Report on the Survey on Mission, Aims and Objectives · 2013-05-20 · Report on the Survey on Mission, Aims and Objectives A survey conducted under the auspices of the Middle States

Report on the Survey on Mission,

Aims and Objectives

A survey conducted under the auspices of the Middle States Working Group on “Mission, Goals and Objectives”

in spring 2007

prepared by:

Kim Mooney Special Assistant to the President for Assessment and

Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning

and

Christine Zimmerman Director of Institutional Research

St. Lawrence University April 2008

Introduction

In spring 2007, as St. Lawrence was preparing its self-study for the decentennial

Middle States reaccreditation, the Middle States Standard 1: Mission and Goals1 working

group developed and administered with the assistance of the Office of Institutional

Research, a survey to explore perceptions of the university’s mission, aims and

objectives. Specifically, we investigated the degree to which the eight curricular aims and

other objectives (e.g., the ability to read, write, speak and listen well, an understanding of

diverse cultures, etc.) explicitly identified in the University Catalog are perceived by

students, faculty and administrative staff as central to our educational mission. The

survey was also designed to determine whether certain education outcomes not currently

accounted for in our stated mission, aims and objectives (e.g., understand and practice

academic integrity, evaluate critically a wide range of information sources, etc.) are

perceived as important components of our academic and co-curricular work with

students. Ultimately, the survey responses were expected to inform constructive

conversations in the academic affairs and student life divisions, as the institution is in the

process of redefining its general education program.

The first question on the survey asked respondents to review the university’s

mission statement, “The mission of St. Lawrence is to provide an inspiring and

demanding undergraduate education in the liberal arts to students selected for their

seriousness of purpose and intellectual promise.” Respondents were then asked to rate on

a five-point scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “disagree strongly” their perceptions

of the degree to which the university’s mission statement is an accurate reflection of the

1 Membership of the Middle States Standard 1 working group included Tom Coakley, Peg Cornwell, Marina Llorente, Lorie MacKenzie, Kim Mooney and Eve Stoddard.

2

http://www.stlawu.edu/ir/on_campus_access/surveys/missionsurveyform2007_web.pdf

educational experienced for the majority of St. Lawrence students and the degree to

which the mission statement accurately reflects the St. Lawrence student body.

The second part of the survey instrument provided participants with two lists of

educational outcomes: one representing dimensions of academic/ intellectual growth and

development (20 items) and the other representing dimensions of personal growth and

development (10 items). Nine of these 30 items represent our stated curricular objectives

while the remaining items were taken from other goals stated in our Aims and Objectives

narrative, learning goals widely addressed on campus but not articulated in our Aims and

Objectives, and educational outcomes advocated for in recent AAC&U literature.

Respondents were asked to indicate on a five-point scale, with options ranging from

“essential” to “not important at all”, the degree to which each of the learning objectives is

important for students to achieve through their liberal arts undergraduate experience.

Finally, respondents were asked to review the full list of 30 educational outcomes

and to select the top five outcomes they consider as most essential for a liberal arts

education. All respondents were also invited to offer other educational outcomes that they

thought should have been included in the list provide any thoughts or observations about

the educational objectives.

For purposes of this report, our focus is primarily on the discussion of the

curricular outcomes. We have included a brief discussion of the personal growth and

development objectives toward the end.

Survey Administration and Response Rates

The survey was administered to the three constituencies over a four week period

in late February/March, 2007. Both a web and a paper and pencil version of the survey

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were produced. While faculty and staff completed the web survey, most students were

targeted with the paper and pencil survey. A variety of approaches were used to collect

data from the student body; methods differed depending on the class year we were

targeting. For first-year students, we had the opportunity to tag the mission survey onto

another survey (our in-house College Satisfaction survey (CSQ)), a survey which is

administered at the end of class in all first year seminars. This approach allowed us not to

burden students with too many surveys and assisted with collecting very broad feedback

from first-year students. However, it was more difficult to reach upper class students. The

director of the Leadership Academy and advisor to ODK recruited members of the

leadership honorary to complete the survey and asked Sophomore Council members to

set up a table at the Student Center to solicit additional student participation. Finally, a

hyperlink to the web-based survey was emailed to the President of Thelmo who asked all

non-first year student representatives to complete the survey, which yielded an additional

14 responses.

Faculty and staff received personalized invitations through a joint email from the

Director of Institutional Research and the Chair of the Middle States Steering Committee,

to complete the web-based version of the survey.

