EL Rubric

Downloadable version of the rubric. (PDF)

The rubric that follows provides a guide for faculty members and (non-credit) activity directors regarding key learning outcomes of the various areas of experiential learning at UGA, along with examples of the types of activities and artifacts that document those learning outcomes. The rubric is intended to provide more detailed
guidance on the nature, extent, and types of documentation of learning outcomes that courses or activities must demonstrate in order to be approved for the EL Requirement.

AREA	Required: Approved activities involve student engagement at least equivalent to the intensity, depth, and/or time commitment of a 1-credit hour course (defined in UGA Credit Hour Policy as 15 contact hours plus 30 hours of out-of-class assignment).	Required: Approved activities incorporate regular mentorship, supervision, and feedback	Required: Approved activities demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes in the three areas below. The faculty member or activity director is responsible for evaluating the student's learning outcomes.
	Engagement: Student involvement in the activity is sustained and/or intensive; substantial investment of time and attention to foster deep learning.	Mentorship: Activity director or supervisor responds regularly to student work; supports student reflection and integration oflearning through the activity and goal-setting for future learning.	Challenge: Student engages in intellectually adventurous activity: pushes own boundaries beyond the familiar; explores unknown territory; develops knowledge and skills.	Ownership: Student exercises independent judgement in defining and/or executing the activity; takes ownership of process and outcomes.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on the activity; articulates personal, civic/social, and/or academic learning; identifies values and attitudes developed through the activity.
	Description of activity should indicate the nature and extent of engagement and mentorship components.		Listed below are examples of typical types of artifacts or other evidence of learning outcomes relevant to each area. This list is not comprehensive or exclusive; there may be other forms of documentation unique to a particular activity.
CREATIVE: Articulate, implement, and reflect on a substantive application of their academic foundations to a real-world setting and/or challenge	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course. For non-credit activities, the description indicates who is providing feedback and mentorship; the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and/or summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description indicates how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: Student develops imaginative or original response to a need or inspiration. E.g., design solution to an engineering or environmental need, presented in written, oral, graphic, digital, or prototype form; performance or artistic work reflecting advanced technique, novel presentation, or gallery-ready portfolio.	Ownership: Student articulates the need or inspiration for the creative work, takes initiative, and demonstrates ownership of the product. E.g., conducting a charrette or client consultation to understand the design challenge; preparing an artist statement articulating inspiration, motivation, and importance of the work; identifying and executing his/her role in a group project; soliciting and incorporating feedback during the creative process; presenting the work to the public (client; audience; jury) in some form.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on the process of creative work, the work produced, response to audience feedback. E.g., written reflection articulating how the project/product evolved based on feedback, changing needs, new discoveries; portfolio of work over time with verbal commentary and visual/audio/video instances of evolution; oral discussion with mentors, peers, audience, clients regarding lessons learned and approach to future creative work.
GLOBAL: Domestic and international) “Interact with a culture and/or region distinct from their own and engage in academic inquiry and application afforded by the specific off-campus setting”	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course. For non-credit activities, the description indicates who is providing feedback and mentorship; the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and/or summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description indicates how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: Typically course-based, with faculty-defined curriculum aligned with the history, culture, languages, resources, industries, issues, or environment of the site. For non-credit global experiences, student works with faculty mentor or activity director to define academic, personal, or professional objectives, and strategies for achieving them.	Ownership: Student demonstrates competencies in navigating the setting, and identifies and pursues unique learning opportunities afforded by the site. E.g., communicating in the language of the setting; interacting with local people, organizations, or environments; managing travel and logistical decisions safely and effectively; participating in cultural and relevant activities.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on his/her experience of cultural or regional differences, or personal growth and development through the experience, or the impact of the experience on academic learning and/or professional goals. E.g. journals, blogs, or other forms of reflective writing; group discussions of pre-trip expectations, group experiences, and post-trip debriefing; oral presentation to peers or others.
INTERNSHIP: “Practice skills or methods related to their field of study through supervised work in a professional or organizational setting”	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course, and the expectations of feedback and evaluation from the internship site supervisor are defined and communicated in advance. For non-credit activities, the description indicates how the UGA faculty member or activity director is engaged in reviewing and evaluating mentorship provided by the internship supervisor; the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and/or summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description should indicate how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: Student is immersed in an organizational setting aligned with his/her field of study and/or professional goals, and carries out projects or activities as directed, to build skills and professional competencies. Work will be aligned with the duties of the supervisor, involving substantive as well as routine tasks. E.g., the challenge may lie in applying classroom knowledge to a real-world problem; or engaging in complex organizational structures; or developing communication, teamwork, work ethic, or other workplace skills.	Ownership: Student takes responsibility for assigned work and can articulate the relationship of his/her hands-on activities to larger-scale organizational goals or issues. E.g., asking for clarification or feedback as needed, and working independently as appropriate; student may demonstrate ownership by articulating (orally or in writing) the goals of a project and his/her role in it; and presenting the results of a project to the employer, peers, and/or the UGA faculty member/activity director.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on career and professional skill development, knowledge of the industry or organization, and/or how the internship experience shaped his/her personal or professional goals. E.g., journal or other reflective writing; concluding essay or oral presentation; statement of professional growth through the internship, as in a cover letter or resume description of the position and responsibilities.
LEADERSHIP: “Articulate, implement, and reflect on a substantive application of their academic foundations to a real-world setting and/or challenge”	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course. For non-credit activities, the description indicates who is providing feedback and mentorship; the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and/or summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description should indicate how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: Student assumes a leadership role, or defines and creates a formal or informal leadership role for him/herself; student applies leadership skills to organizational or community objectives, with guidance of a UGA faculty member or activity director. E.g., holding office in a significant student organization; identifying a challenge or opportunity and galvanizing students or other community members around defined goals for addressing it; engaging in entrepreneurship including ideation, team-building, product development, customer discovery, or new venture start-up; developing and growing an organization; fostering community and cohesiveness in a group through defined leadership activities.	Ownership: Student leader articulates objectives and implements strategies for achieving them with the support of others in a formal or informal organization or group. E.g., contributing to stated purpose, mission, and/or outcomes of the organization/group; recognizing an issue that exists within the organization/group or for the population(s)/community(ies) the organization/group serves and enacting a solution to alleviate the issue; identifying and executing a new initiative that will advance the organization/group; distinguishing personal leadership role within the organization/group or larger community and fulfilling the associated obligations.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on the leadership activity with the support and facilitation of the faculty member or activity director in the UGA unit or organization. E.g., written reflections, blog posts, multimedia artifacts, oral presentations, narrative evaluations of the activity; group discussions and debriefing within the UGA unit or organization, and/or in conjunction with the team members or partners who worked under the leadership of the student. Reflections may focus on effectiveness of defining goals and motivating others; management skills; accountability of leader and participants; diversity and inclusion, communication and problem-solving, or other outcomes.
RESEARCH: "Demonstrate and describe how systematic and in-depth inquiry into a problem contributes to the discovery or interpretation of knowledge significant to their field of study”	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course. For non-credit activities, the description indicates who is providing feedback and mentorship; the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and/or summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description should indicate how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: With mentorship of research supervisor, student applies understanding of the discipline to identify gaps or unanswered questions, and applies skills, methods, techniques learned in the classroom to his/her research project. E.g., student articulates hypothesis or otherwise defines the inquiry; identifies sources of data; gathers and synthesizes relevant literature, data, or other supporting materials; interprets results in terms of disciplinary knowledge and/or applied context.	Ownership: With mentorship of research supervisor, student defines the research question, the research methods, or in some cases both aspects of a project; student understands how his/her part of a research project contributes to a larger initiative. E.g., student may be part of a team but his/her contribution is important to a project’s success; student may present results as in a conference or symposium presentation or thesis defense.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on and articulates what he/she has learned, is able to interpret both processes and outcomes of research, and can identify how failures or successes may shape further research questions or goals. E.g., written report, poster, or presentation of results; group or individual problem-solving during the research project; participation in lab team meetings, design critiques, or other forms of formative evaluation of process and interpretation of results.
SERVICE: (Service-Learning Courses) “Demonstrate the ability to identify a community need and strategies for addressing it through mutual learning, critical analysis, reflection, and collaboration with a community partner”	Engagement: For courses, engagement is defined by the terms of the syllabus. Service-Learning at UGA is course-based by definition; service-learning courses bear the “S” designation after the course number. The UGA Office of Service-Learning provides information resources and support for service-learning courses.	Mentorship: For courses, faculty feedback and evaluation are intrinsic to the course. Faculty member may also engage community partner in providing feedback and mentoring.	Challenge: Course-based by definition at UGA; faculty member works with community partner to identify need and service opportunity that will benefit the community and help students gain new academic, personal, or civic/social knowledge and skills.	Ownership: Students in the course work individually or in teams – on which each student must understand and fulfill his or her role – on the service project. Faculty member evaluates each student on his/her own learning, not just participation or hours of service.	Self or Social Awareness: Service-learning courses typically involve reflection in the form of journaling, small-group discussions, arts-based or multimedia work, e-portfolios, poster sessions, blogs, or other modes. Reflection is also embedded into the service project, from “pre-flection” in advance of the project, to reflection during and after the service.
SERVICE: (Community Service) “Articulate, implement, and reflect on a substantive application of their academic foundations to a real-world setting and/or challenge”	Engagement: For non-credit activities, the description indicates time commitment and/or other measures of intensity and depth of experience.	Mentorship: For non-credit activities, the description indicates who is providing feedback and mentorship (primary mentor may be community partner, but UGA activity director must be able to verify appropriate supervision/mentoring of the student); the general format of mentoring (e.g., face-to-face, written, individual, group, peer); and a comment on formative (during) and summative (at conclusion) components of mentorship. When peer mentoring is the primary mode of mentorship, the description should indicate how peer mentors are trained and supported, and how their effectiveness is assessed.	Challenge: With the support of a UGA unit or organization, student engages in purposeful service activity in connection with a real-world community need or social justice issue. E.g., the challenge may lie in the student’s engagement with the community to define the need; or in the student’s immersion in an unfamiliar community context; or in the scale of the effort; or in the development of skills needed to provide the service.	Ownership: Students may work individually or in a group, and in either case, they understand their role in the service activity. In some cases, students may define their own service initiatives and work independently, under the guidance of a UGA activity director, on an individual project. Student may demonstrate ownership by articulating (orally or in writing) the goals of the project and his/her role in it; and presenting the results of the project to the community partner and the UGA activity director.	Self or Social Awareness: Student reflects on the service activity with the support and facilitation of the activity director in the UGA unit or organization. E.g., written reflections, blog posts, oral presentations, narrative evaluations of the activity; group discussions and debriefing within the UGA unit or organization, and/or in conjunction with the community partner served. Reflections may focus on civic responsibility, citizen leadership, diversity and inclusion, communication and problem-solving, or other outcomes.