RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
● Compass - for juniors (but also open
to seniors), geared towards linking co-
curricular activities with academic and
professional goals;
● Pursuit - for seniors, geared towards
creating an external-facing ePortfolio
and professional networking.
Each of the four core courses in Atlas
carries three semester-hour credits
(meeting two and a half hours a week
for 15 weeks), although the Passport
course is also offered as two 1.5 credit
classes spread over the full freshman
year. Students may take as few or as
many Atlas classes as they wish. (Now
in our third year, we have a healthy
repeat rate. Out of 444 unique
students, 107 students took two Atlas
courses, and 11 students took three
Atlas courses. This is quite
encouraging given that the first Atlas
course was offered in January of
2016.) In addition to the scaffolded
core classes, the Atlas program now
also includes classes for Study Abroad
and Service Learning.
Atlas Compass
The first course to be approved and
offered in the Atlas sequence was
Compass, a course open to juniors
and seniors. Its purpose is to help
students begin to make the transition
from student to professional. Through
a series of exercises and reflections,
students are guided to mine their
experiences and talents in order to
identify those skills that will be most
useful to potential employers. Clearly
defined learning outcomes were
developed, which include having
students:
• begin to understand a professional
and/or organisational culture;
• recognise ethical issues within a
professional and/or organisational
setting;
• clarify their “citizen identity” through
reflection on the experience;
• reflect on experiences and goals and
build an online space;
• build community and a support
network within the class.
Among the learning activities
developed to achieve these outcomes
were:
• An informational interview with an
alumna or alumnus in each student’s
field of interest;
• Exploration of “soft skills,” including
civic engagement, leadership,
teamwork, creativity, ethical reasoning
and decision-making, and intercultural
communication, with experts in each
field;
• In-depth analysis of a co-curricular or
extra-curricular activity with a view
towards understanding the
organisational culture and skills being
developed;
• Development of a public ePortfolio
showcasing competencies developed
in and out of the classroom.
The “soft skills” explored and
documented in the course closely align
with the competencies listed by the
National Association of Colleges and
Employers (NACE), on its “Career
Readiness” handout (National
Association of Colleges and Employers,
2018). Students are asked to reflect on
their experiences inside and outside the
classroom in order to find examples they
can present of their competency in each
of these areas.
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