Learners come to CU with prior experiences, knowledge, and abilities which must be recognized, honored, used, and credited. The multiple roles of these adult learners (workers, community members, partners, parents) are considered assets, not barriers. Our students are supported as scholar practitioners.
Curriculum begins with the student and builds from there. It must be personalized around the unique skills, knowledge, and needs of individuals—acknowledging that students have different goals and are at different places in their lives.
Learning in the world is multi-faceted, interdisciplinary, and collaborative; it is not linear nor is it broken into compartmentalized subject-matter packages nor individualized silos.
When assessment is shared between professors, academic advisors, workplace mentors, field experts, and peers, the learning is rigorous, relevant, and ongoing. When students open their work to public analysis, the learning increases.
Competence is not demonstrated through a single event; rather, a range of evidence in different contexts over time must be presented before judging competence.
Technology must be used to do more than deliver content; it must be used by students to discover, create, use, share, assess, discuss, manipulate and reshape content, and to connect with others.
