The document summarizes the processes that four higher education institutions took to develop student learning outcomes for community engagement and civic learning programs. It describes how each institution involved stakeholders, conducted research and assessment, and aligned the outcomes with their institutional mission. The outcomes developed address skills like critical thinking, diversity and inclusion, civic participation, and lifelong learning. The institutions provide examples for others looking to establish or improve outcomes for similar programs.

1. STUDENT LEARNING
OUTCOMES:
Exploring Process and Content for Our Field

2. LOOKING BACK
●In 1986, community service was organized mostly via voluntary
groups (76%) - often student led!
●Placements were often supported through an informational
clearinghouse (66%)
●Fewer than half of colleges and universities had a designated
center
●In the 1990s when the Bonner Scholar Program was launched, it
was often out of a chaplain’s office
Source: Collegiate Community Service: The Status of Public and
Community Service at Selected Colleges and Universities (1986)

3. CHANGING CONTEXT
●In 2015, over 1,100 colleges and universities have expressly
shared a commitment to civic engagement
●Of these, 94% of institutions have a dedicated coordinating
unit, but 3.4 units coordinate curricular and co-curricular
engagement on average at a single institution
●Across institutions, there is wide variety of vehicles for both
curricular and co-curricular engagement including:
●residence-hall based service (91%)
●disciplinary CBL courses (71%)
●capstone service courses (57%)
Source: Preparing to Accelerate Change: Understanding Our Starting
Line (Campus Compact Annual Member Survey, 2015)

4. OUTCOMES
●More than half (53%) of institutions indicated that they have specific
student outcomes for community engagement. Common outcomes
include those pertaining to:
●critical thinking (82%);
●civic or democratic learning (81%);
●engagement across differences (diversity) (76%);
●social justice orientation (64%);
●global learning (64%);
●policy knowledge (25%); and media literacy (21%).
●An additional 22% noted that they track student outcomes for engagement
including problem solving, communication, and civic skills.
Source: Preparing to Accelerate Change: Understanding Our Starting
Line (Campus Compact Annual Member Survey, 2015)

5. SESSION GOALS
Share, engage with, and reflect on four
institutions’ examples of their:
●Outcomes
●Process
●Who was involved

6. FUTURE AIM
Move “best practice” to “common practice”
●Strategic plan
●Articulated student outcomes
●Assessment and impact evaluation

7. “
The Great Commitments of Berea College
Berea College Mission

8. “
To provide an educational opportunity primarily for students from Appalachia, black and
white, who have great promise and limited economic resources.
To provide an education of high quality with a liberal arts foundation and outlook.
To stimulate understanding of the Christian faith and its many expressions and to
emphasize the Christian ethic and the motive of service to others.
To provide for all students through the labor program experiences for learning and
serving in community, and to demonstrate that labor, mental and manual, has dignity as
well as utility.
To assert the kinship of all people and to provide interracial education with a particular
emphasis on understanding and equality among blacks and whites.
To create a democratic community dedicated to education and equality for women and
men.
To maintain a residential campus and to encourage in all members of the community a
way of life characterized by plain living, pride in labor well done, zest for learning, high
personal standards, and concern for the welfare of others.
To serve the Appalachian region primarily through education but also by other
appropriate services.
The Great Commitments of Berea College

9. PROCESS
● Timeline: Intermittently over the course of 2 years
● Involvement:
○ Process driven by CELTS staff
○ Gathered input from all stakeholder groups
■ Started with students
■ Faculty, academic administrators, community
partners, students were part of HII Initiative
■ Reviewed results of external center-wide
assessment, which included members of all
stakeholder groups
■ Consulted with Dir. of Academic Assessment

10. PROCESS
● Process:
○ Started with grounding in existing vision, mission,
Common Commitments, CELTS Shared Values
○ Gathered ideas from existing examples
○ Process dovetailed with other parallel/supportive
initiatives
○ Hosted Kristin Norris of IUPUI on campus for
assessment workshops and consultations
● Highlight:
○ Each SLO ties to one or more center-wide goal

11. PROCESS
● What’s happened since?
○ Develop student awareness
○ Develop faculty awareness
● What’s next?
○ Review and refine; streamline
○ Develop and implement assessment plan
○ Develop opportunities for daily use by staff,
students, faculty

12. BEREA OUTCOMES
• Work and communicate effectively across differences
• Engage constructively in conflict situations
• Plan and implement community-based service
activities or programs
• Demonstrate ability to think critically about social
issues
• Work effectively in teams

13. BEREA OUTCOMES
• Integrate the values of service and social justice into
career and life goals
• Use reflection as a means for learning and personal
growth
• Demonstrate understanding of the importance of
institutional and regional context to service at Berea
College
• Act as ambassadors for service at Berea College and
beyond

14. “
Through a blending of liberal
arts and professional
education, Siena College
provides experiences and
courses of study instilling the
values and knowledge to lead
a compassionate, reflective,
and productive life of service
and leadership.
-Siena College Mission

15. PROCESS
•Following our Data Lab in Spring 2016, made
the decision to reassess learning outcomes
•Utilized Siena College learning outcomes,
previous ACE learning outcomes and
AAC&U values
•About a month and a half from start to
finish- with some additional editing and
wordsmithing that needed to take place
•Closely aligns with mission of the college
and mission of the center

16. INVOLVEMENT
● ACE Admin and Staff - All Directors and
Program Coordinators
● Process lead mostly by Director of
Programs, Allison Schultz, Director of
Academic Integration, Dr. Paul Thurston
and Assistant Director of ACE, Dr. Ruth
Kassel
● Shared with VPAA and AVPAA and Director
of Office of Institutional Effectiveness

17. SIENA OUTCOMES
• 1. Critical and creative reasoning. Explores problems/opportunities through
the analysis of evidence from a variety of sources and perspectives;
increases understanding by breaking complex topics into manageable
parts; and, combines ideas in ways that demonstrate creativity and
innovation.
• 2. Collaborative action. Applies knowledge, disciplinary expertise and
professional skills to collaboratively work with diverse partners to produce
meaningful, sustainable, and beneficial change in their local, regional, and
global communities.
• 3. Ethical reasoning. Recognizes ethical issues in a variety of settings;
considers the ramifications of actions to individuals, communities and the
environment; relies on Franciscan Concerns for diversity, heritage, justice,
and nature to make informed decisions and guide sustainable action.

