Lesson 12 — Capstone and Professional Practice

Duration: 120 minutes

Included delivery track: Follow LAB_SETUP.md for the supplied files and local simulation. Required activities use these materials; connected deployments are optional extensions. Instructor debrief: answer key. Real OAuth, cloud releases and payments are simulated or discussed through evidence packets. Deck: 12-capstone-and-professional-practice
Lab: Defensible QA Verdict

Learners will be able to

independently frame and test a feature/business workflow;
use AI responsibly across investigation, documentation, and optional automation;
deliver a concise evidence-backed QA verdict to a product/engineering audience; and
identify their next apprenticeship track: exploratory QA, automation, integration QA, accessibility/visual QA, or AI evaluation.

Instructor preparation

Assign fixtures/capstone-cards.md. These are public/open-book tasks, not hidden exams. Choose a changed condition after the initial verdict and assess fresh reasoning. Provide one reviewer per four teams, with parallel panels for larger cohorts.

Agenda

Time	Facilitation
0–10	Arrival: revisit Lesson 1’s question, “Would you ship on this?” Learners state how their answer process has changed.
10–20	Explain capstone rules, evidence bar, role rotation, and review cadence.
20–70	Teams plan and execute. Instructor acts only as product owner for clarifying questions; teams own their AI task briefs and evidence.
70–80	Break and evidence organization.
80–112	Up to four teams per panel: five-minute verdict plus three-minute changed-condition defense per team. Require risk, evidence, uncertainty and next action.
112–117	Individual written retrospective: strongest skill, useful AI habit and next skill.
117–120	Completion recognition and supervised apprenticeship next steps.

Assessment

Use all templates. A capstone must include a test charter, a credible evidence packet, an AI-use record, and a release/fix recommendation calibrated to uncertainty. Grade individuals through role rotation and the retrospective, not only team polish.