Student Learning Outcomes

Our student-centered approach focuses on three critical learning objectives: 

1. Developing Technical Proficiency. The transition to college comes with many new expectations and challenges. In this seminar, students will develop a solid foundation of technical skills necessary for effectively managing college life, from navigating Manhattanville’s Learning Management System (Brightspace), understanding General Education requirements, creating an academic calendar to support effective time management, and identifying and utilizing campus resources to maximize personal, academic, and career goals. These foundational competencies prepare students to manage complex academic and professional systems beyond their first year. 

2. Enhancing Essential Skills. This seminar aims to foster foundational academic and professional skills that will build confidence and empower students to meet the high expectations of college-level studies and the workplace. Readings, exercises, activities, and collaborative projects are designed to deepen critical thinking, communication, and dialogue skills. Students will be expected to read deeply and carefully, to listen attentively, to actively participate in classroom discussions, to submit written reflections, to meaningfully evaluate and analyze source materials, and to apply effective strategies for learning and collaborative problem solving. As part of their academic and professional development, students will learn how to ask open-ended questions, engage respectfully with differing viewpoints, and communicate across differences. 

3. Cultivating a Sense of Self and a Sense of Community. The strength of the Manhattanville community lies as much in the diverse perspectives and experiences of our students as it does in our rich history and legacy of our commitment to access, social justice, and social mobility. In this seminar, students are encouraged to embrace and celebrate their own personal identities while engaging with others from different walks of life and developing a sense of belonging to the university. Through dialogue, self-reflection, participation in group activities, and attendance at social and cultural events on campus, students develop habits of mind—including self-awareness, intellectual humility, adaptability, empathy, and a sense of responsibility to others—that will enable students to succeed in college and to thrive as engaged, ethical, and resilient members of a diverse global community.