18. SIENA OUTCOMES
• 4. Oral and written communication. Develops and expresses ideas in
professional settings which effectively increases knowledge, fosters
understanding, and promotes change in attitudes, values, beliefs, or
behaviors.
• 5. Teamwork and leadership. Contributes toward goals, interacts with
others in a respectful manner, manages processes, and motivates
others to achieve collaborative objectives in a variety of situations and
cultural contexts.
• 6. Reflection and lifelong learning. Explores and integrates knowledge
gained across a variety of experiences to understand preconceptions
and privileges, and how these shape perspective; applies knowledge
to improve competence and transfers learning to new situations.

19. “A Richmond education prepares
students for lives of purpose,
thoughtful inquiry, and responsible
leadership in a diverse world.
-University of Richmond Mission

20. PROCESS
Bottom-up / Grassroots
Process as important as the product
(culture of inquiry)
Iterative (What is the answer?)

21. PROCESS
Conducted data lab to identify big outcome categories (March 2012)
● People, privilege and diversity, self-efficacy, complexity,
context, action
Contracted with private firm to host focus groups (April 2012)
● Students and site supervisors participated
● Refined big outcome categories
Conducted data lab to draft student learning outcomes (May 2012)
● Small groups reviewed focus group summary report and
drafted three learning outcome statements
Finalized student learning outcomes and rubric (November 2012)

22. INVOLVEMENT
Intentional Impact Working Group (5 staff) drove
process
● Secured artifacts, planned data labs, contracted
focus groups, drafted SLOs and rubrics
CCE staff participated by providing feedback (9 staff)
● Produced artifacts, participated in data labs, drafted
initial outcomes, tested rubrics
Alan Newman Research conducted focus groups (24
students and 10 community partner staff)

23. UR OUTCOMES
1. The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement helps students
understand the ways that difference, privilege, and power work in
their own lives and in our society.
2. The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement broadens and deepens
students’ thinking about complex and interconnected social issues
affecting our world today.
3. The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement prepares students for
active citizenship. (civic identity, active participation, well-being)
4. The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement prepares students for
lives of active learning. (self-motivated, communication and
professional skills)

24. “
The mission of Warren Wilson College
is to provide a distinctive undergraduate
and graduate liberal arts education. Our
undergraduate education combines
academics, work, and service in a
learning community committed to
environmental responsibility,
cross-cultural understanding, and the
common good.
-Warren Wilson College Mission

25. PROCESS
• Collective agreement within CCE staff and its
advisory committee to shift to a new model; coupled
with the College’s strategic planning process
(2009-2010)
• Benchmarking study including interviews with 15
schools and literature review of models (Fall 2010)
• Surveys and focus groups with students, faculty,
staff, and community partners (2010-2011)
• Model development, member checks, and final
approval through Shared Governance (2010-11)
• Plan for Implementation (2011-12)

26. INVOLVEMENT
•Committee formerly known as the Service
Program Advisory Committee (now the
Community Engagement Advisory
Committee)
•Students, staff, faculty, and community
partners
•Final approval required from the various
elements of shared governance

27. WARREN WILSON
OUTCOMES
POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT AND GROWTH (PEGs)
Self-knowledge
○ Explore and clarify interests, passions, skills, and values.
Understanding of complex issues
○ Examine why a social/environmental issue exists and how service
addresses it.
Collaboration for community impact
○ Provide significant and substantial engagement with an issue
and/or partner agency that involves initiative and communication.
Commitment to community engagement
○ Demonstrate a sense of civic responsibility through intentional
engagement in the community.

28. PROCESS
• Requirement phased in each year, beginning
Fall 2012
• Annual assessment through student surveys after
each PEG and evaluations from community
partners
• Continuing to refine and build upon our
assessment so that both the requirement and
assessment are do-able

29. DATA LAB
Visit the four stations with the
common recipe card and make
notes about…
● Common ingredients
● Missing ingredients (for
distinctive flavor)
● Other insights

30. GROUP INSIGHTS
● What are we learning
about the development of
SLOs? (common, missing,
other?)
● What else do we wish we
knew about the
development of SLOs but
have yet to answer?

31. NEW RESOURCES
3 rubrics now for civic work...see Bonner
wiki
● Civic engagement (AAC&U)
● Civic knowledge (through Massachusetts)
● Civic values (through Massachusetts)
Foundation plans to work with a team of
Institutional Research representatives to
articulate common set (recommended)

32. GROUP WORK
Four groups…
● If your institution does not have student learning
outcomes (tied to CE)
● If your institution is in the process of crafting
student learning outcomes (tied to CE)
● If your institution has student learning outcomes
(tied to CE) but not yet assessed
● If your institution has student learning outcomes
(tied to CE) and has begun or done assessment