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student.affairs@nau.eduStudent learning and development outcomes
Our Student Affairs (SA) team helps students succeed in college, starting from day one until graduation. The Student Affairs framework identifies essential ingredients for student growth and achievement at NAU.
Harnessing the power of theory and practice, our team members have identified desired outcomes to guide our work with students. Explore the primary domains of this groundbreaking framework below:
Academic and career purpose
Academic and career purpose is a sense of meaning aligned with interests, values, skills, educational goals, and professional aspirations. Students will:
- identify academic and career goals
- explore diverse ideas, perspectives, and values to enhance self-awareness and educational purpose
- identify gaps in academic knowledge, experience, and skills, and seek opportunities and resources to address them
- connect curricular and co-curricular experiences with academic and career aspirations
- successfully navigate our academic environment, through understanding university terminology, policies, and systems
- cultivate self-regulating academic behaviors
- create meaningful mentorship and professional networks to enhance college experiences and career opportunities
- advance workforce readiness through fostering career competencies
Community
Community is a set of relationships within which members feel a sense of belonging, feel they matter, and are honored for being their authentic selves. Students will:
- understand the value of building meaningful social and cultural connections
- discover resources to further develop identity and build networks
- acknowledge and appreciate diverse identities and viewpoints
- create and advocate for inclusive communities
- intentionally contribute time and talent to achieve meaningful community impact
- understand how behaviors and choices impact others
Wellness
Wellness is an optimal and dynamic state of physical and mental health that allows students to achieve their full potential through active choices and access to resources. Students will:
- become familiar with dimensions of wellness
- establish personalized and culturally informed goals to enhance wellness
- successfully access healthcare by understanding related terminology, policies, and systems
- understand the impact that equity and access have on health and wellness
- recognize the connection between healthy habits and academic success
- identify and utilize campus resources for managing overall health
- discover and apply skills for reducing stress, eating healthy, and cultivating resilience
Student learning outcomes
Framework for student learning
Relying heavily on the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education’s (CAS) Frameworks for Assessing Learning and Development Outcomes (FALDO) (Stayhorn, 2006) and the revised CAS Learning and Development Outcomes (CAS, 2008), our framework of student learning and development domains were created to be a resource for practitioners within Student Affairs.
More specifically, the framework serves as an organized description of desired outcomes for our collective work, provides a common language for our efforts, is useful for developing program objectives and related assessments, and is linked to the theory that guides our practice. Our articulation of a common set of learning and development outcomes for Student Affairs provides the division with a tool to guide strategic planning efforts and staff professional development. This tool also enables staff to clearly communicate the benefits of involvement in Student Affairs to students.
The college experience
“The college experience for students is like completing a jigsaw puzzle” (King, 1999, p. 2). Students make their way through their collegiate journey, from orientation to English 105—from courses in their major to their Liberal Studies requirements to joining a club or organization to serving as an RA—all to make the most of their undergraduate career. The collection of these different elements or “pieces” of their educational experience broadens and deepens as their interactions within the institutional contexts multiply.
Still, one could question if all students complete this process in an intentional manner. Does the typical NAU undergraduate know the puzzle they are building? Perhaps not. It is the responsibility of the university to share the picture on the puzzle box with our students and explicitly communicate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes we hope they will acquire as a result of their collegiate experiences (ibid, p. 4). Indeed, faculty and staff must themselves be familiar with the puzzle and the picture created by the many pieces of an undergraduate education.
Practical application at NAU
In an effort to share that picture of the puzzle, Student Affairs has identified the learning and development domains relevant to the activities, services, and programs in our division in which students participate. We acknowledge that the primary goal of college is academic learning and that no one experience is responsible for producing college outcomes (NASPA and ACPA, 2004). Rather, all areas of college engagement provide opportunities for student learning (ibid, 2004, p. 20). In out-of-class contexts, Student Affairs staff educates and guides students through development that complements academic learning.
The student learning and development that occurs through involvement in Student Affairs lie within several domains, including social development and establishing a sense of belonging, intrapersonal development and exploration of the self, and knowledge acquisition that enable the development of practical competencies students require to manage college life and prepare for life after college. It is these domains we describe in this framework.
