Introduction to Bonner High-Impact Initiative Learning Outcomes, used at the High-Impact Institute Summer 2013; introduces key learning outcomes, as adapted from rubrics for civic engagement, integrative learning, and creative thinking, that may provide a set of shared student learning outcomes for high-impact projects connected to community engagement.

1. Like Bonner, High-Impact is
about three types of change
Students
Institutions
Communities

2. three types of change
Level of
Work
Goals for Individual
Development
Goals for Campus
Development
Goals for
Community
Development
Macro
Community Leaders
Campus as Citizen
System Change
Centers of
Engagement
Capacity-Building
for Organizations
& Collaboratives
Staff & Faculty
Leaders
Engaged Teaching
Evidence-based
Programs &
projects
Student Leaders
Engaged Learning
Direct Service
Campus-Wide
Leaders
Meso
Micro
Students
Institutions
Communities

3. This morning, focus on a key
part of why we are here
Student Learning and Success

4. Institutional Mission Statements
What do we have in common?

5. Mission: Berea College
This environment frees persons to be active learners, workers, and servers
as members of the academic community and as citizens of the world. The
Berea experience nurtures intellectual, physical, aesthetic, emotional, and
spiritual potentials and with those the power to make meaningful
commitments and translate them into action. To achieve this purpose,
Berea College commits itself:
•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.

6. Mission: Siena College
Siena College is a learning community advancing the ideals of
a liberal arts education, rooted in its identity as a Franciscan
and Catholic institution.
!
As a learning community, Siena is committed to a studentcentered education emphasizing dynamic faculty-student
interaction. 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.

7. Mission: TCNJ
The College of New Jersey, founded in 1855 as the New Jersey State
Normal School, is primarily an undergraduate and residential college with
targeted graduate programs. TCNJ’s exceptional students, teacherscholars, staff, alumni, and board members constitute a diverse
community of learners, dedicated to free inquiry and open exchange, to
excellence in teaching, creativity, scholarship, and citizenship, and to the
transformative power of education in a highly competitive institution. The
College prepares students to excel in their chosen fields and to create,
preserve and transmit knowledge, arts, and wisdom. Proud of its public
service mandate to educate leaders of New Jersey and the nation, the
College will be a national exemplar in the education of those who seek to
sustain and advance the communities in which they live.

8. Mission: Washburn
Washburn University enriches the lives of students
by providing opportunities for them to develop
and to realize their intellectual, academic, and
professional potential, leading to becoming
productive and responsible citizens. We are
committed to excellence in teaching, scholarly
work, quality academic and professional programs,
and high levels of faculty-student interaction. We
develop and engage in relationships to enhance
educational experiences and our community.

9. !
!
In what ways can
your institution’s
mission help propel
community
engagement and
civic learning?

10. Liberal Education and
America’s Promise
Report, 2007

11. In its report, the council argued that we
must fulfill the promises of education for all
students who aspire to college, especially
those for whom higher education is a route,
perhaps the only possible route, to a better
future. Based on extensive input from both
educators and employers, the
recommendations in the report respond to
the new global challenges students will face
in their roles as citizens and as workers.
- Ashley Finley,
Making Progress (2013)

12. Surveys and
reports of
employers
also suggest
they want
to hire
individuals
with these
skills

13. A Seven Year Longitudinal
Assessment conducted of
the Bonner Scholar Program
called the Student Impact
Survey suggested that:
!
•
•
•
•
•
100% of graduates stay
civically engaged
Four years matter
Diversity contributes to
program success
Dialogue across
difference is major factor
for program’s impact
Role of mentors is
another major factor for
program’s impact

14. The 2010 Bonner Alumni
Survey suggested that:
!
•
•
•
•
Graduates are showing
characteristics of civicminded graduates and
professionals
Program impacted their
career and work choices
Structured and
unstructured reflection
magnified gains and
impacts
Program impacted their
sense of well-being
(equanimity)
!
!

15. High-Impact is also about
taking proven practices to scale
leverage our learning and
experience

16. For Discussion:
• What are the external
sources of guidance and
validation (AAC&U,
CUR, NASPA) about
student learning and
outcomes?
• Who is at the table?
• How might you leverage
external validators?
!

17. High-Impact Practices
•Generated from the Liberal Education and
America’s Promise (LEAP) Initiative, a
project of the American Association of
Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
•Proven to be effective with higher than
expected student learning and success
•This is especially so for students for
students who start further behind
•All of them can connect with community
engagement

18. High-Impact Practices
• first year seminars
• common intellectual experiences
• place-based education
• learning communities
• writing-intensive courses
• collaborative assignments & projects
• undergraduate research
• diversity/global learning
• internships & project-based learning
• service-learning & community-based learning
• capstone courses & projects
• deliberative dialogues

19. Data from the National Survey of Student Engagement
(NSSE) provide a detailed look at the multidimensional
effects of high-impact practices on student learning.
These practices—including learning communities, firstyear seminars, service-learning, undergraduate research,
and capstone experiences—have been found to
positively affect gains across several broad
dimensions of learning, such as deep learning and
“gains in practical competence.”
!
- Ashley Finley,
Making Progress (2013)

20. Moreover, the NSSE data suggest that participation in
high-impact practices may be even more beneficial to
students from historically underserved populations,
particularly students of color. In terms of both grade
point average and retention, these students made
greater gains than their traditionally more advantaged
counterparts. A recent analysis of NSSE data across
three public state university systems yielded similar
findings in terms of the broad impact of these practices
on learning gains for students overall.
!
- Ashley Finley,
Making Progress (2013)

21. • The majority of students do not currently participate
in high-impact practices.
• Little is actually known about the impact of these
practices on particular learning outcomes
for underserved students. Research for these
students is predominantly focused on grade point
average or rates of retention, persistence, and
graduation
• Third, campuses must begin to more intentionally link
student participation in high-impact practices with
institutional learning outcomes.
!
!
!
- Ashley Finley,
Making Progress (2013)

22. Caryn McTighe Musil
• Senior Scholar and Director of Civic Learning and
Democracy at the Association of American
Colleges and Universities
• Chief author of A Crucible Moment
• Leads multi-project national initiative, the Civic
Learning and Democratic Engagement project, in
which the Bonner Foundation participates
• Faculty member in Women’s Studies

23. Outcome-Based
Project Design
• Using the VALUE (Valid Assessment of
Learning in Undergraduate Education)
Rubrics
• Show you a process
• Model it, using the knowledge of your
group

25. Pick 1 of 4 HIPs
1.First-Year Seminar
2.Learning Community
3.Service-Learning Course
4.Capstone
!

26. Try it out using Civic
Engagement Rubric p.7
1. Diversity of Communities and
Cultures
2. Analysis of Knowledge
3. Civic Identity and Commitment
4. Civic Communication
5. Civic Action and Reflection
6. Civic Contexts/Structures

27. Try it out using Civic
Engagement Rubric p.7
Diversity of
Communities and
Cultures
Analysis of
Knowledge
Civic Identity and
Commitment
Capstone
4
Demonstrates evidence of
adjustment in own attitudes and
beliefs because of working
within and learning from
diversity of communities and
cultures. Promotes others'
engagement with diversity.
Milestones
3
Reflects on how own
attitudes and beliefs are
different from those of
other cultures and
communities. Exhibits
curiosity about what can
be learned from diversity
of communities and
cultures.
Connects and extends
Analyzes knowledge (facts,
knowledge (facts, theories, etc.) theories, etc.) from one's
from one's own academic
own academic study/field/
study/field/discipline to civic
discipline making relevant
engagement and to one's own connections to civic
participation in civic life,
engagement and to one's
politics, and government.
own participation in civic
life, politics, and
government.
Benchmark
2
1
Has awareness that own
Expresses attitudes and
attitudes and beliefs are
beliefs as an individual,
different from those of
from a one-sided view. Is
other cultures and
indifferent or resistant to
communities. Exhibits little what can be learned from
curiosity about what can diversity of communities
be learned from diversity and cultures.
of communities and
cultures.
Begins to connect
Begins to identify
knowledge (facts, theories, knowledge (facts, theories,
etc.) from one's own
etc.) from one's own
academic study/field/
academic study/field/
discipline to civic
discipline that is relevant
engagement and to tone's to civic engagement and
own participation in civic to one's own participation
life, politics, and
in civic life, politics, and
government.
government.
Provides evidence of
experience in civic-engagement
activities and describes what
she/he has learned about her or
himself as it relates to a
reinforced and clarified sense of
civic identity and continued
commitment to public action.
Evidence suggests
involvement in civicengagement activities is
generated from
expectations or course
requirements rather than
from a sense of civic
identity.
Provides evidence of
experience in civicengagement activities and
describes what she/he has
learned about her or
himself as it relates to a
growing sense of civic
identity and commitment.
Provides little evidence of
her/his experience in civicengagement activities and
does not connect
experiences to civic
identity.

28. Trying it out...
•read through the rubric
•make sense of it
•share examples (especially
students)
•discuss what outcomes you
want to aim for and why

29. If you get done...
•Try it for another rubric!
Rubric Areas
Civic Engagement
!
Integrative Learning
!
Creative Thinking

30. Integrative Learning
1. Connections to Experience
2. Connections to Discipline
3. Transfer
4. Integrated Communication
5. Reflection and Self-Assessment
!
!

31. Creative Thinking
1. Acquiring Competencies
2. Taking Risks
3. Solving Problems
4. Embracing Contradictions
5. Innovative Thinking
6. Connecting, Synthesizing,
Transforming
!

32. Long run
•developing measurement
plans
•authentic evidence
•e-portfolios and
presentations of work
•partners, staff, peers, and
faculty involvement