A total of 493 students, 121 faculty and 92 administrative staff members

completed the questionnaire for an overall survey sample of 24% of the student body,

54% of the faculty, and 38% of the administrative staff. Tables 1 shows some basic

demographics for each of the constituencies.

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Table 1. Composition of the survey sample by sex, race/ethnicity and student class year.

student faculty stafftotal responses 493 121 92

by sex male 52% 48% 38% female 48% 50% 59% unidentified 1% 2% 3%

by race/ethnicity white 87% 83% 88% person of color 9% 10% 4% other 1% 2% 3% unidentified 3% 4% 4%

by class year First-Year 77% Sophomore 13% Junior 6% Senior 4%

The sample is relatively representative by gender and race of the campus

population as a whole. However, the reader needs to keep in mind that responses from the

students over-represent first-year students and student leaders among upper-class

students. Nevertheless, student responses provide some very interesting insights.

Results

The first question posed in the survey asked respondents to indicate their level of

agreement with the degree to which the St. Lawrence mission statement accurately

reflects students’ educational experiences and the degree to which that statement

accurately represents the St. Lawrence student body (Figures 1 and 2).

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Figure 1.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Students Faculty Staff

disagree strongly

disagree somewhat

neither agree nordisagreeagree somewhat

strongly agree

The Mission Stateement is an accurate refelction of the educational experience for the majority of SLU Students.

Figure 2.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Students Faculty Staff

disagree strongly

disagree somewhat

neither agree nordisagreeagree somewhat

strongly agree

The Mission Statement is an accurate relection of the SLU Student Body

Initial Observations:

• The majority of students, faculty and staff agree with the accuracy of the mission

statement.

• The level of agreement of faculty to the second question, whether the mission

statement is an accurate reflection of the student body, is lower than of students

and staff, with 1 out of 4 faculty disagreeing “strongly” or “somewhat”.

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One of the central questions for the Middle States self-study involved the degree

to which our current curricular objectives are perceived as meaningful and appropriate by

campus constituencies, Table 2 and Figure 3 represent the percentage of students, faculty

and staff who rated as “essential” each of the eight St. Lawrence curricular objectives

from the University Catalog.

Table 2. Percentage of students, faculty and staff rating each of the eight St. Lawrence curricular objectives as “essential” to a liberal education. student faculty staff

read and write well1 62% 93% 96%

think critically2 59% 91% 84%speak and listen well 60% 80% 89%understand in depth at least one field or discipline 48% 55% 48%a personal ethic of considered values 45% 55% 51%understand diverse cultures 38% 48% 46%understand the natural environment 24% 41% 27%understand scientific principles and methods 23% 29% 13%expansion of aesthetic sensibility 16% 26% 16%

1 Although they appear separately and are therefore counted here as separate items, “read and write” and “speak and listen” well are combined as one objective in our legislation and publications. 2In its entirety, the curricular objective reads: The ability to conduct research and to think critically. Figure 3.

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Endorsed SLU's Eight Curricular Objectives as "Essential"

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

read and writewell

think critically speak andlisten well

understand indepth at leastone field ordiscipline

a personalethic of

consideredvalues

understanddiversecultures

understandthe natural

environment

understandscientific

principles andmethods

expansion ofaestheticsensibility

Faculty Staff Students


• Although faculty and staff endorse more items as “essential” than students do, the

rank order of importance is nearly the same for each constituency.

• All three constituencies define the first 3 learning goals (read and write well, think

critically, speak and listen well) as most “essential” to a liberal education, with

endorsements of 80% or higher among faculty and staff and 60% or higher among

students. Prior administrations of the HERI Faculty Survey have also confirmed this

finding.

• The next 3 items on this list (understand in depth one field or discipline, a personal

ethic of considered values, understand diverse cultures) forms almost a “second tier

of essential learning outcomes” with support from approximately half of all

constituencies.

• Understanding of the natural environment, scientific principles & methods, and

expansion of aesthetic sensibility are the learning goals considered “least essential”

by all constituencies.

Another purpose of the spring 2007 mission, aims and objectives survey was to

explore perceptions of other liberal education learning outcomes in order to provide the

faculty with a starting point to discuss curricular objectives that may better represent our

current ideals. Therefore, additional items in the survey instrument either represent

emerging curricular objectives at St. Lawrence or learning objectives articulated in

various documents at the national level.

