Last week I had an interesting conversation with Aaron Brower, the vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Brower is also a professor of social work and he has been conducting research on the integration of curricular and cocurricular learning -- especially via residential learning communities.
At Penn State we thought it would be important for us to create a definition for what we mean to include within the scope of cocurricular learning. Here is the definition we came up with:
The COCURRICULUM at Penn State is defined as formal and informal out-of-class learning opportunities. These opportunities include involvement with clubs and organizations, workshops, lectures, internships, co-ops, interactions with faculty and others students, cultural events and study abroad.
(See http://assess.psu.edu/CocurricularAssessment/ ).
I had called Dr. Brower to ask him about his work with the creation of the "Wisconsin Experience" and the Wisconsin Essential Learning Outcomes. He pointed me to a website that visually defines the coccuriculum at Wisconsin: www.learning.wisc.edu
Like Penn State, Wisconsin includes study abroad, workshops and student organizations. But they also include living-learning communities, undergraduate research opportunities, service learning, academic and career advising and intramurals and club sports. I think we likewise need to add those important learning experiences at Penn State. At Wisconsin, they may be adding internships and coops to their list.
At Penn State we thought it would be important for us to create a definition for what we mean to include within the scope of cocurricular learning. Here is the definition we came up with:
The COCURRICULUM at Penn State is defined as formal and informal out-of-class learning opportunities. These opportunities include involvement with clubs and organizations, workshops, lectures, internships, co-ops, interactions with faculty and others students, cultural events and study abroad.
(See http://assess.psu.edu/CocurricularAssessment/ ).
I had called Dr. Brower to ask him about his work with the creation of the "Wisconsin Experience" and the Wisconsin Essential Learning Outcomes. He pointed me to a website that visually defines the coccuriculum at Wisconsin: www.learning.wisc.edu
Like Penn State, Wisconsin includes study abroad, workshops and student organizations. But they also include living-learning communities, undergraduate research opportunities, service learning, academic and career advising and intramurals and club sports. I think we likewise need to add those important learning experiences at Penn State. At Wisconsin, they may be adding internships and coops to their list.
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