Council for the Advancement of Standards
Self
CAS defines this domain as:
- realistic self-appraisal, self-understanding, and self-respect
- identity development
- commitment to ethics and integrity
- spiritual awareness
SA staff have conceptualized this domain in a complementary way, defining it as
- self-exploration, discovery, and refinement of personal identities and a sense of purpose
- maturation toward and through adulthood
- self-perceptions of background and home community
- personal and academic goals
- self-appraisal of skills and abilities and the amount of effort required for any given pursuit
- motivation
- involvement in activities related to interests, daily life, and academic pursuits
- self-reflection on experiences, knowledge, and feelings
- self-examination of beliefs and values
Learning and development outcomes
Students will:
- negotiate, reflect upon, and refine a sense of identity
- embrace a realistic sense of self
- embody intentionally chosen attributes and behaviors
- demonstrate a willingness to examine personal beliefs
- express and advocate for personal values and beliefs
- take responsibility for identifying and fulfilling their goals
- exhibit self-reliant behaviors and use resources appropriately
- initiate action toward the achievement of goals
- make decisions and act in congruence with personal values
- acknowledge personal strengths and weaknesses
- seek feedback from others
- function autonomously
- articulate long-term goals and objectives
- develop and articulate a personal belief system
- explore issues of purpose, meaning, and faith
- integrate multiple aspects of identity into a coherent whole
- identify and commit to important aspects of self
- accept personal accountability
Theoretical foundation and assessment examples:
- independence
- realistic self-appraisal
- personal and educational goals
- clarified values
- enhanced self-esteem
- spiritual awareness
Social
CAS defines interpersonal competence as:
- meaningful relationships
- interdependence
- collaboration
- effective leadership
CAS defines human and civic engagement as:
- understanding and appreciation of cultural and human differences
- global perspective
- social responsibility
- sense of civic responsibility
SA staff have conceptualized this domain in a complementary way, defining it as:
- establishing social skills and relationships
- developing a sense of belonging in and out of the classroom
- appreciating diverse perspectives
- contributing to a positive campus community
Learning and development outcomes
Students will:
- explore groups of interest on campus (social and academic organizations)
- take a leadership role among peers
- feel a sense of belonging on campus
- use social skills to initiate interactions, make friends, and participate in the campus community
- take responsibility for maintaining a respectful environment
- cooperate to achieve a mutual goal
- demonstrate awareness, inclusivity, and sensitivity when interacting with others
- establish a supportive network through interactions with peers, faculty, and staff
- treat others with respect
- listen to and consider others’ points of view
- comprehend the dynamics of a group
- serve as a role model to others
- develop and nurture positive and healthy relationships
Theoretical foundation and assessment examples:
- meaningful interpersonal relationships
- effective communication
- social responsibility
- appreciating diversity
- collaboration
- independence
Competencies
CAS defines this domain as:
- pursuing goals
- communicating effectively
- technological competence
- managing personal affairs
- managing career development
- demonstrating professionalism
- maintaining health and wellness
- living a purposeful and satisfying life
SA staff have conceptualized this domain in a complementary way, defining it as:
- skills and abilities that result from the application of knowledge about the campus environment
- navigation of university policies and practices
- managing finances
- maintaining personal health and wellness
Learning and development outcomes
Students will:
- Successfully navigate institutional policies and practices, such as:
- monitor mid-semester grades and other GPS alerts
- plan coursework for the next semester and take advantage of early enrollment appointments
- attend faculty office hours as needed
- identify class support such as tutoring
- add/drop courses before the deadline
- pay university bills on or before the due date
- Utilize institutional resources and participate in activities that:
- contribute to healthy behaviors (e.g., intramural sports, health promotion programs, dining services, and nutrition programs)
- enhance academic success (e.g., learning communities, study skill workshops, and NAU 120)
- bring students together for fun/educational/leisure activities (e.g., Student Life, Campus Recreation, Peer Jacks, NASS)
- support leadership development (e.g., The Edge, ASNAU)
- Complete degree requirements and progress toward graduation
- Manage finances responsibly (e.g., pay bills on time, budget financial aid across the year, apply for financial support)
- Communicate concerns and problem-solve with roommates, significant others, parents, advisors, university staff, and/or professors
- Establish a balance between academic, leisure, and work activities
- Become involved in a club or organization
- Take responsibility for one’s health and well-being
- Regulate behavior through evaluation of social norms
- Choose behaviors that promote health and reduce risk
- Understand and explain the relationship between health and one’s capacity to meet personal, academic, and long-term goals
Theoretical foundation and assessment examples:
- healthy behavior
- career choices
- satisfying and productive lifestyles
- leadership development
Knowledge
CAS defines knowledge acquisition, construction, integration, and application as:
- understanding knowledge from a range of disciplines
- connecting knowledge to other knowledge, ideas, and experiences
- constructing knowledge
- relating knowledge to daily life
CAS defines cognitive complexity as:
- critical thinking
- reflective thinking
- effective reasoning
- creativity
SA staff have conceptualized this domain in a complementary way, defining it as:
- gaining new knowledge
- becoming aware of new places and pieces of information
- integrating new information with existing knowledge
- using metacognition and self-regulating academic behaviors such as study strategies, help-seeking, and time management
- learning course material and developing expertise in a specific academic discipline/area of study
Learning and development outcomes
Students will:
- manage complex problems by reflecting on what is known, identifying solutions/options, making decisions, and choosing courses of action
- evaluate diverse ideas and information and determine applicability for particular purposes or situations
- assess one’s progress toward learning and adjust academic behaviors (how to study, when to seek clarification or assistance) as needed
- apply academic knowledge and co-curricular experience to further career and personal goals
- commit to putting effort into expanding one’s knowledge and skills
- use multiple sources of information and their synthesis to solve problems
- recognize one’s own capacity to create new understandings from learning activities and dialogue with others
- articulate career choices based on assessment of interests, values, skills, and accomplishments resulting from formal information
Theoretical foundation and assessment example:
- intellectual growth