Table 3 shows the mean ratings of the top eight educational outcomes for the

faculty out of the 30 listed on the survey; only three of them are among the University’s

eight stated curricular objectives. The five remaining educational priorities as rated by the

faculty represent outcomes that either may appear elsewhere in our general aims and

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objectives statement (e.g., integrate knowledge) or are endorsed by AAC&U as important

outcomes for a liberal education (e.g., understand and practice academic integrity).

Table 3. Top eight educational outcomes for St. Lawrence faculty Percent rating outcomes as “essential”.

1. read and write well 93% 2. think critically 91% 3. understand and practice academic integrity 88% 4. speak and listen well 80% 5. integrate knowledge 76% 6. engage in and respect the free discussion of opinions 74% 7. demonstrate respectfulness toward practices and

beliefs of diverse peoples 66%

8. evaluate critically a wide range of information sources 65% Initial Observations:

• Items 1 and 2 (read and write, think critically) are from our A&O Statement.

• Items 5, 6 and 7 (integrate knowledge, free discussion of opinions, respectfulness

toward practice and beliefs of diverse peoples) reflect our broader A&O language.

• Items 3 and 8 (academic integrity, evaluate critically information sources)are

currently not included in any of our A&O language.

Because we anticipated the results of this survey informing future faculty-wide

discussions about our distribution requirement approach to general education, we also

wanted to know which of the 30 possible learning outcomes “essential to undergraduate

education” receive universal support from the faculty and which receive more division-

specific endorsement. Table 4 shows mean ratings by academic division based on a five-

point scale.

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Table 4. Mean ratings of academic/intellectual growth and development outcomes for faculty by academic division.

Sciences Social

Sciences Arts&Humanities

Interdisciplinary

# Respondents (37) (17) (49) (13) read and write well 4.9 5.0 4.9 4.9think critically 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.8understand and practice academic integrity 4.9 4.7 4.8 4.8speak and listen well 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8integrate knowledge 4.8 4.8 4.7 4.8evaluate critically a wide range of information sources

4.5 4.8 4.7 4.3

demonstrate respectfulness toward practices and beliefs of diverse peoples

4.6 4.5 4.7 4.5

demonstrate breadth of knowledge 4.4 4.4 4.6 4.4understand in depth at least one field or discipline

4.6 4.5 4.3 4.4

ability to solve real-world problems 4.3 4.6 4.4 4.4understand diverse cultures 4.1 4.3 4.6 4.1understand the natural environment 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.4apply quantitative reasoning as a means of problem solving

4.5 4.2 4.0 4.0

understand and practice environmental awareness

4.2 3.9 4.2 4.2

understand scientific principles and methods 4.2 4.2 4.0 3.9demonstrate&apply mathematical skills 4.3 4.5 4.0 3.8expansion of aesthetic sensibility 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.0gain&express knowledge through technology 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.7read, write, speak and listen in a second language

3.1 4.0 4.2 3.5

express ideas through creative performance 3.1 3.3 3.7 3.2 scale: 5=essential, 4=important, 3=neutral, 2=somewhat important, 1=not important at all; gray-shading: highlights large differences between divisions


• The top 5 items (read and write well, think critically, academic integrity, speak and

listen well, integrate knowledge) receive universal support across the divisions.

• Quantitative reasoning is rated as “most essential” among science faculty, yet

“demonstrating and applying mathematical skills”(the statement that is from our

A&O) is rated highest among social science faculty.

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• Similar differences in ratings can be found for diversity: “demonstrate respectfulness

toward practices and beliefs of diverse peoples” is rated among the top essential

learning outcomes in each division; however, our own A&O “understand diverse

cultures” is rated high in the arts & humanities and much lower in other divisions.

• Creative performance is rated lowest among all 20 items across all divisions,

although considered of higher importance among arts & humanities faculty.

Mean ratings of the academic outcomes from administrative staff very closely to

the ratings of faculty, with a few exceptions that are highlighted in table 5.

Table 5. Significant differences in mean ratings of academic/intellectual growth and development outcomes between faculty and staff.

Faculty Staff gain & express knowledge through technology

3.8 4.2

ability to solve real-world problems 4.4 4.6 understand scientific principles and methods 4.1 3.8 all items are statistically significant at p<0.05

To better understand how students perceive the value of our current and our

potential learning outcomes and to gain a sense of how perceptions may be inclined to

change over the course of a four-year education, we provide Table 6, a summary of mean

responses for first-year vs. upper-class students.

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Table 6. Comparison of mean responses for first-year vs. upper-class students.

first-year Students

Upper-class students

sig.

