College of the Atlantic
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

College of the Atlantic has only one academic program: all undergraduate students earn a B.A. in human ecology, and all Masters students earn the M.Phil in human ecology. We have one singular major, human ecology, and the learning outcomes for this major apply to all students at the institution. Human ecology, in our statement of learning objectives, is referred to as "a probing and determined search for the roots of contemporary social, cultural, political, and environmental issues." The faculty have collectively adopted a set of institution-wide learning outcomes for our sole degree program including: (1) Creativity, (2) Critical Thinking, (3) Community Engagement, (4) Communication, (5) Integrative Thinking, (6) Interdisciplinarity. All students are required to write a capstone, integrative essay known as the Human Ecology Essay (HEE) during their senior year at COA. The HEE is a work of exposition, argumentation, extended description or narration in which the student explores her or his perspective on human ecology. The Human Ecology Essay must be clear, concise, and coherent. Faculty expect that all students who graduate from COA are able to write compellingly about human ecology and its relation to environmental, social, and economic issues.

Our educational studies program has adopted a learning outcomes standard focused on human ecology and sustainability. This standard is above and beyond the standards required by the State of Maine Department of Education. This standard reads: "The teacher applies an understanding of interconnection, interdependence, and interaction between and among mind and body, self and other, human and environment, school and community, personal experience, school subjects, and academic disciplines, and theory and practice. She brings heart and mind to learning and teaching—by living in the questions, increasing student tolerance of uncertainty, and modeling playful, open, creative, responsible, and compassionate humanity."

Graduation numbers are from July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018. COA has one undergraduate academic program; all undergraduates receive a BA in Human Ecology. Learning outcomes for the human ecology degree apply to the whole institution, as this is our sole major, though each student does design his or her own course of study in keeping with the learning outcomes and degree requirements. COA's grants Maine Initial Teaching Certification for Elementary Education (grades K–8) or Secondary Education (grades 7–12) in Life Science, Social Studies, or English Language Arts. Student receiving certification receive a BA in Human Ecology, like all other COA graduates.