The mission of NorthWest Arkansas Community College is to empower lives, inspire learning and strengthen community, through accessible, affordable, quality education. Our vision is that the education we provide positively changes the lives of the college’s many stakeholders - students, taxpayers, community members, businesses and industry, etc.
The college has established learning outcomes for its educational programs that align with the college’s mission and vision. These outcomes describe the knowledge, skills, and perspectives students should acquire when they complete thier degree or participate in a co-curricular program.
Transfer
Some of the college’s degree programs are designed for students who want to transfer to a college or university to earn a bachelor’s degree. Students gain broad integrative knowledge of the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and the natural sciences as a foundation for success at the transfer institution.
Career
Associate of Applied Science degrees and related credentials educate students for specific careers. Students gain specialized knowledge in a field of study to prepare to enter, update skills or advance in their profession.
General Education
Regardless of the degree’s is orientation, toward transfer or career, students will gain general knowledge, skills and perspectives to aid the pursuit of life-long learning. NWACC faculty have identified eight general education outcomes that communicate what students will gain from any NWACC associate degree. While some courses focus on a single outcome, these skills will be developed across the curriculum. The college assesses student achievement of these outcomes with measures that are embedded in courses or co-curricular activities. The college produces an annual report on student achiement of the general education outcomes to confirm and improve student learning.
Students Develop Higher Order Thinking Skills
Higher education goes beyond memorization and basic comprehension. Students must be able to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate what they learn. While most first and second year college courses lay a foundation of basic knowledge of the subject matter, students will also be challenged to use their intellect, to think critically, to solve problems and/or to wrestle with complex issues.
Students Gain Greater Awareness of Cultural Perspectives
One of the traditional goals of a college education is to expand students’ understanding of the world by presenting them with diverse ideas and attitudes. In America’s pluralistic society, awareness of cultural perspectives is essential. An important element of this understanding is recognition of one’s own culture and the impact it has on one’s perspective. Across the curriculum, students will be exposed to different cultural perspectives to enhance their ability to understand and interact with others.
Students Can Write Clear, Coherent, Well-Organized Documents, Which are Substantially Free of Errors
Students employ active reading strategies to extract and construct meaning and educational value from texts and media.
Reading for academic purposes covers a range of content areas, writing genres/modes, and modalities and requires multiple strategies, such as:
- defining vocabulary
- employing pre-reading, reading, and post-reading strategies
- applying critical reading skills to identify tone and bias
- applying active reading techniques to identify stated and implied main ideas, and supporting details.
- Identifying technical and discipline-specific writing structures
- evaluating texts and media with diverse perspectives
- providing evidence and analyzing reading selections for inferences
Students Develop Effective Oral Communication Skills
A college graduate should be able to speak effectively. Most NWACC students will develop public speaking skills to inform and persuade others. Some professional program students will focus on interpersonal communication skills essential in performing job-related duties. All students should have opportunities to improve their oral communication skills across the curriculum through class presentations and small group activities.
Students Can Achieve Mathematical Literacy
College graduates should be able to understand and use numerical relationships and basic analysis of data in their roles as consumers, citizens, scholars, and professionals. Graduates should possess the computational, algebraic and quantitative skills necessary to solve problems and evaluate complex situations.
Students Will Demonstrate Technological Fluency
Students need to be able to use technology resources efficiently in a rapidly evolving digital society to learn, work, and thrive. To be fluent in technology means having the confidence and competency to move fluidly among digital environments and incorporate emerging technologies. Technology resources would include digital technology, productivity software, technology-mediated collaboration tools, and discipline-specific applications, as well as those commonly used across disciplines. This outcome encompasses these technological competencies:
- Design, develop, present, and publish products using digital technology.
- Create, identify, save and retrieve data/information using digital a content management system(s).
- Employ technology resources to collect and analyze data, guide decision-making, and solve problems.
- Recognize responsible digital citizenship by using technology ethically, legally, and securely.
- Use technology to communicate effectively across multiple channels.
Students Demonstrate Information Literacy
Information Literacy is a process involving complex skills. Students must be able to: develop and refine their research question, create a research plan, identify information sources relevant to their needs, search those sources effectively, critically evaluate what they find, share their findings ethically, and synthesize their information appropriately for their audience.
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