The College has established these skill areas as the foundation of the educational experience at Champlain College, regardless of the student’s major. The goal is to help the Champlain College graduate develop into an ethical, self-guided learner.
We believe that each of these skills is best developed through consistent practice, application, and instruction. As a result, each faculty member is expected to design courses with these competencies in mind, that incorporate instructional and developmental activities in these areas wherever possible and that are consistent with the goals of the course and program.
Communication
Collaboration
Global/Cultural Awareness
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Analysis
Integration
Creativity
Inquiry
Scientific Literacy
Information Literacy
Technology Literacy
Quantitative Literacy
The Ethical Self Guided Learner
The ability to use reading, thinking, writing, and speaking to convey ideas, information, and intentions effectively and in a manner that is appropriate to the topic, situation, and audience; the ability to interpret accurately and critically the messages produced by others, and to respond appropriately.
Effective communication requires intentional decisions based on audience, context, purpose, knowledge, and ethical perspectives. These decisions affect the delivery, the type and amount of content, and the communication channels selected. Effective and ethical communication also includes examining the impact, whether the communication achieved its intended purpose, and the ability to interpret the messages of others. These criteria encompass the variety of ways people communicate across disciplines, professions, and modalities in order to construct, maintain, and transform their personal and professional worlds.
Guiding Questions
The ability to work inclusively and productively with a group toward a collective outcome; the ability to create an environment where each perspective is considered for the cooperative purpose of making progress toward common goals.
Collaboration involves coordinated interaction between the individual members of a group or team. To successfully collaborate, groups should be able to articulate a shared vision for the group and clearly identify roles for each member. Integration of diverse perspectives creates new insights and should not just be respected but also sought out. Successful collaboration requires the group to define and continually examine processes for iteration, communication, and accountability.
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The ability to critically analyze and engage with complex, interdependent global systems, and legacies—natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, and political—and their implications for our lives and the Earth.
Global and Cultural Understanding asks one to focus on diversity amongst the perspectives, practices, and beliefs found within a given culture and across cultures, with particular attention to global perspectives, practices, and beliefs. Interactions with different people lead to functional knowledge of the relationship between individuals, groups, and historical, cultural, and social forces. In practicing Global and Cultural Understanding, one actively engages topics of environment, economic status, age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion, among others, enabling collaboration across the different scales of human organization.
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The ability to evaluate intersections, influences, and social contexts from a position of shared humanity and openness toward difference, in order to integrate one’s values and belief systems into action.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion examine how our various identities and concepts of self are shaped by social constructs and social inequalities. Attending to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requires understanding of where social constructs come from, how they shape us, and how we shape them. It also means analyzing how systems and institutions exercise power in ways that often lead to inequities. Interacting with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion involves a process of moving from distrust and distance, through curiosity and wanting to learn, to synthesizing views and other ways of knowing and being without judgment. Acting on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requires examining our values and beliefs and engaging with the world in ways that are consistent with those values and beliefs.
Guiding Questions
The ability to separate and organize complex topics or issues into their component parts, and through a systematic process, to identify and differentiate those components to gain an understanding of the topic or issue.
Analysis is used to break a complex problem, issue, or question into smaller parts to gain a better fundamental understanding of the whole. Analytical thinking begins with identifying the purpose and context of analysis. Analytic approaches have different strengths and limitations, and inherent values and biases that must be taken into account when selecting and applying the right one for a particular problem and context. This understanding is vital when making meaning from the results of the analysis, putting them in proper context, and understanding potential impacts.
Guiding Questions
The ability to move from making simple connections among ideas, disciplines, and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning and data to new, complex situations.
Integration brings together knowledge, methods, and perspectives from many different areas to address complex problems. Navigating such problems starts with evaluating different disciplines, fields of knowledge, or perspectives and selecting the most relevant or useful ones. Examining the problem or topic from multiple angles then leads to a synthesis that integrates insights from different fields into a more complete response than would have been possible from a single perspective alone. This process works best when it is consciously applied, when the choice of fields and perspectives, and the nature of the synthesis are clearly articulated.
