Office of the Provost
24 Zumberge Library
Gayle R. Davis, Provost and
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Inventory of Student Learning Experiences in Undergraduate Majors
In thinking about the challenges that will face our students as they prepare to graduate and after they have
done so, we are taking inventory of how we are currently providing the knowledge and skills necessary to
help our students succeed. Specifically, I would ask everyone to join me in examining our curriculum to
find out what opportunities we provide students, and if we provide them with explicit goals and outcomes
in mind. In this inventory, we will be helping the General Education Subcommittee to learn where the
experiences in the GE program differ or overlap with courses in our majors. The GE program is
investigating how to best offer the curricular goals of the program and need factual data regarding what
learning experiences students gain from their majors. The inventory will also continue the work of UCC
in reviewing the university curriculum.
As you know from current research on pedagogy, programs that stress depth and application of
knowledge, team-work, critical thinking, advanced written and verbal communication skills, synthetic
thinking or problem-solving, ethical reasoning, and a knowledge of the global world are best suited to
success – both as students and as graduates. These skills often occur in what are known as “high-impact”
learning experiences but they undoubtedly occur in all our courses as well as co-curricular activities.
Research has also shown that making the goals of learning such skills explicit to students, and making
them aware of how their entire course of study embodies these skills helps students gain these skills at an
advanced level. That is, linking these skills for students and underscoring their importance affects their
ability to gain and utilize such skills.
Certainly, Grand Valley provides the opportunities for our students to gain these important skills. By
taking an inventory of our curriculum, we will gain a better sense of where these opportunities occur in
order to begin to further streamline our curriculum for students. We do not want to duplicate experience
for students, but at the same time, we want to be sure that all students have possibilities to engage in
activities that help them develop these skills. An important key to making these experiences worthwhile
for students is knowing how successfully they have gained these skills. Thus, learning how we assess
these learning opportunities – both in terms of how well students have learned desired outcomes, and
upon discovering this, reflecting upon what changes can be made that would increase their understanding
– is equally important to helping our students face the challenges that await them upon graduation.
The accompanying spreadsheet contains various student-learning experiences that have been shown to
help students succeed in gaining knowledge and preparing them to further their education or future
careers. We ask that you take some time to examine the categories and consider if and when your
programs provide these experiences or set these items as learning objectives for all students graduating
with a given major, and how you assess their efficacy. Please note we are only asking about those courses
that are required, not electives. There are obvious overlaps, but please duplicate information when
necessary. If you have accredited programs that provide this same information to your accreditation body,
please feel free to use another documentation type.
Please have information complete for each undergraduate major and return to the Provost’s Office
by Monday, November 2. You may return it in either paper form to 24 JHZ or in electronic form to
provost@gvsu.edu. Questions regarding the spreadsheet may be addressed to Maria Cimitile in my
office (cimitilm@gvsu.edu or 331-2400).
Thank you for your time and help with this project.
Gayle R. Davis
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs