Integrative & Lifelong Learning

The AAC&U defines Integrative Learning as "an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus" [1]

Competencies include:

• • Connections to Experience (Connects relevant experience and academic knowledge): Meaningfully synthesizes connections among experiences outside of the formal classroom (including life experiences and academic experiences such as internships and travel abroad) to deepen understanding of fields of study and to broaden own points of view.

  • Connections to Discipline (Sees, makes, connections across disciplines, perspectives): Independently creates wholes out of multiple parts (synthesizes) or draws conclusions by combining examples, facts, or theories from more than one field of study or perspective.

  • Transfer (Adapts and applies skills, abilities, theories, or methodologies gained in one situation to new situations): Adapts and applies, independently, skills, abilities, theories, or methodologies gained in one situation to new situations to solve difficult problems or explore complex issues in original ways.

  • Integrated Communication: Fulfills the assignment(s) by choosing a format, language, or graph (or other visual representation) in ways that enhance meaning, making clear the interdependence of language and meaning, thought, and expression.

  • Reflection and Self-Assessment (Demonstrates a developing sense of self as a learner, building on prior experiences to respond to new and challenging contexts (may be evident in self-assessment, reflective, or creative work): Envisions a future self (and possibly makes plans that build on past experiences) that have occurred across multiple and diverse contexts.

The AAC&U defines Lifelong Learning as "“all purposeful learning activity, undertaken on an ongoing basis with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence." An endeavor of higher education is to prepare students to be this type of learner by developing specific dispositions and skills (described in this rubric) while in school.

Competencies include:

• • Curiosity: Explores a topic in depth, yielding a rich awareness and/ or little-known information indicating intense interest in the subject.

  • Initiative: Completes required work, generates and pursues opportunities to expand knowledge, skills, and abilities.

  • Independence: Educational interests and pursuits exist and flourish outside classroom requirements. Knowledge and/or experiences are pursued independently.

  • Transfer: Makes explicit references to previous learning and applies in an innovative (new and creative) way that knowledge and those skills to demonstrate comprehension and performance in novel situations.

  • Reflection: Reviews prior learning (past experiences inside and outside of the classroom) in depth to reveal significantly changed perspectives about educational and life experiences, which provide foundation for expanded knowledge, growth, and maturity over time.