Overview of Learning Outcomes

To date, the Provost's Commission on Learning Outcomes Assessment has researched and formulated the following University-wide learning goals for UM undergraduate students which correspond to the essential elements of an undergraduate education as stated by Middle States Standard 12. These goals articulate the educational outcomes to which we as a University aspire for our graduates. The goals for these elements are not exhaustive, and not every student will necessarily master each goal. Finally, these goals must be understood as articulating with the goals and objectives of our General Education program and those of academic disciplines.

Critical Reasoning and Research Skills

Goal

University of Maryland undergraduates should learn and develop critical reasoning and research skills that they can apply successfully within a wide range and intersection of disciplines inside and outside of academia. Objectives - University of Maryland undergraduates should have the ability to:

1. Identify and analyze the issue(s), the position of the source, key assumptions, and contextual relevance.
2. Recognize and state pertinent perspectives, propositions, and positions, including the student's own, and formulate hypotheses and persuasive arguments.
3. Assess the quality of supporting information and provide additional evidence.
4. Appraise conclusions, implications, and consequences.
5. Frame significant research problems and assess strategies for investigation.
6. Apply various research methods to solve research problems.
7. Communicate research findings in appropriate written, oral and/or graphical formats.

Written and Oral Communication

Goal

Using standard English, University of Maryland undergraduates will communicate clearly and effectively in writing and orally for different audiences and purposes. Objectives - University of Maryland undergraduates should have the ability to:

1. Incorporate critical inquiry in their written and oral communication.
2. Demonstrate written and oral communication as processes involving invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing, and presentation.
3. Demonstrate proficiency in conventions of genre, format, documentation, grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation to produce a stylistically appropriate text for written and oral communication.
4. Demonstrate awareness of the audience, circumstance and purpose.

Science and Quantitative Reasoning

Goal

University of Maryland undergraduates should understand and be able to apply basic scientific and mathematical reasoning to their research efforts and critical analyses. Objectives - University of Maryland undergraduates should be able to:

1. Use the scientific method to develop and test hypotheses. This process should include analyzing existing data to formulate a hypothesis, defining criteria for testing the hypothesis, identifying criteria for data validation, and reformulating the hypothesis.
2. Compile and interpret mathematical information in a variety of formats including formulas, graphs, and tables.
3. Apply the methodology of scientific inquiry to other fields of study.
4. Assess the reliability of mathematical information using logic and arithmetical and statistical methods.

Information Literacy Skills

Goal

University of Maryland undergraduates will learn and develop information literacy skills that they can successfully apply within a wide range and intersection of disciplines inside and outside academia. Objectives - University of Maryland undergraduates should have the ability to:

1. Determine the extent of the information needed, and identify appropriate sources for information.
2. Access and manage needed information effectively and efficiently including, but not limited to: Using appropriate investigative methods and information retrieval systems; designing an effective search strategy, i.e. using keywords, Boolean operators, finding aids, etc.; retrieving information regardless of format; refining the search strategy if necessary; and, extracting, recording, and managing information and its sources.
3. Evaluate information and its sources critically, and assess the value added by new information in relation to prior knowledge.
4. Use information effectively to accomplish research goals.
5. Understand and respect legal and ethical issues that govern the use of information, and acknowledge information sources in a discipline-appropriate format.

Technology Fluency

Goal

University of Maryland undergraduates will be able to understand basic technologies and how these relate to their specific disciplines, and will be able to apply these technologies to their research and academic efforts. Objectives - University of Maryland Undergraduates will have the ability to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of technology.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the operation, application, and limitations of technologies important to the student's discipline.
3. Demonstrate the capacity to make reasoned and ethical judgments about the impact of technology on the individual, community and society.
4. Use technology (email, Internet, etc.) to: Locate information; communicate; use word-processing programs, spreadsheets, databases, and graphics as they are used in their disciplines; and, search databases to support written and oral presentations in their field.

Articulated University-wide Learning Goals have had an impact not anticipated when they were developed. Because these University-wide Goals guided early work in stating learning outcomes for individual degree programs across campus, they are apparent in these separate lists of outcomes as well as in rubrics used for assessing various courses and programs. For example, nearly every degree program has posted stated outcomes dealing with effective oral and written communication (see program goals below), as well as assessment instruments for those outcomes.