Leadership Learning Outcomes

As leadership educators, we want to be intentional about what our student leaders take away from their leadership experiences in programs and through their co-curricular involvement. As a result, we have created a set of learning outcomes adapted from Learning Reconsidered, a joint publication published by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and ACPA-College Student Educators International. These learning outcomes are as follows:

Cognitive Complexity

  • Students will develop critical thinking skills.
  • Students will develop an understanding of change processes and be able to think critically about obstacles to change.
  • Students will understand and be able to use a process for decision making.

Knowledge Acquisition, Integration, and Application

  • Students will understand the history of leadership and current leadership theories. In addition, students will understand how leadership models are put into practice personally, locally, and globally.
  • Students will gain knowledge of diverse cultures, cross-cultural communication, the dynamics of privilege and oppression, and the uses of power between groups.
  • Students will understand how ethics, morals, and values relate to their leadership dilemmas.
  • Students will be able to integrate their lived experiences into their leadership development process.

Humanitarianism/Civic Engagement

  • Students will learn to act out of humanitarian values, such as being committed to social justice, engaging in social responsibility, and serving as positive social change agents.
  • Students will develop and explore their own competence with regards to the dimensions of difference, especially as it relates to others in their communities.
  • Students will engage with the Greater Baltimore community as a means to explore one's civic responsibility as a leader.
  • Students will learn to engage in controversy with civility.

Interpersonal Competence

  • Students will learn to practice team leadership through active group participation.
  • Students will examine their own and others' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as leaders.
  • Students will gain a greater understanding of their own personal identities and how their identities shape their leadership and followership.
  • Students will learn how to use their minds, their hearts, their voices, and their ears to constructively engage and collaborate with others.

Intrapersonal Competence

  • Students will learn to explore and actualize their personal values.
  • Students will develop a sense of confidence and belief in themselves and their ideas. Their confidence will allow them to be challenged without feeling minimized and to embrace ambiguity.
  • Student will become comfortable taking risks.
  • Students will come to realize that serving as a leader is more than holding a position.
  • Students will explore and discover what they need to maintain a sense of personal balance and ways they can seek personal renewal.

Practical Competence

  • Students will develop a comprehensive set of practical skills and tools to rely on through leadership practice. Such skills and tools include time management, meeting management and agenda setting, group dynamics, and team building.
  • Students will learn how to communicate effectively (using written and spoken word, non-verbal language, electronic tools, and listening skills) to develop relationships, manage conflicts, and work across differences.
  • Students will learn the skills to engage in conflict productively and work toward conflict resolution.
  • Students will learn how to effectively articulate their set of practical skills and tools on a resume, in a portfolio, and during interviews.