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The ability to think, work, and respond in ways characterized by a high degree of originality, divergent thinking, and risk taking; the ability to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise (or aspects of these) in ways that are original or that lead to unexpected results.
Creativity is a learnable skill (not something “you’re born with or without”) that can be used in response to a project, a question, or a problem to be solved. It is not limited to the arts, but can and should be a part of every intellectual endeavor. Creative thinking should be approached with an attitude of flexibility, an openness to many different possibilities, and an acceptance of risk and failure. It begins with brainstorming to generate a wide range of potential ideas. The best ideas are then selected and improved through a repeated cyclical process of reflection and revision. Creative work draws upon personal experience, and responds to or breaks with past traditions or contemporary practices. Good creative thinking happens in a context of intentional feedback and can be a collaborative enterprise.
Guiding Questions
The ability to identify, formulate, and communicate questions that guide investigation and reflection toward discovery; the ability to critically and thoroughly examine one’s own assumptions and the assumptions of others.
Inquiry takes form in compelling questions that drive our creativity, test our own assumptions, and push us to engage with authentic problems and thorny issues. Successful practice of Inquiry starts with developing lines of questioning and being open to where the research leads, which could refine or redirect the questions, or lead to entirely new questions. Examining assumptions – in the questions, in the evidence found, and in oneself – can open up new pathways for exploration and ground the results in the larger context of knowledge production. Acquiring more information is its immediate result, but the capacity to inquire well is the key to a life full of discovery, meaning-making, and purpose.
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The ability to apply scientific methods to understand the natural world, to identify scientific aspects of daily life, and to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used for its generation.
Scientific Literacy, the ability to identify and understand scientific knowledge and thinking, is necessary for participating actively in democracy and engaging as a thoughtful global citizen. Scientific Literacy involves exploring the relevance of scientific thinking and knowledge to comprehending and addressing the complex problems facing society. To make reasonable judgements about the validity of scientific claims, one must first know how scientific claims are made and supported; have at least baseline knowledge in a scientific field; and be aware of the social and institutional bases of scientific credibility.
Guiding Questions
The ability to find, store, evaluate, and synthesize information to answer questions, develop new ones, and create new content and knowledge in an ethical and socially responsible manner.
Information Literacy requires a flexible approach that understands the processes necessary to navigate varied information landscapes, looking in multiple places and adjusting search strategies as necessary. The search context can be influenced by one’s own perspective; different types of authority or expertise; and cultural, professional, and/or disciplinary expectations. Information must be evaluated for relevancy, reliability, credibility, and currency. Different pieces of information should be related to each other, and fit into a broader intellectual framework. Information should be clearly attributed and used ethically in ways that do not misrepresent it, respect privacy where appropriate, and be in line with relevant disciplinary or professional ethical norms.
Guiding Questions
The ability to use, manage, assess, and understand technology.
Technology Literacy focuses on understanding and using analog or digital tools designed for a purpose, consisting of physical components or operations organized into a system. Technology literacy involves analyzing the systems that are constructed from technological tools, determining which tools may be appropriate for solving a problem, and using and adapting those technological tools as necessary. It also involves analyzing the many ways in which technologies shape societies and how societies shape technologies. Technology literacy involves determining which tools may be appropriate for solving a problem, and then using and adapting those technological tools as necessary.
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The ability to interpret quantitative information, apply appropriate mathematical methods to solve quantitative problems, and communicate solutions in the appropriate context.
Quantitative Literacy starts with a basic ability to work correctly and meaningfully with numbers, variables, mathematical operators, and quantitative symbols. From this follows a deeper understanding of logic and reason that allows for the identification of areas in which these quantitative skills can be applied. Once a quantitative question is discovered, it is important to properly apply quantitative skills that result in a technically sound and correct conclusion. Moreover, a solution must be understood well enough so that the result can be clearly communicated to other individuals. The human context of any problem, even quantitative ones, should not be lost, as ethical implications and personal biases can hinder our efforts to bring thoughtful, critical analysis to everyday problems. In short, quantitative literacy enables us to solve problems with math.
Guiding Questions
Revised College Competencies established June 2014; Revised September 2018, Revised June 2022.