Processes (P)

1P10 Aligning Co-Curricular Goals with Curricular Learning Objectives

The Strategic Plan provides a framework for aligning curricular and co-curricular development goals with curricular learning objectives. Western attempts to involve all students in service activity and applied learning prior to graduation (Strategic Plan, 24-25). Organizational restructuring combined Academic Affairs and Student Affairs with the goal of removing any boundaries between students’ academic lives and their personal and social lives. Administrators, staff, and faculty have noted a dramatic increase in communication, shared governance, and planning between the academic and student affairs areas as a consequence of this reorganization.

The AQIP Action Project in Applied Learning focused on increasing the number of students involved in credit and non-credit curricular and co-curricular applied learning experiences. One outcome of the project included funding for co-curricular events programming. Another outcome included a campus-wide assessment of the quality of applied learning experiences from student, faculty, and chair perspectives, as noted in 1R3.

Through Learning Communities, Western aligns co-curricular and curricular learning objectives. In learning communities, students with similar interests and/or majors take two or three courses together. Students form study groups, interact closely with faculty, and socialize. Within the framework of the courses, students learn valuable life skills, such as communication, time management, leadership and citizenship. Each Learning Community stresses the curricular integration of coursework and content. Each fall semester, Western typically has ten learning communities with a total of about 200 student participants.

Western participates in the American Democracy Project (ADP) and is committed to developing students who understand and are prepared to fulfill their social and civic responsibilities. Students have an opportunity to participate in a variety of applied learning and leadership initiatives that encourage them to take an active and participatory role in our democracy. ADP has goals to increase student engagement in civic actions and to focus public opinion on the value of the college experience in civic life.