Essential Learning Outcomes

The Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) define the knowledge and skills gained from a liberal education, providing a framework to guide students’ cumulative progress.

Essential Learning Outcomes

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Including:
Science and mathematics
Social sciences
Humanities
Histories
Languages
The arts
Focused on engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring.
Intellectual and Practical Skills
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
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 in active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges.
Integrative and Applied Learning
Integrative and Applied 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.

Value: AAC&U's Authentic Assessment Initiative

Assessing the ELOs

AAC&U’s Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education initiative, or VALUE, provides an authentic, rubric-based system for assessing student progress on the Essential Learning Outcomes.

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