Learning Outcomes for the 21st Century

A new book by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, “Improving Quality of American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century”, analyzes the ideas of faculty from 6 most common college majors  - biology, business, communications, economics, history, and sociology -  on what they consider the major competencies in their disciplines. Here you can see a list of such learning outcomes for each of these disciplines.  In their insightful interview to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the authors call on faculty to discuss these competencies among themselves, and even share and get feedback from their students. As they say, “We think that this is particularly useful today when people are asking questions about what the inherent value is of pursuing a particular course of study.” Do these learning outcomes apply to how you teach?  Share with us!