Graduate Goals and Learning Outcomes

Students enrolled in advanced degree programs will demonstrate their achievement of the following learning goals/outcomes as part of their degree work. Demonstration of the goals may take multiple forms: the bullet points under each proposed goal suggest but do not limit possibilities for meeting the goal. Students may tag existing degree requirements/experiences as satisfying these Fredonia graduate program goals or specify other ways they have satisfied the goals via an electronic portfolio that may be part of their degree requirements or in a separate portfolio.

The intent of the goals is to connect the graduate programs to the overall mission of the campus, to foster greater interaction among students from diverse programs, and to enhance students’ intellectual, interdisciplinary, international and experiential dimensions in preparation for their professionalization and readiness for 21st-century careers.

Proposed implementation: Fall 2016. During Fall 2015, programs would be asked to develop simple checklist/maps connecting these goals to their own program-specific goals. Coordinators would be asked to add a statement to their annual reports for Graduate Council indicating how students made progress achieving the goals.  

Discipline-Specific Work

• Build on foundational knowledge attained through previous academic work
• Gain advanced knowledge and training in a given discipline
• Prepare for professional employment or advanced study in one’s field

Research & Creative Activities

• Practice effective use of written, oral and digital literacies in order to communicate effectively in a variety of professional settings
  • Participate fully in a society of scholars and professionals through creative and intellectual discovery and creation of new knowledge and practices
  • Develop the means for lifelong practice of collaborative learning and mentoring

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

• Recognize the interconnectedness among students in other disciplines
• Recognize the interconnectedness between academic work in other disciplines and one’s own
• Make relevant connections between community events (local, regional, global) and one’s creative and intellectual academic work

Experiential Learning

• Gain experience in a profession through internships, service learning, practica, fieldwork, clinic, graduate assistantships, and other experiential opportunities
• Practice advanced skills and knowledge in a professional setting such as conferences, performances, classrooms and online professional venues
• Establish meaningful connections between one’s classroom and non-classroom based work

Professionalism and Ethics

• Develop a sense of professional conduct informed by the ethical codes and practices of one’s discipline/professional program
• Practice ethical decision-making in one’s academic and professional work
• Serve as a model of integrity to peers, undergraduates, and the community

International Awareness and Engagement

• Actively cultivate understanding of the global scope of one’s professional and scholarly field
• Participate in learning opportunities to develop greater international awareness
• Develop opportunities for others to engage in global learning

Critical Citizenship and Applied Learning

• Build on foundational notions of public service and civic engagement gained through previous academic work and experiences
• Tangibly connect one’s advanced academic work to issues relevant to local, regional, and global communities through socially significant applications of learning
• Mentor others in recognizing the dynamic social implications of one’s professional work and research

Effective Fall 2016