Common Learning Outcomes

These outcomes align to our philosophy of education and the Hope College Mission. Student attainment of these outcomes is primarily assessed with institutional surveys and direct measures of student learning. The Common Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan and Assessment Guides for each learning outcome identify the measures used, frequency of assessment and review of assessment results for each learning outcome.

Hope Graduates Will:

Outcome OneThink critically and communicate clearly.

Hope graduates make critical judgments across differing ways of knowing; discern assumptions and premises; examine and evaluate arguments, generalizations, hypotheses and methods; identify biases and contradictions; assess the validity of conclusions drawn from qualitative and quantitative information and assumptions; and recognize and make appropriate distinctions among aesthetic experiences and responses in clear written and oral communication.

Outcome TwoApproach knowledge with a liberal arts foundation.

Hope graduates engage with aesthetic, historical, theoretical, technological, scientific, cultural, and religious approaches to knowledge.

Outcome ThreeEngage in intensive study.

Hope graduates contribute as lifelong learners to their fields of study through continued creation and evaluation of their disciplines’ major discoveries, significant thought, methodologies, technical procedures, current practices, and challenges.

Outcome FourIntegrate knowledge, experience, and purpose.

Hope graduates, informed by a Christian world-view, integrate the human experience, knowledge, and responsibility, and create from this their personal philosophy for a purposeful life.

Outcome FiveDemonstrate cultural awareness and competency.

Hope graduates value the diversity of our society and world, demonstrate cultural 
competency, and identify issues requiring social justice.

Assessment of the Common Learning Outcomes

• Common Learning Outcome 1 Assessment Guide
• Common Learning Outcome 2 Assessment Guide
• Common Learning Outcome 3 Assessment Guide
• Common Learning Outcome 4 Assessment Guide
• Common Learning Outcome 5 Assessment Guide