Level of Academic Challenge (LAC)
Capella: 63.6%
National Benchmark: 57.5%
Challenging intellectual and creative work is central to student learning and collegiate quality. Colleges and universities promote high levels of student achievement by emphasizing the importance of academic effort and setting high expectations for student performance.
Activities and conditions:
- Worked harder than you thought you could to meet an instructor\'s standards or expectations
- Coursework emphasizes: Analyzing the basic elements of an idea, experience, or theory
- Coursework emphasizes: Synthesizing and organizing ideas, information, or experiences
- Coursework emphasizes: Making judgments about the value of information, arguments, or methods
- Coursework emphasizes: Applying theories or concepts to practical problems or in new situations
- Number of assigned textbooks, books, or book-length packs of course readings
- Number of written papers or reports of 20 pages or more
- Number of written papers or reports between 5 and 19 pages
- Number of written papers or reports of fewer than 5 pages
- Preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work, analyzing data, rehearsing, and other academic activities)
- Spending significant amounts of time studying and on academic work
Active and Collaborative Learning (ACL)
Capella: 40.8%
National Benchmark: 51.4%
Students learn more when they are intensely involved in their education and asked to think about what they are learning in different settings. Collaborating with others in solving problems or mastering difficult material prepares students for the messy, unscripted problems they will encounter daily during and after college.
Activities and conditions:
- Asked questions in class or contributed to class discussions
- Made a class presentation
- Worked with other students on projects during class
- Worked with classmates outside of class to prepare class assignments
- Tutored or taught other students (paid or voluntary)
- Participated in a community-based project (e.g. service learning) as part of a regular course
- Discussed ideas from your readings or classes with others outside of class (students, family members, co-workers, etc.)
Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI)
Capella: 32.1%
National Benchmark: 42.5%
Students learn firsthand how experts think about and solve practical problems by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom. As a result, their teachers become role models, mentors, and guides for continuous, life-long learning.
Activities and conditions:
- Discussed grades or assignments with an instructor
- Talked about career plans with a faculty member or advisor
- Discussed ideas from your readings or classes with faculty members outside of class
- Received prompt written or oral feedback from faculty on your academic performance
- Worked with faculty members on activities other than coursework (committees, orientation, student life activities, etc.)
- Work on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements
Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE)
Capella: 27%
National Benchmark: 40.5%
Complementary learning opportunities enhance academic programs. Experiencing diversity teaches students valuable things about themselves and other cultures. Used appropriately, technology facilitates learning and promotes collaboration between peers and instructors. Internships, community service, and senior capstone courses provide opportunities to integrate and apply knowledge. Such experiences make learning more meaningful and, ultimately, more useful because what students know becomes a part of who they are.
Activities and conditions:
- Used an electronic medium (listserv, chat group, Internet, instant messaging, etc.) to discuss or complete an assignment
- Had serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity than your own
- Had serious conversations with students who are very different from you in terms of their religious beliefs, political opinions, or personal values
- Practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience, or clinical assignment
- Community service or volunteer work
- Participate in a learning community or some other formal program where groups of students take two or more classes together
- Foreign language coursework
- Study abroad
- Independent study or self-designed major
- Culminating senior experience (capstone course, senior project or thesis, comprehensive exam, etc.)
- Participating in co-curricular activities (organizations, campus publications, student government, fraternity or sorority, intercollegiate or intramural sports, etc.)
- Encouraging contact among students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds
Supportive Campus Environment (SCE)
Capella: 63.7%
National Benchmark: 59.6%
Students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to their success and cultivate positive working and social relations among different groups on campus.
Activities and conditions:
- Quality of relationships with other students
- Quality of relationships with faculty members
- Quality of relationships with administrative personnel and offices
- Providing the support you need to help you succeed academically
- Helping you cope with your non-academic responsibilities (work, family, etc.)
- Providing the support you need to thrive socially