Core Competencies

The MiraCosta College Core Competencies describe the broad general education learning outcomes students should have gained when completing transfer preparation (60 units including CSU or IGETC general education) or a degree, and through their exposure to different support and enrichment programs and services. Courses and programs map/align to these larger outcomes, and students gain exposure to some, but not necessarily all of them, from educational experiences that don’t encompass completion of a degree or transfer pattern. These statements were adapted from the “LEAP” Outcomes (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) developed under the auspices of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The MiraCosta College Core Competencies were approved by the College Council on March 9, 2017.

CC and Learning Outcomes

Upon commencement of studies and progressing toward the completion of an educational goal, MiraCosta College students prepare for twenty-first century challenges by gaining:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Attained through general education and major study in the sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Informed by awareness of global issues and trends, focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, including

Inquiry, analysis and independent thinking
Critical and creative thinking
Quantitative literacy and problem solving
Information literacy
Written and oral communication skills
Integration of knowledge

Practiced extensively across the curriculum in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility and Efficacy, including

Civic knowledge and engagement - local and global
Intercultural competence and respect for diverse perspectives
Teamwork and collaborative skills
Ethical reasoning and action
Goal-setting / project-planning and completion
Skills for ongoing personal, academic, and professional growth

Anchored in applied learning through active involvement with real world challenges and diverse environmental, workplace, cultural, and community contexts.

Adoption of the Core Compentecy Assessment Process

Assessments results measuring these outcomes are viewed with a different lens than other assessment results in the course. These assessments are conducted to give us a greater understanding of how students are learning the broad reaching goals in our courses and programs. Upon official adoption of the Core Competencies (CCs) in 2017, instructional departments were required to evaluate and map their course SLOs (CSLOs) to the competencies. Faculty were provided with a list of Core Competencies and their definitions/descriptions related to scoring rubrics that would be used and were developed through the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AACU). In fall semester, the Outcomes Assessment Committee (OAC) drew up plans to pilot the assessment process. Assessment began in the spring of 2018, with two of the fifteen competencies being assessed each semester. Associate faculty and full-time faculty teaching mapped courses in the diverse areas of Plan A are contacted by OAC and asked to participate in the current assessment(s). Faculty meet to discuss the process, calibrate and be trained on the common use of the specific VALUE rubric (AACU reference) prior to each core competency assessment. There is a post meeting in which faculty feedback on the process is solicited so that the process continues to improve. The data is disaggregated and disseminated to the college community.