# Respondents (378) (115) read and write well 4.5 4.7 *** speak and listen well 4.5 4.7 *** think critically 4.4 4.7 *** integrate knowledge 4.4 4.6 *** demonstrate respectfulness toward practices and beliefs of diverse peoples

4.4 4.5

understand and practice academic integrity 4.3 4.5 *** understand in depth at least one field or discipline

4.4 4.4

ability to solve real-world problems 4.3 4.4 demonstrate breadth of knowledge 4.2 4.3 evaluate critically a wide range of information sources

4.2 4.2

understand diverse cultures 4.1 4.2 apply quantitative reasoning as a means of problem solving

4.1 4.1

gain and express knowledge through technology

3.9 4.0

understand and practice environmental awareness

3.8 4.0

understand the natural environment 3.8 3.9 understand scientific principles and methods 3.8 3.8 demonstrate and apply mathematical skills 3.7 3.7 expansion of aesthetic sensibility 3.8 3.6 express ideas through creative performance 3.7 3.5 *** read, write, speak and listen in a second language

3.6 3.5

*** statistically significant at p<0.05


• Data suggests that students, as they mature, change in their perspective of what

comprises “essential” learning outcomes of liberal education.

• For the listing of 20 academic outcomes, 12 ratings increased (5 were statistically

significant), 5 stayed the same, and 3 declined (1 was statistically significant).

• Ratings from upper class students move closer to the ratings of faculty and staff.

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• It is somewhat surprising, though, that student ratings of importance only declined

for the arts “aesthetic sensibility and creative performance” and for “read, write,

speak and listen in a second language”.

Finally, with Table 7 and Figure 4, we want to briefly touch on the rating of the

10 items that represent the dimensions of personal growth and development.

Table 7. Mean rating of the 10 personal growth and development items.

students faculty staff self-confidence 4.5 4.1 4.4 self-knowledge 4.5 4.3 4.4 emotional & physical wellness 4.4 4.2 4.2 moral self-discipline 4.4 4.2 4.4 enthusiasm for life-long learning 4.3 4.5 4.4 engage in and respect the free discussion of opinions

4.3 4.7 4.6

a personal ethic of considered values 4.3 4.5 4.5 collaborative approach to problem-solving 4.2 4.1 4.3 commitment to social responsibility and citizenship

4.1 4.3 4.2

engagement in community service 3.8 3.8 3.9 scale: 5=essential, 4=important, 3=neutral, 2=somewhat important, 1=not important at all; gray-shading: most essential

Figure 4. Personal growth/development outcomes – percent rated as “essential”.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

self-confidence

self-know ledge

emotional &physicalwellness

moral self-discipline

enthusiasmfor life-long

learning

engage inand respect

the freediscussion of

opinions

a personalethic of

consideredvalues

collaborativeapproach to

problem-solving

commitmentto social

responsibilityand

citizenship

engagementin community

service

StudentsFacultyStaff

Endorsed Personal Growth/Development Items as "Essential"


• Students and faculty and staff differ in their ratings of the personal

growth/development items they consider “essential” for a liberal education.

• To students, development of “self-confidence” (rank 2 out of all 30 items) and “self-

knowledge” (rank 4 out of 30) are equally essential as the ability to read and write

and speak and listen well. Faculty consider the development of self-confidence as

one of the least essential learning goals (rank 25 out of 30).

• Less important to students, but of high importance to faculty and staff is the “freedom

of discussion of opinions.”

• Students rate “commitment to social responsibility and citizenship” and

“engagement in community service” as the least essential personal growth items.

However, within the scale of 30 items, these two are considered by students as more

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essential than the development of math skills, expansion of aesthetic sensibility/

creative performance and second language skills.

• Compared to students, faculty rate “commitment to social responsibility and

citizenship” higher and “engagement in community service” lower relative to other

learning outcomes. Staff endorsement for both of these items is relatively low.

Discussion

It is fair to say that the results of this survey provide relevant and timely insights

about the perceptions of our educational aims and objectives by St. Lawrence students,

faculty and staff. It is also fair to say that there are a number of limitations to the survey’s

design and administration that restrain us from overanalyzing the results as presented in

this report. One limitation of the data is the uneven response rate of students. Because

first-year students were asked to complete the survey of mission in connection with the

administration of the CSQ, their collective voice is overrepresented while the voices of

upper class students are underrepresented. Also, the survey results emphasize what

campus constituencies perceive as “essential” learning outcomes and do not incorporate

or explore the other rating categories. We anticipated an even more revealing sense of

curricular priorities by asking respondents “to rank the top 5 learning goals” but found

that this questions was too limiting and the results not clear enough for analysis and

interpretation. Finally, we are not sure why similar items generated different responses

(e.g., “demonstrate and apply mathematical skills” (our A&O language) vs. “apply

quantitative reasoning as a means of problem solving”). Despite the survey’s limitations,

there are a number of outcomes that offer perspectives on our approach to general

education that give us pause and opportunity for substantive faculty-wide discussions.

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Appendix St. L

awrence U

niversity Survey on Mission:

Thirty E

ducational Outcom

es

% Rating these as "Essential"Students Faculty Staff Students Faculty Staff Students Faculty Staff

read&write well 4.6 4.9 5 62% 93% 96% 1 1 1think critically 4.5 4.9 4.8 59% 91% 84% 5 2 3understand and practice academic integrity 4.3 4.8 4.8 44% 88% 82% 13 3 4speak and listen well 4.5 4.8 4.9 60% 80% 89% 3 4 2integrate knowledge 4.5 4.7 4.8 54% 76% 78% 6 5 5engage in and respect the free discussion of opinions 4.3 4.7 4.6 45% 74% 61% 14 6 8evaluate critically a wide range of information sources 4.2 4.6 4.4 38% 65% 54% 18 7 11

St. Lawrence University Spring 2007 Mission Survey for the 30 Educational Outcomes

Rank order based on MeanMean Ratings

p pdiverse peoples 4.4 4.6 4.6 56% 66% 66% 8 8 7enthusiasm for life-long learning 4.3 4.5 4.4 47% 55% 45% 12 9 13demonstrate breadth of knowledge 4.3 4.5 4.3 41% 50% 44% 16 10 16understand in depth at least one field or discipline 4.4 4.5 4.4 48% 55% 48% 10 11 15a personal ethic of considered values 4.3 4.5 4.5 45% 55% 51% 15 11 9ability to solve real-world problems 4.4 4.4 4.6 50% 45% 69% 11 13 6understand diverse cultures 4.1 4.3 4.3 38% 48% 46% 19 14 17commitment to social responsibility and citizenship 4.1 4.3 4.2 36% 44% 34% 20 15 23self-knowledge 4.5 4.3 4.4 57% 42% 48% 4 16 12understand the natural environment 3.8 4.3 4.1 24% 41% 27% 25 17 24moral self-discipline 4.4 4.2 4.4 50% 40% 50% 9 18 10emotional & physical wellness 4.4 4.2 4.2 53% 38% 37% 7 19 21apply quantiative reasoning as a means of problem solving 4.1 4.2 4.3 31% 35% 39% 21 20 18understand and practice environmental awareness 3.9 4.1 4.2 23% 36% 34% 23 21 22understand scientific principles and methods 3.8 4.1 3.8 23% 29% 13% 26 22 28demonstrate&apply mathematical skills 3.7 4.1 4 15% 29% 22% 29 23 25collaborative approach to problem-solving 4.2 4.1 4.3 38% 27% 38% 17 24 19self-confidence 4.5 4.1 4.4 61% 23% 44% 2 25 14expansion of aestetic sensibility 3.7 4 3.8 16% 26% 16% 27 26 27gain&express knowledge through technology 4 3.8 4.2 28% 17% 33% 22 27 20engagement in community service 3.8 3.8 3.9 25% 16% 19% 24 28 26read, write, speak and listen in a second language 3.6 3.8 3.5 20% 21% 11% 30 29 29express ideas through creative performance 3.7 3.4 3.4 20% 9% 10% 28 30 30rating none of the items above as "essential" 14% 2% 0%total responses 493 121 92Scale: 1= Not important at all; 2=Somewhat unimportant; 3=Neutral; 4=Very Important; 5=Essential**italics: personal growth and development outcomes; regular font: academic/intellevtual growth and development outcomes**blue print: outcomes that corresponds to St. Lawrence University's eight curricular aims**green shaded cells: outcomes with an endorsement as "essential" of 50% or greater

The purpose of this brief survey is to collect feedback from students, faculty and staff on on the University's mission, aims & objectives. The data collected will be used in our Middle States Self-Study Report. This survey is voluntary and will take you only 5-10 minutes to complete. You may choose not to respond to any or all items. Your responses are anonymous and the data will be kept strictly confidential. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses.

Remember to click on "submit" at the end of this survey to register your responses.

Please read the St. Lawrence University mission statement below and indicate your level of agreement with questions 1 and 2.

