Lourdes University

University Learning Outcomes

Lourdes University Learning Outcomes

The Mission Statement, Guiding Principles, and our Franciscan Values express the University’s purpose and identity. To ensure the realization of this vision, the University has articulated observable and measurable learning outcomes. To be understood correctly and appreciated fully, the learning goals and outcomes must be interpreted in light of the complete texts of the Mission, Guiding Principles and Franciscan Values.

Lourdes University believes that a college education includes sufficient breadth in the liberal arts and sufficient depth in an area of specialization to prepare graduates who will be recognized as educated persons and prepared for meaningful work and/or graduate study. The learning outcomes describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students develop in increasingly more complex ways as they progress through their curriculum to graduation and lifelong learning.

Students will engage the big questions, both contemporary and enduring, and gain an understanding of the diversity and value of the human experience and the physical and natural world in order to become well-educated citizens in a global society. Students will frame meaningful questions and to answer them will gather pertinent information using appropriate technological tools. They will analyze, synthesize and reflect on that information and effectively apply and communicate the results. Students will gain an awareness of the Catholic and Franciscan religious and intellectual traditions. Students will make use of ethical principles, reasoning, and civic knowledge, to exercise social and individual responsibility in the interaction with diverse cultures and engagement with global issues. Students will integrate learning across general, applied, and specialized areas of study in order to respond effectively to issues or situations and to address contemporary problems.

I. Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Students can:

  1. Apply knowledge and methods of history, literature, philosophy, and theology.
  2. Apply knowledge, theories, or methods appropriate to the arts…
  3. Apply knowledge and the methods of inquiry and analysis appropriate to the physical or natural sciences, the social sciences, and mathematics.

II. Critical Thinking Ability

Students can:

  1. Systematically explore issues and ideas by finding, retrieving, evaluating, and using information responsibly.
  2. Comprehensively and objectively analyze and evaluate appropriate data (e.g., issues, texts, artifacts, and events) to develop an informed conclusion.
  3. Demonstrate information literacy and technical proficiency appropriate for scholarly and professional work.
  4. Use mathematical or formal reasoning to answer questions or to achieve desired goals.
  5. Demonstrate cultural self-awareness and intercultural competence.
  6. Contribute effectively in a collaborative environment.
  7. Communicate effectively in speech and in writing.

III. Catholic and Franciscan Religious and Intellectual Traditions

Students can:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of the essential elements and values of Catholic heritage and social teaching.
  2. Apply values—community, learning, reverence, service—aligned with the Franciscan tradition to analysis of contemporary social justice issues with a focus on the common good.

IV. Personal and Social Responsibility

Students can:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of personal and interpersonal responsibilities, ethical principles consonant, and moral reasoning.
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of their role as responsible individuals in diverse communities.
  3. Demonstrate the importance of service and the potential to be agents of change in addressing local and global issues or problems.

V. Integrative Learning

Students can:

  1. Connect skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences.
  2. Apply theory to practice in responding to issues or situations.
  3. Recognize diverse points of view and contextual factors, such as cultural, historical, professional, and ethical frameworks.
  4. Create new meaning, original contributions, or new analyses informed by integration of ideas and original
    thoughts.