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Learning & Teaching

College-Wide Capabilities





To align with the mission of Ensign College to develop capable and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ, the College is focused on helping students/learners demonstrate the following key capabilities which set Ensign College students part as they prepare to enter the marketplace.

  1. TEAMWORK AND LEADERSHIP: Create and sustain a culture of trust, vision, and continuous improvement that adds value to an organization.
  2. COMMUNICATION: Share information in diverse audiences, modes, and environments for the purpose of mutual understanding and edification.
  3. TECHNICAL SKILLS: Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish specific tasks through proper systems, processes, and tools.
  4. PROBLEM-SOLVING: Analyze complex problems and generate creative solutions supported by informed evidence.
  5. PROFESSIONALISM: Exhibit behaviors reflecting a moral foundation of strong ethics and accountability.


These capabilities are embedded within courses, and assignments in Applied Sciences and General Education Programs. All program chairs ensure that graduates of their programs complete tasks allowing students to practice, develop, and reflect on growth in each of these five areas.

WHY CAPABILITIES RATHER THAN OUTCOMES?

Capabilities speak to students, particularly with learners “becoming.” The College-Wide Capabilities are designed on specific abilities and skills while putting more ownership and responsibility on our learners, acting vs. being acted upon. Program and course outcomes often include more focused knowledge or understanding in a particular field of study.

COLLEGE-WIDE CAPABILITIES - SHARED DEFINTIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS

TEAMWORK AND LEADERSHIP

1. Create and sustain a culture of trust, vision, and continuous improvement that adds value to an organization.

Students work cooperatively to achieve shared goals incorporating multiple group members' perspectives. Students create strategies that can be used to fulfill personal, civic, and social responsibilities.

Collaborating effectively with others, demonstrating respect for diversity and global perspectives, and recognizing and responding to varying levels of interpersonal relationships.

Emotional Intelligence

The skill of perceiving and understanding one’s own emotions. The capacity to identify and understand the impact one’s own feelings is having on thoughts, decisions, behavior, and performance at work. Greater self-awareness.

Emotional intelligence allows college students to feel confident about advocating for their own needs and help them understand complicated social and workplace scenarios.

Initiative

Personal initiative (PI) is a work behavior defined as means self-starting, and proactive that overcomes barriers to achieve a goal. The facets of PI are developed along the line of goals, information collection, plans, and feedback. This distinguishes it from a passive approach characterized by the following features: doing what one is told to do, giving up in the face of difficulties, not developing plans to deal with future difficulties, and reacting to environmental demands. Students develop the ability to continue learning independently and collaboratively.

COMMUNICATION

2. Share information in diverse audiences, modes, and environments for the purpose of mutual understanding and edification.

Written

Students can effectively present their ideas and express themselves in writing for a variety of purposes to both professional and academic audiences.

Verbal

Students can speak clearly and effectively for multiple purposes and audiences. Students can prepare a purposeful oral presentation designed to inform, convince, or foster understanding.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

3. Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish specific tasks through proper systems, processes, and tools.

Field-Specific Skills

Students pursue a chosen field of study in depth and develop an understanding of a core body of knowledge in that field as well as the ability to employ modes of inquiry appropriate to that field.

Computer Skills

Use the computer and emerging technologies effectively.

Students can use the word processor to create, edit, proofread and print a variety of text documents. Photos and graphics can also be added to enhance communication. The ability for students to easily review and edit their work facilitates the writing process.

Spreadsheets are tables used to store data in the form of words and values. With spreadsheet software, students can perform calculations and display data as charts and graphs that make it easier for them to interpret data. Students can create onscreen multimedia presentations. Students can incorporate text, graphics, animation, sound, and video to teach, report, entertain or communicate new ideas.

PROBLEM-SOLVING

4. Analyze complex problems and generate creative solutions supported by informed evidence.

Students can reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. Students will comprehensively explore issues, ideas, artifacts, events, and other positions, before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.

Critical/Creative Thinking

Students develop creative and critical thinking skills that allow them to analyze the work of others, formulate relevant questions, and respond to those questions in a substantive way using quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Critical thinking is defined as disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded and informed by evidence. Coursework is designed to challenge a student’s ability to problem solve and analyze given the demands of an ever-changing workplace within a diverse culture.

Information Literacy

Students can identify, locate, collect, evaluate, and effectively and responsibly mobilize information for the task at hand. Students will engage in research, scholarly activity or creative work to contribute new knowledge, art or expression and reflect on the process of inquiry or self-expression.

The student will demonstrate the ability to determine an information need, access successfully and evaluate the needed information critically, and organize and apply the information appropriately to accomplish a given research task.

PROFESSIONALISM

5. Exhibit behaviors reflecting a moral foundation of strong work ethic and accountability.

Ethics

Ensign College is building a brand of providing employers and the community with skilled, committed leaders, who possess a willing spirit and strong ethics. Students will display a positive and constructive attitude, a desire to lead out in mentoring others, and contribute to Spirit-centered learning.

The belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and its inherent ability to strengthen character and places the greatest value on hard work and diligence. Students with strong work ethics and character take responsibility for the work they do.

Accountability

Personal accountability is being willing to answer for the outcomes resulting from choices, behaviors, and actions. Students take the initiative to act and enable others to act for themselves while developing the skills to quickly and accurately understand and deal with a situation or choice.

Student accountability gives the learners responsibility for their actions, learning and helps improve academic performance and achievements. The ability to use all of the above to make positive contributions to one’s community and the larger society.