AACU LEAP Initiative and the UW-System Shared Learning Goals

Links above will take you to specific summary documents. The description below is from the AAC&U website at:
http://www.aacu.org/leap/vision.cfm. Please visit this site for additional links and information.

Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP)

UW-System has been an active partner with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative since its inception. For details about participation within the state visit the UW System's Wisconsin Liberal Education Initiative website.

Essential Learning Outcomes

The LEAP initiative is organized around a robust set of "Essential Learning Outcomes" (pdf) -- all of which are best developed by a contemporary liberal education. Described in College Learning for the New Global Century (pdf), these essential learning outcomes and a set of "Principles of Excellence" (pdf) provide a new framework to guide students' cumulative progress through college. Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, Including

Inquiry and analysis
Critical and creative thinking
Written and oral communication
Quantitative literacy
Information literacy
Teamwork and problem solving

Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility, Including

Civic knowledge and engagement local and global
Intercultural knowledge and competence
Ethical reasoning and action
Foundations and skills for lifelong learning

Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

Integrative Learning, Including

Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies

Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems

Source: http://www.aacu.org/leap/vision.cfm

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