Grand Valley State University
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Institution level learning outcomes include:
1. Students will apply sustainability best practices to their everyday lives.
2. Students will be connected to useful resources and information in order to engage in sustainability education and opportunities during their time at GVSU.

Division level learning outcomes include:
1. Students are able to appropriately complete courses necessary to meet the general education requirements (see below).

The general education requirements include a sustainability issue. Its learning outcomes include:
1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about sustainability.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Synthesize and apply knowledge from experiences and multiple fields of study.

The figure was determined through examination of the student learning outcomes of each program.

Biology:
1. Students in the Biology major will demonstrate proficient knowledge of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies:
1. Students will model and promote applied sustainability in curricular and programmatic practices

Chemistry:
1. Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of the concepts of green chemistry
2. Students will demonstrate the ability to utilize their knowledge of green chemistry in their future career.

College of Community and Public Service:
1. Students will use a decision-making process based on defining systems of value. In addition, students will examine the importance of ethical leadership to the success of high performing public and nonprofit agencies.

College of Education:
1. The College of Education believes in giving back to society. Our mission is to develop quality educators to teach, lead, and serve in local and world communities. It underscores our commitment to educating students to be increasingly responsible citizens in their home neighborhoods and in the world.

Earth Science:
1. Proficient understanding of the fundamental principles defining the nature of science, and geological sciences in particular.

Engineering:
1. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.

Environmental & Sustainability Studies:
1. Students will describe the impacts of sustainable food systems on society and the environment.
2. Students will apply practical gardening, recycling, and composting skills to projects at the GVSU Sustainable Agriculture Project campus farm site.
3. Students will explain the factors that define community food needs.
4. Students will analyze varying food advocacy efforts (production, distribution, environmental stewardship, and others) to distinguish between effective and ineffective techniques.
5. Students will adapt food safety best practices in food production, manufacturing and preparation to different situational contexts, such as: agriculture, food recovery projects, and commercial and/or charitable food distribution sites.

Environmental Remote Sensing:
1. Students will be able to access, research, critically analyze, integrate, interpret, and communicate to professional audiences scientific data on environmental and development issues across the globe using geographic theory and techniques.

Film & Video Production:
1. Students will be able to analyze themes and implications of film and media works as they relate to society and social responsibility.

Geology:
1. Students making appreciable learning gains in understanding Earth's superficial processes and materials.
2. Students demonstrating learning gains in sampling of groundwater, geospatial reasoning as it relates to geochemical reservoirs, and understanding of global elemental cycling.
3. Proficient understanding of the fundamental principles defining the nature of science, and geological sciences in particular.

Geographic Information Science and Technology:
1. Students will demonstrate skills in the use of geospatial technologies in environmental, social and economic analysis and decision-making

Geography & Sustainable Planning:
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of natural conditions on human activities, on the one hand, and the different ways of creating environments according to differing cultural values, religious beliefs, technical, economic and political systems, on the other.
2. Students will demonstrate ability to work interculturally with community partners and at the local, regional, national or international level.
3. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the core concepts and principles in geospatial technologies.
4. Students will demonstrate mastery of spatial analysis techniques and procedures.
5. Students will be able to access, research, critically analyze, integrate, interpret, and communicate to professional audiences scientific data on environmental and development issues across the globe using geographic theory and techniques.
6. Students will develop cooperative strategies, analytical and problem-solving skills for appropriate actions to balance considerations of ecological integrity, geopolitical and cultural context, and economic development needs.
7. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the historical evolution of urban planning including key thinkers and planning paradigms.
8. Students will demonstrate mastery of best practices in urban design.

Global Studies and Social Impact:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the social, political, cultural, environmental interconnections between different human communities and the global conditions and systems that affect the well-being of these communities and of ecosystems.
2. Identify the causes and consequences of some of the differing types of social inequality and conflict, as well as cooperation, production, resistance and social transformation

Green Chemistry:
1. Students obtaining the Green Chemistry Certification will be able to demonstrate basic knowledge of green chemistry concepts.

Integrated Science:
1. Plan multiple lessons using a variety of inquiry approaches that demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of how all students learn science.
2. Include active inquiry lessons where students collect and interpret data in order to develop and communicate concepts and understand scientific processes, relationships and natural patterns from empirical experiences.
3. Provide data to show that P-12 students are able to distinguish science from nonscience, understand the evolution and practice of science as a human endeavor, and critically analyze assertions made in the name of science.

Integrative Studies:
1. Model and promote applied sustainability in curricular and programmatic practices.
2. Engage with students to promote diversity and equity where structural inequalities exist.

Natural Resources Management:
1. Students will effectively communicate, in written form, scientific observations, analyses, and arguments in a format typically required by natural resources management professionals in their fields.
2. Students will effectively communicate, in oral form, scientific observations, analyses, and arguments in a format typically required by natural resources management professionals in their fields.
3. Students will understand ecological concepts and principles including the structure and function of ecosystems, plant and animal communities, competition, diversity, population dynamics, succession, disturbance, and nutrient cycling.
4. Students will be able to identify, measure, and map land areas, and conduct spatial analyses.
5. Students will be able to evaluate and understand the economic, ecological, and social trade-offs of alternative land uses and ecosystem management decisions at local, regional, and global scales.
6. Students will demonstrate proficiency in concepts and principles related to resource management.

Public and Nonprofit Administration (Community Development and Planning field) students will have the ability to identify:
1. The interrelationships among major community actors
2. The processes and power structures which create community governance
3. The policies and institutions that foster strong, vibrant communities
4. The relationship between a community's physical and social infrastructure
5. The organizational challenges that face neighborhood associations and community development corporations

Seidman College of Business:
1. Seidman develops business talent that contributes to the economic growth of West Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Through the exchange and application of knowledge with a global perspective, our students learn to make informed decisions, act ethically, and take initiative. Our distinctiveness is grounded in strong community collaborations, applied scholarly contributions, innovative approaches to learning, and a supportive environment.
2. Seidman faculty, staff, and students act in an ethical manner, are socially responsible citizens, welcome the diversity of ideas, people, and culture, and promote an environment of transparency, trust and cooperation.

Sustainable Food Systems:
1. Students will describe the impacts of sustainable food systems on society and the environment.
2. Students will apply practical gardening, recycling, and composting skills to projects at the GVSU Sustainable Agriculture Project campus farm site.
3. Students will explain the factors that define community food needs.
4. Students will analyze varying food advocacy efforts (production, distribution, environmental stewardship, and others) to distinguish between effective and ineffective techniques.
5. Students will adapt food safety best practices in food production, manufacturing and preparation to different situational contexts, such as: agriculture, food recovery projects, and commercial and/or charitable food distribution sites.

Sustainable Urban & Regional Planning:
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of natural conditions on human activities, on the one hand, and the different ways of creating environments according to differing cultural values, religious beliefs, technical, economic and political systems, on the other.
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of policy options for implementing the design “best practices” to meet environmental, economic and social goals of sustainable planning.