Objective 2: Focus On Learning
We will educate students in a learning community that is well designed to prepare them for lives of service and influence in God’s world.
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2.A. We will strengthen our emphasis on teaching and learning in community.
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2.A.1. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by FAITH. Our identity will be rooted in our covenantal commitment to our faith and fostered in practices of Christian worship.
Promote faculty/staff partnerships dedicated to the faith formation of students.
Strengthen and unite leadership across divisions related to faith formation.
Reinvigorate our understanding of our work as worship.
Promote a chapel program that serves as a faith curriculum for the campus community.
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2.A.2. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by CARE AND COURAGE. Our engagement with contemporary issues, and with each other, will be marked by care, courage, passion, and wisdom.
Model active engagement through on-campus speakers and guests.
Teach students civil discourse in the classroom and in campus life.
Support practices that build stronger relationships among co-workers and among students.
Offer anti-racism training for all faculty, staff, and students.
Support programs that engage the entire campus in contemporary issues.
Periodically evaluate our capacity to disagree with care and courage.
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2.A.3. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by RECONCILIATION AND PARTNERSHIP. We will work for full implementation of the anti-racist, multicultural, reconciling goals of FEN, model genuine partnership between women and men, and model inclusion of people with disabilities in the life of the community.
Increasingly reflect the FEN goals for the curriculum and for all aspects of community life.
Challenge both women and men to aspire to lives of leadership.
Ensure unbiased access to all programs.
Model, where possible, gender-fair and family-friendly policies for all employees.
Continue our leadership in educating students with disabilities.
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2.A.4.As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by GLOBAL CONNECTION AND LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY. We will prepare students for engagement both in a global context and in their future local contexts.
Continue to embed the cross-cultural engagement goals of the core curriculum in core and major course offerings.
Increase the cross-cultural competence of the campus through programs of faculty and staff development.
Provide a greater proportion of students with an international learning experience.
Encourage campus-wide initiatives that address global and local issues.
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2.A.5. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNERGY. We will foster cross-divisional and interdisciplinary approaches to learning.
Develop and support a variety of undergraduate learning communities.
Develop programs to support team-teaching.
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2.A.6. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by CREATION CARE. We will strive to model practices that support environmental sustainability.
Develop sustainability as an educational goal.
Provide support for sustainability practices, compatible with resources.
Conduct a yearly sustainability audit.
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2.A.7. As a strategy for learning, we will build a campus culture marked by DEVELOPMENTAL MENTORING. We will maintain a culture of academic support so that each student who joins this college receives appropriate challenge and support for learning and for academic decision-making.
Support an enhanced advising program so that students receive personalized guidance and information for academic decision-making before, during, and close to the end of their study here.
Support a strong honors program that encourages students to take on additional academic challenges and prepare for academic leadership.
Support programs that enhance faculty-student engagement.
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2.B. We will focus on engaged and enacted (practiced) learning throughout the undergraduate experience.
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2.B.1. We will promote students’ early and eager engagement in the college experience.
Review and revise our first-year program until it meets the varied needs of these students.
Promote early engagement between faculty and first-year students.
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2.B.2. A greater proportion of students will experience the links between classroom learning and the issues and questions of contemporary life through the following:
internships
mentored research experiences
service-learning
direct engagement in local issues
leadership opportunities throughout the campus and the community
Evaluate the range, availability, and extent of participation in these experiences across majors and programs.
Bring offices involved in experiential learning together for mutual coordination and support.
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2.B.3. We will improve the learning-living experience for juniors and seniors.
2.B.4. The athletic program will continue to provide opportunities for leadership development.
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2.C. We will cultivate a culture of educational excellence through alignment around outcomes, cycles of review, targeted funding, and programs of faculty and staff development.
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2.C.1. We will focus on our fundamental educational outcomes and align all institutional efforts toward meeting these outcomes.
Encourage all administrative units to participate in meeting learning outcomes for students and provide staff development for this purpose.
Intensively study one learning outcome each year and develop workshops relating to each one.
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2.C.2. We will support an integrated and manageable assessment program that satisfies accreditation requirements and helps us ensure educational quality.
Continue assessment of core learning outcomes, including learning goals related to FEN.
2.C.3. Our commitment to excellent academic programs will be supported through cycles of curricular review, departmental strategic planning, strong departmental leadership, and targeted funding.
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2.C.4. Our commitment to excellent teaching throughout the college will be supported through enhanced faculty development and through improved evaluation and recognition programs.
Strengthen our program for faculty development to include early and active mentoring in the first year, training in the effective use of active and collaborative teaching methods, cross-cultural competence in the classroom, and the scholarly study of the implications of Christian foundations for pedagogy.
Expand the peer review of teaching as a way to foster pedagogical development and assess faculty for reappointment.
Expand the teaching award program to include multiple awards for excellent teaching.
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