Laker Learning Competencies

Mission Statement

Lake Land College creates and ensures an affordable, accessible, and effective learning environment to meet the lifelong educational needs of the diverse communities it serves.

In the past the general education assessment consisted of a proctored test that included questions that related to each of our general education competencies. This test was given to a random sample of sections each spring semester and the results were shared to the committee.

With the restructure of the assessment office to report to the Director of Data Analytics a review of these results were conducted. It was determined that the following were issues with this assessment:

Random sampling of sections was not guaranteeing that these students had completed coursework that would have addressed the competencies.

No benchmark data had been collected for comparison.

Not knowing what courses, the students testing has completed prohibited identification of whether the competency was not being learned by these students or if they had not had the opportunity to learn them.

At the beginning of the 2022-23 Academic Year, the general education committee was charged with revamping general education assessment. The committee updated the general education competencies. The committee determined that these competencies should not only be assessed by transfer curricula but also career and technical curricula.

By Spring 2023, the committee identified eight competencies to address:

Communication – Students communicate effectively and appropriately through the exchange of information.

Creative Thinking & Problem Solving – Students think creatively and solve problems successfully by combining knowledge in a new way.

Critical Thinking – Students connect knowledge from various disciplines to formulate logical conclusions and judgments.

Global & Cultural Literacy – Students realize that society is a culturally diverse and global environment with differing opinions, practices and ideas.

Information & Technology Literacy – Students not only identify when information is necessary, but they also find, evaluate and use that information effectively with the appropriate technological tools.

Professional Skills & Ethics – Students demonstrate professional business skills and ethical accountability.

Quantitative Literacy – Students utilize mathematical knowledge to test claims and hypotheses, perform data analysis and recognize patterns in real-life situations.

Scientific Literacy – Students identify foundational science concepts and apply the scientific process to real-life situations.

Beginning in Fall 2023 and completing during Spring 2024, the General Education Committee worked with faculty with the new Laker Learning Competencies.

Mission Statement

Our college fulfills this mission through:

Previous General Education Goals