1. The mission statement is an accurate reflection of the educational experience for the majority of St. Lawrence students.

Strongly agree

Agree somewhat

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree somewhat

Disagree strongly

2. The mission statement is an accurate representation of the St. Lawrence student body.

Strongly agree

Agree somewhat

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree somewhat

Disagree strongly

There are two lists of educational outcomes below: one represents dimensions of intellectual growth and development and the other represents dimensions of personal growth and development. Please indicate the degree to which you perceive each objective as important for students to achieve through their liberal arts undergraduate experience.

3. Academic/Intellectual Growth and Development Outcomes

Survey on St. Lawrence University's Mission, Aims & Objectives Spring 2007

I. Mission Statement

"The mission of St. Lawrence is to provide an inspiring and demanding undergraduate education in the liberal arts to students selected for their seriousness of purpose and intellectual promise."

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II. Educational Outcomes

EssentialVery

importantNeutral

Somewhat unimportant

Not important at all

Read and write well

Page 1MiddleStates-Mission

3/26/2007file://C:\Documents and Settings\czim\Local Settings\Temp\RWStmp_src.html

4. Personal Growth and Development Outcomes

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Demonstrate and apply mathematical skills nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Expansion of aesthetic sensibility nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand and practice environmental awareness nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand and practice academic integrity nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Integrate knowledge nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Speak and listen well nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Apply quantitative reasoning as a means of problem solving nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Gain and express knowledge through technology nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand the natural environment nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Think critically nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

EssentialVery

importantNeutral



Demonstrate respectfulness toward practices and beliefs of diverse peoples nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand in depth at least one field or discipline nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Ability to solve real-world problems nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Evaluate critically a wide range of information sources (e.g., web, digital, print media) nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Express ideas through creative performance nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand scientific principles and methods nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Read, write, speak and listen in a second language nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Demonstrate breadth of knowledge nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Understand diverse cultures nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

EssentialVery

importantNeutral



Self-knowledge nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Self-confidence nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Moral self-discipline nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

A personal ethic of considered values nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Collaborative approach to problem-solving nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Enthusiasm for life-long learning nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Emotional and physical wellness nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Engagement in community service nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj



5. Please review both lists again and select the top 5 educational outcomes you consider as most essential for a liberal arts education.

(Please check only 5 outcomes.) Read and write well

Demonstrate and apply mathematical skills

Expansion of aestetic sensibility

Understand and practice environmental awareness

Understand and practice academic integrity

Integrate knowledge

Speak and listen well

Apply quantitative reasoning as a means of problem solving

Gain and express knowledge through technology

Understand the natural environment

Think critically

Demonstrate respectfulness toward practices and beliefs of diverse peoples

Understand in depth at least one field or discipline

Ability to solve real-world problems

Evaluate critically a wide range of information sources (e.g., web, digital, print media)

Express ideas through creative performance

Understand scientific principles and methods

Read, write, speak and listen in a second language

Demonstrate breadth of knowledge

Understand diverse cultures

Self-knowledge

Self-confidence

Moral self-discipline

A personal ethic of considered values

Collaborative approach to problem-solving

Enthusiasm for life-long learning

Emotional and physical wellness

Engagement in community service

Commitment to social responsibility and citizenship

Engage in and respect the free discussion of opinions 6. Are there educational outcomes you consider as essential that are not included above? If so, please list them below.

Commitment to social responsibility and citizenship nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

Engage in and respect the free discussion of opinions nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj nmlkj

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7. If you have any other thoughts or observations about the educational objectives, please feel free to comment below.

7. Your sex:

8. Your race/ethnicity:

9. What is your status at St. Lawrence?

Student

Faculty

Staff

Other (Please explain)

9. If Student, what is your class year?

10. If Student, what is the academic division of your declared (or intended major?) Please check all that apply.

Sciences (e.g. Math, Bio, Chem, Psych)

Social Sciences (e.g. Anth, Econ, Govt, Soc)

Humanities (e.g. Eng, Span, Arts, PCA)

Interdisciplinary (e.g. Envs, Gndr St, GS)

Still undecided

Don't know division (please list your major below)

11. If Faculty or Staff, what is your division/department of employment? Sciences

Social Sciences

Arts and Humanities

Interdisciplinary

Library

Academic Support

Admissions

Advancement/Development

Intercollegiate Athletics&Recreation

Student Life

Other

III. Background Information

Male nmlkj Female nmlkj

White/caucasian nmlkj Person of color nmlkj Other nmlkji

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