an outline to help you develop your capstone project. As you will see, each section of the CVAT is organized hierarchically to follow the course material. You will compile notes about your coastal city on topics indicated in the CVAT PowerPoint and submit the four stages of the CVAT PowerPoint. You may use AI for research, but you may not copy and paste directly out of AI into the CVAT (see summary of AI use below).
Coastal City Slides
You will assemble most of the Coastal City Slides including a map, relevant illustrations, graphs, and other data as you work on the CVAT during the semester. You will get feedback on them when you submit CVAT Stages 2-5. At Stage 6 you will transfer these slides to the City Slide Presentation PowerPoint and place them in the indicated locations. To these you will need to add Summary slides for each of Stages 2-4. Finally, you will need to write a script for a narration and record it in as an MP4 video using ScreenPal. Your 10-15 minute presentation should be suitable for presenting to an audience, conveying the most important concepts. More detail is provided below. You may not use AI for the City Slides under any circumstances (see below).
Overview of the Capstone Project Stages
Stage 1
In Module 1, you will download two PowerPoint files. The first is the Coastal Vulnerability Audit Tool (CVAT) Audit. The second is the Capstone Coastal City Slides. In Module 1, you will be given a list of approved coastal cities to select from, and you will submit your top choices in Module 2. You will then be assigned one city as the focus of your project for the semester.
Stages 2-4
Throughout the semester, you will complete the Coastal Vulnerability Audit Tool (CVAT) PowerPoint for your city. At each stage, you will record information and submit it to the instructor for grading including a check of AI use. You will also submit relevant slides for the City Slide Presentation for feedback (not grading). You cannot use AI for the City Slides under any circumstances (see below). Make sure you include references for your information sources as you go along. This will save you time at Stage 5.
Stage 2
You will record information on the Physical Systems to be turned in during Module 8. The instructor will grade your CVAT and provide feedback on completeness of your City Slides.
Stage 3
You will record information on the Human and Engineering Systems, to be turned in during Module 11. The instructor will grade your CVAT and provide feedback on completeness of your City Slides.
Stage 4
You will record information on the Vulnerability, Planning, and Action; Resiliency Policy, Planning, and Actions during Module 13. The instructor will grade your CVAT and provide feedback on completeness of your City Slides.
Stage 5
You will also record information on the Site-Specific Concerns and Considerations; Recommended Resiliency Action Plans; and References and Key Resources during Module 13. The instructor will grade these entries.
Stage 6
During Stage 6, you will transfer the relevant City Slide figures from your CVAT to the City Slide PowerPoint. You will add summaries for each of the stages. Then you will write and record a narration for the entire presentation to tell the story of your city using information collected in your CVAT and your collated city slides. This narrated presentation will summarize and illustrate the physical, human, and engineering aspects of your city, highlight aspects of its coastal vulnerability, and review the policies and actions taking place to address these vulnerabilities. Your final presentation will also include your site-specific concerns for your city and provide recommendations for increasing coastal resilience. You will record the presentation as an MP4 file using ScreenPal, a free recording program (www.screenpal.com). You will submit the narrated Coastal City Slides as well as the MP4 file. You do not need to submit the CVAT at this stage.
Detailed Outline of your City Slide Presentation for Stage 6
The completed City Slide presentation should contain:
- Your Coastal City Slides PowerPoint downloaded from Canvas in Stage 1 includes the different required elements consisting of approximately 12-18 slides collected during Stages 2-5 as well as a few others outlined below
- You will follow these minimal guidelines to complete your presentation (see template):
- A title slide.
- A map annotated with text and symbols in PowerPoint, and conveying the most important points about the city (assembled in Stage 4).
- At least twelve (12) figures on 12 separate slides (photos, graphics, graphs of data) that help the viewer understand the details about your chosen city collected during Stages 2-4. Include captions for all figures and reference the source of the image. Figures should include graphs or other kinds of data, as well as photos.
- Summary pages (3) with bullet points summarizing the most important takeaway messages you want to get across about your city.
- One (1) page outlining your site-specific concerns (from CVAT).
- One (1) page outlining your Recommended Resiliency Actions for your city (from CVAT).
- A list of references for all sources used in your research, written in citation format (from CVAT).
- An audio narration for each slide, in MP4 format (recorded with ScreenPal). Be concise and keep each slide to 30-60 seconds. Plan and write out your narration. Read it rather than ad-lib.
Use of AI
We allow you to use AI for the CVAT but not the City Slides. For the CVAT, you can use AI for research, but you cannot under any circumstances copy out of AI directly into the CVAT. You must rewrite everything in your own words. We can and will check all entries with a ChatGPT checker, which detects AI-generated text with 96% accuracy. There is no credit given for grammar, so please write everything from scratch and do not use Grammarly, as these can trip the AI checkers. Any direct copying will result in a ZERO for the assignment. You must cite all references that AI gives you.
You cannot use AI for the City Slides under any circumstances. You can search for images using Google Images or any other search engine. Copying images or presentations out of AI is easily detected and you will receive a strict penalty if we determine you have used AI for this part of your Capstone project.
Please note again that AI is not allowed in any other part of this course, as we discussed in the Academic Integrity part of the Orientation. Please let us know if you have any questions.