Relational Map coming soon. Learn more about the work we’re doing with AI and view our example prototypes here.
First released in 2007, the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Essential Learning Outcomes Framework has been widely adopted by higher education institutions and by a number of state higher education systems.
Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) define the knowledge and skills gained from a liberal education, providing a framework to guide students’ cumulative progress.
AAC&U revised and updated the framework in 2022 to reflect emerging labor market priorities, growing emphasis on the value of cultivating mindsets and dispositions, and attentiveness to commitments to equity. A working draft of revised outcomes developed and informed by employer and labor market research and by a survey of campus stakeholders was made available for public comment over the summer of 2022.
The revised outcomes list was released in late 2022. The framework includes four ELOs:
The framework can be leveraged to articulate transferable skills embedded within credentials. It can also assist in leveraging AAC&U’s VALUE Initiative to assess these skills and lend additional credibility to acquired credentials.
From 2005 to 2018, AAC&U led a national public advocacy and campus-action initiative to champion the importance of a liberal education for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. At the heart of the initiative—Liberal Education and America’s Promise, or LEAP—was a framework for college-level learning that includes a set of broad learning outcomes, high-impact educational practices, and authentic forms of assessment.
The publication, Making Liberal Education Inclusive, describes the LEAP story within the broader context of AAC&U’s work over two decades to break down the dividing lines between a liberal arts education and career-related fields and combining liberal education with inclusive excellence and equity.
Making Liberal Education Inclusive: The Roots and Reach of the LEAP Framework for College Learning - https://www.aacu.org/publication/making-liberal-education-inclusive-the-roots-and-reach-of-the-leap-framework-for-college-learning
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